Students spend a good portion of their academic day engaged in various Language Arts components. Under this heading are the subjects reading, writing, and word study. These three areas are intertwined to maximize growth for students to become strong and proficient communicators.
In reading, students focus on improving their fluency, perfecting their accuracy and deepening their comprehension skills. Whole group and small group instruction are two approaches used to help students achieve in the area of reading. Reading strategies are taught and reinforced each nine weeks in both whole group and small group settings. Students have opportunities for self-selected reading, as well as reading across the curriculum.
Individual D.R.A. tests and county Benchmark tests are given quarterly to assess students in order to see their growth throughout the year.
Writing encompasses the areas of grammar and the process of writing. Second graders use the six traits of writing to help understand the process of writing. Students are building upon the foundation they have mastered and are applying skills to their written pieces. Rubrics are tools used to help students understand what needs to be developed in their works and also reinforces what they have successfully achieved in this area. Writing complete sentences, questions, friendly letters and short stories with a beginning, middle and ending are just a few topics your second grader will work on.
Word Study is the third focus in the area of Language Arts. A standard word assessment is given at the beginning of the year to all students and then each child is taught according to their skill level. Word patterns through the use of phonics and phonemic awareness is the focus for this area. Activities used to master the patterns include sorts, alphabetical order, dictionary skills, word games, and weekly tests. Students continue to be assessed throughout the course of the year to see the progress they are making.
All three areas of language arts build upon each other in order for second graders to become proficient communicators, readers, writers and speakers.