Second Grade Curriculum

We welcome you to Second Grade!  Our curriculum is aligned to the learning standards from the Diocese of Joliet.  We will keep you informed of what we are currently studying in class in newsletters and on our weekly homework sheets.

Meet & Greet Night:
This event is held approximately two weeks into the school year.  The following are some of the things to look forward to at our Meet & Greet:

• Sign-ups for November conferences
• While at Meet and Greet, we ask that you write your child a “warm fuzzy” and deposit it in your child’s desk so they can read it in the morning!  You will find paper on your child’s desk on which to write this day brightener. 
• We would also appreciate it if you would write the whole class a few words of encouragement, which will be read to the class. 
• Lastly, we hope you will choose a week for your child to be “Star of the Week”. 
• We will ask each child to create a poster of their special pictures
• They will participate in a show and tell of their life in their special week. 
• A schedule and more details will follow.  
  

Homework:
We thank you for your cooperation with homework. We find that working with our weekly homework sheets really help. We give homework in one or more subjects on Monday through Thursday nights. Sometimes weekend homework is given when we have projects or shortened weeks.  We ask that you check your child’s homework before it is returned to class. We encourage your child to read independently at home each evening and we suggest a few minutes of math flashcards, also. Inexpensive flashcards can be purchased at the grocery store if you don’t already have them. Children at this age still enjoy a parent reading to them, perhaps in a chapter book or a children’s Bible. All this works wonders!

We look forward to meeting you at our Meet & Greet night, and we hope that you enjoy seeing your child’s classroom and a few of the things your child will have done. 

Please feel free to contact us at any time!

Your children are a blessing.  It is always a pleasure to meet the parents who have raised them.  We look forward to a wonderful “sacrament year” with all of you. 

Your child’s second grade teachers,
Mrs. Mary McGlone
Mrs. Kate Rozylowicz

Religion (Textbook:  Call to Faith by Harcourt Religion Publishers)

This year we will once again be using Call to Faith as our Religion series.  Our Religion lessons include our focus of the day, Scripture, prayers, music, activities, biographies, Bible stories, and doctrine.  Our second grade curriculum includes:

• Creation
• God’s Promise and Word
• God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
• Making good choices and God’s Mercy
• Praying as Jesus did
• Worship
• God’s word
• Jesus’ sacrifice
• Sharing the Holy Meal
• Forever in Heaven

The students will prepare for the sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist.  Information from Religious Education Office will be mailed to your homes regarding our fall meeting, Reconciliation dates, our Spring Retreat, First Holy Communion dates and times for practices and Masses, and First Communion Rites at selected Masses.

Reading (Textbook – McGraw-Hill Reading)

We will cover two reading texts this year.  The texts are divided into weekly stories taken from children’s literature.  Our daily reading class will include lessons in:

• Phonics
• Vocabulary
• Reading aloud and silently
• Study skills
• Comprehension
• Writing

Along with our texts, we have a reading workbook and leveled books for independent reading. 

Spelling (Textbook – McDougal, Littell Spelling, Plum Level)

Each week we will teach a spelling lesson, and most weeks there will be a written test on Friday.  We will stress the recognition of structural similarities as well as phonetic similarities.  Students are asked to study for weekly spelling tests with a parent.  Review tests encompassing the past several lessons will be given at times.

In our daily work and homework, correct spelling is encouraged.  We will teach it in the writing process (prewriting, writing, revising, proofreading and publishing).

Science (Textbook – Scott Foresman Science)

Mrs. McGlone teaches Science to both second grades.  The classes use their texts for information, Science vocabulary, experiments and activities. Each student will keep a Science notebook to record Science experiments and information. Our units of study are Life Science, Physical Science, Earth Science, and the Human Body.  Science projects will be assigned periodically. 

Math (Textbook – McGraw Hill Mathematics)

Our Math program follows our Math teaching standards very closely. We will start the year studying strategies for addition and subtraction facts to 20 and also include word problems. We will study place value, money, adding and subtracting 2-digit and 3-digit numbers, time, data, graphs, fractions, probability, and multiplication and division. Our Math lessons will include the problem of the day, Math Vocabulary, strategies, an introduction to the lesson, and practice and maintenance. We would like to stress the importance of keeping Math skills sharp. Practice at home with flash cards or other materials would be very helpful. There are also some wonderful websites dealing with the basic addition and subtraction facts that many of the children are using.

Social Studies (Textbook – People and Places by Scott Foresman)

Mrs. Rozylowicz teaches Social Studies for both second grades three times a week, while Mrs. McGlone teaches Science to both classes. We enjoy doing this while giving the children an in-depth approach to the experience of changing classes. Our Social Studies topics include where we live, our Earth, working together, our country today, our country long ago, and people and places in history.  Holidays and calendar activities will also be included. 

Handwriting

The Zaner-Blaser handwriting method will be used for instruction. We will review letters and handwriting skills early in the year. We will stress correct letter formation, appropriate size and spacing, pencil grip, paper position, margins, headings, and legibility.

In November, we will teach cursive strokes and begin cursive letters.  We will work on the connection of letters and reading cursive writing. Practice in cursive homework will be given as letters are learned.  It is our goal to have the students writing in cursive by the end of the year. Our spelling book introduces the lessons in cursive later in the year, and we will work with that slowly.

Language Arts (Textbook – McGraw Hill Language Arts)
We will be using our Language Arts series this year in conjunction with our Reading and Spelling series.  We will cover grammar, speech, usage, mechanics, punctuation, vocabulary, speaking, listening, study skills, and writing. A very strong emphasis will be placed on the six traits of writing:

• Ideas and Content
• Organization
• Sentence Fluency
• Voice
• Word Choice
• Conventions