Welcome to 2nd Grade at 21st Century Public Academy!

This year, our classroom will focus on building strong readers, writers, scientists, thinkers, problem-solvers, and community members through engaging learning experiences connected to the world around us. Our learning will be centered around inquiry, exploration, collaboration, creativity, and authentic experiences that help students connect classroom learning to real life.

In Math, students will develop strong number sense, problem-solving skills, and mathematical thinking through hands-on learning, discussion, visual models, and real-world application. In 2nd grade, it is especially important for students to see numbers in action and recognize how math connects to everyday life. Students will explore patterns, measurement, data, place value, geometry, and problem solving while learning to explain their thinking, justify solutions, and apply mathematical reasoning to authentic situations. 

Throughout the year, students will participate in interdisciplinary learning experiences that connect Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, and Math through hands-on investigations, projects, discussions, engineering challenges, observation journals, performance tasks, and Out of School Instruction (OSI) experiences.

Each unit of study will be guided by essential questions that encourage students to think deeply, ask questions, investigate ideas, and apply learning in meaningful ways.

Our units this year include:

Stories, Communities, & American Landscapes

Essential Question:

How do people and places shape stories?

Students will explore communities, geography, landforms, and resources while learning how settings influence stories and people’s lives. Through field journals, mapping activities, storytelling, and OSIs, students will investigate how landscapes and environments shape communities and experiences.

Planned OSIs/VOSIs connected to this unit may include:

• the Rio Grande Nature Center,
• the New Mexico State Fair,
• and geography or community-based virtual explorations.

These experiences will help students observe landscapes, resources, environments, and community connections in authentic settings while applying classroom learning through discussion, writing, mapping, and observation journals.

Inventors & Problem Solvers

Essential Question:

How do humans create and solve problems?

Students will study inventions, engineering, materials, and redesign while learning how humans solve problems and improve communities. Students will participate in observation activities, engineering challenges, and a Young Inventors Expo performance task where they design, build, test, and redesign inventions.

Planned OSIs/VOSIs connected to this unit may include:

• Balloon Fiesta observations,
• engineering and design investigations,
• and invention or science-based virtual explorations.

These experiences will support scientific observation, engineering thinking, problem solving, and evidence-based discussions as students investigate how inventions and materials solve real-world problems.

Stories, Traditions, & Communities

Essential Question:

How do stories, myths, and traditions help people explain the world and bring communities together?

Students will explore myths, traditions, celebrations, and cultural stories from around the world. Students will compare traditions, discuss cultural importance, and create their own mythical creation stories connected to natural phenomena in New Mexico.

Planned OSIs/VOSIs connected to this unit may include:

• Day of the Dead cultural studies,
• cultural food festival,
• Cookies Around the World,
• and community-centered cultural explorations.

These experiences will help students connect informational reading, storytelling, traditions, celebrations, geography, and community discussions through authentic cultural learning experiences.

Community Change Makers

Essential Question:

How do people create change in communities and the world around them?

Students will investigate leadership, fairness, community problems, resources, environmental responsibility, and changemakers throughout history and today. Students will participate in research, collaborative discussions, evidence-based writing, and presentations while exploring how individuals and communities create positive change.

Planned OSIs/VOSIs connected to this unit may include:

• Buffet’s Candies,
• the Bingham Copper Mine,
• community leadership investigations,
• and civic or environmental learning experiences.

These experiences will help students investigate how communities use resources, how industries impact people and the environment, and how individuals can create positive change through leadership, responsibility, and problem solving.

Animal Habitats & Adaptations

Essential Question:

How do animals and humans adapt to their environment?

Students will build background knowledge through the study of life cycles, habitats, survival, and adaptations. Through research, scientific observation, and informational reading, students will investigate how living things survive and interact with their environments.

Planned OSIs connected to this unit may include:

• the Botanic Garden & Aquarium,
• habitat investigations,
• and nature-based scientific observations.

Students will apply their learning through research, observation journals, and a habitat diorama performance task where they explain how an animal’s adaptations help it survive within its environment.