Curriculum Overviews > Second Grade

At The Branch School, the following objectives are taught through an integrated, developmental, hands-on, and in-depth approach that teaches critical thinking, problem-solving, and cooperative learning.

• Reading, where students read and understand a wide variety of literary and informational texts;
• Writing, where students compose a variety of written texts with a clear controlling idea, coherent organization, and sufficient detail;
• Research, where students are expected to know how to locate a range of relevant sources and evaluate, synthesize and present ideas and information;
• Listening and Speaking, where students listen and respond to the ideas of others while contributing their own ideas in conversations and in groups; and
• Oral and Written Conventions, where students learn how to use the oral and written conventions of the English language in speaking and writing.
• In second grade, students will engage in activities that build on their prior knowledge and skills in order to strengthen their reading, writing, and oral language skills. Students should write and read (or be read to) on a daily basis.

• Throughout mathematics in Kindergarten-Grade 2, students build a foundation of basic understandings in number, operation, and quantitative reasoning; patterns, relationships, and algebraic thinking; geometry and spatial reasoning; measurement; and probability and statistics.
• Students use numbers in ordering, labeling, and expressing quantities and relationships to solve problems and translate informal language into mathematical symbols.
• Students use patterns to describe objects, express relationships, make predictions, and solve problems as they build an understanding of number, operation, shape, and space.
• Students use informal language and observation of geometric properties to describe shapes, solids, and locations in the physical world and begin to develop measurement concepts as they identify and compare attributes of objects and situations.
• Students collect, organize, and display data and use information from graphs to answer questions, make summary statements, and make informal predictions based on their experiences.

• Changes
• Balance and Weighing
• Animals
• Body

• Students begin to develop the concepts of time and chronology by measuring calendar time by days, weeks, months, and years.
• The relationship between the physical environment and human activities is introduced as are the concepts of consumers and producers.
• Students identify functions of government as well as services provided by the local government.
• Students continue to acquire knowledge of important customs, symbols, and celebrations that represent American beliefs and principles.
• Students identify the significance of works of art in the local community and explain how technological innovations have changed transportation and communication.
• Students communicate what they have learned in written, oral, and visual forms.

• Students are exposed to the basic elements of art and explore them in detail through projects that emphasize each specific art principle. Students engage in exciting exploration with a variety of media such as painting, clay, pastels, etc.

• Students are read books appropriate to their level as well as given help, if necessary, checking out books.

• Students express themselves through singing and movement, and by playing simple instruments. Children learn to experiment with music concepts, volume, tempo, and sound. They begin to appreciate different types of music. Students attend at least one live concert. They perform several times a year at school-wide events.

• Students learn to empathize with, feel comfortable in, and understand fundamental processes of nature. They do this through a “working wildscape” partly accessible to children on the playground, partly fenced to allow more habitat development, and through horticulture activities from growing vegetables to propagating plants.

• Students acquire the knowledge and skills for movement that provide the foundation for enjoyment, continued social development through physical activity, and access to a physically active lifestyle. Students learn group games as well as sportsmanship.

• Students are taught the importance of peacemaking with their classmates. They learn conflict resolution as well as communication skills. They learn to be life-long peacemakers. In addition, a curriculum on ethical decision-making designed by the Institute for Global Ethics and a curriculum based on the book, Creating Classrooms and Homes of Virtue, from the Council of Spiritual Education are used.
• Students practice creative thinking through brainstorming solutions to a variety of spontaneous problems.

• Students are immersed in the Spanish language through a Spanish program two times a week.

• Students use engaging, age-appropriate, and challenging software and technology to extend their knowledge and to enrich their learning of curriculum content and concepts. Children learn the basic functions of the computer and related technologies.