Reading: McGraw-Hill Reading
This program incorporates guided instruction on fiction and nonfiction selections, which progress from easier to more complex stories, with direct phonics instruction presented in a systematic, sequential approach. Vocabulary, comprehension, phonics, and study skills are practiced in the workbooks.
English: The Shurley Method - English Made Easy
The Shurley Method uses jingles, which the students sing, to teach the parts of speech. In the Question and Answer Flow, a series of questions and answers helps students determine what role each word plays in the sentence. As each concept is learned, it is applied in daily exercises throughout the school year. With this method, students learn to improve and expand their sentences by applying the skills they are learning.
Spelling: Zaner-Bloser Spelling Connections
Students learn the spelling concepts involving phonics that they can use when encoutering new words later. Connections are made through auditory, visual, and kinesthetic practice of the words.
Handwriting: Zaner-Bloser Handwriting Helper
The Zaner-Bloser program uses simplified letter forms to teach students the correct manuscript. The 4 S's - size, slant, shape, and spacing - are stressed.
Math: Harcourt Math
The six units in this program include: Numbers and Operations; 2-Digit Addition and Subtraction; Money, Time, and Data; Geometry and Patterns; Measurement and Fractions; and Greater Numbers and Operations (place value, comparing numbers, adding and subtracting 3-digit numbers, and introduction of multiplication and division concepts). We focus throughout the year on mastering basic addition and subtraction facts so that the transition to multiplication and division in third grade is seamless. Timed tests will be conducted on these basic facts on a weekly basis.
Religion: Sadlier's We Believe
Each chapter of this program presents the catechism of the Catholic Church rooted in Scripture. Each chapter has 4 main faith statements presented in an age-appropriate manner, and students respond in prayer and by thinking about how they are called to act out what they are learning in their lives.
Science: McGraw-Hill Science
This series was developed with the intent of implementing the National Science Education Standards. Units of study for second grade include: plants and animals and their habitats; changes on Earth; the sun, moon, stars, and planets; matter and energy; and forces, machines, and magnets. Process skills such as observing, measuring, and investigating are taught, and reading strategies are reinforced as well.
Social Studies: Harcourt Horizons - About My Community
This series covers the community , government, the Earth, people, and a brief history of the United States. It incorporates map skills, citizenship skills, chart and graph skills, and brief biographies of important people in our country's history.