Second Grade
Language Arts:The second grade Language Arts curriculum is a Balanced Literacy program that supports a Gradual Release of Responsibility instructional model. The areas of focus support five pillars of Language Arts instruction: Phonemic Awareness and Phonics, Vocabulary, Comprehension, Fluency, and Writing. Little Silver’s second grade curriculum is a guide that creates a foundation for lifelong literacy by teaching and exposing all learners to: Reading Foundation Skills, Literature, Informational Text, Writing, Speaking, and Listening. The curriculum is supported with leveled resources that include rigorous text for both instructional and independent work and a variety of on-line sites. To access the New Jersey Student Learning Standards visit: New Jersey Student Learning Standards visit: http://www.corestandards.org/assets/CCSSI_ELA%20Standards.pdf
Math: Everyday the second graders are exposed to mathematics. Everyday math concepts are related to real-life experiences. Little silver students are given a sturdy foundation that allows them to be successful in the years to come. They learn the different purposes for using math in their lives. Continual use of manipulatives, movement exercises, games, and technology allow each student to be reached at their own cognitive level. Differentiated learning and guided math groups are utilized to meet the needs of all learners in the math classroom. Second grade math includes place values to 1000. By the end of the year they will be able to use place value patterns using 0 as a place holder (10, 100, etc.) and will understand that (ten) 10s are equal to 100. Additionally, in numbers up to 1000, the children will know the place value of each digit and determine various ways to show a number. The children will be able to skipcount by 2s, 3s, 5s, 10s, 25s, 50s and 100s. Little Silver students will be able to count forward or backward by 1s or 10s starting with any number less than 1000. Students will learn the difference between odd and even numbers. The mathematics curriculum also allows the students to have hands-on experiences in order to grasp the concept of money. Children will use coins to count mixed groups including pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and half-dollars. They will be able to recognize equivalent forms of money values, and will count coins to one dollar or higher during the course of the year. The students will also be immersed in time. Students will be able to tell time to the hour, half hour and five minute intervals. They will relate elapsed time to their own daily schedules. In addition, the students will explore measurement concepts. They will measure standards units of measure and compare measurements. By the end of their second grade year, Little Silver students will be able to recall addition and subtraction facts from memory. They will understand the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction, and be able to predict the relative size of solutions for both addition and subtraction. The foundation for success will be complete when the students are able to add or subtract two-digit and three-digit numbers with or without regrouping.
Social Studies: The progression of the second grade Social Studies curriculum will flow so that students begin their study by gaining an understanding of their own community and others. Following this, students will learn about the history of their community and our country, along with its culture. Students will then explore economics and government and how each has changed throughout history. The second grade Little Silver Social Studies curriculum will serve to cover the following topic areas: community, America’s past, cultures, economics, and America’s government. Units 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 will be covered from the Houghton Mifflin text. The units will be covered in the following order: 1, 5, 3, 4, and 6. Unit 1 should be covered in the first marking period of the year. Units 5 and 3 should be covered for the entire second marking period and about half of the third marking period. Unit 4 will be covered for the second half of the third marking period and about a quarter of the fourth marking period. Unit 6 should be covered in the last three quarters of the fourth marking period. This time allotment is designated in four phases, which follow. Supplemental materials should be used to enhance the curriculum as listed. Nystrom maps and materials should be utilized. Trade books corresponding to different topic areas should be incorporated as outlined, as well.
Science:The performance expectations in second grade help students formulate answers to questions such as: “How does land change and what are some things that cause it to change? What are the different kinds of land and bodies of water? How are materials similar and different from one another, and how do the properties of the materials relate to their use? What do plants need to grow? How many types of living things live in a place?” Second grade performance expectations include PS1, LS2, LS4, ESS1, ESS2, and ETS1 Disciplinary Core Ideas from the NRC Framework. Students are expected to develop an understanding of what plants need to grow and how plants depend on animals for seed dispersal and pollination. Students are also expected to compare the diversity of life in different habitats. An understanding of observable properties of materials is developed by students at this level through analysis and classification of different materials. Students are able to apply their understanding of the idea that wind and water can change the shape of the land to compare design solutions to slow or prevent such change. Students are able to use information and models to identify and represent the shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water in an area and where water is found on Earth. The crosscutting concepts of patterns; cause and effect; energy and matter; structure and function; stability and change; and influence of engineering, technology, and science on society and the natural world are called out as organizing concepts for these disciplinary core ideas. In the second grade performance expectations, students are expected to demonstrate grade appropriate proficiency in developing and using models, planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, constructing explanations and designing solutions, engaging in argument from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information. Students are expected to use these practices to demonstrate understanding of the core ideas.