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Article: Ready or Not: Second Grade

Is your child ready for second grade? Every child is special and unique and develops at their own pace, but certain skills and knowledge sets are essential for social and academic growth, development and achievement in school. This checklist is designed to help you prepare your child for second grade. As you explore it, remember:

• Success in second grade requires a child to be a much more independent learner than he/she was in first grade.
• You are your child's first and most important teacher and role model.
• Every day your child is learning as you talk, play and work together.
• Readiness is a combination of age, individual growth and experiences.
• Your child will develop at his/her own rate; however, your involvement strongly promotes readiness.
• Your child will learn by doing.
• Play is an essential part of learning.
• Your child learns best when he/she is involved in activities that are interesting and fun.

 

Learning for Life  |  Language & Literacy  |  Mathematics  |  Social Studies  |  Science

 

Learning for Life

Social Development: Life Skills

 Appears comfortable and confident with him/herself
 Respects others and the rights of others
 Follows classroom rules and routines
 Accepts responsibility for behavior and actions
 Uses materials appropriately and respectfully
 Makes independent choices of materials and activities
 Sustains attention to work over a period of time
 Works, plays and shares with others
 Interacts easily with adults
 Participates in group activities
 Shows empathy and caring for others
 Uses words to reason and resolve conflicts
 Seeks help when unable to resolve conflicts
 Uses words appropriately
 Completes tasks

Tips for parents to help children become socially and emotionally ready for second grade:

• Be a role model at all times, especially when you are in a conflict or faced with a difficult decision. Describe out loud the thought process you go through as you choose your decision as to how to react to a situation. 
• Praise your child for positive behaviors and making smart decisions, point out small successes. ("That was a good decision to share the cupcake so you both got a little bit.")
• Give your child the opportunity to make choices; when your child is having a difficult moment, offer up two suggestions with consequences ("You can either leave your toys on the floor and choose to give up tonight's bedtime story, or you can pick up your toys and earn an extra ten minutes of storytime.") and abide by these consequences.
• Organize brief “family study” periods every night; make this habit a part of your family life so that it becomes something your child looks forward to as “together time.” Have plenty of study materials for your child so that this time is spent reading, writing or focusing, not on looking for something to do.
• When other adults are present, ask your child a question or two that you know they can answer and enjoy discussing (their favorite toy or the family pet). Listen to your child’s responses and ask further questions to encourage attention to detail (“What kind of ice cream did Francis drop on the floor?”)

Language & Literacy

Reading & Comprehension Skills

 Shows independent interest in reading-related activities
 Listens with interest to stories and other texts read aloud
 Constructs meaning from print
 Understands and interprets stories or short passages
 Recognizes new words by using phonics and/or contextual clues
 Has a basic sight vocabulary
 Follows written directions
 Demonstrates understanding of stories by identifying the main idea and main characters, placing events in sequence and predicting outcomes

Writing & Spelling Skills

 Accurately writes his/her last name
 Writes words, phrases and sentences to convey messages
 Recognizes conventions of print (punctuation, parts of speech, etc.)
 Writes simple stories with a beginning, a middle and an end
 Writes correctly spaced, complete sentences using correct capitalization and punctuation
 Prints uniformly and legibly
 Spells grade-level words
 Locates words in a picture dictionary
 Uses strategies to create invented spellings
 Uses conventional spellings in commonly used words
 Understands the concepts of synonyms and antonyms
 Identifies beginning, middle and ending consonants aurally and visually
 Recognizes long and short vowel words
 Identifies word endings
 Identifies plural forms and compound words

Tips for parents to help children develop second-grade language arts skills:

• Read with your child every day, even if it is just for twenty minutes before bed. Take turns reading short phrases or paragraphs. Build up to taking on character roles in stories.
• Let your child see you reading every day. Encourage your child to read short articles in the newspaper along with you.
• If you have a television that has the ability to show closed captioning, turn the captions on while watching television with your child and point out specific words or phrases that appear repeatedly.
• Ask your child to read the label on packages of food; this is an opportunity to help your child become a critical reader. Look for the difference between factual information and advertising hyperbole.

Language Development: Listening & Speaking Skills

 Listens for meaning in discussions and conversations
 Follows directions that involve a series of actions
 Participates in discussions and conversations
 Expresses ideas clearly (describes, answers questions, retells stories, etc.)
 Describes an object using two or more properties (descriptors)
 Uses “I” and “me” correctly
 Speaks in complete sentences

Tips for parents to help children develop language skills:

• Ask your child to describe his/her day at dinner or at bedtime. Ask questions that focus on details. Ask your child to describe the best thing that happened that day and why that event was so wonderful.
• Tell your child a simple joke and ask him/her to repeat it back to you. Jokes require attention to both the language and the inflection in the voice.
• Tape record your child telling or reading a short story; listen to the tape while your child follows along with the book.
• Praise your child for speaking clearly, especially when other people are around.
• Listen to the radio or books-on-tape in the car with your child. Ask questions about the stories you hear.
• Model good verbal skills; speak clearly and deliberately when you talk directly to your child or to others when your child is around.

