Reading and Writing Skills Every 2nd Grader Needs to Know

Reading and writing are an integral part of your child’s education. Without these skills, your child would not be able to read a menu, understand a math story problem, or write a note to a grandparent. As your child progresses through school, you will notice that more emphasis will be placed on developing reading and writing skills, especially when your child transitions from first grade to second grade. In second grade, your child is expected to be more advanced in both of these skills, as opposed to the basic expectations found in kindergarten and first grade. If you have a child moving on to 2nd grade, you can help prepare your child to meet and exceed these expectations by teaching them these reading and writing skills.

STORY COMPREHENSION

When your child reads a book or a short story, you expect that your child will remember some of the details. Although basic story comprehension skills are taught in previous grades, educators expect more in second grade. Second graders are expected to tell the beginning, middle and end of a story, as well as identify the setting, main characters, point of view and any major events that cause the protagonist to act a certain way. It can be very difficult to remember alof these details, so encourage your child to reread a paragraph or chapter to help recall these details more easily.

FLUENCY

Fluency is another reading skill you can expect to be emphasized in second grade. In order to be considered a fluent reader, your second grader will need to be able to read quickly without error, pausing at periods or commas, and using an appropriate “voice” for a reading section. The best way to build fluency skills with your second grader is to practice reading. The more familiar your child is with a text, the easier it will be to practice the appropriate voice. You can make this skill more fun by doing reader’s theater and acting out different reading passages.

DECODE WORDS

Depending on how strong of a reader your child is, your second grader might have already been exposed to more difficult text. In second grade, your child will be asked to decode (sound out) multi-syllable words using letter sounds, word families, prefixes and suffixes. Although this can be frustrating at first perseverance and practice will pay off. Try practicing longer words by promoting a word of the week with the entire family. Seeing different words and hearing how they’re pronounced will help your child advance these decoding skills.

WRITING SKILLS

In addition to more advanced reading skills, your second grader will be expected to have better writing skills as well. This includes researching a topic, and writing both narrative and informative pieces. While writing, your child will be expected to use correct capitalization, punctuation and spelling. This can be difficult for your child to do. To help promote these writing skills, encourage your second grader to write during free moments. This can be done in a  journal or can be done in a letter to a grandparent or friend. No matter what your child is writing, always encourage your second grader to go back through to edit and revise any errors.

Second grade will be a busy reading and writing year for your child. The secret to your child’s success is to prepare your child the best you can for this coming school year. Introduce these different skills to your second grader and then focus on building these skills throughout the school year. You will notice a vast improvement as time goes by.