Welcome: As the Second Grade team, we welcome you to our page!  We work hard to prepare the second graders for third grade, and beyond, by making sure each child is taught at or above the MN Standards.  This year it is our mission to ensure everyone has a year and a half of growth in literacy and math.

Our Primary Years Programme Units: 

Who We Are

• Central Idea: Communities share basic needs.

Where We Are In Place And Time

• Central Idea: Leaders connect with local and global communities.

How We Organize Ourselves

• Central Idea: Humans produce goods and supply services that are exchanged.

How We Express Ourselves

• Central Idea: The arts communicate an understanding of the world around us.

How The World Works

• Central Idea:  Humans use the scientific process to help them understand how the world works.

Sharing The Planet

• Central Idea: Plants are a life-sustaining resource for us and for other living things.

Reader's Workshop: We use the Teachers College Readers Workshop as our reading curriculum. During Reader's Workshop we use flexible grouping to meet the needs of each student. Our MLL teachers, work closely with us for reading, to meet the needs of all students.  We use leveled readers and multiple copies of chapter books as resources for our reading program.

Writer's Workshop: We use the Teachers College Writers Workshop as our writing curriculum. Our Writing Units of Study are:  Writing Experts Books, Small Moment Stories, Product and Place Reviews, Social Studies and Science Research, Realistic Fiction, Book Recommendations, All About Books, and Poetry
 
Math & Math Review: We augment our math curriculum with a review process called Math Review, as well as a Math Fact program that works to build automaticity of basic math facts.  Math review will take us deeper into childrens misconceptions and help us identify holes in their learning and what needs to be taught.  
 
Social Studies and Science: These subjects are integrated into our daily PYP units of study.

Scholar Coach Program

Your child’s classroom may have a Scholar Coach working alongside their teacher this year. Scholar Coaches provide 1:1 tutoring for K-3 students in reading skills. This tutoring may be provided virtually or in person depending on the current status of the SPPS district. Scholar Coaches are part of the AmeriCorps network of service and Reading Corps.

In addition to 1:1 reading tutoring, Scholar Coaches also support core instruction and social emotional learning in their classrooms. Examples of what support a Scholar Coach might provide are Read-A-Louds, math help, writing assistance, and small group or class-wide phonics interventions as well as participation in the classroom community though classroom meetings.

We are excited to offer the Scholar Coach program at Benjamin Mays and look forward to this partnership with families, students and teachers.

School supply list for 2022-2023 school year is listed below.

Learning at Home

Mays Family Days - Math, Reading, Writing support/resources for learning at home