Mathematics

Numbers, Operations & Problem Solving

 Counts by 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s
 Identifies, orders and writes numerals from 0 to 100
 Knows addition and subtraction facts to 50
 Adds and subtracts two-digit numbers to 99 without regrouping
 Shows understanding of quantity
 Shows beginning understanding of place value
 Makes reasonable estimates of quantities
 Identifies whole, half, thirds, and fourths
 Name and use ordinal numbers, such as first, second, third, etc.
 Plot and identify positive whole numbers on a number line

Geometry & Measurement

 Identifies and draws basic shapes
 Explores and solves simple spatial and measuring problems using manipulatives (hands-on objects that can be counted or sorted) and drawings
 Recognizes and uses standard measuring tools, such as rulers, scales and thermometers
 Understand basic concepts of spatial relationships, symmetry, and reflections

Math in Action: Telling Time, Money, Real-World Math

 Recognizes and adds money to $1.00
 Tells time to the hour and half-hour
 Uses drawings and words to describe mathematical thinking
 Collects and records data using tallies, lists, charts and graphs
 Reads a graph or chart and derives conclusions
 Classifies, sorts and compares physical objects by a variety of classification schemes and patterns (likeness, difference, sound, color, texture, size, weight, temperature, length of time, etc.)
 Makes, copies and extends patterns with actions, objects and words

Tips for parents to help children feel confident in dealing with numbers and number tasks:

• Create a coin jar where you toss spare change and give your child the regular chore of sorting and counting these coins (with your help) on a regular basis.
• Keep a master family calendar and have your child mark off days, count the days until up coming events, and keep track of birthdays.
• Encourage your child to help sort the cans and boxes in your pantry by size or weight.
• Include your child in simple cooking activities and model using measuring cups or spoons; describe what you are doing as you use these measuring tools.
• Play counting games when you are in the car or out for walk; pick a "magic number" and challenge your child to spot that many dogs, then the magic number of big trees, or red cars, etc.

Social Studies

 Compares everyday life in different places and times
 Understands that history tells stories about real events and real people of other times and places
 Understands broad categories of time and calendar time
 Recognizes cultural differences, traditions and contributions
 Knows some significant individuals in United States history, such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr.
 Knows the people and events honored by commemorative holidays
 Knows why and how historical buildings such as the White House, monuments such as Mt. Rushmore, and statues such as the Statue of Liberty, are linked to history
 Uses simple maps, globes, and other means to identify and locate places of significance to the child (Grandma lives in New York, our vacation will be in Arizona, etc.)
 Identifies the seven continents and their common characteristics
 Identifies the modes of transportation used to move people, products and ideas
 Understands how and why rules are made
 Recognizes major elected officials such as the President and the Governor of your state
 Understands the basic concept that government officials are voted into office by their constituents
 Understands the role and responsibility of the citizen in American democracy (such as voting, staying informed)
 Begins to understand basic concepts of supply, demand and limited resources
 Distinguishes the difference between human and natural resources
 Distinguishes the difference between goods and services, and between consumers and producers
 Begins to understand basic concepts of markets and exchange
 Understands the basic functions of a bank

Tips for parents to help children prepare for a diverse world:

• Discuss your family's cultural background, make traditional foods and sing traditional songs when you can bring different generations of your family together.
• Look through family photographs and discuss how the daily life of today is different from what your grandparents experienced. Create an album that compares your grandparents clothes, foods and modes of transportation versus those your child experiences today.
• Introduce your child to music, food, clothing and stories from other cultures.
• Seek out opportunities to visit historical places. Use the Internet as a vehicle to take your child on “virtual history trips” around the world.
• Point out the faces of people on American coins, stamps and paper currency; explain why these people are remembered so fondly.

Science

 Appears to be developing a positive attitude toward science
 Understands that objects can be described, classified and compared by their composition and properties (color, shape, etc.)
 Recognizes that the same material can exist in different states (e.g. solid, liquid, gas)
 Verifies that things can be done to materials to change some of their properties
 Recognizes that many things are made of smaller pieces, different amounts and various shapes
 Understands basic concepts of energy
 Understands the concept of habitats and distinguishes between different types of habitats
 Knows the Solar System
 Understands the interaction of the Solar System and how it affects life on Earth
 Knows the basic needs of all living things
 Recognizes and observes characteristics and behavior of living and non-living things
 Understands the interdependence of living things in the environment
 Uses investigation to seek information
 Uses tools to gather scientific information
 Asks questions about the natural and physical world
 Makes logical predictions based upon observations
 Communicates scientific information in a variety of ways

 

 

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