What does/did 2nd grade look like in your house? What do you use and like and what do you wish you hadn't used? Fill me in with all you got! I am feeling very lost for this up coming year, for some reason. Thanks!
Well this week 2nd grade looks like it has a REALLY bad attitude. For curriculum we're using: Math u See All About Spelling Scott Foresman free grammar (found online) He reads Magic Tree House books and the companion fact trackers for reading and social studies/geography/history etc. I have him do different types of reports and activities to go with the topic of the books.
We have a 2nd grader and here is what her school looks like: -Horizons Math 2 (we switched to MUS halfway through to help her understand more of the underlying concepts - she is a multisensory learner) -Life of Fred elementary series as a supplement -Seton's English For Young Catholics 2 (we did GWG last year and it was okay...just okay. Even Seton is okay IMO; adding fun little supplements from time to time works for us) -AAS - DD has mild dyslexia and receives an Orton Gillingham-ish method with her biweekly tutoring sessions, so AAS really compliments that for her -Writing - we use a little of this, a little of that. I started using some Write Source I rec'd from a friend and it seems pretty good; she also has some paragraph writing in Seton's English so far, too) -Reading - I devised a read-aloud list of some classics (and fun, newer books), as well as a reading list for her as she progresses -Apologia Zoology 2 Young Explorers with the Junior Notebooking Journal - 3 weeks in and LOVE it (I teach it rather than read it to them and supplement whenever possible) -SOTW 1 - we love this one, too! -Spanish - Kaleeka Press -Typing - BBC Dance Mat online (free) and Typing Island -Logic - Critical Thinking Co's Mind Benders and some random workbooks
We have 2nd Grade and are loving some books we were able to borrow from a friend. - Evan Moore Daily Writing - Evan Moore "How to Write a Story" - Evan Moore "Daily Language review" All About Spelling is not working as well for us this year, but partly b/c DS has decided it's not very fun. So it's like pulling teeth to get him to do the lessons. We do lots of reading aloud (we take turns), and he narrates at the end of each chapter to check for comprehension. Math - using "Jump Math" which he does well enough, but we may switch next year... I feel like he could do more than that... not sure. Supplement with Ipad apps to practice math facts or geography names. I have been working on a map of our country with him - provinces, oceans... Bible memory and covering major stories. Science - eclectic ... interest lead... an animal report with poster, nature journaling, comparing common animals, food chain stuff, random experiments that he thinks of... Plus we do a weekly music class that does singing, rhythm, piano and theory. We are light on PE. Just depends if there is something cheap and fun offered at the rec-center. But we play outside often and go on hikes.
We are just about to finish up the 2nd grade(only 24 more lessons!!!!!) We have used Abeka for math, language, phonics, writing and reading. We also used Story of the World for history and science we did a basic plant and animal science units that I put together myself.
I have been looking at these. Do you like all three? Are all three needed, you think? How long do they take? Sorry for all the questions.
These are the second grade level books we've liked: Singapore Math Life of Fred Evan Moore Daily word problems (There is one per day, but we usually did 2-4 per day.) Evan Moore Geography (They also have 1-2 questions per day, but we do 2-4 sections.) Evan Moore Paragraph Writing Evan Moore Super Sentences (This was good for my slower student because there is a lot of repetition.) Evan Moore Language Fundamentals I really love the Evan Moore books we've used. They have short, simple lessons that focus on one skill at a time.
I have used the following: Math- McRuffy (with a bit of Math U See) LA- AAS, Sonlight LA 2, ETC books, Handwriting Without Tears Science- Nature Study History- Sonlight Core C Geography- SL C + Evan Moore Daily Geography Art and music when we can! =) PE- swimming lessons, skiing lessons, etc. =)
Horizon Math- works wonderfully for teaching and enjoying maths- we used it for 2/3 of my kids we did lots of trips to the library and got books , colorful story books, to make it fun and exciting to read more we used the I CAN READ books ( you can buy them from scholastics.com or walmart) As for how the room looked I got lots of posters about what we were learning ( grammar posters helped me as a child so I got them for my kids) I still ahve multiplication chart on my wall, maps of whatever we learn about and l ike for istance the scientific method kid type of chart poster , I have it up cause its great to bring to mind what to do now even.
I wouldn't say all three are needed. I think my favorite (If I could only pick one) would be Daily Language Review - because it covers so many topics in quick easy chunks. The "How to write a Story" I would only buy if you are going to use it again or think you can sell it. It's awesome, but it would only take a couple of months to complete all of the content. We're doing a bit of a study on how to write a story, and it's one of the books I borrowed. This one takes 5 min to do each activity. For the "Daily" books they have (there are many titles), it would be worth getting the ebook version. I have a math one on ebook. You can't really sell those later, but it's so convenient to just print off the relevant pages. Activities are longer, meant to be a whole lesson or two. The daily Writing with 6 traits book is a good book to teach the process of writing. We haven't done all of it. But I think it was worth the $. It explains how to teach the activity, and it approaches the ideas in a variety of ways. (A good 15 or 20 min activity where you can explain it and walk away while they do the job) Hope that helps! I'm a huge fan of Evan Moor resources.
This was a huge help, thanks! In your opion, is the Daily Language Review enough Language for a 2nd grader?
If that's all you use, you would need to add some instruction about the topics it covers. Although, there are answers included so you can be sure you have the right idea yourself when you teach it. I'd say its enough to teach basic grammar and editing. I would add some instruction on writing stories or paragraphs at some point. But there are lots of free ideas online. Also on another thread someone has been posting about "writing strands" This book might be a good companion to that one.
We use Life of Fred for math, BJU spelling, Handwriting without tears, Schoolastic Reading comprehension and editing workbooks. And we READ READ READ!!! I am a super relaxed hs'er though And my 2nd grader just turned 7.
