Second Grade

In the second grade, children are told many fables, as well as Native American stories of animals, and the stories of saints, heroes and heroines including the story of the King of Ireland’s Son. They work on writing by copying these stories in their main lesson books. There is continued work in arithmetic including the memorization of the times tables from 1–12. The lower case letters are also introduced. Reading is taught through the process of writing. The children hear a story, copy it into their main lesson books and then practice reading what they have written. Grammar is introduced by acting out stories in which the children can experience the contrast between ‘doing’ words, ‘naming’ words, and ‘describing’ words. Towards the end of the second grade year, the children are given ‘easy reader’ books to read.