NOTE: This is a compilation of skills and facts a child should be able to complete and understand at the end of second grade. The list of skill sets here will be learned during the second grade year.

Language Arts

Art

• Expand on previous learning
• Work with more materials
• Growth in skills, like depth and space, relative sizes and placement
• Further knowledge of primary and secondary colors- creating color wheels
• Learn about tints and shades
• Introduce famous artists and their work

Music

• Learn and develop understanding of melody and rhythm
• Sing, play instruments, and explore creative movement
• Learn about famous musicians
• Learn about instruments that make up an orchestra/band

Reading

• Read grade-specific material confidently and for fun
• Read with expression and read silently
• Demonstrate comprehension by predicting outcomes
• Identify main ideas and supporting details
• Retell what happened in a story including main ideas, details about characters, setting, and events
• Make connections to their own background knowledge
• Decode words using cues from phonics, word order, and context
• Self-select a variety of fiction and nonfiction books

Spelling

• Recognize spelling patterns and spell high-frequency words correctly
• Short-vowel and long-vowel
• r-controlled and consonant-blend patterns
• Irregular words (was, were, says, said, who, what, and why)
• Spelling compound words

Writing & Grammar

• Write in complete sentences
• Recognize parts of speech such as subject, verb, adjective
• Use capitalization and punctuation correctly
• Compose in poetic, narrative, creative, and expository forms
• Begin writing simple stories with a beginning, middle, and end.
• Write in simple paragraph form
• Use basic research skills for presentations
• Edit and proofread their work

Mathematics

Expanded Form

• Can write four-digit numbers in expanded form: 3,754 in expanded form is 3,000 + 700 + 50 + 4

Fractions

• Can write a fraction of a shaded shape in up to twelve parts
• Can compare fractions using greater than, less than, and equal to signs

Graphs

• Collect, sort, and interpret data in various simple graphs

Measurements

• Be able to measure length and weight

Money

• Count, add, and subtract money using dollar and cent symbols and decimal point

Numbers & Counting

• Read, write, count, and sequence numbers up to 1,000
• Write numbers in word form from 1-20: twenty
• Can count backwards by 2’s and 5’s from 50
• Can count backwards by 10’s from 100
• Can count backwards by 100’s from 1,000
• Can correctly write a number read to them through 10,000 (read by parent: one thousand, four hundred sixty-three, then child writes correct number: 1,463)
• Can identify even and odd three and four-digit numbers
• Can skip count by 2’s, 5’s, 10’s to 100
• Can skip count by 3’s to 30
• Can skip count by 4’s to 40
• Can skip count by 6’s to 60
• Can skip count by 7’s to 70
• Can skip count by 8’s to 80
• Can skip county by 9’s to 90

Operations: Addition & Subtraction

• Know addition and subtraction facts to 20
• Represent quantities in multiple ways (ex., 36 = 18 + 18, 36 = 14 + 14 + 8)
• Mentally add or subtract any two-digit numbers
• Add and subtract three-digit numbers
• Solve simple word problems
• Can mentally add or subtract 10 or 100 to or from a number with ease: What is 10 more than 89? What is 100 less than 865?

Place Value

• Identify place value to the thousands

Rounding

• Round whole numbers to the nearest 10

Shapes & Patterns

• Recognize patterns
• Identify, describe, and extend repeating numeric patterns
• Recognize and identify 2D shapes: triangle, rectangle, square, rhombus, pentagon, hexagon, octagon, trapezoid
• Recognize and identify 3D shapes: sphere, cone, pyramid, cylinder, cube, rectangular prism

Time

• Tell time using both digital and analog clocks
• Can draw faces on analog clocks for any given time
• Able to calculate elapsed time (ex., from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., 5 hours have passed)
• Knows the difference between the words midnight and noon, and the time each represents
• Understands time expressions: quarter to, half past, etc…

Other Suggested Subjects

Geography & Social Studies

• Discuss current events
• Learn about needs verse wants
• Understand the relationship between consumers and producers
• Locate their hometown on a map
• Appreciate diversity among cultures in the community
• Learn about natural resources

History

• Recognize historical figures and their contributions to society

Science

• Identify parts of plants and animals and explain their functions
• Study dinosaurs and the process of extinction
• Name classifications of animals
• Study life cycles, perhaps by raising caterpillars into butterflies
• Identify land forms
• Explore physical science, covering topics such as electricity, magnetism, and gravity

Social Development & Behavior

• Concentrate on tasks for longer periods of time
• Becomes more assertive (speaking up for themselves)
• Working with others and accepting their ideas is easier
• More responsible (taking care of things, getting schoolwork done, helping out around the house more)
• Better at expressing their feelings to peers instead of running to adults
• Read more about development in second-grade

Additional Resources & Sources:

Check out government standards for your state

TGTB has LA placement and a math placement test. While it does go along with their curriculum, it also can help you identify where your child needs more work. You can also learn more about TGTB.

Sources: Scholastic, Math Genie, Great Schools