Lower School
Avid Readers & Writers
In their second-grade year, children’s reading and writing skills experience an explosion of growth. Your child will learn to read with stamina and purpose, applying new habits and strategies before, during, and after reading. She will make predictions and mental images, search for descriptive language and context clues, and recognize a book’s characters, problem, and solution. Second graders explore various types of writing such as narrative, opinion, and informational. An in-depth, multi-disciplinary research project culminates in a published book, written and illustrated by each child.
Your second grader will be able to distinguish fiction from non-fiction and facts from opinions. He will learn that fairytales from around the world share common elements, and he can articulate what fairytales can teach us about ourselves and our world. He will sample biographies and draw inspiration and courage from the tragedies and triumphs of others. Your child will undertake an author study of Mem Fox, award-winning author of Koala Lou, Willifred Gordon McDonald Partridge, and Harriet, You’ll Drive Me Wild. In a prelude to a lifetime of book clubs, she will learn how readers share, recommend, and criticize books. He will dive into poetry, discovering that poems capture powerful thoughts in tiny packages.
