​Curriculum Used in our Combined First and Second Grade

SCIENCE: Astronomy!
Explore the vastness of the universe with us!. Study the basics of the field of astronomy, the sun, moon, planets, asteroids & meteors, the Kuiper Belt and Dwarf Planets, galaxies, and more through conversational lessons and plenty of hands on projects that will keep your student interested and engaged for each two week lesson!
Topics Covered Include:

What is Astronomy?
The Sun
Mercury
Venus
Earth
The Moon
Mars

Space Rocks!
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Stars, Galaxies, and
​Space Travel

Social Studies
Witness the rise and fall of ancient empires as your student discovers a condensed version of history from the earliest nomads in 5000BC through 1600AD.  What terrible secret was buried in Shi Huangdi’s tomb? Did nomads like lizard stew? What happened to Anansi the Spider in the Village of the Plantains?  Who discovered chocolate? What happened to the Giant Fovor of the Mighty Blows? And why did the Ottoman Turks drag their war ships across dry land? Using visual, auditory, and kinetic learning in our project based approach, your student will  find out the answer to these and more! 

​Topics Covered Include:
The Earliest People
The Egyptians
The First Writing
The Old Kingdom of Egypt
The First Sumerian Dictator
The Jewish People
Hammurabi and the Babylonians
The Assyrians
The First Cities of India
The Far East: Ancient China
Ancient Africa
The Middle Kingdom of Egypt
The New Kingdom of Egypt
The Israelites Leave Egypt
The Phoenicians
The Return of Assyria
Babylon Takes Over Again
Life in Early Crete
The Early Greeks
Greece Gets Civilized Again
Medes and Persians
Sparta and Athens
Rome's War with Carthage
 The Aryans of India

The People of the Americas
The Rise of Rome
The Roman Empire The Greek Gods
The Wars of the Greeks
Alexander the GreatThe glory that was Rome
The early days of Britain
​Christianity comes to Britain
The Byzantine Empire
The medieval Indian Empire
The Rise of Islam
Islam Becomes an Empire
The Great Dynasties of China
East of China
The Bottom of the World
The Kingdom of the Franks
The Islamic Invasion
The Great Kings of France
The Arrival of the Norsemen
 The First Kings of England
England After the ConquestKnights and Samurai
The Age of Crusades
A New Kind of King

The Diaspora
The Mongols Devastate the East
Exploring the Mysterious East
 The First RussiansThe Ottoman Empire​​
The End of the World
 France and England at War
War for the English Throne
The Kingdoms of Spain and Portugal
African Kingdoms
India Under the Moghuls
Exploring New Worlds
The American Kingdoms
Spain, Portugal, and the New World
Martin Luther's New Ideas
The Renaissance
Reformation and Counter Reformation
The New UniverseEngland's Greatest Queen
England's Greatest Playwright
New Ventures to the Americas
Explorations in the North
Explorations in the North
Empires Collide

Language Art and Reading

At the Lab School we make sure each child progresses at the level he/she is comfortably ready for. We use centers and the Daily Five method to ensure your child is getting time specifically set aside for his/her level of instruction in reading.  Language Arts will be combined as much as possible and work will be expected at the appropriate level. We will also be exploring at least one chapter book together each month.  Feel free to visit our list below to see what your child will discover as we add these chapter books to our picture books!
​Please see the information below for each level as it pertains to your child.

