Grade 2

Second grade is an important time in your child’s life. Your child is transitioning from a primary scholar to an intermediate scholar to be ready for third grade. This guide provides an overview of the academic standards and social emotional milestones that your child will experience this year. Academic standards are important because they help ensure that all scholars are prepared for success. This guide is meant to support you in understanding what your child is learning, and provide ways you can speak with your child’s teacher about their progress and growth over the year.

Learning Partnership Guides

A Guide to Your Scholar's Success

English Language Arts

Reading

Scholars can read and understand texts at the 2nd grade level.
Ask and answer questions and use text evidence to support thinking.
Learn and use strategies to decode multisyllable words.
Determine main idea and key supporting details.
Use strategies to understand word meanings in grade level texts.
Learn new vocabulary.

Ways to talk with your child's teacher:

How is my child performing in phonics instruction? Is that level below, on or above grade level?
What is my child’s Power Goal? A Power Goal is a specific skill or strategy that your child is working on to improve reading skills.
How is my child progressing in terms of meeting standards in reading, writing, speaking and listening? What are their strengths? What are areas to improve?

Writing & Communication

Scholars can write to explain topics, share their opinion, and develop a story.
Write a paragraph about one idea.
Support writing with evidence.
Write about experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
Scholars can write to explain.
Participate in collaborative conversations with classmates.

Ways to support your scholar at home:

Set aside time (20–30 minutes) for your child to read every day. Have them read to you. Talk to them about what is happening in their book(s).
Ask your scholar to share what they are working on in class. Ask them questions like, “What book did you read and/or talk about in class today?” “What did you like about what you read?” “Tell me what you wrote about today in class.”

Math

SEMESTER 1: SEPTEMBER–JANUARY

Scholars solve word problems involving addition and subtraction within 100.
Example: Devin had some candy. He ate 37 pieces. Now, he has 25 left. How many did he have to begin with?

Ways to talk with your child's teacher:

Is my child on track? What are areas of strength and growth?
Ask to see a piece of your child’s work. Is this work satisfactory? What could be improved?

SEMESTER 2: FEBRUARY–JUNE

Scholars add and subtract within 1000, using strategies based on place value.
Example: Use a number line to solve: 237 + 195 =

Ways to support your scholar at home:

Ask your child to solve real life scenarios involving multiplication and division. For example, “If there are 35 chocolates to share with 7 people, how many will each person get?”
Give your child opportunities to tell time or elapsed time. For example, “If we go to the grocery store at 12:30 and stay for 35 minutes, when will we leave?”

Science

How are materials similar and different? How do the properties of materials relate to how they are used?
What do plants need to grow? How many types of living things live in a place? How do plants depend on animals to disperse seeds?
How does land change and what are some things that cause it to change? What are the different kinds of land and bodies of water?

Social Studies

Community

Who am I? Who is in my class? What do we all need to learn together?
What is a community? What are the roles and responsibilities of citizens in their communities?
Why is it important for me to read and learn about people whose lives and experiences are different from mine?
People can improve their community through civic involvement and communities change over time.

Music

Health & PE

Tech Skills

SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL - Second Grade Milestones

Keep belongings neater at home and school than in 1st grade
Conscientious and serious; have strong preferences
Benefit from humor and games to help moderate seriousness
Need security and structure; rely on adults for help and constant reassurance
Inward-looking; can be moody, touchy, sulky, or shy
May change friendships quickly and feel “nobody likes me”
May not like to take risks or make mistakes
Sensitive to others’ feelings, but sometimes tell on others
May prefer working and playing alone or with one friend
Benefit from advanced warning to any changes in routine at home and school
Can get sick from worrying about tests, assignments, etc.
Benefit from close communication between teachers and parents to help ensure needs are understood

QUESTION & ANSWER

Q: Who do I contact if I have a concern about my child?

A: First, always contact your scholar’s teacher/s and discuss your concern. If your concern has not been fully addressed, you can contact the school's family liaison or principal.

Q: What can I do if my child seems to be struggling learning how to read?

A: Set aside time for your child to read or to read to your child every day. Ask your child about what they are reading. Ask your child’s teacher what their reading power goal is and are there activities you can do at home to practice. The best way to become a stronger reader is to read!

OUR COMMITMENT TO SCHOLARS AND FAMILIES

All scholars learn best when they experience physical and emotional safety in classrooms and schools. Scholars and families should expect to see the following adult actions:

Provide a welcoming environment to support building trusting, encouraging relationships with all families.
Prioritize scholar voice and participation in shaping the learning and classroom culture.
Teach for understanding to assure scholars have high expectations and academic supports to grow intellectually.
Focus on scholar cooperation to encourage scholars to learn from and help others.
Implement school-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports so that all scholars and adults live out their shared beliefs and actions that make school a safe and fun place to learn.
Teach social and emotional learning skills and strategies during morning meetings and reinforce SEL skills throughout the school day.

Getting Ready for College & Career

The ABC's for College & Career Readiness

Attendance

Scholars who maintain good attendance through all years of school:

Achieve grade level standard at a higher rate
Graduate from high school at a higher rate
Develop good habits that contribute to success in school and in future careers
For each day a scholar is absent it takes an average of three days to catch up.

Behavior & Social Emotional Learning

The purpose behind Culturally-Responsive Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (CR-PBIS) is to make schools more effective, efficient, and equitable learning environments for all scholars. By teaching scholars expectations and acknowledging positive behavior, adults increase the predictability, consistency, positive climate, and safety of all at school. Social emotional learning lessons are taught and embedded throughout the school year. To learn more about CR-PBIS and social emotional learning at your school, contact your scholar's teacher or principal.