2nd Grade

2nd grade students build upon their learning habits and foundational skills from 1st grade. To gain collaboration and cooperation skills, students enjoy working in groups or with partners.

2nd grade students work to:

develop executive functioning skills such as organization, attention, perseverance, and time-management;
practice critical thinking skills such as analyzing, organizing, evaluating, and implementing problem-solving strategies; and
make choices about where to work, how to practice skills, and which activities they want to complete.

2nd Grade Curriculum

Math

2nd Grade Math

2nd grade students build upon their learning habits and foundational skills from 1st grade. To gain collaboration and cooperation skills, students enjoy working in groups or with partners. 2nd grade students develop executive functioning skills such as organization, attention, perseverance, and time management. In addition, students practice critical thinking skills such as analyzing, organizing, evaluating, and implementing problem-solving strategies. They are empowered to make choices about where to work, how to practice skills, and which activities they want to complete.

Learn more about math across the St. Mark's experience.

Language Arts

2nd Grade Language Arts

As in 1st grade, the 2nd Grade Language Arts program includes reading, writing, grammar, word study, and phonics. Teachers use a structured literacy approach to teach reading based on the Science of Reading, which demonstrates that both word recognition and language comprehension are required for skilled reading. Students learn decoding skills in explicit, sequenced small group lessons. They also engage in lessons about comprehension skills and have ample fluency practice. In 2nd grade, many students transition from learning to read to reading to learn, and the nonfiction units on animals and habitats are a hallmark of the 2nd grade experience.

2nd grade writing is taught using a workshop model, which moves students through a writing process of brainstorming, planning, writing, revising, editing, and publishing. Emphasis is placed on building independence to move between each step of the process. Teachers support students’ individual growth by conferring with students and identifying areas for mini-lessons that are tailored to the needs of each class. Throughout the year, students write fictional stories, nonfiction reports, and personal narratives. Using a multi-sensory approach to learning grammar, students study the parts of speech by connecting each to a color. This helps students learn typical patterns in sentences, so they can eventually compose original sentences of varying lengths and complexities based on the color patterns they learn. Our scientific spelling lessons teach reliable patterns and rules of the English language so that students can learn to think more independently about how to spell words that are less familiar.

Learn more about language arts across the St. Mark's experience.

Social Studies and Thematic Learning

2nd Grade Social Studies and Thematic Studies

As 2nd grade students grow in their reading, writing, and math skills, more social studies and science topics are woven into their daily lessons. 2nd grade students learn map skills and different types of communities, land and water forms, and how communities change over time. Students research and write about habitats with a focus on classifying animals and animal adaptations. After learning about our planet, students learn about outer space.

2nd grade students participate in many STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) challenges throughout the year, which encourage them to try new approaches using imagination and invention. They also learn about many famous inventors and scientists.

Learn more about social studies across the St. Mark's experience.

Science

2nd Grade Science

2nd grade students attend science class twice every six days. Students learn about and engage in the scientific process as well as use many scientific tools such as microscopes, thermometers, and devices to measure time, weight, volume, and capacity. Science process skills include observing qualities, measuring quantities, sorting/classifying, inferring, predicting, experimenting, and communicating. Science experiments offer students many opportunities to work in groups, follow their own interests, explore cause and effect, and get messy!

2nd grade science topics include motion; magnetism; classifying objects; heat, light, and sound; weather patterns and seasonal patterns; properties of soil and rocks; natural resources; objects in the sky; plant parts; animal features and life cycles; food chains; and the interdependence of living things.

Learn more about science across the St. Mark's experience.

Social-Emotional Learning

Lower School Social-Emotional Learning

Lower School classrooms use the Responsive Classroom approach to classroom management. This approach focuses on establishing classroom routines, procedures, and relationships so students learn to make good choices that contribute to a positive learning environment. Students participate in classroom meetings where they discuss class issues, set goals, and practice active listening to work together to reach a common goal. Teachers guide students to collaborate in whole-class and small group settings successfully.

2nd graders focus on showing grit and perseverance through STEAM challenges, which require them to create and follow a plan, test their product, and reflect on the outcome of the challenge.
In 3rd grade, students begin to receive math and language arts grades, which are based on classwork, homework, participation, and work habits. Teachers help students make the transition to receiving grades by showing examples of high-quality work, providing rubrics, and meeting with students one-on-one to discuss areas for improvement along the way.
Our 4th grade program embraces the principles of the Responsive Classroom approach to support emotional well-being and social skills. Every classroom begins the day with a morning meeting, where students work together to establish class expectations, solve problems, and develop a sense of community.

Learn more about social-emotional learning across the St. Mark's experience.

