What children will study this year:

This course is taught by an Art Specialist. It is the goal of the elementary art program to develop an understanding of art that will lead to a lifetime of art appreciation. Students will continue to learn about and create visual artworks by:

• Exploring the elements of art: line, shape, color, texture, value, space and form. They will specifically learn more deeply about color, value, space and texture in second grade.

• Making different types of artwork.

• Using a variety of art materials and tools.

• Learning about artists and how they create art.

• Looking at a variety of artwork.

• Exploring how to create tints and shades.

• Discovering how artists create a feeling of depth in their artworks.

• Exploring how to use different materials to create visual and physical textures.

• Looking at a variety of artwork from around the world, including Ojibwe and Dakota art.

What you can do at home to help:

• Work with your child to create artwork about family, friends or your neighborhood.

• Play an observation game. Look through a paper towel or toilet paper cardboard tube to identify details of an object. Describe the details using the elements of art: line, shape, color, texture, value, space and form.

• Together with your child, create a color scrapbook. Find colors in magazines and cut out pictures of things that are the same color. Or, take pictures of your own to use.

• Together, read picture books about different artists and art.

• Collect objects in nature, such as: pine cones, seeds from trees, leaves, twigs, and small rocks. Ask your child to describe how each object feels. What words describe the texture? (smooth, bumpy, pointy, rough).

• Take your child to a local art museum. The Twin Cities and surrounding area has a wide variety of art to view in person. Visit the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minnesota Museum of American Art, Museum of Russian Art

• Attend special art events at the North Suburban Center for the Arts, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Caponi Art Park, Franconia Sculpture Park, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Silverwood Park.

Grade 2 Art Units:

Unit 1: Texture

What families can do at home to help:

• Put different textured objects in brown paper bags. Without looking, guess what each object is.

• Go for a walk outside. Collect different textured objects. Do texture rubbings by placing paper over an object, and rubbing a crayon sideways over the paper.

• Create a collage using different textures, fabrics, cardboard paper, and other materials.

Unit 2: Space

What families can do at home to help:

• Look at different works of art. Ask your child - what is in the background of the artwork? What is in the middle ground of the artwork? What is in the foreground?

• Experiment with photography. Take a photo of an object, such as a flower. Then, take two more photos - one very close up and another from far away. What photo is the most interesting? Why?

• Take your own family or friend photos. First, have everyone stand the same distance away from the camera. Then another, with people at different distances from the camera. Look at the photos and compare: How do the people look different in each photo?

Unit 3: Color and Value

This unit will be a continuation of what students have learned in 1st grade third trimester, Color. This unit will focus on Color and value color, specifically, tints and shades. The students will be given a variety of materials and activities to demonstrate their knowledge of the Elements of Color and Value. There will be opportunities for guided practice, peer review, critiquing famous artwork and their own artwork.

What families can do at home to help:

• Look at a colored object (such as a tennis ball, or toy car) in different kinds of light: sunlight, flash light, spot light, lamp, etc. How does the color look different with different lighting?

• Gather different shades of paint sample colors from your local hardware store. Choose all of one color, but different degrees of light and dark (tints and shades). Create a game, putting all of the colors in an order, from the lightest to darkest.

Unit 3: Texture

What families can do at home to help:

• Put different textured objects in brown paper bags. Without looking, guess what each object is.

• Go for a walk outside. Collect different textured objects. Do texture rubbings by placing paper over an object, and rubbing a crayon sideways over the paper.

• Create a collage using different textures, fabrics, cardboard paper, and other materials.

What children will study this year:

Technology skills are learned within the context of math, social studies, language, and science curriculum objectives. Students learn to use computers to help prepare them to live in the technology-rich society of the 21st century.

