Pea Ridge School District

Second Grade: A Parent's Guide

Second Grade Learning Targets

Teachers in Pea Ridge follow the Science of Reading and strategies promoted by Arkansas R.I.S.E. (Reading Initiative for Student Excellence). Many family resources are available from the Arkansas Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on their R.I.S.E site, including milestones in learning to read by age and tips for what families can do at home to help growing readers.

Parents will receive updates about student progress in reading three times each school year (fall, winter, and spring) using NWEA MAP Growth reports and classroom assessments. We encourage parents to reach out to your child's teacher if you have questions about your child's reading skills and progress.

We use an additional resource: Lexia Core5. This tool helps us target student's individual learning needs so that each student grows as a reader every day!

Learn More: Lexia Core5 (Grades K-5)

Our students in grades Kindergarten through 5th grade use Lexia® Core5® Reading—a fun, computer-based program that helps students improve their literacy skills. The activities in Core5 support and build on your child’s classroom curriculum and focus on developing reading skills in six areas: phonological awareness, phonics, structural analysis, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Here’s how Lexia Core5 Reading works:

Your child begins Core5 at a starting point that fits his or her needs and then engages in online activities throughout the week.
Online activities include direct instruction and immediate feedback as your child learns new skills.
Progress and performance in the program are reported directly to teachers so that they can provide assistance when needed.
Paper-and-pencil activities are also used for practice and may be completed in school or brought home.
Achievement certificates may be sent home to celebrate success and to show progress in the program.

Here’s how you can set your reader up for success:

Students should complete the tasks on their own. That means no hints or tips from grown-ups, friends, or siblings! This is important because Lexia provides extra support and instruction if students struggle with a task, and alerts teachers when further help is required.
Try to provide a quiet space for learning if students are working in Lexia from home. Headphones can be helpful but aren’t required.

We invite your to contact your child's teacher with any questions you may have.

Students receive instruction in reading, writing, speaking, and listening in Literacy at Pea Ridge. Each year students experience this instruction through the context of building background knowledge in social science and science. The more students know about more topics, the better they comprehend what they read and the more likely they are able to make connections beyond the text they are reading.

In Second Grade, we learn about the topics below:

A Season of Change

We will study how the world changes each season. We will observe the colors, textures, and causes in the cycle of the seasons and study paintings of rainy, sunny, and snow-covered landscapes. We will discover how change affects us all.

Some of the books we are reading include:

Why Do Leaves Change Color?, Betsy Maestro
The Little Yellow Leaf, Carin Berger
Sky Tree, Thomas Locker

Our class will ask these questions as we read to learn more:

What changes in “Weather”?
How do changes in fall weather impact people and nature?

The American West

We will study the growth that came from the struggle of early settlers and pioneers. By analyzing texts and art, students answer the question: What was life like in the West for early Americans?

Some of the books we are reading include:

The Buffalo Are Back, Jean Craighead George
Buffalo Bird Girl: A Hidatsa Story, S.D. Nelson
Powwow Day, Traci Sorell and Madelyn Goodnight
Fearless Mary, Tami Charles

Our class will ask these questions as we read to learn more:

How did the actions of American Indians and early Americans impact the prairie in the American West?
What was life like for Plains Indians in the early American West?
What was life like for pioneers in the early American West?

Civil Rights Advocates

We will study a number of strong and brave people who responded to the injustice they saw and experienced. By analyzing texts and art, students answer the question: How can people respond to injustice?

Some of the books we are reading include:

Martin Luther King, Jr. and the March on Washington, Frances E. Ruffin
I Have a Dream, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; paintings, Kadir Nelson
Ruby Bridges Goes to School: My True Story, Ruby Bridges
We Want to Go to School! The Fight for Disability Rights, Maryann Cocca-Leffler and Janine Leffler

Our class will ask these questions to learn more as we read:

What injustices did people face before the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
What was Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream for the world?
How did the characters we read about respond to injustice?

Good Eating

We will study the digestive system and the importance of healthy food choices. By analyzing texts and art, students answer the question: How does food nourish us?

Some of the books we are reading include:

The Digestive System, Christine Taylor-Butler
Good Enough to Eat, Lizzy Rockwell
Bone Button Borscht, Aubrey Davis
Stone Soup, Marcia Brown

Our class will ask these questions to learn more as we read:

How can food nourish my body?
How can food nourish a community?
Where does nourishing food come from?
How can I choose nourishing foods?