Grade 2 Classical Standards

Cathedral School of St. Mary

 

History

 

Knowledge

• Understand history and culture as a human desire for goodness, truth, and ultimately God

• Develop better understanding of Roman civilization: people, places, geography, religion, government, economics, art, architecture, music, technology, and culture

• Discuss how physical environment affected Roman culture and the urban/rural divide in the Roman Empire 2.7A-D

• Discuss how people then and now make decisions about where to work and live 2.9A&B

• Understand producing and consuming in ancient Rome 2.10A-C

• Understand how Rome became the home of the Roman Catholic Church

• Begin to see how Christianity transformed the Roman Empire

• Begin to see Roman contributions to culture, such as monuments. Compare/contrast community, state, and local monuments with Egyptian, Greek, and Roman monuments 2.1B

• Learn to identify the basic geography of Rome and its neighbors

• Learn Roman technological contributions 2.8A-C, 2.17A&B

• Understand the structure of the Roman government and their collection of taxes/tributes 2.11A-C

• Compare/contrast Roman government and culture with local government and culture

  • Local governmental services (police and fire protection, libraries, schools, parks) 2.11B

  • Know current public officials, including mayor, governor, and president. Know how they are selected (election and appointment to office) and how citizens can participate 2.12A-D

  • Local stories, poems, statues, paintings, customs, symbols, and celebrations 2.14D, 2.15A&B

  • Patriotic songs, including the “Star-Spangled Banner” and “America the Beautiful” 2.14A&B

 

Skills

• Memorization of key historical facts

• Beginning map reading and recognition

• Use a globe 2.5A&B, 2.6A-C (also identify continents, bodies of water, state capital, U.S. capital, Canada, and Mexico)

• Understand a timeline 2.2A-C

• Ability to narrate historical stories 2.18D

• Begin to see connections between historical events and themes

• Beginning ability to formulate and discuss philosophical questions

• Artistically render historical scenes from imagination

• Obtain information from and express ideas using a variety of sources (artifacts, art, maps, oral presentations, etc.) 2.3A&B, 2.18A-C,D, 2.19A&B, ELA2.12B, ELA2.13A-G

 

Aptitudes

• Develop memory

• Develop ability to listen and recall 2.16A&B

• Develop an interest in history

• See relevance of past to present

• Begin to see an integrated conception of the world on which the beliefs of Western civilization are based

• Use problem-solving and decision-making skills, including voting 2.20A&B

 

Religion  

 

Knowledge

• Begin to recognize how Christianity becomes incarnate in culture through art, music, architecture, literature, and the liturgical calendar

• Appreciate the historical setting of the Bible

• Learn the traditions of the Church and the mysteries of the faith through beauty, beautiful liturgy, and adoration.

• Become acquainted with the tradition of sacred music as a form of prayer

• Acquire basic catechetical instruction in the meaning of the Incarnation, the Creeds of the Church, familiarity with the Old and New Testaments and the difference between them, the meaning of the Mass, the liturgical calendar, basic prayers and practices of the church, etc.

 

Skills

• Memorize and recite Scripture, Bible facts, catechism, prayers, and hymns

• Learn liturgical, intercessory, and contemplative prayer

• Learn to regard and participate in sacred music as a form of prayer

 

Aptitudes

• Cultivate longing for God

• Develop habits of stillness and adoration

• Begin to develop a habit of prayer, a love for the mysteries of the faith, and a desire for God’s beauty and truth

• Develop a habit of noticing the presence of God

• Identify and grow in virtue and good citizenship. SS2.13A/C&D

 

Art

 

Knowledge

• Learn how to look at and begin to interpret paintings

• Study and give rudimentary explanation of Christian art and iconography. 2.A-D

• Study and give rudimentary explanation of art related to Ancient Rome. 2.3A-D

• Begin to know properties, characteristics, and qualities of beautiful art. 2.1A&B

• Begin to recognize how art expresses cultural ideals. 2.3D

 

Skills

• Learn how to look at, examine, and see a painting and other works of art. 2.4A-C

