Health and Wellness, kindergarten, grade one, and grade two provides the foundation for a lifelong journey of developing knowledge, concepts, skills, behaviors, and attitudes related to student health and well-being and is part of a planned, sequential, comprehensive health education curriculum that uses the Indiana Academic Standards for Health and Wellness to support student development of essential health skills within the ten health content areas.

In grade two, students continue to explore and understand the dimensions of health as being physical, mental, and social, and begin to acknowledge personal responsibility for health promotion and/or risk reduction. Students identify and compare the diverse internal and external factors that influence health practices and behaviors, identify health goals and decisions, and name health behaviors to prevent injuries, diseases, and disorders, with a focus on what students can do to promote good health and well-being, making clear connections to their immediate environment and health information, concepts, skills, and behaviors.

Language Arts, grade two, based on Indiana Academic Standards for English/Language Arts, is integrated instruction emphasizing writing, speaking and listening in interest and age-appropriate content. Students develop additional skills in language use and writing. Using discussion, art, music, movement, and drama, students respond to classic and contemporary literature. Students deliver brief oral, multimedia presentations. Students learn to use the conventions of Standard English and a writing process to write clear sentences and paragraphs that develop a central idea. Students tell stories and perform plays. Students listen to stories read aloud and write independently for meaning.

Mathematics, grade two standards are made up of five strands: Number Sense; Computation and Algebraic Thinking; Geometry; Measurement; and Data Analysis. The skills listed in each strand indicate what students in grade two should know and be able to do in Mathematics. Grade two students understand place value (for numbers up to 1,000), add and subtract numbers within 1000, describe the attributes of common geometric shapes and objects, and understand and use units of linear measurement. Using the Process Standards for Mathematics in a planned and deliberate method to present the mathematics content, standards will prescribe that students experience mathematics as a coherent, useful, and logical subject that makes use of their ability to make sense of the mathematics.

Reading and Literature, grade two, based on Indiana Academic Standards for English/Language Arts, is integrated instruction emphasizing reading in interest and age-appropriate content. Students develop reading competencies as they receive instruction founded on scientifically-based reading research with a focus on phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Students gain more skills in reading. Students apply knowledge of sounds that are made by different letters, and they utilize decoding strategies while they learn new concepts, such as prefixes and suffixes, that help them understand the meaning of new vocabulary. Students read fluently. Students identify and discuss main ideas, characters, plot, setting, and theme. Students ask and respond to questions, make predictions and compare information in order to comprehend what they read. Students read or listen to and then respond to classic and contemporary fiction, poetry or songs, folktales, plays, nonfiction books (science, social studies, mathematics, and other subjects), children’s magazines or periodicals, reference (dictionary, thesaurus, atlas) or technical materials, and online information. Students read books independently for enjoyment.

Incorporating the crosscutting concepts, disciplinary core ideas, and science and engineering practices, students in grade two will plan and conduct investigations to classify materials by their properties and construct an evidence-based account of how an object made of small pieces can be disassembled and made into a new object. Students will plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight to grow, and study the diversity of plants and animals in different habitats. Students will compare multiple solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land as they study types of land and bodies of water in the area.

Through active learning experiences, students in grade two are able to apply thinking and decision-making skills within the context of their school and neighborhood. Students examine events and changes that might take place in the future. Students identify local landforms and bodies of water. Students explore geographic relationships by making simple maps of the school and neighborhood. Students demonstrate that neighborhoods around the world are made up of people of diverse ages and backgrounds and explain how family and community members depend upon each other to provide for emotional needs and for goods and services. Students also identify the rights and responsibilities of members of the school and neighborhood and explain why communities have rules and laws. Students should have opportunities to engage in problem solving and participate in the development of classroom rules. Students should have the opportunity to use a variety of means for gathering and organizing information.