2nd Grade Learning Goals

According to Joaquin’s current abilities, and referencing curriculums for 2nd grade children, the following are guidelines for experiences and learning opportunities I will pursue this year with Joaquin:

Social Skills

• Listening. One on one, within a group, 3-way conversation. Model this by listening to Joey and Joaquin with full presence as much as I can (notice my resistance, ease into presence, communicate clearly when I don’t want to make myself available rather than mentally checking out).
• Complex Imitation. Continue to provide opportunities to observe carefully and imitate accurately in order to learn skills from others. Let him do more when I teach him.
• Awareness of others’ perspective. Imaginary play with bears and dolls is giving us a chance to talk about people’s responses to our actions and occurring events. This ties with natural consequences, empathy, respect, etc. He asks many questions about why people do things; give presence to these.
• Peer Interaction. Through classes and activities around Joaquin’s interests.

Values

• Listening
• Stimulus Belief Response
• Awareness of self (i.e. outing brain chatter, checking out mentally, emotional responses, etc.)
• Cooperation within a community. Add chores (i.e. folding his clothes). Give “community service” tasks when community rules are broken.

Art and Creativity

• 2D and 3D art (let’s try some new techniques, materials, and applications.)
• Handcrafting (sewing, scrapbooking, felting, hand printing, book binding, knitting.)
• Cooking and baking
• Music (listen to music from different periods and genres; singing; dancing; musical instruction if there is an interest.)
• Building and creating spaces / stages
• Filmmaking, animation, photography
• Use of technology in creative projects

Health, Self Care, and Life Skills

• Physical activities of interest (hiking, bowling, swimming, basketball, running, racquet sports.)
• Personal hygiene (flossing, frequent showers, daily day clothes, management of dirty clothes.)
• Nutrition (role and sources of vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, etc.)
• Opportunities to help with laundry, food preparation, and other life skills
• Opportunities to work independently

Language and Literacy

• Active listening to read stories (discuss content, make predictions, imagine vividly)
• Telling stories in detail and in a logical way (after listening, or experiencing)
• Reading with comprehension. Ideas: He may be interested in reading stories about himself or people he knows, or letters for him.
• Writing as a tool for communication (dialogue, journal, stories, documenting). Self-edit (if we get there). Ideas: Start a bedtime journal; surprise him with a written question / dialogue around his interests; email with grandparents; letters with Madame Bovary.
• Capitalization, punctuation, proper spelling
• Use of dictionary for meaning and spelling, and thesaurus for synonyms and antonyms
• Use of books and Internet to research subjects of interest

Math

• Faster addition and multiplication (i.e. memorize times tables, keep addition tallies in his head, shortcuts)
• Keep practicing patterns, numeration, division, and word problems in real life situations
• Units of measurement: length, weight, and volume (U.S. and metric systems)
• Symbols: > < = ( )
• Fractions and decimals
• Tables and graphs
• 2D geometric figures, perimeter, area

Science and Nature

• Within his areas of natural interest, encourage exploration and discovery of patterns.
• Our food garden provides many opportunities to perceive and learn about nature
• Potential topics: survival skills, life cycles, make predictions, science behind cooking and baking.

Social Studies

• Culture and traditions (within our circle and around the world.)
• Table manners (practice more with utensils, mouth closed when chewing, less crumbs.)
• Communities and roles within family, neighborhood, city, others arising with interests / activities
• Values, rules, laws (family to government)
• Within areas/events of interest, explore history, geography or cultural aspects as motivation allows.