2nd

Second graders at St. Andrew’s embark on an exciting year of increased independence as they begin to explore their own unique abilities and various learning styles. Confidence in themselves and their classmates strengthens as they each contribute to classroom management through daily jobs and responsibilities. The second-grade classroom is a laboratory of self-discovery in which students employ their own individual power to excel in mathematics, language, social studies, and science.

The second-grade language arts curriculum includes reading, writing, spelling, phonics, and grammar. These content areas are integrated in instruction that promotes learning through reading, fosters creativity in writing, and provides opportunities to practice reading and writing skills.

Reading and Writing
Second graders explore a variety of literature, including contemporary stories, classic stories, poems, news articles, and novels. Students are introduced to context clues, making inferences and predictions, cause and effect, drawing conclusions, and sequencing. They develop a deeper understanding of story elements, main ideas, and reality versus fantasy. Extensive reading opportunities promote fluency and cultural exposure. Writing activities include composing letters, stories, reports, daily journal entries, and poetry, as well as retelling through writing.

Second graders improve their accuracy in writing and develop their ability to decode and analyze spelling patterns. A scientific approach to English teaches children to understand the basics of language, including increased phonemic awareness, phonics skills, syllabication, and sight-word vocabulary. Spelling patterns and rules are practiced daily as students expand their vocabulary for writing and reading.

Handwriting instruction and practice in second grade is a continuation of the skills taught in first grade. Students practice and polish letter formation and use letters in functional words and sentences for writing assignments. Cursive letters are introduced in the second semester of second grade.

Second graders improve their sentence-making skills and continue to use multisensory, color-coded approaches to explore parts of speech. Students identify types of sentences and the correct punctuation for each, as well as study suffixes, prefixes, possessives, plurals, compound words, synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and contractions.

Second-grade students develop and enhance their understanding of math skills including numeration, operations, and computation, data and probability, measurement and reference frames, geometry, and patterns. Students become aware of approaches to problem-solving in everyday situations. The program emphasizes conceptual understanding while continuing to build a solid foundation of basic math skills.

Through a study of cities and states, second graders focus on building and improving community, exploring geographical boundaries, understanding diversity, and developing an awareness of their environmental responsibilities. Students research and discover practical ways to act on these responsibilities. Students also increase their knowledge of world and community issues through integrated studies in language arts novels, various reading selections, and weekly studies of current news articles. Students from various cultural backgrounds share experiences, while guest speakers and performing arts groups encourage interaction and discussion.

Co-Curriculars
All students in grades 1-4 participate regularly in co-curricular classes taught by dedicated professionals in specific subject areas, including art, music, science, library, technology and innovation, fitness, Little Chapel, and Spanish. Prospective families will receive more information when they visit campus about how these co-curricular offerings engage our students and help enrich and define the St. Andrew’s experience, while current families should reach out directly to their homeroom or co-curricular teachers or the lower school administration for more details.