• Login to Chromebook using Anoka Hennepin Login
• Access Lock and Key from district website using Anoka Hennepin Login
• Access teacher approved websites
• Chromebooks Skills
• Read and follow onscreen computer prompts
• Save and retrieve files
• Click and drag text and graphic
• Copy and paste graphics
• Type text in text box
• Manipulating text boxes
• Highlighting text to edit
• Correct posture for keyboarding
• Locate and use keys: shift, delete, =, +, - (dash, minus)
• Coding on Scratch Website

READING

What children will study this year:

SPEAKING, LISTENING, VIEWING

What children will study this year:

• Effectively participates in discussions within a group:
• The student contributes to classroom discussions including small and large groups.
• Presents information and ideas effectively
• The student clearly communicates ideas orally.
• What families can do at home to help:
• Let your child tell and retell stories. Let him or her tell you about experiences. Ask questions and help your child tell events in order.
• Share family stories. Let the child listen and then retell the story to someone else.

WRITING

What children will study this year:

SPELLING

What children will study this year:

• Learn spelling word lists
• Apply spelling strategies

What families can do at home to help:

• Review spelling lists and strategies

Minnesota Department of Education Website for Standard Information
Understanding Your Childs Report Card 
Curriculinks - online activities

What children will study this year:

How to express emotions in a healthy way by:

• Demonstrating an understanding of individual differences.
• Knowing conflict resolution skills.
• Knowing how friends and family influence health.
• The attributes of the District #11 Education for Character Plan.
• Age appropriate personal safety strategies such as:
• Bus safety
• Playground safety
• Bike safety
• Fire safety
• Personal safety.

Grade 2 Health Units

Unit: Character Education
What parents can do at home to help:

• Talk about individual differences in people
• List peaceful ways to solve problems and practice them
• Discuss how friends and family influence health

Unit: Safety
What parents can do at home to help:

• Talk with your child about an escape plan in case of fire. Make sure you have an outside meeting spot. Practice using the escape route.Talk with your child about the Anoka-Hennepin bus policy
• With your child, observe things around the house that may prevent/cause accidents. Have your child tell you what strategies would help prevent accidents.
• Practice what to do if your child is approached by a stranger

Bridges in Mathematics is a comprehensive math curriculum that addresses the Minnesota Standards for Mathematics in a manner that is rigorous, coherent, engaging, and accessible to all learners.

The curriculum focuses on developing children’s’ deep understandings of mathematical concepts, proficiency with key skills, and ability to solve complex and new problems. Bridges taps into the intelligence and strengths of all students by presenting material that is as linguistically, visually, and kinesthetically rich as it is mathematically powerful.

This year in Grade 2 Math, your child will learn to:

• solve two-step addition and subtraction story problems to 100
• add and subtract to 20; know addition facts to 20 by memory
• read and write 3-digit numbers using numerals, words, and expanded notation (726 = 700 + 20 + 6)
• Learns to understand the value of digits in a multi-digit number to at least 3-digits 
• rounds numbers to the nearest 10 and 100
• find a number that is 10 more or 10 less and 100 more and 100 less than a 3 digit number
• use symbols >, =, < to compare and order numbers up to 1000
• add and subtract 2-digit numbers accurately and efficiently, and explain strategies for doing so
• add and subtract 3-digit numbers using models, sketches, and/or numbers, and explain strategies for doing so
• Recognize, create, describe and use patterns and rules to solve problems. 
• Use equations and expressions involving addition, subtraction, and unknowns to represent and solve real-world and mathematical problems; create real-world situations corresponding to given number sentences.
• estimate and measure length in centimeters and meters, inches and feet.
• divide circles and rectangles into two, three, and four equal parts and describe the parts
• recognize, draw, and analyze 2- and 3-D shapes
• solve money problems involving dollars, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies

Bridges in Mathematics Family Overview Letters:

Family Welcome Letter: An introduction to Bridges, including an overview of the year.  Available in English  or  Spanish.

