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JACK LONDON 2ND GRADE CURRICULUM FOR MRS. HOLMES-BRADLEY’S CLASS
The 2nd grade curriculum is developed around a monthly theme. We use themes to create interest and excitement for the students while incorporating their basic skills of reading, writing, and math. We also integrate science, health, and social studies into our curriculum through our themes.
The theme for September is Amphibians. We will also be reading fictional stories by Arnold Lobel, about two close friends, Frog and Toad, who have a great friendship and many silly adventures.
We use a Reading program published by Houghton Mifflin Publishing which offers a balance between rich literature selections and lots of decodable phonics stories. Houghton Mifflin also offers an in-depth integrated language and phonics program.
Our district will be using a newly adopted Science curriculum by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill publishing this year. In Science we will be studying 3 main areas this year: 1. Life Science- Plant and Animal Life Cycles 2. Earth Science- Earth’s materials, Earth’s past, and Earth’s resources 3. Physical Science- Objects in Motion and Forces at Work. We will also focus our learning on a big Nutrition Unit for Health Studies this year called "Healthy Choices, Healthy Me," during the months of October and November.
We use a math curriculum published by Saxon Publishing, which is more aligned with new state math standards for 2nd grade. The Saxon math program will better prepare students for the standardized STAR testing, taken for the first time at the end of 2nd grade for students.
Your child will be in an ability-leveled spelling program this school year. Our spelling program is also from Houghton Mifflin publishing and offers students weekly spelling lessons at their individual spelling level. We will be running three different leveled groups in our classroom this year.
Your child will be assessed the second week of school to see which of the three groups they will be placed in: 1. Challenge Group (in the 3rd grade spelling book) 2. On-Grade Level Group (in 2nd grade spelling book)
3. Beginning Group (also in the 2nd grade spelling book with accommodations).
Each group will work on its own lesson each week on Mondays, and then be tested on those words on Friday. However, students will not just be given a list of words for their spelling test, but will be given complete, dictated sentences as well. Students will not only be graded on the spelling words themselves, but the spelling of the entire sentence. They will also be graded on their punctuation and capitalization. This way, students learn to use their spelling words in context, rather than just memorizing a list of words. This also provides a more challenging test. All three groups will be given fully dictated sentences on their spelling tests. Each groups’ number of sentences and complexity of sentences will be dependent upon which leveled group they are in.
WEEKLY LEARNING CENTERS: We will be having Weekly Learning Centers on Tuesdays and Wednesdays each week. Students will rotate to four different centers each week. Every week there will be 1. A Writing Center 2. A Reading Center 3. A Grammar and Language Center 4. A Theme Center, Art, or Other Enrichment.
THEMES AND AREAS OF STUDY
September- Amphibians and Life Cycles, both animal and plant will be our first Science unit. We begin our Spelling Groups and our Weekly Learning Centers. In Social Studies, we learn about citizenship, our government, and what it means to be an American.
October- Life Cycles continued (Science Unit) and Spiders. We will also begin our Health Unit on Nutrition: Healthy Choices, Healthy Me and continue it through November.
November- Insects and Earth Science (Earth’s materials, Earth’s past, and Earth’s resources). In Social Studies we begin learning about the Pilgrims and the first Americans.
December- Fairy Tales. We will finish our Science unit on Earth Sciences. In Social Studies we’ll learn about people who meet our needs, bring food to us, the people we depend on, like farmers, manufacturers, truck drivers, factory workers, etc. We’ll also learn mapping skills.
January- Weather and Physical Sciences (Objects in motion, and Forces at Work). We will finish up our Social Studies Unit on People We Depend On and on mapping skills.
February- In Social Studies, we learn about our heritage and our ancestors and about immigration to America. We will write our Cultural Heritage Reports. We will finish our Physical Sciences Unit. We will also begin our big unit on Endangered Animals and Earth’s conservation. We will write to the President of the United States about saving our endangered animals, before it’s too late.
March- Whales and other marine mammals. We will write whale reports and create model paper mache whales. In Social Studies we will learn about people who have made a difference in our lives and Community Helpers.
April- We’ll continue our study of Community Helpers and write our Community Helper reports. We’ll also create a model community for our classroom. We’ll be learning about animal habitats and we’ll create our own model animal habitat and write an endangered animal report.
May- We will learn about Nocturnal Animals and read and write Fantasy Animal stories. We will also finish up and catch up as needed during the month of May.
