Second-Grade

Meet the 2nd grade team

Dear Families,

We would like to welcome you to second grade and thank you for choosing HCES as your school. At HCES you will find dedicated teachers ready to meet you! We have a vast background of teaching experience and skills, which we use to meet the needs of all second-grade students. Together we plan and prepare the curriculum that will meet the needs of all students in the areas of English Language Arts (and Spanish Language Arts for our Dual Language students), Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies.

Our daily schedule allows for a 90-minute reading block which includes a whole group lesson, small group guided reading with the classroom teacher, and reading center activities based on current and previously learned skills. In addition, we have time each day for whole group writing lessons in which students learn to write narratives, expository passages and passages stating their opinion. We also have an intervention block each day which allows us to focus on individual student needs, whether they are working at, above or below grade level.

Students will learn many new math concepts this year. We have 60 minutes of math each day. During that time, students are involved in a whole group lesson as well as small group guided math with the teacher, and center activities. Our math homework is designed to help students practice skills being currently taught and to review previously taught skills.

Students will also be engaged in Science and Social Studies activities throughout the week. Students will take part in science lessons and hands-on experiments/STEM activities throughout the year.

Communication between the family and teacher is vital. Should you need to contact your child's teacher, the preferred method is via email. You can email teachers with questions, concerns, or schedule a conference. Although we try to respond to all emails quickly, please allow your child's teacher 48 hours to respond. Since we do not access our email during the day or may not be on campus, please do not send emails regarding absences or changes in dismissal. Please send a hard-copy of these notes to school with your child or call the front office.

Again, we thank you for choosing HCES. We look forward to working with you and your child as we lead our students to success.

Sincerely, The Second-Grade Team


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Second-Grade Teachers   

Ms. Dubois - Team Leader / Math / Science / Social Studies

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Ms. Lopez - TWDL Spanish

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Ms. Holberg - TWDL English

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Ms. DaCosta - ELA

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Ms. Molina

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Ms. Taylor - Math / Science / Social Studies

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Ms. Rosas - ELA

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Curriculum


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English Language Arts

What will my child learn in second-grade?

Some of the important skills that students will work on are:

  • Identify and explain themes

  • Analyze two or more themes

  • Analyzing Characters

  • Drawing Conclusions

  • Sequencing

  • Making Inferences

  • Comparing & Contrasting

  • Story Structure

  • Text Features

  • Connecting Illustrations to text

  • Perspective

  • Summarizing

How can I help my child at home with reading?

  • Read a Variety of Texts: Build an at-home library of children’s stories, non-fiction texts, magazines, recipes, comics, etc.

  • Choose Appropriate Books: Help your child pick books that are not too hard but not too easy.

  • Read to Your Child Every Day: Model good reading strategies to your child by reading a few minutes each day.

  • Have Your Child Read to You Every Day: Spend 15-20 minutes listening to your child read to you before they are tired.

  • Talk About It: Ask your child questions about what they read.

  • Have them retell the story in their own words including a description of the characters and setting and what happens in the book (beginning, middle, end, problem, solution).

  • Practice Text Tracking: If your child is an early reader, encourage them to point to each word.

  • Reread Favorite Books: Repeat favorite books over and over to build reading fluency.

  • Reading Apps: Download reading apps for your device.

  • Practice Decoding Strategies: If your child is having trouble figuring out a word, remind them of the following strategies:
    • Eagle Eye-Look at the pictures for clues.
    • Lips the Fish-Get your lips ready and say the first sound.
    • Stretchy Snake-Stretch out the sounds and then shrink them back together.
    • Chunky Monkey-Look for chunks in the word that you know and then blend the words together.
    • Skippy Frog-Skip the word and then go back and re-read.
    • Tryin’ Lion-Try it again.
    • Helpful Kangaroo-Ask for help!

Parent Guide for Grade 2 English Language Arts

Click the picture below to access the parent guide

Parent Guide to Florida BEST ELA Standards for 2nd Grade

Second-Grade ELA Standards

Click the button below to access the Florida B.E.S.T. ELA standards.

Click to access the Florida BEST ELA Standards

Second-Grade Sight Words

Click the picture below to access the OCPS Site Words.
Click to access the OCPS Sight Words


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 Mathematics

What will my child learn in second-grade?

Math skills are taught and practiced for 60 minutes every day. The math skills that are taught are based on the Florida B.E.S.T. Standards and will be assessed at the end of each unit on these standards. Second grade students are expected to be fluent with their addition and subtraction facts. Students will be tested on these facts. Mastery of these facts are critical in their progression of all other standards: one and two step word problems, money, measurement, place value, up to three digit minus two digit subtraction and much more.

Second-Grade Math Standards

Click the button below to access the Florida B.E.S.T. Math standards.

Click to access the Florida BEST ELA Standards


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 Science

Second-Grade Science Standards


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Social Studies

Second-Grade Social Studies Standards


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Health

Second-Grade Health Standards


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Second-Grade Supply List

 

Click to access the 2nd Grade supply list

Click to access the 2nd Grade TWDL Supply List