Unit 1:  Figure the Facts:  English  or  Spanish

Unit 2:  Place Value & Measurement with Jack’s Beanstalks:  English  or  Spanish

Unit 3:   Addition & Subtraction Within One Hundred:  English  or  Spanish

Unit 4:  Measurement:  English  or  Spanish

Unit 5:  Place Value to One Thousand:  English  or  Spanish

Unit 6:  Geometry:  English  or  Spanish

Unit 7:  Measurement, Fractions & Multi-Digit Computation with Hungry Ants:  English  or  Spanish

Unit 8 - Measurement, Data & Multi-Digit Computation with Marble Rolls:   English  or  Spanish

Your best source to answer questions and get assistance is your student's teacher. The resources here provide additional guidance and suggestions for how you can participate in your child's learning.

Click on this link to see the free apps that provide visual models featured in Bridges in Mathematics.

Games and Activities to do at Home

Bridges Math at Home  Look for additional fun daily math activities, collections of practice pages, family games and online games from the Math Learning Center.

Bedtime Math  The charitable mission of Bedtime Math is to help kids love numbers so they can handle the math in real life. Bedtime Math makes math part of the family routine. Every day, they serve up a quick bite of wacky math just for fun. Whether it’s flamingos, ninjas or pillow forts, children can see the math in their favorite topics. 

Games for Young Minds  Kent Haines, the developer of this website, has done a lot of legwork pulling together games and resources for families that are fun and mathematically power.

Which One Doesn’t Belong  This website is dedicated to providing thought-provoking puzzles for adults and students alike. There are no answers provided as there are many different and correct ways of choosing which one doesn't belong. Enjoy!

Caregiver Resources

DREME Family Connections  DREME describes home-school connections to help young children see and understand that math is an important part of daily life. 

Four Boosting Messages Everyone can learn math at high levels, according to recent research.  This eight and a half minute video from Stanford University looks at evidence to support a growth mindset for all math learners.

Learning Progression Videos  The Making Sense Progression videos describe the phases of strategies children progress through as they develop number sense and construct understandings of critical mathematical ideas.

Math Learning Center Apps   Families can access these apps without a user name or password, and the apps can be used with iPads, Chrome or a computer's web browser. There’s a tutorial on the website for the apps, but most of the students will know what to do!

Supporting Your Child in Math   This website offers a variety of resources to support families in understanding why we teach math differently today.  These resources provide families with strategies for instilling positive beliefs about mathematics.

Talking Math With Kids  Talking Math with Your Kids is about supporting children’s early mathematical development.  Parents know that we need to read 20 minutes a day with our kids.But teaching math to your kids doesn’t have to be intimidating.  It can be fun. Just as children say goodnight to the moon, they can say hello to numbers, shapes and measurement.

Students visit the Library Media Center once in a digital day cycle for literature appreciation, information literacy instruction and book check-out.
As second graders, students learn to navigate and locate library material, choose topics of personal interest, and explore literature genres.

What children will study this year:

• The location of books he or she is interested in.
• The library has an organization scheme (subjects and authors).
• There are many different forms of literature to explore (genre).
• Borrowing books requires responsible book care.
• Books are a shared resource and need to be returned when due.

Program and Grade Level Understandings articulate what students should understand and be able to do when they leave the K-12 program in Anoka-Hennepin. The grade level understandings demonstrate what students should understand and be able to do when they leave each grade level. The grade level understandings increase in complexity as students progress through the K-12 program.

What children will study this year:

• Pitch - Students begin to discover relationships between specific pitches using specific solfege (sol-mi-do and mi-re-do). Students continue to refine the skill of in-tune singing while beginning to read simple melodies on a music staff using pitch syllables. Performance testing for singing in a group with accurate pitch and rhythm is accomplished. On instruments, emphasis is on the relationship between pitches such as stepping up or down, skipping pitches and big leaps between pitches. Performance testing for playing simple melodies on classroom instruments is accomplished.

• Rhythm - Beat patterns in sets of two and three are emphasized. Students continue to read, sing, play instruments, and improvise simple rhythms adding tied quarter notes, half notes, half rests, and dotted half notes.  They will begin to understand compound rhythms, and begin to distinguish music as simple or compound and add dotted quarter notes, dotted quarter rests, and groups of three eighth notes to their knowledge bank of known rhythms. 

