READING- Much of the emphasis in second grade is on learning reading strategies that produce independent, lifelong readers. Students will learn to read for different purposes: to study an author’s style, to learn information, and to develop a healthy appetite for reading. Our morning begins with 30 minutes of quiet, uninterrupted reading of self-selected books that are kept in their personal book boxes. Reading strategies are modeled through read alouds and then practiced during small guided reading groups while the other students are reading independently, doing seatwork, or engaged in integrated workstations.

WRITING WORKSHOP- Writing Workshop is a great opportunity for all students to become fabulous writers. It teaches the children the fundamentals of reading and celebrates the students’ writing through publications. Each child has his/her own personally designed binder, which contains all of the writing throughout the stages of the writing process. Second graders experiment with many different genres of writing such as poetry, how to, narrative, and research. Some activities are teacher prompted and others are student selected. Children work at their own pace writing, revising, editing, conferencing, and publishing stories. Our writing workshop integrates the strategies and stories that are focused on during our reading time. In second grade at Meadow Wood, reading and writing go hand in hand!

MATH- Math lessons are taught in workshop format. This allows time for warm-up, teacher-led instruction, guided practice, independent practice, center time, and it concludes with writing about math. The workshop approach addresses all levels of understanding through differentiated instruction and activities. We work on such concepts as telling time, double-digit addition and subtraction, counting money, fractions, and much, much more! Problem solving is a major focus at Meadow Wood. Each week the students complete a grade level problem. Students from each class are selected as the problem solver of the week based upon achievement in one of the problem solving steps. Problem Solvers are recognized school wide. Through math workshop, we explore the concepts of math in real world situations.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES- Our social studies and science concepts are taught in the form of study units and are integrated into the language arts and math curriculum. Second graders learn through an array of strategies such as projects, experiments, and community building activities. We teach the concepts of interdependence, economics, rules and laws, geography, and famous people. Children are introduced to researching skills through the study of biographies and birds. Our science curriculum addresses feathered friends, the importance of habitats, weather, and balance and motion. FOSS kits are used to explore these hands-on experiments.

TECHNOLOGY- Technology plays an integral role in a second graders day at Meadow Wood. The year begins with students completing workstation activities that involve Kid Pix, Microsoft Word, and various software games. As the year progresses, students use the classroom computers and mobile lab for researching, publishing, and completing projects and activities.