Goals for the End of Second Grade
Children become strong “decoders” in 2nd grade, meaning they can sound out and read more difficult words, such as compound words like cupcake and clubhouse.
Children can read words that have prefixes, like preheat and suffixes, like treatable.
Children can read 2nd grade level words that are spelled irregularly (through, enough).
Children can correct themselves when they misread.
They read on their own for longer periods of time and understand what they read.
Children read different genres or types of reading, like fairy tales, poems, recipes, beginning chapter books and magazines.
Children know over 220 high-frequency “sight words”.
When reading a factual or informational text, they can remember the most important details: its main purpose and the 5 Ws: “who”, “what,” “where,” “when,” “why,” and “how” of the story.
For stories, children are ready to show deeper understanding and critical thinking. You can ask thought provoking, open-ended questions such as, “If you were that character, would you have decided to run away?” Rather than a simple, “Who was the main character?”
Children are reading 2nd grade level books with accuracy, a good pace and lively expression. After reading, they can retell the story.
Children’s handwriting becomes more controlled and uniform.
Children enjoy creating more extended stories and are excited about typing them, too.