• Elements of Music - Students continue to analyze how compositions are put together and demonstrate knowledge of expressive qualities in music.

• History and Culture - Students learn to recognize and describe various sounds of instruments, music from many cultures including Minnesota American Indian and various styles of music, both vocal and instrumental.

What families can do at home to help:

• Sing familiar and traditional childhood songs as part of daily life

• Have family members share music by singing, dancing, playing instruments, or listening to favorite recordings

• Have your child keep a song notebook. He/she can list songs that he/she knows and write a note about what he/she thinks of the song.

• Use a recording device (i.e. tape recorder, computer, etc.) to record your child's singing and listen to it to hear how he/she could improve.

• Have your child share songs learned in the music classroom.

• Play a keyboard instrument and have your child determine if the sounds are stepping up or down, repeating, or leaping up or down.

• Have your child draw a five line music staff and then draw pitches. Have them explain how it works.

• Have your child create a melody that can be sung using a poem as the words of the song.

GRADE 2 MUSIC UNITS

Pitch – Sol/Mi/Do

This is a unit in which students will learn a new pitch labeled Do (low). Through singing, reading, notating, creating, improvising, playing, moving, and listening, students will become familiar with the pitch Do. This will be accomplished using the instructional format: prepare, present, practice, and assess. Students will also develop their ability to respond to music in a variety of ways. 

Pitch – Mi/Re/Do

This is a unit in which students will learn new pitches labeled Mi-Re-Do . Through singing, reading, notating, creating, improvising, playing, moving, and listening, students will become familiar with the pitches Mi-Re-Do. This will be accomplished using the instructional format prepare, present, practice, and assess. Students will continue to develop their ability to respond to music in a variety of ways.

Rhythm – Ties, Half Note, Half Rest, Dotted Half Note

In this unit, students will continue to sing and play using known rhythms and adding half notes (tied quarter notes) (du-u), half rest (two beats of silence) and dotted half notes (a longer sound - half note tied to a quarter note). Students will begin to develop an understanding that music is present in every culture, is a reflection of culture, and promotes an appreciation of other cultures, through the use of singing, playing, creating, moving, listening, improvising, and conversing. Students will develop their ability to respond to music in a variety of ways. Students will create and perform an original 16-beat composition, using known rhythms.

Compound Rhythm – Three Eighth Notes, Dotted Quarter Note/Rest, Dotted Half Note

In this unit, students will continue to sing and play using known rhythms and add three eighth notes (du-da-di), dotted quarter notes (du), dotted quarter rests (silence) and dotted half notes (du-u).  Students will discover that music is in simple or compound time.  Students will continue to develop an understanding that music is present in every culture, is a reflection of culture, and promotes an appreciation of other cultures, through the use of singing, playing, creating, moving, listening, improvising, and conversing. Students will develop their ability to respond to music in a variety of ways. Students will create and perform an original 16-beat composition, using known rhythms.

Critical Response

The overarching goal of this unit is that students will analyze, evaluate, respond and connect to music from many different cultures. Students will realize that music is a form of communication, and there are meaningful connections between music and other aspects of life.

What children will study this year:

• Locomotor Movement Skills: running, jumping, hopping, galloping and skipping.

• Manipulative Skills: Underhand throwing and rolling, overhand throwing and catching, dribbling with both hands and feet, volleying and striking.

• Students continue to learn about their heart, muscles and bones and the function they play in their body.

• Understand and demonstrate rules and procedures to help them play fair.

• Nutrition and the importance of the food plate.

• Spatial Awareness

• Teamwork 

• Sportsmanship

In order to participate safely and successfully, students should have tennis shoes for physical education activities and recess.

Adaptations and modifications will be made for students on an as needed basis.

