GRADE 2 ACADEMIC PROGRAMME 2 6 - 2 7
The International School of Brussels
The International School of Brussels
INTRODUCTION The Lower School at ISB is where children ages 2.5-12 years learn by exploring the world with curiosity, and by asking questions and developing skills in problem solving and interpretation. Further consolidating the understanding, skills, and knowledge necessary for a lifetime of learning, students develop independence and self-reflection as they grow from children to young teens. The key elements are the academic and specialist subjects, the engaging learning environment, and the highly-qualified and caring faculty and staff. Our Academic subjects build the foundational knowledge and skills for understanding our world, but also provide opportunities for extensive challenge. The Specialist programme provides a wide breadth of experiences for all students, supporting them in being performers, artists, language learners and building the habits of life-long physical activity. The age-appropriate learning environment provides flexibility and adaptability to a wide range of configurations for teaching and learning. Our faculty are all specialists in working with and supporting lower school-aged children. The ISB curriculum is based on a set of content standards selected from national systems and educational institutions. Standards are selected to align with ISB’s mission and vision to provide the foundation for our international curriculum which is accredited by The Council of International Schools and The Middle States Association (USA). Those standards are listed and linked below.
INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC CONTENT STANDARDS Advisory: International School Counsellor Association
Mathematics: Common Core Standards
Arts: National Core Arts Standards
PE & Health: National Physical Ed Standards
Digital Citizenship: Common Sense Education
Science: Australian Curriculum
Language Arts: Common Core Standards
Social Studies: Education For Global Citizenship
Languages: The Common European Framework
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LANGUAGE ARTS
Reading In second grade, students build on previous skills and strategies to read accurately and fluently with meaning and purpose. They apply comprehension and vocabulary strategies to a wider variety of literary genres and informational text. Students demonstrate comprehension by participating in discussions, providing oral & written responses, and using evidence from text to support their thinking.
Units
Becoming a Grade 2 Reader Students step into greater reading independence as they deepen their engagement with varied texts and collaborative classroom activities. Building upon established whole-group discussions and targeted small-group lessons, students take increased ownership of their daily reading routines and learning environment in order to select, practice, and apply increasingly sophisticated reading strategies across diverse genres.
GRADE 2
Fiction Reading
Students deepen their comprehension by asking and answering questions, making text connections, using evidence to support ideas, and predicting story outcomes. They practice retelling stories sequentially from introduction to resolution, highlighting central lessons and moral messages. Additionally, students analyze character traits, and explore elements like author’s craft and word choice.
Non-Fiction Reading
Students explore texts about animals, habitats, and plants to master essential informational text features. Students learn to identify main topics and topic sentences while citing supporting details, cause-and-effect relationships, and compare-and-contrast examples. Through these texts, students build specialized scientific vocabulary and use contextual clues to uncover the meanings of complex subject-specific words.
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Writing Our authors write with clarity for a variety of purposes, audiences and across a range of genres. They use the writing process to improve their work and are consistently held to high expectations for published work. Handwriting skills are practiced throughout the year and students begin to type pieces of work. Students regularly engage in word study, focusing on identifying, understanding and internalising spelling patterns, while actively expanding their vocabulary and applying new words to add detail and expressiveness to their own writing.
Units
GRADE 2
Becoming a Grade 2 Writer
Argument
Narrative
Information
Students expand their ability to craft structured,
Students evolve from simple opinionsharing to structured
Students step into the role of myth-makers to write "Pourquoi Tales"—
Students learn to sort and sequence their ideas ensuring they
meaningful pieces across multiple genres. Building upon jointly constructed
argumentation. Students learn to craft comprehensive pieces where they
fictional origin stories that explain natural phenomena. Students learn to craft a well-
clearly introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop their points, and
exemplars and smallgroup writing workshops, learners take increased ownership of their daily writing habits,
introduce a topic, supply multiple reasons to support their opinion, and use linking words to create smooth
elaborated sequence of events that vividly describes characters' actions, thoughts, and feelings. The journey culminates in a vibrant
provide a concluding statement. Writing becomes a collaborative discipline as students use feedback to
planning, and editing routines. This growing self-direction enables second graders to
transitions before reaching a concluding statement. The
multimodal celebration where students draw on their drama lessons to adapt their written work
revise, adding or deleting sentences to improve flow, ensuring their
independently apply new language tools, refine their ideas, and express themselves with clarity and detail.
writing process deepens as students practice revising and editing to make their arguments more precise and engaging.
into live stage performances, bringing their pourquoi tales to life for an audience.
expertise is communicated clearly to their readers.
