What subjects is your 2nd grader learning at school?

[Satori]

I don't know why I've never noticed this at school before but I noticed it today on her report card and it occurred to me that they are only teaching 3 subjects!

Language Arts (Reading, Language Content, Language), Math & Spelling

Shouldn't there also be History, Science, Art, Music or Foreign Language?

I know they teach to the test but this seems a little ridiculous! I'm pulling her out to go back to home schooling but this was sort of the straw that broke the camels back. How can they get away with only teaching 3 subjects and calling it an education?

[supervee]

Do they have "specials"? This seems to be a common way of arranging subjects here.

Mine has literacy, math, and civics/social studies every day. They have 6 specials with a specialized teacher on a rotating schedule: art, music, science, PE, computer, media. (The teacher also works these things into the in-class curriculum, but these are times to really focus on them.)

[LookMommy!]

My second grader has a headache just trying to keep track of her schedule. She goes to school from 8:15- 3:30 Sun, Mon, Wed, and Thurs., 8:15 - 1 on Tues and 8 - 12 on Friday.

She learns (and has a different book/workbook for each) Prayers, Torah, Hebrew, Ethics, Jewish Laws, Math (arithmetic and geometry - 7 different books), Science, Singing/Music, Instrument, Art (must supply own paper block and pastels), Movement, Sport, Drama (no books for those last three) Road Safety (required by law in elementary school 1 hour a week), and possibly one or two others that I am forgetting.

There isn't enough room in the class to store her books, so she has to shlep everything each day, plus two meals (10 o'clock snack and 2 o'clock lunch) plus the pencil box with tape, glue, scissors, colored pencils, etc. that the school does not provide.

She has a zillion different teachers in addition to her main teacher (who has one day off a week, unlike the kids, who study every day except Sabbath).

She was doing gymnastics after school, but we dropped it because school is so intense. She doesn't have homework every day, but her older brother does, and his schedule is even more crowded.

Nothing wrong with just the 3 Rs, imo. Make sure she gets lots of art, music, and movement after school, of course.

[egoldber]

My second grader has a similar schedule to supervee's. Every day they do language arts (which includes "Guided Reading" and "Writing Workshop") for 2 hours and math for 1 hour. Every day but Monday (which is their early release day) they also do two "specials" which rotate. Her specials are: art, PE, science, social studies, Chinese, library and computer lab. They also have Strategies Lab which seems to mainly consist of doing logic puzzles and logic games.

All of these get a line item on her report card except for Chinese which is integrated into other subjects.

[EXOLAX]

I have not heard of a public school that atleast does not have PE. Is it possible that your school has specials like PE, art, science etc. but they just don't put them on the report cards? I know some schools don't report on the specials; only the main teacher does report cards at certain times of the year. I would confirm that personally, but for 2nd grade I can't imagine a school only teaching the three R's. I have not encountered that before.

FWIW DD1 goes to a private but she goes to the following specials: music, art, technology, PE, science, Spanish, library, ASL.

[mammastar2]

Mornings are mostly language and math (plus recess), so far as I understand it.

The afternoon mix includes Science, Social Studies, Music (1x/week), Gym (3x/week), Drama (1x/week), and Library (1x/week).

I have heard that in the States, because of No Child Left Behind, schools frequently drill down to just language and math, because that's what 'matters' under that system...sounds very sad.

[Llyra]

When I was teaching second grade here in NJ (public schools) we taught Language Arts, Spelling, Reading, Math, Social Studies, Science, Arts, and Character Education. The kids also had Spanish or French, PE, music, and computers, once or twice a week each.

[neptunemama]

You should check to see if the other subjects are integrated into the curriculum. My 2nd grader has science woven into math for example. Last week they began studying ants, counting legs, talking about classification of the ants, learning about their colonies, looking at groups of ants and estimating how many there were in different containers etc...

She doesn't have a formal history time each day, but this year they are learning the history of our city, from the early 1500's to present. Again, it's woven into reading time, art, music. Her progress report doesn't state history or science specifically, but if I ask her about what she's learning, she can and does tell me a ton.

[Thalia the Muse]

My second-grader has three-times-a-week PE and art on Fridays. They are doing science and social studies in there somewhere (they send home a monthly update on what they'll be working on -- this month it's the election/government in social studies, and magnetism in science), but I'm not sure it's officially blocked into the schedule.

I wish they had history and music. I guess they consider history a subset of social studies, but they sure aren't doing much with it.

[annethcz]

I'd check with the teacher. My kids aren't graded on their performance in PE, art, music, science, computer lab or library, although they have those classes at least once a week.

[sunnmama]

Math, focus lesson/poetry (whatever that means, lol), reading, writing every day (spelling is in writing).

