PRINCIPAL Seth Phillips

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL LOWER SCHOOLBob Mikos

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL MIDDLE SCHOOLAllison Hicks

LOWER SCHOOL 37 Hicks Street Brooklyn | NY | 11201 T: 718.834.6740 F: 718.834.7690

MIDDLE SCHOOL 105 Johnson Street Brooklyn | NY | 11201 T: 718.875.1021 F: 718.875.1983

PS8BROOKLYN.ORG

SECOND GRADE CURRICULUM GRADE

Reading

PS 8 values a balanced literacy approach to teaching reading. In a balanced

literacy environment, students are provided with a variety of approaches that

encourage and support reading independently. Teaching is differentiated by

student reading levels, acknowledging that there is a wide-range of reading

abilities in every classroom. Teaching approaches are woven throughout the day.

They may include:

• Read Aloud – Teachers read a variety of text with fluency and

engagement, pausing often to “think aloud” to model comprehension skills.

Conversations and questions are integral to read alouds.

• Shared Reading – Teacher and student read a text together that is

visible to all. The focus of the lesson may vary from concepts of print (reading left to

right, etc.) to word work, to reading with fluency, to comprehension.

• Reading Workshop – Teacher and students gather together as a

reading community on the rug to study a topic or genre in-depth. The teacher

guides instruction through a short mini-lesson, usually targeting a particular

reading skill or strategy which the children have an opportunity to practice, before

they are sent to read independently. Students engage in independent reading,

partner reading as well as book clubs throughout the year. Reading genres may

include but are not limited to fiction, realistic fiction, fairy tales, folk tales, nonfiction,

poetry and persuasive pieces.

• Word Study – Second graders start off the year by reviewing the key skills

taught in first grade. They will review initial and final consonant blends, diagraphs,

common word endings and long vowel patterns. Second grade teachers utilize

the Words Their Way spelling program. Students will start to show mastery of sight

words.

Reading assessment is administered through the Fountas and Pinnell Reading

Assessment System. Fountas and Pinnell assesses three major reading

components:

• Accuracy – To master a level, student must read second grade texts

with 98% accuracy.

• Comprehension – Does the student understand the text? Can the

student retell it with sufficient detail? Can the student summarize the key

concepts or events? Can the student infer from the text?

• Fluency – How smoothly does the student read the text? Does the

student group words and phrases together that support meaning? Does the

student attend to punctuation? Can the student’s voice match the tone of a text?

Does the student work to sound like the character?

By the end of second grade, students reading on Level M/N meet the standard.

Writing Workshop

During workshop, children are given the opportunity and skills to convey their

knowledge, their experiences and their imagination through the creation of stories,

reports, poems and opinion pieces. PS 8 aligns its writing curriculum closely to the

Common Core Standards which mandates three major writing genres:

• Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or book they are

writing about, state an opinion, supply reasons that support the opinion, use linking

words (e.g., because, and, also) to connect opinion and reasons, and provide a

concluding statement or section.

• Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use

facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or

section.

• Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short

sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feeling, use

time words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.

Students should demonstrate proper mechanics of writing including an efficient

pencil grip, proper formation of all upper and lowercase letter, and spacing.

Students will continue to work on the conventions of English including

capitalization, punctuation and spelling. Writing units vary from stand-alone genre

studies to writing units combined with social studies or science content areas.

Below is a sample progression for writing in second grade:

• Realistic Fiction

• Nonfiction

• Personal Narratives

• Fairy Tales and Folk Tales

• Persuasive Writing

Second grade teachers have generated genre specific rubrics to monitor

student progress.

Math

Second Grade uses Bridges Math and its supplemental program, Number Corner,

to provide a rich mathematical curriculum aligned to the Common Core. Number

Corner is a skill-building program that revolves around the classroom calendar,

providing daily practice as well as continual encounters with broader mathematical

concepts in 15-20 minutes of engaging instruction. Number Corner typically

occurs in the second grade classroom as part of morning

meeting, held each day at the start of school.

The bulk of math instruction occurs during the daily math workshop using the

Bridges curriculum. In workshop, the teacher leads the class in a mini-lesson,

followed by a student activity, exploration or project. Two or three times a week,

children also participate in Work Places, a rotating selection of partner games and

individual activities that offer opportunities for reinforcement of previously taught

concepts. Students focus intensively on four critical areas specified by the

Common Core State Standards for Mathematics in Grade Two:

• Extending understanding of base-ten notation

• Building fluency with addition and subtraction within 100

• Using standard units of measure

• Describing and analyzing shapes

•

Both the Bridges Math and Number Corner programs provide numerous

assessments (both whole class and individual interviews) to monitor student

progress and mastery of concepts.