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MATHEMATICS The ISB mathematics programme is designed to develop a deep understanding of mathematical concepts while nurturing critical thinking skills and problem-solving abilities. Below are the key elements to our approach: Developing students’ concrete-pictorial-abstract thinking to build a solid foundation by connecting abstract concepts to tangible experiences Engaging students in hands-on activities, manipulatives, and interactive games to foster a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts Presenting real-world problems or open-ended questions to encourage students to think critically, apply mathematical concepts, and develop problem-solving skills Using visual representations such as diagrams, charts, and models to help students visualise abstract concepts, making them more accessible and easier to comprehend Providing multiple entry points to concepts, and offering support tailored to individual needs Cultivating a growth mindset towards learning math by emphasising effort, perseverance, and the belief that mathematical abilities can be developed through practice and learning from mistakes
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Operations and Algebraic Thinking Students master mental math fluency by quickly recalling addition and subtraction facts within 20. They apply these skills to tackle more complex, one- and two-step word problems involving numbers up to 100. Additionally, students explore fundamental number patterns by investigating groups of objects to determine whether a given quantity is odd or even.
Numbers and Operation in Base 10 Students build a solid foundation in place value by recognizing how three-digit numbers are composed of hundreds, tens, and ones. They practice reading, writing, and expressing numbers up to 1,000 using standard numerals, word names, and expanded form. Additionally, students strengthen their number sense by skip-counting and comparing three-digit numbers. Place Value, Addition & Subtraction Students build mental math agility by rapidly calculating 10 or 100 more and 10 or 100 less for any three-digit number, while mastering number sequences up to 1,000. To solve multi-digit addition and subtraction problems within 100 and beyond, children apply flexible strategies—such as partitioning numbers, making friendly tens or hundreds and using open number lines to visualize, execute, and articulate their calculation steps. By explaining their movement along the number line and demonstrating how numbers break apart, students connect flexible operation strategies directly to a foundational understanding of place value.
Multiplication Students design creative cityscapes while laying a strong foundation for multiplication using geometric arrays up to 5 rows by 5 columns. They explore building window patterns by moving from basic skip-counting to writing formal repeated addition equations. Through this imaginative project, students build early multiplication fact fluency and learn to clearly explain how equal groups of objects combine to make a total sum.
GRADE 2
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Measurement Students build practical measurement skills by selecting and using standard tools like rulers, meter sticks, and measuring tapes. They practice estimating lengths using metric units such as centimeters and meters to build a strong spatial sense. Additionally, students compare two items directly by measuring both and calculating the exact difference in standard units to determine how much longer one object is than another.
Geometry Students recognize, draw, and identify two- and three-dimensional shapes, including triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, and cubes, based on specific attributes like sides, angles, and equal faces. They build foundational spatial reasoning by partitioning rectangles into rows and columns of same-sized squares and counting the total number of units. Students also explore early fraction concepts by dividing circles and rectangles into equal shares and describing them as halves, thirds, or fourths.
Data & Graphing During the Grade 2 Olympics, students step into the role of athlete-statisticians to gather real-time event data and organize non-measurement choices into picture and bar graphs with up to four categories. They build line plots and various charts to visualize the results. Finally, students analyze their completed visual graphs to solve practical put-together, take-apart, and comparison math problems.
GRADE 2
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SCIENCE
The ISB Science programme offers students the chance to explore essential science concepts and processes, understand the methods used to develop scientific knowledge, and appreciate science's role in our culture, society, and daily lives. The curriculum equips students with the knowledge, understanding, and skills needed to make informed decisions on various issues. It also fosters the joy of scientific investigation and discovery and nurtures their innate curiosity about the world around them.
GRADE 2 Earth & Space: Every daily activity-from writing with a pencil to drinking a glass of water—depends on a simple truth: Earth’s resources are used in a variety of ways to sustain human life. In this unit, students will identify essential resources like garden soil, the minerals classroom objects are made from, or tap water. As an example of how we source and use resources, students will trace the fascinating journey a resource such as water takes from its natural source to the many ways it is used in their everyday lives. Physical Sciences: Every time we bounce a ball, open a door, or bend a paperclip, we are interacting with a fundamental physical rule: a push or a pull affects how an object moves or changes shape. In this unit, students will explore how forces like pushes and pulls make the world around them roll, float, fly, and bend. As an example of how forces work in daily life, students may test traditional toys, perhaps from diverse cultures, to observe how changing the strength and direction of a force alters movement across land, water, and air. Students will practice the key scientific skills of recording their observations in simple tables to uncover patterns, as well as making and testing their predictions based on the patterns they find.