1st Grade:

2nd Grade:

Phonics instruction continues as your first grade student builds his or her reading skills.  This year reading fluency increases and comprehension skills develop.  Building upon what your student already knows, they will also:

• Learn and apply 85 additional sounds and clue words  including consonant blends, diphthongs, digraphs, 11suffixes, and 5 prefixes
• Understand that syllables are parts of words
• Be able to identify root words
• Demonstrate the ability to add suffixes using the suffix rules
• When a root word ends with a single consonant and the vowel is short, the consonant is usually doubled before adding a suffix beginning with a vowel.
• When a root word ends with a silent e, the e is usually dropped before adding a suffix that begins with a vowel
• Demonstrate ability to add prefixes to root words correctly
• Correctly divide words into syllables between double consonants, root words and suffixes, a vowel and a consonant, two differing consonants, prefixes and root words
• Apply phonics concepts to reading

Reading Skills will move on from simply sounding out word to reading phrases and complete sentences and comprehending/discussing what is being read.  
Students will be introduced to:

• Matching pictures with descriptive phrases or sentences
• Choosing correct sentences for telling events in story
• Numbering pictures in correct story sequence
• Marking root words and suffixes
• Identifying parts of compound words
• Forming contractions
• Matching rhyming words; writing rhyming words
• Matching a picture with the correct homonym
• Reading comprehension question and circling the correct answer

Grammar instruction will begin this year.  In addition to memorizing a minimum of 6 poems, your student will cover:

• nouns
• verbs
• story  and picture narrations
• oral usage work on often confusing words
• introduction to copy work

Chapter books we will be exploring together this year:

 Pippi Longstocking  by Astrid Lindgren
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
 The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden
Dominic by William Steig
Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater
The Chocolate Touchby Patrick Skene Catling
The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
Ribsy by Beverly Cleary
The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes
Freckle Juice by Judy Blume
The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown

We continue the phonics journey in second grade with reading practice and comprehension awareness.  This year your student will learn to:

• List all the sounds in a given word after it is orally dictated
• Identify sounds in a given word and know why that sound is used
• Choose the correct sound in a given word when there is more thanone spelling for that sound
• Use prefixes correctly when heard in a dictated word
• Recognizing silent letters in words such as gn in gnat, kn in knot, wr in wrinkle, and eigh in eight
• Use suffixes correctly when heard in a dictated word
• Adding more than one suffix to a word
• Recognize choices in the spelling of special sounds having or con- taining the same sound
• Read compound words with speed and accuracy
• Read “challenge words“ with speed and accuracy
• Develop listening through dictated sentences; using phonics application skills while students:
  • Remember each word
  • Spell each word correctly
  • Spell contractions correctly
  • Spell number words, days of the week, months of the year
  • Capitalize correctly based on rules learned
  • Choose correct ending punctuation 
• Identify the number of syllables in a given word
• Demonstrate ability to add prefixes and suffixes to a root word while spelling the new word correctly by applying the following rules
• Using commas to separate three of more items in a series
• Recognize complete sentences
• Recognize questions, exclamations, and commands
• Learn terms: exclamatory, declarative, interrogative, and imperative sentences
• Define and identify nouns
• Define and identify verbs
• Define and identify adjectives that tell what kind and how many Define and identify adverbs that tell how
• Identifying complete subject and predicate of sentence
• Identifying simple subject and predicate of sentence
• Diagramming simple subject and predicate of sentence
• Singular and plural words; singular possessives
• Correctly use words such as sit, sat, set; learn, teach; may, can; to, too, two; right, write; blue, blew
• Abbreviate days of the week, months of the year, selected English measures, selected titles such as Dr., Mr., Mrs.
• ​Correctly use a dictionary (terms: guide words, entry, definition)​

Handwriting

Writing skills, Penmanship:
(for information on why we teach cursive, please visit our "about us" or "curriculum" page)
As your student continues their writing instruction, new information learned will include:
Learn formation for remaining 14 capital letters
Paragraphs and poems
Halfway through the year, your student will shift focus and begin work on learning the writing process: read and gather, think and plan, write and rewrite, check and polish, share results,
use proper punctuation and capitalization; simple sentence structure; recognize difference between phrases and sentences; fill in missing words in sentences; write sentences using suggested words; choose titles; develop stories using assigned themes; solving riddles; sequencing; writing a process summary, starting/concluding sentences; writing friendly letters
Compositions include these themes:
Animal, historical, seasonal, character building, plants, school, ocean, "how to"