Mrs. Roduner's Class

Teacher: Mrs. Roduner
Room #: 119
Grade: 2
Courses to be taught:

Language Arts
1. Handwriting
2. Religion
3. Math
4. Social Studies
5. Science

Reference Materials:

Subject

Publisher

Title

Copyright

Reading

MacMillian Mcgraw Hill

Treasures Reading 2-1 (Text)

Treasure Reading 2-2 (Text)

Practice Book O ( workbook)

2009

Grammar

Loyola Press

Grammar (workbook)

2007

Spelling

McGraw Hill

Spelling (workbook)

2009

Handwriting

Scott Foresman

D’Nealian Handwriting (workbook)

2008

Religion

Harcourt

Call to Faith

2009

Math

My Math

McGraw-Hill

2014

Social Studies

My World Social Studies

2013

Science

Pearson

Interactive Science (workbook)

2012

Summary of subjects:
1. Language Arts
  
  The McGraw-Hill Reading Program integrates literature and phonics to increase each student’s reading and writing skills. Each week a new reading selection is introduced and we work on decoding the words along with comprehending the stories we read. Students are taught a variety of skills, such as predicting, summarizing, and drawing conclusions. Our students listen to us read aloud and they are given many opportunities to practice their reading, by themselves and with others. We encourage daily reading at home. This can be reading aloud, silent reading, or reading with a parent.
  
  Our Grammar book is Voyages in English. Writing skills are taught using the 6 Trait Method.
  
  Spelling
  
  We’ll have 15 words to study each week. On Monday the children will have a pre-test over the regular list. If they do well, they will be given words from the challenge list to study during the week. On Friday, everyone will have a spelling test. Children will develop their spelling skills through dictation sentences, spelling games, and proofreading. Dictionary skills will also be taught.
  
  Correct spelling will be emphasized in all subjects.
2. Handwriting
  
  The D’Nealian style of handwriting is used at St. Stephen’s. The Second Graders review the manuscript lower and upper case letters. Then they learn the cursive lower case letters followed by the upper case letters. By the end of the year the students can read and write in cursive.
3. Religion
  
  We are committed to being partners with you in nurturing your child’s faith. Second Grade is an important year in developing a closer relationship with Jesus. Your child will prepare for two sacraments: Reconciliation, which is celebrated during Advent, and First Communion, which is celebrated on April 10, 2016. There will be one parent meeting before each sacrament. A highlight of the year is an All School Mass in late spring, which is followed by the First Communion Breakfast where the Second Graders are recognized for their accomplishments. A community of faith is fostered through daily prayer, participation at Mass, Scripture, stories, discussion, and activities that promote care and respect for all people.
4. Math
  
  Students develop math concepts and skills through problem solving, reasoning, and hands on activities. They will gain an understanding of numbers into the thousands and will learn how to add and subtract 3-digit numbers with regrouping. Other key topics include: graphing, money, geometry, fractions, measurement, time and calendar. Students will also be introduced to multiplication and division. Learning the basic facts to 20 is a key part of our year. Knowing these facts quickly lays the foundation for more success with math. We use math games, flashcards, and FASTTMath, a software program, to reinforce these facts.
5. Social Studies
  
  We begin our study with how people are part of a community and how they work together to be good citizens. The students will find out how we choose our leaders and how our government is organized. They will name patriotic symbols and actions. As we examine maps and globes, we'll learn about the physical features of the earth and how we use natural resources. Learning about our past will help us appreciate the diversity of cultures and the contributions of many people.
6. Science
  
  Students will broaden their understanding of the world as they observe, question, make predictions, and do experiments. Some of the topics we cover are life cycles, the food chain, magnets, weather, rocks, patterns in the universe, the seasons, and health. Recognizing the contributions to science from many people will also be explored.
Length and frequency of courses:
1. All subjects will be taught on a daily basis other than Social Studies and Science, which will be alternated by days.
Primary content areas to be addressed throughout the year:

Quarter 1

Quarter 2

Quarter 3

Quarter 4

Reading

· Relationships

· Growth & Change

· Better Together

· Land, Sea, Sky

· Discoveries

· Expressions

Grammar

· Statements, questions, commands, & exclamations

· Subjects & predicates

· Sentence combining

· Nouns: plural, proper, possessive, plural & possessives

· Verbs: actions, present-tense, the verb have

· Verbs: Linking, helping irregular

· Contractions

· Pronouns: possessive, pronoun-verb agreement

· I and me, we and us

· Adjectives and adjectives that compare

· Article a and an

· Adverbs

· Synonyms & antonyms

Spelling

· Long and short: a, e, i , o, and u

· Blends: sl, dr, sk, sp, st, scr, spr, str

· Digraphs: ch, sh, th, wh, tch, ph

· R-controlled vowels: ar, or, er, ir, ur, are, air, eer, ere, ear, ore, oar, ire, ier, ure