Chemical Sciences: Mixing flour and water to make paper-pulp glue, blending paints to create vibrant new colors, or combining sand and gravel to build strong pavement all show a clever rule of science: different materials can be combined for a particular purpose. In this unit, students investigate how combining simple everyday substances creates useful new materials with brand-new properties. Hands-on laboratory experiments bring these combinations to life: students mix liquids and solids to see what happens when substances blend, test why specific items—like raincoats, toys, or tools—use certain material combinations, and explore how traditional cultures crafted long-lasting paints and dyes from natural clay, berries, or plants. Biological Sciences: From a sprouting seed in a garden to a growing puppy or a developing child, life everywhere follows a remarkable natural pattern: living things grow, change, and have offspring similar to themselves. In this unit, students will explore how plants and perhaps also animals develop over time and pass down physical characteristics across generations. As an example of these growth cycles in action, students may examine their own physical development from birth. They may compare the life stages and inherited traits of familiar local plants and possibly animals.
GRADE 2
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SOCIAL STUDIES Social studies are essential for helping children understand the world around them and their place within it. The Lower School Social Studies programme encompasses history, geography and civics providing students with a broad perspective on human experiences. Through social studies, students learn about different cultures, historical events, the functioning of governments, the interconnectedness of global communities and the importance of active engagement in society.
Our Actions Students move from understanding social structures to taking purposeful action as local and global citizens. The overall goal is for students to recognize that because resources are scarce, we must master the art of collaboration and empathy to develop sustainable solutions for the groups we share. Through exploring various case studies and examples students grasp the mechanics of resource allocation, the responsibilities of leadership, and how rules are formed. Using the illustrative context of a service-learning project, students will apply these standards by identifying a community need, navigating power dynamics and diverse perspectives, and committing to an authentic "Action." This matters because it transforms abstract ideas into a live action; students don't just learn about power and rules—they learn how to harness their own influence and work alongside others to achieve the best possible result for the common good. Key Knowledge in this unit: Natural and human resources are limited, requiring individuals and communities to make thoughtful choices about how to share and allocate them. Working together allows groups to achieve shared goals and solve community challenges more effectively than operating individually. Every member of a community holds personal responsibilities that keep the community functioning smoothly and fairly. Leaders hold authority over groups, which ideally comes with a duty to protect, guide, and serve the interests of their community.
GRADE 2
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VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS The Arts program focuses on the following areas: Creating & Performing and Responding & Connecting to visual & musical artworks. Visual Arts Students take on the roles of imaginative sculptors and interior designers, exploring how lines, rich color palettes, and structural forms bring ideas to life. Through collaborative painting projects and hands-on experimentation, they refine expressive line work, mix subtle tones, and apply complementary colors to evoke mood in landscape paintings. Students delve into 3D design by crafting freestanding figures and imaginative clay sculptures out of paper, clay, and mixed media, planning their designs through observational sketches and reflecting on how their ideas evolve. Drawing inspiration from renowned pattern artists, students transform everyday objects into custom patterns and combine their design ideas with a partner to create imaginative interior concepts. By reflecting on depth and distance in artwork, comparing famous artworks, and presenting their visual stories to classmates, students deepen their spatial awareness, design thinking, and collaborative skills. Within the welcoming spaces of our PS-2 common area and Chateau, an ever-evolving gallery proudly showcases the imaginative endeavors of our young talents, shining a spotlight on both individual brilliance and collective achievements.
Music In Grade 2, students become collaborative musicians and expressive leaders, discovering how individual voices and instrument parts weave together to share stories and songs from diverse cultures. Through singing and playing diverse music from around the world, students learn to accept constructive feedback and apply focused practice strategies to master multi-part arrangements with accuracy. In a joint Grade 1 and 2 concert experience, second graders step up as musical role models, taking responsibility for guiding younger peers, demonstrating focused rehearsal habits, and building professional stage presence. By evaluating their performance and adjusting elements like volume, pitch, and breath control for their audience, students learn how expressive choices elevate a live performance. This milestone marks a significant moment of personal growth, transforming dedication into proud individual achievement and unified community celebration.
Expressive Arts During Drama students embark on immersive narrative adventures, acting as brave town explorers and dynamic researchers from the "Magical Explorers and Scientists Society." Building empathy and collaboration, children write original stories, transform them into theatrical scripts, and step into supporting actor roles to help bring their peers' stories to life. Through these creative journeys, students practice vital narration skills, focusing on tone, expression, and clarity to effectively convey atmosphere, tension, and distinct story settings. Using body language, vocal control, and pantomime, second graders adapt their physical choices and project their voices for an audience. As independent performers, students memorize movement and speech, apply teacher feedback to refine their work, and develop the confidence to present compelling live performances.
