Welcome and Overview We are so excited about our second-grade program here at St. Francis School. The children are involved in the learning process through active participation in class activities. Sacramental preparation is an essential component of the second-grade curriculum. By modeling and teaching our Catholic values, the children continue their journey of faith formation. Parents and teachers work together to provide a strong foundation for the growth of the children.
A nurturing environment allows each child to enhance his/her spiritual, physical, emotional, and academic growth. We inspire and motivate the children to believe in themselves and strive to do their best with each school experience. Our goal is to ensure each child’s success in our classes. Our mission is to instill in the children a passion for learning. By creating a loving and inviting atmosphere, the children learn to express themselves in all they do. We look forward to making the year memorable for all students.
Second-Grade Curriculum Religion Our focus is on the preparation for the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist. Our goal is to bring the children into a deeper relationship with Jesus and the Catholic community. It is essential that the children take an active role in their faith development. The Faith First series provides several books to assist the children with their faith formation.
Our central theme is “belonging.” The children realize that they belong to many groups, most importantly the Church. They find that they strive to become actively involved in the Church community and help it to grow. Daily activities involving prayer, Scripture and doctrine allow the children to explore their faith and ask questions to deepen that faith. We expand on the daily lessons by having the children take part in weekly Masses, monthly prayer services and school-wide service projects. We show Jesus that we love and respect the awesome gift of His true presence in the Eucharist as we participate in Eucharistic Adoration once a month. Each of these activities encourages the children to live their faith and become stronger in making choices to follow Jesus.
Our first supplemental book about Reconciliation gives the children direction and reinforcement of their development of Christian values. Because their faith formation starts at home, the children have a fairly well developed sense of right and wrong. Throughout their preparation, the children are made aware of their personal choices and how they affect their relationship with God and the community. Daily lessons are enhanced through Scripture stories, group activities, reflective writing and discussion. The children are encouraged to make good and loving choices each and every day.
Our faith continues its growth as we move into our next text about the Eucharist. This presentation invites students to be part of the Church community at the Table of the Lord. Each chapter introduces a part of the Mass designed to familiarize children with the celebration. Scripture, prayer and our offerings are the focal point in the Liturgy of the Word. As we move into the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the children are asked to look back at the great sacrifice that Jesus made for us. We recall the story of Jesus at the Last Supper and we “remember” His words as well as His actions, which help us center our faith on service to others. The children then participate fully in the Mass through the Sacrament of Eucharist.
Values ProgramEach year the St. Francis of Assisi School staff determines a specific set of values that will be highlighted throughout the year. These values determine the focus of our monthly prayer services and also form a basis for classroom discussions. Service projects and school-wide activities are often linked to the values.Phonics/SpellingOur phonics program uses a publication from Modern Curriculum Press as its main text. Daily activities focus on introducing, reviewing and mastering the sounds of the English language. The children learn the sounds in isolation. Through drill and practice, they are then led to transfer that information into reading and writing.
Our spelling curriculum has been aligned with our phonics series. The Zaner-Bloser series is used for weekly lessons. Games, pretests and other activities offer reinforcement for the weekly words. Bonus lists are provided to add extra incentive and challenge to each week’s lessons.
Reading St. Francis of Assisi School follows a balanced literacy approach to teaching reading. Second-grade students are immersed in the written word. Stories are read together in both small and large groups. Strategies for decoding words are introduced and modeled during small group reading. Children are encouraged to make use of picture clues, context clues and phonetic clues. Characters, settings, problems and solutions are identified and discussed in every story. Through the discussion of the stories, children build their comprehension and develop their ability to sequence events, summarize details, predict conclusions and make inferences. Narrative and expository materials are used to develop an appreciation of all written work. At least 15 minutes of reading at home each evening is essential in building strong readers. In second grade, the students also begin taking part in the Accelerated Reader program. As we like to say in second grade: Read! Read! and Read some more!!!
Writing/Grammar At the second-grade level, the Write Source pupil textbook is divided into the six traits of effective writing covered throughout the year. The text provides students with frequent writing opportunities to become strong writers. TheWrite Source series provides daily, scaffolded writing activities in every lesson. These activities help students learn to apply writing strategies, write to learn and prepare for written assessments. A resource skills booklet for building mechanics, usage, grammar skills and proof-reading practice provides second graders with guidelines, examples and models to assist with skill development. This workbook also provides follow-up work that helps the student apply what has been taught into his or her own writing.
To assist in the writing process, lessons and activities are prepared that help the students identify different parts of speech. We concentrate on nouns, verbs, articles and adjectives and encourage the children to use specific nouns, strong verbs and creative adjectives to enhance their written work. Writing with correct sentence structure, including capitalization and punctuation, is essential. Editing marks are taught to help the children self-evaluate and correct their work. The Write Source text and skills books are used to enhance the language arts program.
Handwriting Children in second grade demonstrate proper formation, spacing, and letter size for manuscript writing. It is important that they use good posture and a correct 3-finger grip when writing. As the writing reaches a level of mastery, the students are introduced to cursive writing, at which point they add a slant to their paper and lettering to help with formation. The children are introduced to lowercase letter formation and letter connections.
Mathematics
The math curriculum follows the Macmillan McGraw-Hill text. Time, money, place value, regrouping, measurement, graphing, and geometry are some of the areas addressed throughout the year. We continue with our knowledge of the basic math facts and devote much time, through the use of manipulatives, to understanding regrouping within place value. These facts and concepts are then put into story problems to build logical thinking and problem-solving skills. Our math program involves many hands-on manipulatives to allow for exploration and understanding of new concepts. Many small and large group activities, games and center activities are used within the course of the week to provide reinforcement of the learned skills.
