Welcome to 2nd Grade
We are excited to have your student as part of our second grade team.
Units of Study:
Reading:
In the beginning of Second Grade, we work with the students to discover more about themselves as readers and build their stamina. Our goal is to help your child become an “independent reader” this year. This is a big responsibility and takes a lot of practice. Many students know what they like to read, so we start there and continue to encourage them to challenge and develop their reading skills, while LOVING what they are reading.
Your child will come home with their reading homework folder daily. Our Second Grade expectation is that every student reads/is read to for 75-100 minutes PER WEEK. We know that life gets busy, and daily reading goals can be difficult. It is important to make time for your child to be engaged in books. This practice is essential for their reading growth and development.
Writing:
Similar to reading, our goal in writing at the beginning of the year is for each student to discover more about themselves as writers and build their stamina. Our goal is for your child to become an “independent writer” this year.
Writing is a complex process that can be stressful and difficult for many children. We start the year encouraging our students to write in many different forms. Our independent writing time starts small and will build up to 30-40 minutes daily. After we warm up to writing in the beginning of the year, we move on to our personal narrative unit, informational writing unit, and we end the year writing opinion pieces.
Because each child comes to second grade with unique writing needs and strengths, we spend a majority of independent writing time conferencing with individual students or small groups. This allows us to closely meet the needs of each student, while giving encouraging feedback and focusing on goal setting for future growth.
Math:
We try to emphasize that all of our brains are unique; therefore we make sense of math in different ways. We teach our students a variety of strategies for approaching math concepts. Their job is to use and apply the math strategies that make sense to them. In second grade we learn:
- Fluency of basic addition and subtraction facts (totals less than 20)
- Analyze and solve a variety of word problems.
- Place Value to 1,000
- Addition and Subtraction to 3 digits
- Money concepts using dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies
- Time to the 5 minutes
- Measurement and Estimation of lengths using centimeters, meters, inches, feet, and yards
- Geometry concepts of 2 and 3-digit shapes
Science:
We study three major units: Pebbles, Sand, and Silt (Earth Science); Solids and Liquids (Physical Science); and Life Cycles of Insects and Plants (Life Science). Our students love the hands-on learning that comes with each of these units!
Social Studies:
Our main focus of social studies instruction is on our community. Within that unit, we study the history of Sturgeon Bay/Door County, unique geographical features, as well as important industries both today and in the past. Our unit culminates in a field trip to the Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay.
Field Trips and Other Fun Second Grade Activities to Look Forward to:
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