Religion
Students in second grade learn that God teaches us how to love Him and others through the Ten Commandments. Students also learn that God loves us and gives us gifts and the responsibility to care for them. Second grade uses the Finding God by Loyola Press and Family Life by RCL Benziger. In Second Grade students prepare for the sacraments of First Reconciliation and First Communion.
Language Arts
Students use the Wonders 2020 edition program by McGraw Hill and Step up to Writing to continue to build on what they have learned about phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling patterns, grammar, and writing strategies. They continue to hone their fluency and comprehension skills by reading daily short stories.
Students also continue to build on their writing with the Zaner Bloser Handwriting Manuscript and Cursive.
Mathematics
Second Grade students use the Go Math program. They work independently and collaboratively in the program to study in-depth grade-level concepts. Students focus on understanding place value to help them add and subtract two and three digit numbers. They learn how to develop their number sense and how to work with equal groups to help them set the foundation for multiplication. They also learn how to represent and interpret data and work with time and money.
Social Studies
In Second Grade, students focus on family histories and celebrating traditions and diversity. They focus on their local community, as well as, early American history, California pioneer life, and immigration. They develop their research skills to help them conduct reports.
Science
Students in Second Grade continue to learn about the Scientific Method and, as a class, they take part in the school-wide Science Fair. They use the Mystery Science program to learn about the scientific world around them.
Physical Education
In Second Grade, student instruction is focused on cooperative learning, enhanced movement, and the development of stability, locomotor and manipulative skills. Students work on cooperation activities, movement concepts, running for fitness and health, balance, rhythm and dance, jump rope, sidearm, underhand and overhand movement patterns, striking, kicking, trapping and dribbling skills. Students participate in P.E. three times a week for 30 minutes.
Spanish
Students in Second Grade participate in Spanish class twice a week. They learn expressions, alphabet and numbers, and basic vocabulary to describe terms: body, clothing, days of the week and months, seasons, etc.
Music
Second Grade students master the reading and application of Kodaly symbols and advance to reading standard music notation. They use rhythm instruments to interpret patterns containing whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes and rests. Knowledge of note and rest values is used for sight-reading of music in our singing classes.
Technology
Our technology is integrated at the classroom level and part of the curriculum. Second grade students use iPads in the classroom, which is part of our one-to-one iPad technology program. Students in second grade use apps like IXL and Seesaw to help with their learning.