Enrichment Classes

Lower School PE / Athletics

Lower School students attend PE classes twice every six days. In PE, students learn form and technique for many physical skills such as running, throwing, and catching. They learn about good sportsmanship, strategizing with others, and working as part of a team. Formal rules of several sports, including basketball, soccer, and volleyball, are taught and practiced. Students participate in games that involve individual competition, group competition, and cooperation.

In addition to PE, Lower School students have athletic opportunities in the fall, winter, and spring to play on competitive sports teams including soccer, bounce ball, and basketball. These teams are open to all students without tryouts, and they practice and compete after school or on the weekends.

Lower School Spanish

Lower School students build their communicative competence in the Spanish language through listening, speaking, reading, writing, and cultural activities. Meaningful communication is achieved through the use of TPR (Total Physical Response), which combines gestures with words to assist with comprehension in young students’ minds. Social studies, science, language arts, and math topics are integrated into Spanish class, which help students review academic concepts while also acquiring the Spanish language. Students enjoy creating artwork, singing songs, dramatization, and movement to deepen their understanding of the Spanish language and Spanish-speaking cultures and celebrations.

Lower School Library

Lower School students attend Library class one time every six days, but are welcomed into the Library to explore and check out books several times each week. The school librarians love working with students to help them select diverse books from the robust collection. Lower School Library classes teach library skills, literacy skills, and research skills. Students learn skills needed to enjoy and navigate the library, such as using the catalog to search for books and place holds, checking books in and out, finding books in the library using alphabetical order or call numbers, and why and how books are shelved by topic in libraries. Literacy skills include listening to and learning about many genres and types of books as well as features of books. Students study award-winning authors and illustrators, and develop an awareness of characteristics unique to selected authors’ or illustrators’ books. They also learn research skills in Library classes that help them conduct research for their classroom projects, social studies lessons, and science classes. Students explore and practice using a variety of print and digital resources, including PebbleGo and World Book Online. Our Lower School librarian partners with classroom teachers to help students develop basic concepts of citing sources in 1st and 2nd grade, and independently cite sources by 3rd and 4th grade.

Lower School Religion

Our Episcopal identity is at the heart of our school. In addition to attending chapel service each week, students attend Religion classes. Our Religion class employs the Godly Play curriculum, a creative, imaginative, Montessori-based approach to religious education. Children explore the mystery of God’s presence, finding direction in their lives, and making meaning through story, wonder, and play. The Godly Play curriculum is a three-year, spiral curriculum. Within this time, students explore core stories, expanded core stories, and enrichment stories that continue to stretch our student’s biblical knowledge. Lower School students serve as acolytes or readers in chapel services, roles they prepare for during Religion class. As part of our Episcopal identity of welcoming other faiths, students learn about other religious observances incorporated throughout the year.

Lower School Music

Lower School students attend Music class twice every six days. Our Lower School music classes follow the Kodály Today curriculum, a sequenced program emphasizing singing, music literacy, and musicianship skills. Musical elements such as pitches and rhythms are prepared, presented, and practiced through a multi-year sequence, allowing students to gain greater literacy skills. Students develop musicianship through singing, playing instruments, movement and folk dancing, using manipulatives, reading music, improvising, composing, and performing. Students perform for the school community at holiday chapel services and spring concerts, and they learn performance skills and audience manners in preparation for these exciting events.

Lower School Computer Science

Lower School Computer Science teaches students how to safely and effectively navigate technology devices, learn through using technology, share their learning using technology, and code. Students participate in lessons about digital citizenship, learning how to be safe, respectful, and responsible online. They learn how to use functions and features of iPads, apps, and websites. They also learn how to use several apps to conduct research, and practice research skills by working on social studies or science projects. Research apps include online encyclopedias, databases, Google Earth, and online books. Students learn a variety of ways to organize and present information using technology such as Google Docs, Google Drawing, and Google Slides. They use Wixie to create presentations including both visual and auditory components. Students build their typing skills by participating in the TypingClub web app lessons throughout the year. As we move further into technology education, students develop computational thinking skills in preparation for learning to write code and solve other problems.

1st & 2nd Grade Art

1st and 2nd grade students attend art class once every six days, where they learn about artists and art techniques and produce works of their own. Some of the elements of art they learn include line, shape, color, texture, and form, and the principles of design, including emphasis, repetition/pattern, and balance, in nature and human-made environments. Students practice each technique or element they learn, and often create artwork in the style of notable artists. In addition, they create seasonal art and have many opportunities to make choices about how or what they create. Students learn creative problem-solving skills and explore a wide variety of art mediums. Each trimester, students will focus on one time period in art history—Renaissance for the 1st trimester, Impressionism for the 2nd trimester, and Modernism for the 3rd trimester.

Learn more about enrichment courses across the St. Mark's experience.