What families can do at home to help:

It is important that youth of today develop regular exercise habits and activities that will be continued throughout life. In order for our children to become truly fit, these fitness activities must extend beyond the school day. Family and friends can have a major impact on a child's level of physical activity in many different ways.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION UNITS

Unit: Cardiovascular Fitness, Locomotor, Soccer, Underhand Throw/Roll

Students will learn about cardiovascular fitness and will be asked to identify activities that will change their heart rate. Students will begin to understand that there is a direct correlation between exercise/activities and heart rate.  Discussions in class will include topics about sportsmanship, safety and teamwork. Activities in this unit will focus on hand/eye and eye/foot coordination through various units which include: Soccer, Bowling and Tag Games.

Unit: Muscular Fitness, Non-locomotor, Overhand Throwing/Catching, Dribbling, Volleying and Striking

Students will learn to recognize the difference between bones and muscles and their purpose. Activities in this unit will focus on hand/eye coordination and spatial awareness through various units which include: Basketball, Volleyball, Tumbling and Floor Hockey.

Unit: Nutrition, Jump Rope, Striking, Track and Field

Students will be introduced to the food plate. Students will learn to identify foods, and place food in appropriate groups. They will learn how lifelong activities promote personal health and physical fitness. They will develop an understanding of different activities that they can participate in at any age. Activities in this unit will focus on hand/eye and eye/foot coordination through various units which include: Jump Rope, Pickleball and Track and Field events.

Grade 2 Science Units:

• Students will solve problems by using measurement and data to analyze properties of materials.
• Students will design an investigation to test the heating and cooling effects on multiple materials. 
• Students will analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.

Unit: Earth Science

• Students will compare multiple solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land.
• Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
• Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

• Students will plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
• Learners make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.
• Students will develop a model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.

What children will study this year:

The second grade social studies program is hands-on and content- rich. During the school year, children learn how people live together in communities. Topics include:

• Citizenship: Rules, rights and responsibilities in our community. Economics: Thoughtful decision-makers.
• History: Dakota and Anishinaabe people.
• Geography: Human interaction with the environment.
• Geography skills: Read and create maps, use globes and locate physical features.

Grade 2 Social Studies Units:

What families can do at home to help:

• Discuss the roles of each family member. Discuss the roles of school staff. How are they the same? How are they different?
• Discuss rules at home and rules at school. How are they different? How are they the same?
• Discuss what your family could do to make your home or community a better place to live.

Curriculum Information for Families - Academic Standards, what students should know and be able to do, and vocabulary.

Unit: History: Dakota and Anishinaabe: This unit examines history through the lenses of the Dakota and Anishinaabe peoples. Students will learn about daily life for Minnesota Dakota and Anishinaabe peoples in different times, including before European contact and today. Students will learn how the culture of a community reflects the history, daily life or beliefs of its people. Students will use historical records and artifacts to describe how people’s lives have changed over time. Students will use the seasons to measure the passing of time and discover how each season influences the interactions of Anishinaabe community

• Visit the library to learn more about the Dakota and Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) People.
• Help children explore (make and eat) some of the foods that are important to the native people of Minnesota. Research recipes that use wild rice, corn, or real maple syrup.
• Conduct online research to find activities sponsored by tribal groups that are native to Minnesota. Example: The Mille Lacs Indian Museum is a museum dedicated to the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe's history, culture, and contemporary life.

Curriculum Information for Families - Academic Standards, what students should know and be able to do, and vocabulary.

Unit: Geography Understanding Maps and the Environment: In this unit, students will learn and understand why the world around them is important in their lives. Through experiences with maps and globes, students will identify and locate landforms and landmarks, answer questions about places, and think about the interactions between humans and the environment.

What families can do at home to help:

• Teach your child the home address.
• Use a map (city map or draw your own) to locate home, school, place of worship, grocery store, etc.
• Examine a Minnesota or USA map. Locate places your family has visited or would like to visit in the future.

Curriculum Information for Families - Academic Standards, what students should know and be able to do, and vocabulary.