Second Grade

The second grade year is full of fun learning and social opportunities. It is a big year of growing academically and socially in preparation for the third grade.

Our reading curriculum covers a variety of genres. Through independent, partner, small group, and whole class activities, we explore reading elements such as author’s purpose, character, realism vs. fantasy, main idea, context clues, plot, predicting, drawing conclusions, and more. Children are encouraged to read books that they enjoy. Reading with fluency and understanding is a main focus of the second grade.

In math, second graders will begin to regroup with addition and subtraction. Through many hands-on activities, they will also increase their knowledge of place value, data and graphing, geometry, probability, time, and money.

Our science curriculum is broken down into units on life science, earth science, and physical science. In life science, the focus is on the needs of animals and plants, and how they survive in various environments. In earth science, we study weather and how the earth’s rotation causes day and night, seasons, and changes in the appearance of the moon. In physical science, we study about the three forms of matter and how they can be changed. We also focus on different types of energy and motion.

In social studies, second graders begin the year learning basic map skills. After that, we learn about what it takes to be a good citizen, along with studying some famous Americans and what made them good citizens. We learn about different types of communities (town, city, suburb, state, and country) and the types of government that run those communities. We even elect our own class mayor!

Second graders begin learning about nouns, verbs, and adjectives in English, along with rules of basic sentence structure. Getting an introduction to cursive handwriting is always an exciting time for second graders!

In addition to classroom learning, we also take part in learning outside of the classroom. Each year we attend a Christmas play in December along with the Kindergarten and first grade classes. We love visiting the Children’s Theatre and watching youth and adults perform live plays.

Each spring, we take a trip to Amazement Square in Lynchburg. The students love the sounds, lights, and movements of all the hands-on experiments. They also love the 4-story climbing tower!

For our annual community service project, we purchase and collect toys for the “Toys for Tots” organization. We are very excited to bring Christmas to children who otherwise may not get to experience it.

The second grade year is full of wonderful opportunities both in and out of the classroom. We have many wonderful experiences throughout the year that make second grade a very unique time in a child’s life.