For more information and to provide at home support for your child, visit

http://www.mathlearningcenter.org/resources/families.

Social Studies

PS 8 is committed to providing a content-rich and developmentally appropriate

social studies curriculum throughout the elementary school years. Our over-arching

essential questions at PS 8 are:

• What does it mean to be a member of a community?

• What needs do people have in the community and how are those needs

met?

• How do people in communities support and rely on each other?

• How do we respect and value multiple points of view and cultures?

PS 8 employs an “inquiry-based” approach to the teaching of social studies in sec-

ond grade. We study a topic in-depth over a number of months – asking

questions, reading texts and providing first-hand experiences in order to gain

knowledge and understanding. We learn by doing and working collaboratively.

Social Studies Unit Sequence

• Geography

Students study map features (key, legend, map scale, compass rose); they learn

that location can be described using cardinal directions (North, South, East, West).

Students learn that maps provide information and have special purposes. Students

will be engaged by reading about maps, exploring a variety of maps (paper and

digital), and through watching videos. Student will be able to locate the United

States, New York State and New York City on a map. Students will learn about the

five boroughs making up New York City and important features and landmarks in

each borough. Student will conclude the unit in a hands-on project, creating their

own maps of New York City out of clay.

• New York City Over Time

Following our introduction to geography, students continue their study of New York

City and the essential question of how and why did New York City change over

time? Students learn about New York City as an urban community with special

features (skyscrapers, factories, offices, cultural institutions, museums, parks, etc.).

Students explore how the city is made up of neighborhoods that reflect the city’s

diversity. Students will get an in-depth look at New York City though readings,

videos, discussions and field trips to gain a deeper understanding of their home and

see how the city will continue to change into the future.

• Urban, Suburban, and Rural Communities

Students learn the key features of the three types of communities through literature,

discussion and videos. Students work in groups to deepen their understanding by

creating collages of the three communities. Students are also given the opportunity

to convey their knowledge individually through creating a written piece about one or

more of the communities.

• Box City (Right, Rules, and Responsibilities)

In our final unit students construct their own city out of cardboard boxes. To begin

the project, students go out into the community to interview workers and busi-

ness owners. They develop a respect for all the work that is needed to make a city

run efficiently. These findings are then shared with the class. The class partakes

in many discussions, read alouds and watching of videos about what cities need

before deciding what is needed in their city. Experts (architects, builders,

project managers, city planners, interior designers) are invited to class to share with

students about how cities are designed and built. Finally, students choose their job

and construct their building. The students have an opportunity to assume their job

within the city during interactive play.

Progress in each social studies unit is assessed through content knowledge and

student participation.

Science

Our science program utilizes FOSS curriculum, the Full Option Science

System developed by The Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of

California, Berkeley. Second grade students work through three thematic units

of study in science:

• New Plants

This unit provides experiences that heighten students’ awareness of the diversity

of life in the plant kingdom. Students care for plants to learn what plants need to

grow and develop. They observe and describe changes that occur as plants grow,

and organize their observations in a journal.

• Balance and Motion

Students observe and explore how objects balance, spin, and roll. They will explore

the concept of balance, counterweight and stability. While observing systems that

are unstable they will formulate a plan to modify them to reach equilibrium.

Students will also construct and observe toys that spin and

describe some of the variables that influence the spinning of objects. Students will

work to solve various problems through trial and error while developing

persistence in solving problems.

• Pebbles, Sand, and Silt

Students will be introduced to concepts in earth science. They will build their

awareness of rocks as earth materials and natural resources. Students will

observe, describe, and sort earth materials based on properties using various

scientific techniques. They will organize and communicate observations through

drawing and writing.

Each unit provides multiple “hands on” activities and experiments to foster

student engagement and curiosity. Throughout the year, children have many

opportunities to document their science experiences and knowledge in

cross-curriculum reading and writing assignments.

Progress in science is measured by checklist provided by the FOSS curriculum, as

well as anecdotal teacher records and reviews of writing assignments.

To learn more, visit http://fossweb.schoolspecialty.com/ or

http://fossweb.com/NYC/