· Variant Vowel: oo, ou, ui, ew, au, aw

· Diphthong- ow, ou, oi, oy

· Silent Consonants: gn, kn, wr, mb

· Hard/soft consonants: c, g

· Endings: dge, ge, lge, nge, and rge

Writing

· Personal Narratives

· How-To

· Persuasive essays

· Reports

· Stories

· Compare and Contrast article

Religion

· God’s creation

· Jesus is our Savior

· The Bible

· God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit

· Love God and others

· Making good choices

· God’s mercy

· The sacraments

· Reconciliation

· The Church year

· Caring for all people

· Sharing the Good News

· Prayer

· Gather to Worship

· Listen to God’s Word

· Jesus’ sacrifice

· Sharing a holy meal

· First Eucharist

· The Church’s mission

· Forever in Heaven

· Mary

Science

Science engineering, & technology

· The nature of science

· Technology and tools

Life science

· Plants & animals

Growing & changing

Earth Science

· Earth’s materials

· The solar system

· Weather

Physical Science

· Matter

Energy, motion, & force

Social Studies

Governing the people

· Citizens in a community

· Our leaders

· Our country’s government

· Community and state governments

The world around us

· Maps & locations

· North America

· Seasons & climate

· World Regions

Using Our Resources

· Land and water resources

· People settle

· Changing our environment

· Connecting communities

People Long Ago

· Changes in people and places

· Early America

· Independence

· American Heritage

· Heroes & Holidays

A Word of Many People

· Word culture

· Many people, one country

· Celebrating culture

· Recognizing Americans

People in the Market place

· Producers & consumers

· Work & income

· From factory to you

· How much & how many

· Barter & trade

Handwriting

· Review upper and lowercase manuscript letters.

· Learn upper and lowercase cursive letters.

Math

· Number concepts and patterns to 100

· Adding and subtracting facts

· Data analysis

· Place value

· Plane and solid shapes

· Fractions

· Regrouping with addition

· Regrouping with subtraction

· Money

· Time

· Measurement

· Multiplication and division

· Numbers to 1,000

· Adding and subtracting 3 digit numbers

Types of assessments & frequency:

Students will be assessed on Spelling and Reading on a weekly basis. Math, Science, Social Studies, and Religion will be assessed at the end of every unit.
FASSTMath ( math facts, will be done three times a week.)
Writing skills are assessed in the fall and spring using writing prompts and the 6 Trait Writing Method.
All Omaha Catholic School students are given an Archdiocesan Assessment each year. The results of these assessments will be recorded and reported to the Archdiocese. These scores are used to gauge student achievement, develop new teaching and learning strategies, and to examine curriculum. This year, Second Graders will be required to complete the following Special Projects. The assessments are completed at school.

Special Projects:

Subject

Description

Approximate Date

Math

“Survey Says”

· Graphs

2nd Quarter

Science

“Circle of Life”:

· Habitats

3rd Quarter

Religion

“Talking with God”:

· Prayer

2nd Quarter

Tentative schedule for field trips:

Fontanelle Forest
The Rose Theater
CAPOW! Science show
Omaha Children’s Museum

Grading Scale:

E à 93-100

S+ à 86-92

S à 78-85

S- à 70-77

U à Below 70

Criteria for grading late and missed assignments:
1. If a student does not complete an assignment on time, then he/she may need to stay inside from recess or remain after school (with parent notification) to finish their work. No points will be taken off.
Policy for students who will be completing work after an absence:
1. If a student is ill, he/she will generally have a day or two to catch up on missed work. The sooner the better. However, if it is a severe illness, then we can discuss extending the time.
2. If a student has a preplanned absence, then please contact me prior to their leave.
Sycamore

Sycamore is a secure online site where student grades are entered by the teacher. You have access to your student’s records by going to the website and using the activation code and parent code you will receive from our IT manager, Tom Marble. If you have problems logging on please contact Tom at t.marble@stephen.org. Students’ grades are posted to Sycamore at least every two weeks if not more often.

Behavior Policy (directly from our Family Handbook):
1. Our Primary grades utilize a flip card system. Should the student fail to comply with the rules governing behavior, the student will be verbally warned. In the case of second offense within the day, the student will have their card flipped on the classroom discipline chart. On this chart the student has colored cards with each card representing a different consequence.
  
  Each card represents a different consequence.

Please refer to page 9 of the Family Handbook for further information.

We are using the Boys Town Model of Well – Managed Schools. We work to create a culture of respect and responsibility. We praise students for taking responsibility for their actions (School Rule #1), and try to prevent poor choices by teaching skills, procedures, and expectations of behavior. Other school rules are:

2. We will include everyone in our group activities.

3. We will help others if they are being bullied.

Guidelines for parents offering student assistance with homework:
1. Please help your child with homework only as needed.
Policy for mastery learning, test retakes, and extra credit:
1. In order to master learning, students should perform at an 80% level or higher.
2. Test retakes are allowed to bring student’s grade up to the 80% level. This includes all subjects except for Spelling and Reading.
3. No extra credit points will be given.
Expectations of homework:
1. Plan on twenty minutes of homework per night, Monday through Thursday. This will include work from school, but should also vary to include math fact practice, spelling practice and reading to self to get students into the habit of spending a total of 20 minutes a night on practice and reinforcement of the daily skills we are working on.
Differentiation : We work to meet the needs of every child by varying the assignments and by using a variety of methods to provide instruction.
Contact Information:

Please feel free to contact me by email or phone.

Email: m.roduner@stephen.org (preferred method)

Phone: 402-896-0754
When and how often you can expect to hear from me:

Please look for our weekly newsletter and classroom updates in your email box Sunday evenings. I will contact you through email or phone for specific matters regarding your child.