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Grade 2 Overview

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