• Skills Required at the Beginning of 2nd Grade      
        
    Your child's teacher will expect your child to do the following:
                                                                   
    Reading and Writing                                                  
    • Read basic readers
    • Expand sight word vocabulary
    • Recall the sequence of events in oral and written stories
    • Differentiate between fiction and nonfiction stories
    • Discuss story elements such as plot, character, events, and setting
    • Identify the main idea and details in a story
    • Print legibly
    • Recognize single and plural forms of nouns
    • Write in complete sentences
    • Understand basic punctuation
    • Use descriptive language

    Math

    • Understand greater than, less than, lighter than, heavier than, the same as, etc.
    • Recognize and write numbers up to 100
    • Count backwards from any given point from 100
    • Mentally add numbers to 10
    • Add and subtract with pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters
    • Tell time to the hour and half hour
    • Recognize symmetry in drawings and shapes
    • Combine shapes to make other shapes
    • Identify, describe, and reproduce patterns with number, shapes, colors, or words
    • Use simple graphs to record information
    • Recognize simple mathematic symbols (e.g. "+", "= ",">","<")
    • Begin to understand simple fractions

    Social Studies

    • Locate the United States, the seven continents, and the four oceans on a large map or globe
    • Construct and interpret simple maps with cardinal directions and map key
    • Demonstrate awareness of current news
    • Participate in group decision making
    • Understand traditions that reflect American ideals and influences from diverse cultures within the nation
    • Create charts and timelines demonstrating an understanding of past and present
    • Recognize shared values and goals as students in the same community, despite differences in backgrounds

    Science

    • Use tools such as a magnifying glass, ruler, and balancing scale
    • Learn basic needs of living things by caring for animals in class
    • Experiment with balls and ramps to investigate forces such as gravity, momentum, and friction
    • Explore formation of the earth's surface using water, sand, silt, and pebbles
    • Develop an awareness of the water cycle
    • Conduct simple experiments; observe and record results