1st & 2nd Grade Curriculum

Religion
  • The goal of our religion class is to help students grow in discipleship as they study God's Word and apply the Bible truths to their lives.  We take a chronological look at the Bible - beginning in the Old Testament and working our way through the New Testament.  Students are given many way sand opportunities to make real life connections, reaching onto the playground, the playing field, into the home and neighborhood, and ultimately, around the world.
​
Art
  • In 1st and 2nd grade the students will explore and create with a wide variety of media, such as painting, drawing, 3 dimensional forms and shapes, printing and collage.  The focus in 1st and 2nd grade  is to allow the students to create using imagination while also focusing on the basic elements of art such as color, shape and line texture and value. Student will also learn a bit about artists in history and their contributions to art.

Drama
  • ​Along with classroom dramatic activities (readers' theaters, short plays, etc.) Students have the opportunity to participate in two dramatic activities yearly. The first is our Christmas Eve program which is presented by students in kindergarten through 8th grade. The second is our spring play presented by the Kindergarten through 4th grades, In both productions students are required to memorize lines, deliver them in an audible manner with feeling and emotion, and work well with directors and other performers.​

Health/Physical Education
  • Students learn gross motor skills in dynamic ways.  Each month is a different unit with age appropriate drills and activities.  The units are as follows:  running, volleyball, basketball, dance, cooperative games, gymnastics, jump rope, soccer, badminton, and parachute games.

History/Social Studies
  • Students begin the year in social studies by examining the question, "What is a Community?"  We explore what makes a community and what are the different roles and responsibilities we have in our community.  We discuss being great citizens and ways we can reach out to our own community.  Then we move on to how the economics of communities work.  Consumers, producers, goods, and services are just some of the terms they will learn.  We also concentrate on the physical aspects of different communities by looking at maps and landforms.

Language Arts/Literature
  • First graders build on their early reading skills they learned as kindergartners.  Students develop these skills through active participation in reading, games, and word building activities.  They deepen their understanding of letter sounds by learning that letters may be put together to make different sounds.  The shift goes from sounding out each letter in a word to chunking sounds together.  I use many different learning strategies from games, on-on-one instruction, hands-on activities, and activities designed to get students moving up out of their seats in order to reach all learners and make learning to read a great experience.
  • Second graders read longer and more complex texts.  The shift gradually goes from learning to read to reading to learn.  Students are exposed to a variety of texts including fiction, biographies, poetry, and informational texts.  Students still study phonics in depth and learn more complex spellings for different sounds.  For example, they will learn the long 'I' sound can be spelled with an 'I', 'ie', 'igh', or 'i_e'.  Games and hands-on learning strive to keep reading a positive experience.  The goal is to help students enjoy reading and become imaginative and thoughtful readers and writers.

Math
  • First graders are taught that math is all around them.  Using many hands-on activities, full-color visuals, and different learning tactics, students learn to problem solve and how to apply math concepts to daily life.  Our math curriculum follows a spiral review program so students are continually reviewing prior concepts and building upon them.  Math concepts include counting, writing, and reading numbers, place value, addition and subtraction, money, graphs, measurement, time, temperature, and fractions.
  • Your child will begin to apply mathematical concepts to everyday situations even in the second grade.  Foundational concepts such as addition with carrying and subtraction with borrowing are greatly emphasized and reviewed in second grade.  Counting money, telling time, reading graphs, Roman numerals, multiplication and division are just some of the concepts that your child will learn and build upon throughout the year.

Music
  • Students are given an introduction to music.  Lessons are a variety of songs, activities, dance, movement, and playing rhythm instruments.  Age-appropriate music concepts are taught as well as exposure to a variety of music including sacred, classical, folk music, and children's songs.

Science
  • Students begin the year with life science.  They learn that plants and animals are living things.  Through exploration, they learn all the plant parts and their functions.  They learn animals can be classified into groups and they live in different habitats.  At mid-year, we switch to earth science.  Here students learn about objects we see in the sky (sun, moon, planets), weather, and seasons, Earth's resources, and taking care of the Earth.  We end the year with physical science where students learn how to describe and measure matter, changes in matter, force and motion, magnets, and sound.

Spelling
  • Our weekly spelling words go hand-in-hand with our weekly phonic study.  Students focus on learning to read words with specific sound and spelling.  We practice our spelling through hands-on activities, word sorts, and we also look at the meanings of the words.

Spanish
  • Students are introduced to Spanish through the use of greetings, songs, calendars, and vocabulary learning in context.  The emphasis is on words that relate to their lives and community.  They will learn words related to greetings, manners, colors, numbers, family, zoo animals, and fruits.  They will also learn about some aspects of the Spanish culture.

​Technology (click for more information)