Hosting Authors’ Teas, memorizing Math Facts, creating Brown Bag Book Reports – these are just a few of the highlights of second grade at Community.

Other firsts include eating with the “big kids” during the second lunch period, and beginning to play recorders in music class.

At this level, children work independently, as well as cooperatively in small groups. Students also frequently work one-on-one with a teacher, often sitting on a comfortable bench right outside the classroom door.

Students write reflection journals, as well as focus on expository writing. They begin to learn the skills of self-editing.

Another fun project this year is the Book Chain. Every time students read a book, they get to add a link to a paper chain that soon stretches around the classroom. In the spring, the chain goes outside, where students must investigate multiple ways to estimate and measure its length. No small feat, considering that most years, the chain is over 200 feet long!

The over-arching theme of second grade is citizenship. What does it mean to be a citizen of the United States? Of the world? Other units include the Constitution, biographies of people who have made significant contributions to the world, geography and cultures, and India.