• Learn to tell the story of a painting

• Begin to render as well as draw imaginatively. 2.2A-C

• Learn basics of drawing, painting, and sculpting. 2.2C

• Learn to copy according to established rules

 

Aptitudes

• Acquire habits of attending, noticing, sitting still, and concentrating

• Learn discipline from following simple projects through to completion

• Begin to develop eye and appreciation for beauty

• Begin to question works of art for their meaning

 

Language: Literature, Grammar, Composition, and Drama

 

Knowledge

• Alphabetize words. 2.2D

• Phonics and reading. 2.2A&B

• Spelling. 2.2C(i-vi)

• Beginning writing

• Beginning grammar. 2.11D(ii-viii)

• Beginning poetic understanding (poetry, fables, fairy tales, descriptive and figurative language, repetition). 2.9A&B,2.10D&F

• Latin roots (chants), early vocabulary, phrases, prayers. 2.3A-C

 

Skills

• Learn to read grade-level texts proficiently and independently. 2.4&5

• Develop reading comprehension

• Employ correct grammar in writing and speech, including singular/plural nouns, verb tenses, and coordinating conjunctions. 2.11D(ii-viii)

• Learn good penmanship, using proper technique, and beginning cursive. 2.2E

• Recognize and write complete sentences. 2.11D(i)

• Memorize, recite the definitions of, and identify the parts of speech, including comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs. 2.3C, 2.11D(ii-viii)

• Say and write the days of the week, the seasons, the months of the year, their home address, titles of respect, abbreviations, and dates. 1.1E, 2.11(ix)

• Understand and use beginning punctuation, apostrophes, contractions, capital letters, synonyms, antonyms, idioms, and homographs. 2.3D, 2.11(x)

• Be able to order simple ideas, organize paragraphs, revise, edit, and copy final work. 2.9D(iii), 2.11A-E

• Compose correspondence. 2.12C

• Narration: re-tell stories in detail, with vocal clarity, poise, and eye contact; eventually, re-tell the narrative thread of a story. 2.7D, 2.8A-D. 2.12A

• Act out stories with other students as characters. 2.9C

• Develop ability to identify main idea and supporting text. 2.9D(i-ii)

• Generate and answer comprehension questions about a reading passage in complete sentences. 2.1A, 2.6A-I

• Copy work: copy sentences from works of history, the Bible, or literature

• Dictation: listen to an oral recitation and write down a sentence(s) from works of history, the Bible, or literature. 1.12A&B

• Recitation: recite poems or psalms from memory with vocal clarity, poise, and eye contact

• Conversation: ‘Socratic’ discussions should teach students to begin questioning and discussing stories, pictures, fables, or proverbs according to five rules: 1) Read the text carefully. 2) Listen to what others say and don’t interrupt. 3) Speak clearly. 4) Use evidence from the text to support your statements. 5) Give others your respect. 2.1C-E, 2.7A-F

• Conduct basic research to answer questions that arise. 2.13A-G

 

Aptitudes

• Develop capacity for listening. 2.1A

• Develop memory

• Follow and give oral directions. 2.1B

• Appreciate playfulness in language. 2.10A-E

• Develop habits of concentration, stillness, and memory

• Learn to ask questions about the moral or meaning of stories and symbols.

• Learn to speak directly and confidently. 2.1C

 

Nature Studies

 

Knowledge

• Observe the basic needs of animals and identify factors in the environment, including temperature and precipitation, that affect growth and behavior such as migration, hibernation, and dormancy of living things. 2.9A&B

• Observe how the physical properties and behaviors of plants and animals help them to meet their basic needs. 2.10A&B

• Identify state and national birds and flowers. SS2.14C

• Record the stages of development of some insects, such as the grasshopper or butterfly. 2.10C

• Learn to identify flora, fauna, and wildlife indigenous to the region. SS2.14C

• Understand basic regional geography

• Matter and energy. 2.5A-D

  • classify matter by physical properties, including relative temperature, texture, flexibility, and whether material is a solid or liquid

  • compare changes in materials caused by heating and cooling;

  • demonstrate that things can be done to materials such as cutting, folding, sanding, and melting to change their physical properties

  • combine materials that when put together can do things that they cannot do by themselves such as building a tower or a bridge and justify the selection of those materials based on their physical properties.

