2nd Grade Curriculum

Listed below are the skill sets and knowledge expected of all second grade students by the end of the year. Please be aware of these expectations and work in cooperation with your child's teacher to assist your child in acquiring these skills. If you have any questions about the expectations, please contact your building principal. The expectations are separated into the four core curriculum areas and then the specials (Art, Music and Physical Education).

Language Arts/Reading

Reading:

• Read fluently at grade level
• Decode with phonics, rhyming, and letter-sound relationships
• Explore synonyms, antonyms, root words
• Use a variety of comprehension strategies
• Identify literary elements
• Identify different types of literature
• Recognize high frequency words

Writing:

• Write high frequency/weekly spelling words
• Use nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives
• Use appropriate grammar
• Write sentences that make sense
• Write a paragraph with focus, details, and wrap up
• Write with clear expression and organization of ideas

Listening/Speaking

• Demonstrate good listening skills
• Respond appropriately to multi-step directions
• Speak clearly and audibly

Approved textbook: Harcourt Collections, 2001

Mathematics

• Know addition/subtraction facts up to 20
• Add/subtract two and three digits with/without regrouping
• Solve addition/subtraction problems with/ without money
• Identify types of measurement: weight, height, volume, temperature, area, perimeter
• Measure with rulers, meter sticks, scales, and cups
• Tell time by five minute intervals
• Count, compare, and order sets of unlike coins
• Solve 2-step word problems
• Communicate strategies in oral and written form
• Compare and contrast 2- and 3-dimensional shapes and objects
• Organize, interpret, and use pictographs, tables, bar graphs
• Identify and discuss likely, unlikely, and impossible probability events
• Understand place value from 0 to 9,999

Approved textbook: Harcourt, 2007

Science

Scientific Inquiry (Problem, Hypothesis, Materials, Procedures, Results, Conclusion)

Physical:

• Understand relationships of matter, energy, and motion to the real world: gravity, inertia, momentum, action/reaction
• Understand cause/effect of forces (Ex. push/pull, magnets, natural/man-made)
• Conduct simple experiments to test magnetism
• Name and identify types of simple machines
• Identify energy forms and sources

Earth:

• Understand and sort essential elements of the earth (Ex. Rocks, soil, and minerals by simple attributes)
• Identify water sources/uses and understand the water cycle
• Describe land features
• Know the natural changes of the earth, erosion, and weathering
• Identify natural resources
• Identify recycling products
• Understand seasonal cycles

Health:

• Safety
• Make positive healthy choices (nutrition, diet, exercise)
• Communicable diseases

Approved textbook: Harcourt, 2002

Social Sciences

• Identify different levels of government and concepts of responsible citizenship
• Describe how different resources are used to produce goods and services
• Describe the activities of Native Americans in Illinois' history
• Describe key figures, customs, and organizations in the local community and the United States
• Identify how people and groups in history have made economic choices
• Compare/contrast how basic needs and wants are met

Approved textbook: Harcourt, 2000

Physical Education

• Demonstrate fundamental movement and non-movement skills
• Demonstrate fundamental lifetime skills for various activities (throwing, dribbling, etc)
• Identify and apply rules and safety procedures
• Identify characteristics of health-related fitness
• Develop team building skills

Art

• Demonstrate how to create secondary colors
• Demonstrate the 3 types of space (foreground, middle ground, background)
• Understand realistic vs. abstract
• Growth in knowledge of art history

Music

• Identify/demonstrate loud and soft qualities
• Identify/demonstrate high and low qualities and their symbols
• Identify instrument families
• Identify/demonstrate the strong beat
• Identify rhythmic symbols

Approved Textbook: MacMillan Spotlight on Music, 2005