2nd Grade Learning Goals

Joaquin in the woods

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.

Share this post: Share on Facebook Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn Share on Google+ Share on Twitter

Portfolio Categories

Learning: all, , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Interests: all, , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Series: , ,