How does learning about other cultures help you respect and understand people around the world? This is an essential question second graders consider as they study people and places from around the globe. Across the curriculum, students in second grade engage in a deep study of cultures and countries focusing on Ghana, Brazil, and Japan. In reading, composition, art, music, and social studies, students immerse themselves in appreciating the commonalities and differences between their own experiences and those of people in other cultures. Visitors from each country are welcomed into the classroom to afford students an opportunity to expand their knowledge. To further enhance students’ feelings of global citizenship, they are encouraged to write persuasive essays on topics such as the importance of saving the rainforest. These lessons are further enriched through hands-on projects, which include building models of various Brazilian homes, experimenting with designing ikebana, or performing Anansi stories from Ghana.

Math becomes a way to solve problems in the second grade curriculum. Studying place value, patterns, and equations as well as money, time, measurement, and data sets, students explore the role math plays in their daily lives. While they apply their skills through solving open-ended problems, they continue to practice fundamental computational skills in addition and subtraction. They also work with units of measure and shape analysis. With a solid foundation in these concepts, students demonstrate their understanding through solving multi-step, open-ended problems, using manipulatives, and playing math games.

Ranging from reading to writing, the Language Arts curriculum is an integral piece of Norwood's academic program. Building on work in kindergarten and first grade, students refine reading skills and focus on higher order comprehension such as making inferences and drawing conclusions. Reading is taught through guided reading with the teacher, independent reading, partner reading, and read-alouds. Comprehension is enhanced through class discussion and written responses to literature. In Writing Workshop, students study mentor texts in a variety of genres and create a yearlong portfolio of their own work. Students compose personal narratives, fictional stories, persuasive essays, poetry, and research reports. As part of the writing process, second graders study and apply grammar and punctuation. Expanding vocabulary is a focus in both reading and writing throughout the year.

In the Lower School, the art curriculum enables students to gain confidence, knowledge, experience, and appreciation for a wide variety of art ideas and materials. Throughout their experiences in art class, students are introduced to a sequential program which emphasizes process while exposing them to the elements of art. Media covered include drawing, painting, ceramics, collage, sculpture, and printmaking. As students develop as artists, teachers emphasize the development of personal expression, imagination, curiosity, and careful observation. Students apply these concepts and techniques while making connections, problem solving, and developing self-confidence and their personal artistic voice.

The lower school music program is devoted to instilling a joyful sense of music and music making in every child. The goal is to increase musical understanding through activities involving performing, listening, and creating. These activities include singing, playing rhythm instruments, playing xylophones, reading music, dancing/movement, dramatizing, and composing. After establishing an emotional connection with music performed and heard, these activities lead students to discover, explore, demonstrate comprehension of, and create something new using concepts related to the elements of music: rhythm, melody, harmony, form, expression. Highlights for second graders include: many opportunities for composing original music, sharing personal favorite recordings with the rest of the class, and performing in a staged spring musical program.

In the Lower School, students are introduced to basic loco-motor skills and activities that develop hand-eye and hand-foot coordination, spatial awareness, teamwork, and sportsmanship. Each year builds on the skills, games, and experiences from the previous year. Going beyond the games and activities, teachers process the experiences with students individually and in groups, asking questions like, “Can a self-win also be a team win?” and “What does it mean to be a good sport?” In the lower grades, students learn the mental and physical foundations that will help them succeed in later experiences on and off the field of play

Second graders begin keeping a science journal where they collect their observations and notes during the year; journals continue to be an integral part of the science curriculum through eighth grade. During their Simple Machines Unit, second graders study levers, pulleys, ramps, and gears to explore measurement and data analysis as they develop a conceptual understanding of how these machines make work easier. Students also learn about light and color, exploring concepts such as refraction, reflection, and other properties of light through hands-on activities with mirrors, prisms, and lights. During the Ecology Unit, second graders study two distinct habitats on Norwood’s campus: the eastern woodland and a marsh wetland. They learn about food webs and the importance of plants. They grow and observe plants and water-cycle terrariums. They also take local field trips to the woodlands and marsh and discuss the similarities and differences in these two habitats.

The second grade Spanish program is closely tied in to the social studies curriculum. The students learn to name and locate the continents, oceans, and Spanish-speaking countries, particularly those in South America. By focusing on the animals of South America, the children learn plurals, definite and indefinite articles, action verbs, gender agreement, and adjectives as they describe the physical traits of the animals, what they eat, and their habitats. The students write and illustrate their own class version of the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and share the book with parents and classmates.

In second grade, students address the question, “How does learning about other cultures help you build both respect and understanding for other peoples around the world?” Focusing on Ghana, Brazil, and Japan, students approach world cultures through a broad lens, studying, for instance, the countries’ geography, art, music, history, government, religion, and economy. Students immerse themselves in different aspects of the countries: while studying Brazil, students learn about the rainforest and the impact of its loss, and while studying Japan, students write in haiku form, study Japanese vocabulary words, and design their own version of a traditional Japanese home.