• Force, motion, and energy. 2.6A

  • investigate the effects on objects by increasing or decreasing amounts of light, heat, and sound energy such as how the color of an object appears different in dimmer light or how heat melts butter

• Compare sources of freshwater and saltwater. 2.7B

• Distinguish between natural and manmade objects. 2.7C 

• Record and graph weather information (including temperature, wind conditions, precipitation, and cloud coverage) to determine weather patterns. 2.8A&B

• Record changes in the moon. 2.8C

• Discuss food chains. 2.9C

• Begin to develop an elementary understanding of the human body

• Begin to understand the “body-soul unity” of the human person, and the specific characteristics and capacities distinguishing humans from other animals

 

Skills

• Be able to narrate the above knowledge

• Develop skill of observing (location, patterns or movement?), rendering, and cataloguing (properties, what things are made of, how they move?) this knowledge in a “nature notebook.” 2.4A&B, 2.6C

• Plan and conduct investigations: ask questions, gather data, communicate findings). 2.2A-F, 2.3A-C, 2.1A&B

 

Aptitudes

• Develop a capacity at attend to and notice nature

• Develop wonder and appreciation for the natural world

 

Mathematics 

 

Knowledge

• Acquire basic numeracy

• Understand equivalent forms of the same number using diagrams, objects, and numbers

• Recognize basic geometrical shapes and parts of shapes

• Solve word problems

 

Skills

• Count, read, write, and compare numbers up to 1,000, both symbolically and through physical construction

• Acquire facility with basics of place value

• Perform basic addition and subtraction functions of one-, two-, and three-digit numbers

• Understand basic fraction concepts

• Count by 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 10s

• Identify and construct circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, ovals, cubes, tetrahedral pyramids, cylinders, cones, spheres, and rectangular prisms

• Recognize and describe appearance of basic patterns in nature

• Recognize equivalency in number, shape, pattern, and other physical characteristics

• Construct basic sets and groupings of objects in the environment and nature and be able to articulate the criteria for inclusion and exclusion

• Recognize and solve simple replacement codes

• Solve simple geometric puzzles

• Recognize the relationship of tone to the size, length, shape, and material of the object being sounded (e.g., bells of different size being rung or the length or thickness of a string being plucked)

• Take linear measurement and be able to articulate changes in measurement over time; introduce basic means of recording measurement

• Tell and record time and change sin time in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years

• Recognize and calculate basic currency; introduce coin-tossing scenarios as an introduction to probability

 

Aptitudes

• Recognize the ubiquity of number and shape in the world around us

• Develop a sense of wonder at recognizing how the world can be expressed mathematically

• Develop a love for constructing math, numerically and geometrically

 

Music

 

Knowledge

• Know elements of music: melody, harmony, rhythm, pitch, tone. 2.1A

• Begin to think about what music means and why it is or is not beautiful

• Know a variety of instruments by sight and by sound. 2.1B

• Be introduced to tradition of sacred music. 2.5A-C

• Begin to understand the symbols in music. 2.2A-C

• Use music terminology (tempo: presto, moderato, andante; dynamics: fortissimo, pianissimo). 2.1C

 

Skills

• Begin to read music. 2.2A-C

• Begin to acquire some musical skill singing and playing elementary instruments. 2.3A&B/D&E, 2.4A-C, 2.6A-D

• Begin to concentrate on, listen to, and discuss a piece of music

• Move rhythmically with music. 2.3C, 2.6D

 

Aptitudes

• Begin to develop a love and appreciation for beautiful music and its power

• Begin to understand the relationship between music, prayer, and liturgy. 2.5C

• Acquire the habit and develop powers of patient, attentive listening

 

Physical Education 

 

Knowledge

• Understand their bodies and physical abilities as a gift

• Begin to learn the rules of major sports and races

 

Skills

• Begin to acquire facility in throwing, catching, hitting, and kicking

• Begin to learn basic dance steps

• Begin to deliberately coordinate body to physical activity

 

Aptitudes

• Practice teamwork and good sportsmanship