Welcome to Second Grade!
At Highland Park El. we utilize the students’ prior knowledge and real life experiences. This inquiry based learning encourages students to go in-depth with the concepts they are exploring and to think globally. Our curriculum is interwoven with the state and district standards. We focus on the assessment piece first and this drives the teaching of our units of inquiry. We incorporate transdisciplinary skills like self management, social, research, thinking and communication skills. Our program helps students learn through authentic experiences. This makes their learning valuable and important to them.
We have six unit planners we teach throughout the year.
They are under six global organizing themes: How We Express Ourlselves, How the World Works, Who We Are, Where We Are in Time and Place, Sharing the Planet and How We Organize Ourselves.
Below are the titles for the second grade units of inquiry:
*How the World Works
Title: Plantastic
Central idea: Plants are a part of all ecosystems.
Inquiries into:
Requirements to grow and stay healthy
Lifecycle Features that allow plants to live in specific environments
*Where We Are in Time and Place
Title: Lost and Found (Mapping unit)
Central idea: Maps and geographic representations help people understand information.
Inquiries into:
The use of maps and charts
Different types of maps, charts, and graphs
How maps, charts and graphs organize information
*How We Express Ourselves
Title: Improvisation
Central idea: Improvisation combines music and drama into unique form of communication and expression
Inquiries into:
Improvisation
The role of movement
The role of costumes, props, and scenery
The role of music ina theatrical production
*Who We Are
Title: Step up to the plate (Health unit)
Central idea: Food choices affect a healthy lifestyle.
Inquiries into:
A balanced diet according to food pyramids around the world
The effects geography and culture have on food choices
Food choices affect health
Nutrients and how they help our body
*How We Organize Ourselves
Title: Community Faces and Places
Central idea: People world wide live in communities.
Inquiries into:
The reasons people live in communities
Different types of communities
The contributions of workers to their communtiy
*Sharing the Planet
Title: Home Sweet Home
Central idea: Living things share space.
Inquiries into:
Biomes
How living things adapt to an environment
Environmental efects of shared habitats
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