# 2nd Grade Science Curriculum — Full Audit Report
**Date:** 2026-07-15 · **Scope:** 32 weeks, 101 PDFs, 78 HTML sources, course plan, formatting reference
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## 1. Executive Summary
**Strengths**
- All 101 PDFs render at exactly 3 pages (verified with pdfinfo — zero page-count violations).
- Vocabulary-grid ordering rule (#1/#9: Reading Time → Reading Questions → Vocab Grid) is satisfied in **every** HTML source file checked (0 violations).
- Weeks 6–29 track the course plan closely, with strong lesson-day structure (Mon intro / Wed hands-on / Fri review), good activity variety (sort tables, T/F circles, draw boxes, word banks, experiments), and consistent green-scheme styling.
- Science content sampled is accurate (states of matter, water cycle, weather vs. climate, erosion, volcano chemistry correctly described as CO₂ from baking soda + vinegar).
- Quarters map cleanly onto NGSS 2nd-grade bundles (2-PS1 matter, 2-LS2/2-LS4 plants & habitats, 2-ESS1/2-ESS2 earth changes & water).
**Weaknesses**
- **Weeks 30–32 have drifted completely off the course plan** (see §3). The plan's "Patterns in Nature" and "Engineering Design Challenge" weeks were never built; animal classification/conservation content was built instead.
- **W32 Friday review references a curriculum that doesn't exist** — it summarizes "plants Weeks 1-4, animals Weeks 5-10, adaptations 11-16, ecosystems 17-24, conservation 25-32," which matches NONE of this course's actual sequence. Factually wrong for the student.
- Plant unit has internal duplication (W13 vs W15 both teach plant parts + flower dissection) and sequencing confusion (results analyzed in W12, again in W16).
- 5 orphan/duplicate PDFs (root-level W02 ×3, Week10 ×2) — resolvable, older versions identified below.
- No safety warnings in experiment sheets sampled (vinegar/volcano, erosion water play).
- Reading level frequently runs high (long multi-clause sentences, terms like "seismic waves," "polyester," "decades") — upper-2nd to 3rd grade; acceptable for a strong reader, heavy for average 7-year-olds.
- HTML source coverage is worse than believed: missing for **W01–W06 (all), W07 Monday, and all of Week10** — not just "Weeks 1–5."
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## 2. Critical Issues (fix first)
| # | Issue | Fix |
|---|-------|-----|
| C1 | **W32 Friday review content is wrong** — reviews a fictional week map (plants W1-4, animals W5-10…). Student will be quizzed on sequencing that never happened; several questions (5 vertebrate groups, decomposers) cover material this course never taught. | Rewrite `W32_Friday_Course_Review_Final` to review the ACTUAL year: matter (W1-10), plants/ecosystems (W11-20), earth science (W21-27), diversity (W28-30). |
| C2 | **Engineering Design week (W31) missing.** Course plan and NGSS (K-2-ETS1-1/2/3) require an engineering design challenge; actual W31 files re-teach habitats/food chains/ecosystems already covered in W17–W20. | Rebuild W31 as the engineering challenge week (erosion barrier / water filter / plant grower — ties back to W25 and W11). |
| C3 | **"Patterns in Nature" week (W30) missing.** Actual W30 = Animal Classification (vertebrates/invertebrates — not in the plan, and arguably 3rd-4th grade depth). | Either rebuild W30 per plan, or update `32_week_course_plan.md` to legitimize classification and fold pattern-observation into W28/W29. Decide, then make plan and files agree. |
| C4 | **Week 10 duplicate lessons** (2 versions each of Wed & Fri, different content). Older pair: `W10_Wednesday_States_Experiments.pdf` (13:40) and `W10_Friday_Unit_Review.pdf` (13:42). Newer pair: `W10_Wednesday_States_of_Matter_Experiments.pdf` (14:08) and `W10_Friday_Matter_Unit_Review.pdf` (14:11). | Delete/archive the older pair (13:40/13:42 timestamps). Leaves exactly 3 PDFs. |
| C5 | **Root-level W02 PDFs are stale legacy versions**, NOT copies — different content ("Week 2, Lesson 4" header, 5-lesson-era format, plain text style). `Week02/` versions (08:20, larger, current format) are canonical. | Delete or move root `W02_*.pdf` (3 files) to an `_archive/` folder. |
After C4+C5: 101 → 96 PDFs = 32×3. ✔
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## 3. Week-by-Week Issues
**W01** — Monday subtitle says "Week 1 — Monday | **Properties of Materials**" but the lesson (correctly) is Scientific Observation; subtitle is wrong (that's the W2 topic). Wednesday is titled "Material_Testing" — a week ahead of plan. Minor; fix subtitle if regenerating. No HTML source.
**W02** — Root duplicates (C5). No HTML source.
**W03–W06** — Match plan. No HTML sources (W06 too, despite being green-scheme).
**W07** — Monday HTML missing (`W07_Monday_Solids_Deep_Dive` PDF only); Wed/Fri HTML present.
**W08, W09** — OK. Monday HTMLs use `.vocab-grid { page-break-after: always; }` (see §4).
**W10** — Duplicates (C4). No HTML sources for any of the 5 PDFs — after cleanup, week has zero editable sources.
**W11** — OK; note Wednesday "Plant Experiment Setup" pulls the plan's W12 topic forward one lesson (harmless).
**W12** — **Sequencing problem:** Friday is "Experiment Results Review — Analyzing Data and Drawing Conclusions" but the growth experiment was planted only ~1 week earlier and the plan schedules results analysis in W16. W16 files then repeat analysis/conclusions (Analyzing_Plant_Data, Growth_Graphs, Experiment_Report). Recommend re-scoping W12 Friday to "mid-experiment check-in / prediction review" so W16 remains the true conclusion week.