Science The second-grade curriculum for science, McGraw Hill’s Science: A Closer Look, combines areas of life science, physical science, earth science and the human body. Within each subject, children are involved in hands-on activities. Through the use of many different manipulatives, the children become active participants in class experiments. Students are introduced to the scientific method. Questions are asked, hypotheses are made, data are collected and conclusions are drawn. The children then use this new information to help structure their first Science Fair project.
Social Studies
The second-grade social studies curriculum combines the use of the Scott Foresman text, resource books, visual aids, trade books and map skills enrichment to implement standards and benchmarks in today’s classroom setting. Each unit throughout the year encompasses a wide variety of learning styles. Through the use of hands-on activities, large and small group interactions, report and journal book writing, as well as whole group instruction, students become more knowledgeable about the components of each unit. Field trips are interconnected within the curriculum to enhance the learning process.
Enrichment
Second graders participate in the following:
Two 30-minute gym periods
Two 30-minute music classes
One 40-minute computer class
One 60-minute art class
One 45-minute library period
One 30-minute Spanish class
We also participate in weekly, all-school Masses.
Music
The focus of the elementary music curriculum is on making music. The musical concepts of melody, rhythm, harmony, form, style/expression and timbre/texture are taught in a cumulative fashion through the experiences of listening, singing, playing instruments, moving, creating and reading/writing.
Physical Education
Physical education in kindergarten through grade three is dedicated to the development of fundamental motor skills, manipulative skills and movement experiences. The teaching at each level will focus on basic skills and the value of being physically fit, as well as the ability to display appropriate behaviors during social situations.
Art
The focus of the primary grades’ art curriculum is to build interest and confidence in creating art. The art concepts of cutting, shape recognition, drawing, color wheel, painting, paper construction and clay construction are taught in a cumulative fashion through both two-dimensional and three-dimensional projects. There is an introduction to the artwork of different cultures and various artists.
Computer Technology
Each student works independently to help improve his or her fine motor skills and hand-to-eye coordination. They learn to identify the proper parts of the computer and begin to explore the keyboard. Students use Hyperstudio and Kidspiration to sort and/or tell stories reinforcing social studies, language arts, and religion. By the end of the year, students are able to open and save documents to a class folder.
Spanish
Spanish class students will become acquainted with the Spanish language through fun and entertaining activities with puppets, music, picture cards, stories, skits, projects and vocabulary games. Learning about countries and cultures of Latin America and Spain will also be part of the Spanish program.
Grades 1-2 will build vocabulary and continue achieving a higher level of comprehension and conversation. Beginning reading and writing has more emphasis at this time. We start by reviewing reading syllables and then moving into short sentences. Hispanic Catholic faith and culture is presented with short prayers, songs and traditions.
Recess/Lunch
Second graders enjoy 25 minutes for lunch followed by a 25-minute recess. Parent helpers supervise recess and lunch with sixth-grade service squad members functioning as assistants.
Parent Involvement Opportunities
In addition to recess and lunch supervision, there are many other opportunities for parental involvement, such as:
Being a room parent
Assisting in the library
Working with small groups of children on reading, writing, and math enrichment
Being a guest reader
Helping to prepare classroom material
Extended School Program
The Extended School Program is available to students in all grades. The program offers the following childcare options:
Before school (6:45-7:45 a.m.)
After school (3:00-6:15 p.m.)
No-School Day Programs
Staff Qualifications, Education, Associations and Affiliations
All teaching staff members hold a Michigan teaching certificate and have earned a bachelor's degree in an area related to their subject assignment, grade they are teaching, or for the department they are supervising. Many staff members possess advanced-level degrees or endorsements. Teachers responsible for teaching Religion are certified through the Diocese of Lansing in catechist formation. "First Response" staff - those that are most likely to deal with major health and safety issues - are trained in First Aid and CPR.
The entire staff participates in both formal and informal training and in enrichment each year. These opportunities include, but are not limited to, staff meeting focus topics, conferences, workshops and college-level classes.
All teachers are members of the National Catholic Educational Association and of the Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools. Many are affiliated with other educational associations that pertain to their subject specialty or individual interests.
Background and fingerprint checks are completed on all school and parish staff members.
Program Accreditation and Licensing
St. Francis of Assisi School is accredited through the Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools. The accreditation is reviewed every seven years. The review process is quite extensive and covers a wide range of topics and areas. A copy of the most recent accreditation report is available in the school media center.
The Extended School Program is licensed through the State of Michigan. Renewal occurs every two years. The licensing consultant visits the center formally in the renewal year and informally in the non-renewal year.
Standards, Benchmarks and Outcomes
The State of Michigan uses Grade Level Content Expectations (GLCE) for each required subject area in each elementary grade. The GLCE outline skills that each child is expected to master during a given academic year. If you would like to view the State of Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations please visit: http://www.michigan.gov. St. Francis of Assisi School, along with all public schools in Michigan, follow the Common Core Standards for math and language arts.
St. Francis of Assisi School has elected to participate fully in the NWEA assessment program. These tests are administered in grades 3 through 8 and are the only standardized testing batteries offered by St. Francis throughout the academic year.
The progress of each student at St. Francis of Assisi School is formally evaluated four times each academic year. These evaluations are written by the student's teacher(s) and describe the student's progress in academic subjects, as well as age-appropriate skill building.