The Reading program continues to be taught in flexible ability learning groups to enhance students’ understanding of more advanced vowel combinations, digraphs, and consonant blends. Comprehension skills are expanded to focus upon identifying the main idea, recalling important details, sequencing, summarizing, comparing and contrasting, analyzing cause and effect, predicting, and inferential thinking. Children read a literature-based basal and a variety of novels and utilize skill-building materials to enhance comprehension, vocabulary, phonics, and spelling. Children enhance their oral language skills through the recitation of poetry, the retelling of stories, reader’s theater, and the presentation of book reports and research reports. In addition, listening and auditory skills are honed through discussions and other activities.

The Writing Program emphasizes the importance of constructing a comprehensive paragraph with a topic sentence and supporting details. Children continue to develop literary book reports, creative stories, class and individual books, and poetry integrated with the grade level curriculum. In Writers Workshops, emphasis is placed upon the writing process (first draft, proofread, edit, final draft) in both narrative and expository writing. Children are introduced to more complex spelling patterns through a structured, linguistic program and take weekly spelling and dictation tests. At the end of the year, second graders begin to learn cursive writing. Second graders become increasingly familiar with the standard rules of grammar and punctuation.

Mathematics continues to be taught in flexible ability learning groups. Second graders study the concepts of place value, addition and subtraction regrouping, measurement, patterning, estimation, time, money, charts and graphs, simple fractions and multiplication. Particular emphasis is placed upon problem solving and the application of mathematical concepts to real-life situations. This process is enhanced through the use of a variety of manipulatives and math journals.

In Social Studies, the students benefit from a new interactive, on-line social studies program that extends their understanding of family history, map skills, heroes and heroines, and the contributions of African Americans. In an economics unit, students become producers and consumers by creating their own simulated businesses. Students develop an appreciation and understanding of brotherhood. Other units include food production and agriculture, rural and urban life, and map skills including the location of the seven continents and four oceans. In addition, students benefit from our acclaimed character education and community service programs.

The Science program involves the study of how things move, energies, and our solar system. Children learn about the world around them while studying “A Child’s Place in the Environment,” which focuses on soil and habitats. The young scientists also explore plants, animals, dinosaurs and fossils, the earth’s natural resources and recycling, motion, force, light and sound, and the planets. The state-of-the-art science lab and outdoor ecosystems and gardens provide wonderful places where students engage in many hands-on learning opportunities. The second grade boasts a new, interactive on-line science curriculum which is helpful to teachers and students in the classroom and families at home.