GRADE 2
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PHYSICAL EDUCATION & HEALTH The Physical Education & Health programme focuses on the following areas: Motor Skills & Movement Patterns, Concepts, Principles, Strategies & Tactics and Understanding Healthy Lifestyles
Games Students analyse strategies to enhance their gameplay, promoting critical thinking and tactical decision-making. As a highlight of the programme, second graders are introduced to rock climbing, where they encounter bouldering activities, fostering physical agility and problem-solving skills in an exhilarating environment. Ball Skills Students focus on further the development of ball skills, refining fundamental techniques such as catching, throwing, and dribbling by both hand and foot. Progressing further, students advance to striking activities like badminton to refine their coordination and precision. Movement and Dance Our Basic Movement unit gives students the opportunities to continue developing body awareness and general coordination and also creativity through expressive movement to music and some dance elements, and to further explore the various gym equipment. At the end of the year, students benefit from using the track on the upper field for track and field activities and other types of games!
OUTDOOR EDUCATION In the Lower School, Outdoor Education nurtures confident, curious, and caring learners through regular, high-quality experiences in nature. Our holistic approach gives students the freedom to exercise genuine agency, making choices, solving hands-on problems, taking ownership of their discovery and building a strong sense of environmental stewardship. Whether practicing practical bushcraft skills, engaging in creative teamwork during imaginative play, or bringing classroom concepts and curriculum to life outdoors, students embrace personal challenges and calculated risks that build deep resilience and a growth mindset. Supported by time in nature that naturally boosts emotional wellbeing, students learn to listen, share, and collaborate in an open environment, developing a lifelong connection to the natural world alongside essential personal and social skills.
GRADE 2
The International School of Brussels
LANGUAGES Multilingualism and cultural understanding is a key part of being an International Citizen.
Students, who have demonstrated proficiency in English, access our French language programme. Additional languages are offered as part of the ISB+ programme, based on demand. ISB follows the Common European Framework for Languages.
English Proficiency
French Foundations A1 Intermediate A2 Independent B1 / C1
Grades 5 & 6 Science & Social Studies in French option
ISB+ Plus Languages Open to all regardless of English Proficiency
HOME LANGUAGE CLASSES Students who speak Hebrew, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Dutch or Swedish have access to one hour a week of a home language class. For Prekindergarten and Kindergarten this has an oral language focus. For students in Grade 1 and beyond this has a focus on the development of literacy skills.
Hebrew
Spanish
Japanese
Korean
Dutch
Swedish
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FRENCH My Community (Mon Village et Moi)
Expanding on their understanding of local spaces, students develop more nuanced French phrasing to compare community places, justify reasons for their movements, and express specific needs. As a culminating task, students produce a board game featuring a personalized character who describes their local area and explains their journey across various destinations. Some learning targets in this unit: Foundational Identify a wide range of civic and commercial places Use foundational phrasing to state immediate needs and direction of movement Group community spaces by their function or the specific services and goods they provide Intermediate Compare different community places and describe them using varied adjective placement and basic qualifying words Explain reasons for travel across town using varied purpose structures Use sequence words to describe a logical path through a neighborhood Independent Use complex location prepositions to give detailed directions around town Describe and compare ideal or contrasting communities using detailed vocabulary Identify immediate physical needs and state solutions within different community settings The Market (Le Marché) Expanding their conversational skills, students learn to link longer sentences using sequential phrases, compare different market goods, and describe their cooking plans in greater detail. As a culminating task, students engage in a dynamic customer-seller market exchange, confidently asking questions, discussing ingredients needed for soup or treats, and handling routine transactions in French. Some learning targets in this unit: Foundational Name a wider variety of specialized market items, baking supplies, and regional foods Combine requests with precise quantities and currency terms Sort market goods into categories such as produce, dairy, and bakery items Intermediate Compare similarities and differences between items to make choices Build longer conversational sentences using cohesive devices to explain cooking plans State substitutions or preferences when a primary item is unavailable Independent Manage routine and non-routine transactional conversations Articulate complex reasons for ingredient choices based on flavor, recipe needs, or personal preference. Describe multi-step culinary preparations
GRADE 2
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FRENCH The 5 Senses (Les 5 sens) Expanding on their sensory vocabulary, students connect sensory experiences to specific local destinations while incorporating cause-and-effect language and safety awareness. As a culminating task, students create a visual timeline featuring each sense, sharing what they discover and enjoy across their everyday surroundings. Some learning targets in this unit: Foundational Use phrases to state what can or cannot be sensed Categorize a variety of items using expanded vocabulary Match specific sensory inputs to typical places where those experiences occur Intermediate Provide reasons for personal reactions and feelings toward sensory experiences Express safety rules and caution by identifying physical hazards Describe a multi-step sensory experience in logical order using simple sequence words Independent Explain why certain substances are unsafe to taste, smell, or hold Create rich descriptions of an environment Compare contrasting sensory traits using comparative language
HOME LANGUAGES
In our Home Languages classes, students are supported to acquire and accurately use a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases for reading, writing, speaking and listening. Working towards reading grade-level appropriate text for comprehension is a priority for both fiction and non-fiction, supporting students to maintain and progress in their home language. (Language offerings: Dutch, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Swedish and Hebrew; offerings are dependent on enrolment.)
