ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
2nd Grade
Students delight in learning and grow in faith.
Children at this age are curious, eager to learn about the world around them, delight in stories and chants, and are ready to be invited into a love of learning. Our teachers meet students with joy and personalized attention to train minds and transform hearts.
Joyful Academics For Curious Minds
We use gospel-centered, joyful learning (the classical approach), which teaches students how to learn and how to think. School students build a factual foundation for every subject reading, writing, arithmetic, history, science, literature and also engage in music, physical education, and art since these help shape who we are and what we love. Students enjoy reading rich stories and great works of literature, with an emphasis on daily reading and study of the Bible.
Gospel-Centered Character Formation
Character and virtue are of paramount importance—it influences every aspect of a person’s life. Teaching with wisdom and virtue in mind (rather than knowledge alone) alters the focus of education to who we become, not simply what we know. Alongside rich academics, we use liturgy, love, and example to cultivate affections. With the Gospel at the center, our students learn stewardship, honor, wisdom, and self-control. Thoughtful, disciplined, inspired minds influence how we live our lives, from how we solve a math problem, to how we understand and love our neighbors
Embedded Biblical Perspective
God and His Word serve as the lens through which our students experience their lessons, their education, and their world. We believe a comprehensive education is one where the Bible is embedded into every aspect of learning, not merely layered on top of the curriculum. Our students engage deeply with history, art, music, mathematics, literature, and science – all taught in light of God’s existence and His revelation through Jesus. This approach teaches their students to think well, with Christian presuppositions in all areas of their lives, preparing them to be discerning as they navigate the complexities of the world.
The school day begins at 8 am and closes at 2:45 pm.
2nd Grade Scope & Sequence
Memoria Press
LATIN AND LANGUAGE ARTS
Our approach to reading at this level includes systematic phonics and daily exposure to good literature. Phonics lessons should be pulled directly from the student’s reading text for visual memory to be strengthened. Choosing good books for this reading instruction captivates the imagination, motivates students to want to be readers, and teaches vocabulary, a fascination with words, geography, history, science, and most importantly, the condition of human life. Good books open children’s minds. For these reasons, we suggest reading practice be from the varied language of classic literature. The reading program continues development of skills requiring an active, discriminating mind that is challenged to think, compare, and contrast. Students who have been challenged by good literature will never be satisfied with the poor quality of books that are so readily available today. Using a study guide allows for focus on vocabulary, spelling, comprehension, and composition skills.
Expository reading should be added at this level. Students are comfortable reading to follow a storyline, so reading for information should begin at this stage of reading progression.
Spelling should still be taught with phonics as a basis. The study and mastery of the 44 English phonograms by the end of this grade are critical, as subsequent years build upon these sounds.
Students should have completed an introductory course in cursive prior to this level. After a few weeks reviewing connections and letter formation, transition to the exclusive use of cursive in every subject is the goal. Continued focus toward mastery of the 3 P’s (posture, pencil grip, paper position) and the 3 S’s (size, slant, spacing) is gained through daily practice.
Capitalization and punctuation skills can be honed through copywork and the everyday activities within the literature study guides such as answering comprehension questions within a workbook.
This activity can also further mastery of proper grammar and sentence structure.
It is through the study and memorization of Latin that students learn the English parts of speech. Latin will be the conduit for eventual mastery of English grammar. Its goal is to teach and reinforce an understanding of the basic parts of speech while introducing basic Latin vocabulary and grammar.
Phonics
Students will:
- Demonstrate mastery of hard and soft c and g, long vowel teams, consonant digraphs, consonant blends, vowels with “y,” plurals (both regular and irregular), root (base) words, and diphthongs
- Have working knowledge of prefixes, suffixes, and homonyms
- Know basic syllabication rules
- Locate phonetic chunks within both single syllable and multisyllabic words
- Recognize incomplete sentences
- Master formulating and writing complete sentences
Reading
Students will:
- Understand complex poems in teacher-led discussions
- Compare and contrast ideas
- Sequence events within a reading
- Distinguish between fact and fiction
- Gain exposure to a variety of literary genres
- Understand the attributes of folk tales
- Use context clues to attain meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary
- Continue oral reading improvement with regard to decoding, speed, fluency, and expression
- Gain exposure to lengthy poems
- Determine meaning of advanced English vocabulary (derivatives) by recognition of Latin root
Writing
Students will:
- Know formation of cursive letters with correct connections and display fluency in writing
- Implement the 3 P’s and 3 S’s in writing
- Complete conversion to all cursive in all subjects by end of the year
- Be introduced to a friendly letter
- Be introduced to poetry composition
- Be exposed to paragraph writing and descriptive paragraphs
Spelling
Students will:
- Demonstrate mastery of phonograms introduced through encoding of weekly word lists
Grammar
Students will:
- Display mastery of introduction to the eight parts of speech by recitation
- Give examples for the eight parts of speech
Latin
Students will:
- Master 125 Latin vocabulary words
- Memorize 20 lines of Latin prayers
- Master 25 practical Latin sayings
MATHEMATICS
Mastery of the addition and subtraction facts through the eighteen family should be reached by the end of this year. Through all the number sense activities practiced in kindergarten and first grade coupled with early memorization and practice with a few fact families, students should have a firm foundation with the facts and can focus on building speed. This progression should be evident in written speed in answering these facts. By introducing borrowing and carrying early in the year, students have a year to practice to mastery. This last year of the primary grades needs to include a thorough review of place value, money and counting coins, telling time with introduction to the quarter hour, and measurement.