**W13** — **Topic mismatch/duplication:** plan says "Observing Plant Growth"; files teach Plant Parts + Wednesday Flower Dissection. W15 then teaches Plant Parts + Flower Dissection AGAIN (different text, same topics — 191 diff lines but same activities). The plan's W13 observation content effectively lives in W14. Recommend: rewrite W13 to growth observation/journaling per plan, keep W15 as plant parts. (Cheaper alt: update plan to swap W13↔W14 and differentiate W13 vs W15 dissection focus — e.g., W13 whole-plant, W15 flower reproduction.)
**W14** — OK ("Tracking Plant Growth Over Time") but see W13 overlap.
**W15–W29** — Match plan; no structural issues found. Notes:
- W21 Wed introduces the water cycle (plan puts intro in W22 Monday "Deep Dive") — acceptable spiral.
- W23 Monday reading contains a grammar error: *"What a nice weather today!"* → "What nice weather today!" (bad model for ELA integration).
- W26 volcano/earthquake sheet: good science, **no safety note** (vinegar in eyes, spill containment, adult supervision). Same gap in W24/W25 erosion water experiments.
- W30 (see C3), W31 (see C2), W32 Mon/Wed teach Conservation/Endangered Species — decent capstone content but absent from the plan; Friday review broken (C1).
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## 4. Formatting Audit
- **Vocab-grid ordering (Rule #1/#9): PASS everywhere.** All 78 HTMLs place Vocabulary after Reading Questions.
- **`page-break-after: always` on `.vocab-grid` — 9 files violate the audit doc's explicit prohibition (line 135/156/279):**
`W08_Monday_Liquids_Intro`, `W09_Monday_Gases_Intro`, `W11_Monday_Plant_Needs_Intro`, `W12` all 3, `W13` all 3.
Because vocab is the *last* element on page 1 in these files, rendering is currently correct (all 3 pages) — but any content edit above it will silently reflow. Migrate these 9 to explicit `<div class="page">` wrappers (the W14+ method). This includes the Week 8 sample flagged in the task context — confirmed real, plus 8 more.
- **Two CSS schemes** (legacy blue W1-5, green W6+) are documented and intentional — not a defect, but W1-5 can't be restyled without sources.
- **Page counts:** all 101 PDFs = 3 pages. PASS.
- **Tables:** spot-checked files include `page-break-inside: avoid`. PASS.
## 5. Curriculum Coverage vs NGSS
**Covered well:** 2-PS1-1 (properties, W2-5), 2-PS1-2 (testing materials for purpose, W4-5), states of matter (W6-10), 2-LS2-1 (plant needs fair test, W11-16), 2-LS4-1 (habitat diversity, W17-19, W28-29), 2-ESS2-2/2-ESS2-3 (water mapping, W21), 2-ESS1-1 (fast/slow changes, W24-26), 2-ESS2-1 (erosion solutions, W25).
**Gaps:**
1. **2-PS1-4 Reversible vs irreversible changes** — melting/freezing appears in W10 experiments, but irreversible changes (baking, burning, cooking) are absent from the plan entirely. curriculum.md lists this as core. → Add to W10 or extend the matter unit.
2. **2-PS1-3 Build/disassemble objects from smaller pieces** — only glancingly touched (W4 bridge). → Fold into rebuilt W31 engineering week.
3. **2-LS2-2 Pollination & seed dispersal model** — pollination is mentioned in W13/W15 readings but the "animals disperse seeds/pollinate" modeling task is missing. → Add to W15 or W20.
4. **K-2-ETS1 Engineering** — missing due to W31 drift (C2).
5. **Patterns crosscutting concept** — missing due to W30 drift (C3).
**Over-represented:** plant parts/dissection (×2: W13, W15); experiment-results analysis (×2: W12F, W16); habitats/ecosystems (W17-20 + again W31). Roughly 3 weeks of duplicated instruction that could fund the missing topics above.
**Integration:** Math integration is genuinely good (measuring W12-14, bar graphs W16, weather charts W23). ELA: reading passages + Q4 extended writing every lesson — good, but fix the W23 grammar error and audit passages for sentence length (many 25+ word sentences; target ≤15 for grade 2).
## 6. Priority Action Items
1. **[HIGH] Rewrite W32 Friday review** — actively wrong content (C1).
2. **[HIGH] Rebuild W31 as Engineering Design Challenge** — restores NGSS ETS1 + plan alignment (C2).
3. **[HIGH] Delete 5 stale PDFs** — root `W02_*.pdf` ×3, `Week10/W10_Wednesday_States_Experiments.pdf`, `Week10/W10_Friday_Unit_Review.pdf` → exact 96-file inventory (C4/C5).
4. **[MED] Resolve W30** — build "Patterns in Nature" per plan or amend the plan (C3).
5. **[MED] De-duplicate plant unit** — rewrite W13 to growth observation; re-scope W12 Friday to mid-experiment check-in.
6. **[MED] Add reversible/irreversible changes** (2-PS1-4) and pollination/seed-dispersal model (2-LS2-2).
7. **[MED] Add a standard "⚠️ Safety" box** to all experiment (Wednesday) sheets — start with W24-26.
8. **[LOW] Migrate 9 HTMLs off `page-break-after: always`** to `.page` divs (W08/W09/W11 Mondays, all W12, all W13).
9. **[LOW] Recreate HTML sources** for W01-W06, W07 Monday, W10 (currently uneditable) — at minimum for the W10 keepers and any week slated for edits.
10. **[LOW] Fix W01 Monday subtitle** ("Properties of Materials" → "Scientific Observation") and W23 grammar error.