Second graders shine brightly at Wild Horse Elementary School. A walk through their hallway reveals projects on countries around the world, responses to literature, activities about favorite story characters, expert artwork, and poetry and paragraphs written about anything from daisies to dinosaurs. Children are walking outside to measure the temperature and wind direction, sitting down together to enjoy a good book, gathering around to explore Math manipulatives, meeting up to revise and edit, and getting involved in their learning!

Yearly Events

• Fall field trip to the Museum at the Arch
• Winter Party in late December
• February holds the Famous American Living Museum
• March/April field trip to the Botanical Gardens
• May-  Meet Me in St. Louis Day
• Fractured Fairytale Performances
• Classroom Zoos

Language Arts
In kindergarten and first grade, students worked on skills to LEARN TO READ. In Second Grade, students are READING TO LEARN. Through authentic literature and textbooks, the children are learning to read for pleasure and information. Through writer's workshop and structured lessons, the children are learning to write informational paragraphs, friendly letters, and creative pieces. Within their daily writing, the children are expected to correctly spell given lists of core high frequency words. Through presentations, speakers, projects, and field trips, the students are learning the skills and techniques of good speakers and listeners.

Mathematics
Regrouping for 2 and 3 digit addition and subtraction (trading) is a major highlight of the second grade math year, along with an introduction to multiplication and division during second semester. The children also study telling time to 5 minute intervals, making change to $1.00, skip counting, graphing, missing addends, beginning calculator skills, estimation, problem solving, fractions, measurement, geometry, critical thinking, and basic skills to 18.

Science
The science program provides students with hands-on experiences through active participation and exploration. In second grade, the students will explore the changes that occur during the life cycles of plants and animals, predict changes in state of matter, and discover how living organisms, including humans, change the environment.

Social Studies
This curriculum supports second graders in identifying principles of democracy to become productive citizens, developing historical awareness, using geography to consider past, present, and future, understanding the effects of culture (on self and others over time), and examining basic economic principles.