Second Grade Language Arts

Instructor: Dawn Modrak

Curriculum Map   2nd Grade Class Pages

Teaching the writing process and writing for a purpose is a big part of our curriculum at Woodlawn.  Students at Woodlawn write not only in Language Arts class but also in social studies, science, math, service, and even enrichment classes. Our meaningful written pieces would not be possible without the skills and patterns that are taught in daily spelling and grammar exercises.  Our Sitton Spelling program emphasizes spelling patterns and high frequency words rather than memorization of a list of weekly words.  It is a a spell-to write program that integrates rules grammar and writing in each lesson.  Students also work weekly on Grammar skills such as punctuation, capitalization, parts of speech, and good sentence structure.  These lessons are presented through literature books called Grammar Tales.  The goal of Grammar Tales is for students to learn about grammar within a written context and then apply what is learned through skill and drill to their writing pieces.

Our second graders at Woodlawn truly develop a love for reading and writing!  The year kicks off with an in-depth study of family history and personal experiences. Second graders examine their family roots through interviews and the gathering of photographs that showcase extended family members and generations.  In class, students are presented with literature that reinforces the fact that all families are diverse.  With the help of the art teacher, they move on to create a family tree on canvas in order to develop a deeper understanding of their own family history.  An in-depth study of artist and children’s book author, Tomie dePaola, is also introduced during the month of September.  Students learn about Tomie dePaola's life growing up as a young boy by reading his four-part autobiographical series entitled, 26 Fairmount Avenue.  Through whole group reading instruction, students learn to make predictions in order to enhance comprehension, strengthen their vocabulary by identifying words within the text, and develop the skill of making text-to-self connections in order to engage in verbal and written responses .  Second grade students also examine Tomie's writing style of as they discuss his books on a daily basis.  This is accomplished during daily mini-lessons that focus on writer's voice.   Finally, over the course of the first trimester, students write their own autobiography.  Students interview their parents in order to gather details and important information about their lives.  Then, borrowing the writing style of Tomie, compose "chapters" in class that focus on their own life from birth to 7 years old.  A beautifully published autobiography is completed at the end of the trimester that has been written and illustrated in the style of Tomie dePaola.   Interspersed among the four-part autobiographical series, is folklore written by Tomie dePaola.  Students listen to stories around holiday times such as The Legend of the BlueBonnet and The Legend of Old Befana.   During the second trimester, students have an opportunity to create their own legends using the author's writing style once again as their inspiration.  Also this year, second graders will learn about different types of poetry and they write and present their poetic works. They round out the year in reading with literature from the historical fiction genres which compliments their social studies curriculum of the symbols of the United States.

2007-2008 Language Arts Archives