Second Grade Reading
Second grade is a pivotal year. By the end of the year second graders will no longer be learning to read, but preparing to read to learn. At Seward elementary our K-2 focus is fluency. Our goal is to have all second graders reading at a rate of 90 words per minute with 96% accuracy. After this goal has been achieved students begin to add in voice. Once fluency has been mastered our focus turns to comprehension.
- Building fluency & meaning-reading quickly & accurately with expression
- Decoding words-recognizing a growing number of words, reads new words by breaking into syllables, meanings of prefixes & suffixes
- Reading chapter books-begin to read books with several chapters & develop a larger vocabulary, able to pick own appropriate books
- Reading for meaning-retell familiar stories, summarizing main idea & plot, identifying main characters & settings
- Reading Aloud-many chances to listen to books read aloud, fosters love of books, fluency, complex texts, discuss books
- Shared reading-teacher demonstrates strategies students can use to understand a story, encourage predictions, develops fluency
- At the beginning of second grade, students should be reading a minimum of 45 wpm (words per minute).
- At the end of the semester(Dec) they should progress to a minimum of 72 wpm (words per minute).
- At the end of the school year-May students should be reading a minimum of 94 wpm (words per minute).
Home Support: Read EVERY night!! Students can either read to you or you to them.
We know you are busy-fixing meals, laundry, after school activities, work, volunteering-they all take precious time. But it is easy to find 20 minutes each day to read to a child.
Here are just a few suggestions:
- While eating the morning cereal, read the cereal box together.
- Going for fast food? Read the road signs on the way.
- While out to dinner at the local pizza parlor, you can read the menu or the games on the back of the paper placemat setting.
- At the grocery there are thousands of things to read! The signs in the aisles, labels on food, grocery ads.
- Busy doing dishes or laundry? No problem, have your child read to you while you wash away
- Reading the evening paper? Read the comics together.
- Turn off the TV after dinner and read with your child.
- Bath time! While children are playing and soaping up, read them a story.
- Reading a short story is a great way to end the evening and calm everyone down for bedtime.
- Waiting! We all wait: at the doctor’s office, in line at the grocery, for a prescription to be filled, for pizza to be delivered -turn that waiting time into reading time.
- When taking the children to school, have an older child read to a younger sibling or have the child read to you while you are driving.
Below, please find some valuable tools to help your child expand horizons and further the joy of learning.
