Second Grade

Children enter second grade eager to learn as much as they can about the world around them, and to take on the extra responsibilities of an older grade, including having homework for the first time. They absorb information like little sponges, and love learning new facts. They also have big imaginations and still have the capacity to believe in magical dragons—like the one that lives in crystal caves underneath our classroom floor. They often invent elaborate and ongoing stories to play out at recess and during indoor choice times. Friendships are very important, but so is the care and approval of the adults around them, including their teachers, with whom they are eager to form warm and trusting relationships. A desire for increased independence, from tying one’s own shoes to reading books with chapters in them, also comes into play. They need a learning environment that is both challenging and encouraging of their independence and risk-taking, but is, at the same time, safe, comfortable, and loving.

For second graders, the thirst for information knows no bounds. From how the Great Blue Heron builds a nest, to how to skip count by various numbers, to how to recognize word patterns, and what the technical names are for the bones of the human body. They love to hear stories read aloud to them, and at the same time are eager and excited to expand their own reading skills, and to learn to read "books with chapters in them." They enjoy writing stories as well, though they don't yet have the skills to know which details are most important to tell, and which they can safely leave out. They love to draw elaborate pictures for their stories, and are just on the cusp of learning how to translate those visual details into words that paint a picture for the reader.

Theme/Science

The central theme is “human beings.” As a class we uncover universal human truths, making an ongoing list about what is true about all human beings: We all have feelings, we all have perspectives, we all make mistakes, and we are all smart. We look at stereotypes, and learn to use our universal truths list to help us recognize and break stereotypes. Using educator Howard Gardner’s nine kinds of intelligence, and examine areas of our intelligence that we would like to grow. We also define “courage.” And, as a class, work toward being courageous every day. Dragons are an important symbol in the classroom, standing for the things that challenge us. We have many discussions about the growth that occurs when we face one dragon at a time, and use a class dragon puppet to play roles and work on social skills and class cohesion throughout the year. In January, we begin a comprehensive heroism study in which each child studies a brave person who has overcome tremendous obstacles in his or her life, and who has contributed to the world through inventions, social justice and humanitarian work, or by inspiring others to break out of stereotypical roles. The children take on the part of one historic hero, research his/her life and work, and give an individual presentation as that person near the end of the year.

While reading, writing, math and art are incorporated into this broad topic, science and social studies units form the backbone of our theme study. Other aspects of our year include:

• Studying the human body extensively, beginning with the skeletal system
• Visit the Jackson Homestead in Newton, a real Underground Railroad site, and learn more about encoded songs and stories of fugitive slaves
• Engage in a year-long environmental study of Willow Pond at Mt. Auburn Cemetery, with whom we have an ongoing educational partnership

Reading/Writing

Readers' workshop begins with all of the children gathered in the meeting area for a mini lesson. Every mini lesson is short and has a point that we want to get across, all of which are designed to teach children to be good readers. Good readers read "just right books" and reread sections that don't make sense in the first reading. We explicitly teach word solving and comprehension strategies. After the day's mini lesson, the children go to their special reading spots, where they read independently. We confer with individual students, keeping close track of individual student progress and teaching individual strategies in the areas needed. Each child will also be part of a small group that meets to read a book together to encourage vibrant dialog and in-depth discussion.

Examples of mini-lessons:

• What do you do when you come to a word you don't know?
• How do you pick a book that is "just right" for you?
• How do you figure out who is doing the talking in a text?

In writers' workshop the children write about topics they choose. We help them to think about events, activities, people or places they know well and topics they are interested in. They use these to generate a list of "seed ideas." The children share their stories with friends to get suggestions. At certain times during the year we also have author's shares. This is a time when children can share their works-in-progress with the whole class to get feedback. Teachers confer individually to help both with story construction and with the mechanics of writing at the level at which the child is working.

Whole class mini-lessons focus on many aspects of writing, such as:

• How to edit for spelling, grammar and punctuation
• Developing a bank of common sight words
• Brainstorming ideas for what to write about
• How to write about important things in your life
• What to do when you're stuck in your writing
• How to add detail to a story
• How to come up with a title
• How to capture the detail of pictures with words

Some of the major writing units we cover during the year are:

• Writing true stories from your life
• Keeping a Journal
• Poetry
• Guided Fiction Study (i.e. Trickster Tales)

Math

Using the TERC Investigations program, as well as teacher-generated supplemental materials, second graders study all areas of math, from addition and subtraction to geometry and fractions. Developing efficient strategies for double digit addition and subtraction is a particular focus of the second grade year, as is memorizing basic addition facts up to 20, developing estimation skills, and generally strengthening number sense. Skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s, working with the "One hundred chart" and exploring rectangular arrays of rows and columns all help to prepare children for the multiplication and division work they will be focusing on in third grade. Units of study on time (reading the analog clock) and money are also included in the second grade math curriculum. Some highlights include:

• Playing "Close to 20," "Close to 100" and other math games which strengthen children's' number sense by asking them to choose from among five single digit cards the two numbers that, added together, will bring them closest to 20 or 100.
• Pumpkin Math: A week-long October unit in which children work in small cooperative groups to estimate numbers of seeds in varying sized pumpkins, organize and count seeds efficiently, and collect, record, and compare data on a variety of charts and graphs.
• Number of the Day: As part of a Morning Meeting routine, children work with a "number of the day" in a variety of ways depending upon the time of year (i.e. toward the beginning of the year, we may challenge children to give us two - four numbers that add to 50 or 100; later in the year, we may say, "Use any operations you wish to create a string of numbers that add to 100" or we may use the day of school as our number of the day).
• Giant One Hundred Chart: As part of our "combining and comparing" unit, children learn to use the 100 Chart to add and subtract double digit numbers. The class works together to construct a "giant" one hundred chart, which is spread over our meeting rug, and on which children play addition and subtraction games where they become "human playing pieces"!