The Reading and Language Arts:This course utilizes decodable stories to help students recognize spelling patterns and reinforce phonics skills. Students read weekly selection stories to familiarize themselves with new vocabulary and adjust reading rates based on purpose and text difficulty. Furthermore, the selection stories offer students the opportunity to compare and contrast different stories and identify various reading themes across literary genres like fiction and nonfiction stories. At times, Science and Social Studies disciplines are entwined within the text selection process, encouraging cross-curricular implementation and offering an enriched literacy experience; selection stories primarily focus on comprehension, predictions, critical thinking, author’s purpose, and main idea and supporting details. Finally, reading instruction most often engages students through current advances in technological software, making learning enjoyable and memorable.
Writing:The Second Grade curriculum comprises an array of core elements necessary for life-long success in the global environment. With this in mind, students learn to demonstrate legible printing skills and read and write legible cursive sentences. In order to master the art of writing, students begin the writing process by brainstorming a variety of topics with bubble maps. Students are continually trying to master the concept of editing for correct use of conventional spellings and punctuation. Furthermore, students use rough drafts to help maintain focus, and develop the supporting details of their writing piece. Lastly, final drafts add descriptive words and vivid detail in sentences. As students gain excellent academic writing skills through reading other works, they need to be exposed to a variety of literature including: rhyming poems, folktales, narratives, acrostic poems, essays and book reports.
Math:In second grade, using the Everyday Math and Go Math curriculums, students are challenged on a daily basis. Every lesson is differentiated based on individual student needs through “Readiness”, “Enrichment”, “Extra Practice”, and “ELL Support” options. Everyday Math is a cyclical curriculum, meaning children see the same topics many times throughout the year, with each exposure being more difficult and more in-depth than the last. Everyday Math incorporates games throughout the units which help the students practice new concepts and review older ones. Second grade covers numbers and routines, addition and subtraction facts, place value, money, time, shapes, number operations and stories, patterns and rules, fractions, and measurement.
Science: Students learn the Interactive Science series in second grade at Osceola Science Charter School, covering many different units including “Living Things Grow and Change”, “Homes for Living Things”, “Exploring Earth’s Surface”, “Space and Weather”, “Exploring Matter”, and “Energy in Motion”. The science text has many experiments that can be included with each lesson throughout the units. In second grade we incorporate projects that supplement many of our science units.
Social Studies:The second graders at Osceola Science Charter School use the My World series by Pearson for Social Studies: an interactive textbook where students stop, answer questions, draw pictures, and make connections .This allows for the student to check for comprehension and have a more personal experience with the text which leads to permanent content retention.