KEY KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS Applying specialized vocabulary across reading, writing, and speaking to communicate increasingly complex ideas Reading grade-level fiction and non-fiction texts with growing fluency and independence, analyzing how main ideas, central lessons, or informational topics develop throughout the text Asking and answering questions about a text by referencing specific sentence details, written passages, or textual evidence to make logical inferences and justify conclusions Reinforcing Comprehension by summarizing key supporting details, main events, and underlying themes in structured oral or written responses
GRADE 2
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FOUNDATIONAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT All About Me Students explore their personal backgrounds, daily interests, and how they connect with friends and family. Through these themes, students practice using the simple present and past tenses, build everyday vocabulary to share likes, dislikes, and simple reasons, and learn to use pronouns, conjunctions like "and" or "because," and basic descriptive words when speaking. My Home Students examine their living spaces, family routines, and how homes connect to the surrounding community. They expand their language skills by using prepositions, basic past and present tenses, and simple connecting words like and or because to describe household items and family habits. Through guided speaking, drawing, and short sentence writing, students build confidence sharing clear descriptions of their home environments.
My Community Students examine how local services, places, and community members work together to meet everyday needs. Learners expand their language skills by using prepositions, basic present and past tenses, and simple connecting words like because and so to explain what community helpers do and where places are located. Through guided map labeling, short sentence writing, and structured discussions, students learn to communicate clearly about how their community functions.
SKILLS Students who require consistent learning support have access to smaller group support during core language arts and mathematics lessons as well as through a Skills Learning support class which happens three times per week, instead of French. During this time, students have access to additional curricular support aimed at improved student access and success. In addition to this, students receive targeted support for their individual learning goals as part of their individual learning plan.
GRADE 2
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ADVISORY
The Advisory programme, led by the Lower School counsellor, builds the social and emotional understanding and skills of our students. Students expand their social-emotional awareness by exploring four dimensions of respect, for self, others, the community, and the environment, while celebrating individual differences and learning to care for their physical well-being. Through yearlong counseling lessons, children utilize the Zones of Regulation framework to recognize emotional states and apply self-regulation strategies to navigate strong feelings. Students also build interpersonal resilience by understanding the dynamics of teasing, developing positive strategies to resolve peer conflicts, and making thoughtful, healthy choices.
LIBRARY
Students expand their information literacy skills, moving from browsing to purposeful research and book selection. Through targeted read-alouds connected to Grade 2 inquiry topics, students examine how non-fiction texts are structured, and they learn how the library is organized in order to locate books with increasing independence. Frequent booktalks introduce diverse authors, series, and non-fiction titles, inspiring students to broaden their reading preferences and develop habits of regular independent reading.
STEM STEM comes to life in the Lower School through hands-on, real-world design challenges that invite students to solve authentic problems using Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Guided by the Design Cycle (Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test, and Implement), students intentionally choose the best tools and/or technology to research, measure, and build their solutions. Students experience a range of design tools, including 3-D printers, laser cutters and green screen studios. Through Vex robotics and block based coding, students build computational thinking. Along the way, science standards and math concepts become natural tools for problem-solving. Most importantly, through multiple tests and iterations, students build essential transferable skills like critical thinking, collaboration, and resilience, learning that thoughtful reflection turns every hurdle into a stepping stone toward a better solution. Alongside technical skills, we build responsible tech habits by teaching online safety, media literacy, and what it takes to be a positive digital citizen.
GRADE 2
Kattenberg 19, B-1170 Brussels, Belgium +32 2 661 42 11 www.isb.be