Science and/or social studies 4x a week

Rotating specials: pe, music, art, media, technology


Does you dd not talk about having art or music or pe? I would be happy if our school only graded for the 3rs, but I am not really into grades (esp in elementary school). It wouldn't bother me at all if dd were not graded on her other subjects, but it would bother me if she didn't get them! They are the best part of the day!

[Mizelenius]

art= 1x per week
music= 2Xs per week
computer= 1X per wek
PE= daily (20 minutes)
math= daily
library= weekly but there isn't a class . . .just a book checkout.

I have no idea about language arts. I think they get read to daily. They have writers' workshop a few times a week. They discuss books they've read at home daily. SPELLING tests (they are big into spelling) are once a week. The part I'm not sure about is guided reading. I don't think that is happening very often, which is odd to me.

Science seems to take place a few times a week. No history, as far as I know (not part of the read alouds . . .I do know that).

My DD does not get graded for computer or library (obviously). Everything else is graded (not letter grades . . .it's all whether or not they exceed/meet/etc. the goals). They are tested in spelling, math, science, and even PE.

[meowmix]

Originally Posted by supervee

Do they have "specials"? This seems to be a common way of arranging subjects here.

Mine has literacy, math, and civics/social studies every day. They have 6 specials with a specialized teacher on a rotating schedule: art, music, science, PE, computer, media. (The teacher also works these things into the in-class curriculum, but these are times to really focus on them.)

We have "specials", too. And, though they seem to spend crazy amounts of time on LA and math, it seems they try to work science and history into LA and math. So I have seen them read a book about crickets and call that portion both science and like comprehension.

My son has LA in the morning, recess, lunch, then specials- either spanish, PE, art or music depending on the day. Then math. Somewhere in there they also alternate history and science. I've been pretty happy with it so far, though my son would like to not do math everyday and replace it with art and library.

[psyche]

My 1st grade child's report card only lists his progress in the old standby 3Rs, but that is not all he learns at school by far.

He has specials: art, music, PE, swimming, library, etc. They also work on science and social studies units within the classroom as well as interpersonal development themes and thrice-yearly instense focus studies in esoteric (or not) subjects. I fail to see any compelling reason that any of that needs to be officially listed on a progress report in the younger grades. At some later point during schooling the report cards will include more diverse subjects, but the early years really need to formally focus parents' attentions on their chidren's development in literacy and math.

[octobermom]

humm mine is in Kindergarden

Daily they do blocks for
"language arts" (reading writing spelling ect)
Math

they have specials which roate
Monday PE
Tuesday- computer liabary
Wednesday Character Ed studies
Thursday Music

IN the afternoon they havea block for science or social studies its roates every other week they are on science right now

Art is intertwined into the enitre program.

Deanna

[2lil'monkeys]

That's so weird... Maybe they integrate science, social studies, art, music and P.E. with language arts and math? In California, we have to cover all the standards. There are state standards for every subject, even P.E.

[Katie Bugs Mama]

DD's report card doesn't actually break things down by subject and doesn't have grades, so I'm not exactly sure how to compare it to the OP's daughter's report card. However, I know that every day she has reading, writing, match, and social studies with her main classroom teacher.

In addition, she has several "specials":

science 2x/week
computers 1x/week
gym 1x/week
music 2x/week
art 2x/week
religion 1x/week
chapel 4x/week
French 1x/week

I think that's everything!

[Mirzam]

My DS is now in 3rd grade, but in 2nd grade he had literacy (reading, writing, spelling, handwriting etc), math, science, Spanish, Mandarin, geography and either a block of art or music (marimba). No formal PE, but he goes to a small private school which as yet doesn't have the facilities in place, the children get plenty of outdoor playtime though.

[smilingmomma]

I just got finished with my first grader progress reports. We separate all subjects and lessons into three broad categories, roughly similar to the ones you describe. However, within those categories are bulleted subjects covered, i.e in Language Arts' there's a subtopic "Reading Fluency" and another, "Reading Comprehension". Specials, however, send home their own progress reports. We offer French, Gym, Art, and Music.

I work at a private school with a traditional curriculum, fwiw.

[*LoveBugMama*]

My son is also in second grade. (In Norway)

He has:

8 hours Language Arts (reading, writing, spelling etc)
4 hours Math
3 hours Gym
3 hours Art
2 hours Nature/science
2 hours Social/history
2 hours Religion
1 hour Music
1 hour English

every week.


My son only goes to school parttime, so he doesn`t actually stay at school during all of this, but this is what the secondgraders week at his school look like.

They don`t get graded in anything, luckily. Not until 4th or 5th grade, I think. And in second grade they only get homework in language and math. One day math, one day language etc.