Number Sense and Numbers
Students will:
- Count and write numbers to 1,000
- Skip count and write numbers by 2’s, 5’s, 10’s, and 25’s
- Give before, after, and between numbers
- Find missing numbers of a group
- Understand place value to the 1,000’s
- Order numbers from least to greatest
- Work with fractions previously mastered
Computation
Students will:
- Exhibit mastery of addition and subtraction facts through the eighteen family in both written and oral format
- Understand terms: sum, difference, addend, subtrahend
- Demonstrate ability to solve basic word problems with missing facts
- Recite facts by memory without using the term “equals”
- Solve flashcards in both oral and written format
- Solve three-digit addition or more carrying twice
- Solve two-digit subtraction with borrowing
- Understand number triplets (an alternate way of learning addition other than fact families)
- Solve column addition of three numbers
- Understand the concept of basic multiplication
- Recite the multiplication and division tables 1, 2, 5, and 10
Money
Students will:
- Identify all coins and their value
- Master counting a mixed group of coins
- Understand the dollar and half-dollar
- Add and subtract money amounts using the ¢ or $ symbols with a decimal
Time
Students will:
- Tell time to the quarter hour on both analog and digital clock
- Understand time equivalents (30 minutes = half hour, 7 days = week, 12 months = year, )
Measurement
Students will:
- Understand liquid measures and equivalents
- Read a thermometer
- Understand linear measurements and equivalents
Geometry
Students will:
- Master identification of basic shapes including ovals, pentagons, and diamonds
- Give the attributes of basic shapes
HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, AND CULTURAL STUDIES
To this point, history and geography have been taught through fact memorization, discussions, or observations of a theme gleaned from classic literature. Students should now have a good understanding of the world around them. They can easily group animals into classes and habitats and compare and contrast their culture from that of another land with no problem. While students in this stage of development have an extensive knowledge base, they still require periodic review; therefore, tying in new information must continue to be modeled. Dates and time periods begin to have more meaning, but memorization of these should wait until later years; rather, focus should be given to basic characteristics of each time period. Special attention can be given to early American life since it is more likely students will come into contact with items from this period. At this age, an introduction to states and their capitals and the list of American presidents provide the foundation for future in-depth studies. Exposure to world geography and U.S. government and laws is also appropriate.
Students will:
- Master the major holidays in the United States and their dates
- Memorize all U.S. presidents by name in order of service
- Gain exposure to S. government and laws
- Understand various time periods
- Be familiar with historic Americans
- Be introduced to world geography
- Become familiar with the Revolutionary War, causes, and outcomes
- Understand and describe various processes
- Compare and contrast
SCIENCE
As with History, Geography, and Cultural Studies, students have the ability to take new information and compare and contrast this new material with the knowledge base to which they have been exposed in the previous years. Students explain simple processes and can name and categorize most animals and describe their habitats. Due to their ability to memorize easily, students can recall all the planets in order, understand the difference between planets and stars, know the parts of the human body, and understand the respiratory system. Students can describe the water cycle and name several types of rocks and minerals.
Students will:
- Participate well in group discussions
- Master characteristics of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians
- Master naming and describing the planets within our solar system
- Understand stars
- Name and describe several rocks and minerals
- Understand and identify different types of weather
- Be familiar with the water cycle
- Be familiar with the respiratory system
- Understand migration and animals that migrate
- Compare and contrast ideas
- Make pertinent observations
- Read and comprehend expository material
FINE ARTS AND POETRY
As the culminating year for primary-level fine arts, students will be introduced to the final third of classical works in art, music, and poetry. By the end of this year, they will be familiar with art from all periods and in a variety of media with exposure to 100 works. In music, they will have heard pieces in several genres from the earliest chants to the theme from Star Wars. This music appreciation encompasses comparing and contrasting basic instruments and their sounds. Poetry, as with the art
pieces, is themed from the read-aloud books. Students will have some factual knowledge about many artists, composers, authors, illustrators, and poets. The bulk of their knowledge will come from the classic literature pieces selected for study each week. Many of these books have won awards or been recognized as superior for their text or illustrations.
Students will:
- Gain exposure to 33 famous art pieces from a variety of artists and art periods
- Gain exposure to 33 classical music pieces from a variety of composers from each period
- Gain exposure to a variety of poems and poets
- Be exposed to elevated language and advanced vocabulary
- Create art using a variety of media
- Gain exposure to classic literature
CHRISTIAN STUDIES
Students by now have a solid grasp of the Old Testament Bible stories. This year will cover the entire New Testament. Students will begin in the Gospels with a thorough study of the life of Christ and finish with the early church.
Students will:
- Understand and discuss New Testament Bible stories and key characters
- Memorize 23 verses/128 lines of Scripture
- Memorize the books of the Old Testament
- Memorize the twelve tribes of Israel
- Recite with good tone, volume, and pace