Reading Skills for Second Grade
The following is a list of some of the milestones we look for our second graders to work toward:
- Ask and answer questions such as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate knowledge of text
- Recount stories with accuracy
- Describe how characters in a story respond to major events in the story
- Describe beginning, middle, and end of a story
- Show understanding of setting, character, plot through use of print and illustrations
- Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story
- Non-fiction text - sequence events, ideas, or concepts
- Identify main idea and supporting details of text
- Know and use various text features, i.e. captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries) to locate key information
- Author's purpose - identify the main purpose of the test - what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe
- Read and compare two or more informational texts
Reading Tips
Reading for Meaning
Check for meaning by asking these questions when reading with your child :
- Did it make sense?
- What's happening in the picture
- What could happen next?
- What happened in the story when ____?
- What is the problem?
- How was the problem solved?
Word Attack Skills When your child comes to a word they don't know, try some of these clues instead of giving them the word right away:
- Did that sounds right?
- What sound/letter does it start with?
- What would you expect to see at the beginning/middle/end?
- Point to the word.
- Can you find _____?
- Can you reread that?
- What is another word that might fit here?
SELF-CHECKING
It is important that your child should learn to check himself/herself as he/she is reading. Here are some suggestions to encourage self-checking:
- Why did you stop?
- Can you find the tricky part?
- Try that again.
- Does that sound right?
- How do you know?