Dear Parents,

Second grade is an exciting year for our students marked by inward growth.  Seven year olds can be extremely moody, sulking, and sometimes depressed.  They are often content to spend long periods of time alone, reading or listening to music or playing with animals or dolls.  At school too, they like to work by themselves and appreciate quiet corners for reading or working.  They also like working with a best friend even though relationships may be on one week and off the next.

During this year, students are expected to work alone and in small groups while teachers are instructing other groups within our classrooms.  For this reason, we find it necessary for our students to work cooperatively with one another.  Additionally, second graders should be able to problem-solve while they are working on assignments each day so that all our students can become independent, responsible learners.

We hope you find the following information helpful in getting your child ready for second grade.  For additional resources on how you can best supplement your child's learning, please take a look at Yardsticks by Chip Woods.

      adapted from Yardsticks by Chip Woods

Students coming into the second grade should be able to:

Reading

• Choose reading material on his/her reading level
• Identify long and short vowels
• Identify spelling and sounds produced by blands (bl, br, st, str, etc.)
• Identify spelling and sounds produced by diagraphs (ch, th, sh, etc.)
• Read anchor words (see 100 words below)
• Sequence events and pictures
• Use a variety of strategies icluding phonics, pictures, syntax, and context
• Fluently read and comprehend simple chapter books at Guided Reading Level J (e.g. Frog and Toad, Little Bear, Henry and Mudge)

Writing

• Capitalize proper nouns at the beginning of every sentence
• Appropriately punctuate all sentences
• Recognize the completeness or incompleteness of sentences
• Write at least 8 sentences on a given topic
• Properly form capital and lower case letters and numbers
• Place proper spacing between sentences and words.

Math

• Perform addition and subtraction facts to 18
• Complete simple one step story problems
• Recognize and write numbers 1-100
• Read picture and bar graphs, recognize and use tally marks
• Understand math vocabulary; addition, subtraction, sum, difference, greater and less than, number sentence
• Count by 5's and 10's to 100 and by 2's to 10
• Recognize the difference between odd and even numbers
• Write a number sentence both horizontally and vertically
• Recognize and know the value of different coins
• Identify the minute and hour hand on the clock and know time to the hour and half-hour
• Recognize the basic geometric shapes
• Use a ruler to preform basic measurements
• Recognize place value ones and tens

Social Studies

• Write and recite their complete address and telephone number
• Write and recite their birth date (month, day, year)
• Write and recite days of the week, months, and seasons of the year

Social & Work Habits

• Independently follow the daily routine and three-step directions
• Focus on tasks and listen attentively
• Independently organize and maintain responsibility for materials and assignments
• Take turns respectfully

  Compiled by the LaGrange Elem. School Action Team