Curriculum
In Mounds View, we use the Minnesota State Standards as our guideline for instruction. You can find the standards on the Minnesota Department of Education website: http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/EdExc/StandCurri?K-12AcademicStandards. Below is a list of the various curricular areas your child will encounter in Second Grade.
Language Arts
We use a variety of resources to successfully teach the second grade learner outcomes. Guided Reading groups will start in late September, and they will consist of groups of about 6 or fewer children who are at similar reading levels. During this guided reading time, children will read rich trade books with an adult at their own level and speed. The program is flexible in that as children improve in their reading skills, they will be moved to new groups at their new level. We use a developmental approach to spelling. Developmental spelling teaches kids how to spell words versus just memorizing word lists for Friday’s test. Student will study words and focus on letter-sound correspondences, phonics, spelling patterns, high frequency word recognition, and decoding word meaning. On Monday, your child will bring home a list of words that have been introduced in class. On Friday, your child will take a spelling test on his/her particular set of words. Unlike a traditional spelling test, students will sort the words into categories based on the particular spelling patterns we’ve studied that week. Each Monday, high frequency words will also be introduced and put on our word wall in class. Please help your child learn these words. Students are encouraged to use these words in their writing and to recognize them in their reading. Once a word is on the word wall, students are expected to spell it correctly in their writing. Writing is also an important part of second grade. Students will be working on writing personal narratives, information pieces, friendly letters, and writing opinion pieces, as well as journaling. We will also be working on the conventions of writing and will follow the state standards for second grade writing. |
Mathematics
District 621 uses the Everyday Math curriculum across all grade levels. Everyday Math is a spiraling curriculum that focuses on hands-on learning related to everyday concepts. In addition to traditional topics of addition and subtraction, second graders will be exposed to algebra, fractions, multiplication, and division. Many of these topics will then be explored again in other grade levels at a deeper level of understanding. Games and exploration centers are also a key component of the curriculum. Other areas of study include, but are not limited to: place value, comparing numbers, addition and subtraction (single-digit facts, double-digit and triple-digit addition and subtraction, as well as regrouping), estimation, measurement, money, time, and problem solving. Science The FOSS (Full Option Science System) units we will study are Plants and Air and Weather. The FOSS program allows students to think critically while experiencing hands-on activities. Social Studies The social studies portion of our curriculum will consist of units on civic skills and values, principles of democracy, citizenship and government, economics, geography, and history. We follow the Minnesota state standards and use resources like Studies Weekly to help reach the required outcomes. Health Our health curriculum is a conflict resolution curriculum. It has been designed to help students make responsible choices in dealing with their emotions and the situations of everyday life. The lessons are incorporated into the way we resolve conflict in the classroom and make good choices. |