These easy and fun reading activities are great to have on hand when teaching kids how to read. Having no prep reading activities ready to go will save...
The water cycle is an important part of the earth's natural system and should be a part of every homeschooler's science education. Let this free Unit Study help!
A 2nd grade phonics skills progression list.
Are you a new 2nd grade teacher? Here are the best tips for taking on grade 2 and all the fun that comes with it!
The rock cycle explained and a fun hands-on activity. Includes a free printable lesson on the rocky cycle. Ready to print, use, and engage kids!
2nd grade reading list.
Learning to read and spell silent letter words can be tricky for kids. Learn teaching tips and tricks that make this concept easy and fun!
The year finally feels like it's coming together. In the previous weeks the students have focused on asking and answering questions in their own words about key details in a text. This week we are working on summarizing the main topic and key details of a text in writing. The kids are super excited because we are using passages about zoo animals to summarize. Differentiation is the key to keeping the kids engaged and learning at their full potential. Reading and writing are incorporated together this week. We start shared reading by finding key details and charting them. The students then move on to summarizing the information in their own words during writing. We finish by looking at our sentences and editing them. To find the first of the lesson plans and my year at a glance, click here. Click on the photo below to see the materials that I'm using this week.
Free Second Grade Homeschool Curriculum This year I am teaching second grade! It's crazy to be here already when I swear my oldest was just born like two minutes ago? Where does the time go!?!? Update: I now have a sixth grader, not a second grader and this post has been updated to weed out
If you'd love engaging, standards-aligned, printable AND digital centers for the full year... Here are over 140 literacy centers for 2nd grade just for you!
We've gathered up all of the FREE reading comprehension response sheets we've created and put them HERE! They can be paired with any book and are useful all year long! Grab these sheets for your Kindergarten, 1st grade, or 2nd grade classroom today!
Want a list of 2nd grade books for summer reading list that your kids will love? These best books for 2nd graders, ages 7 or 8, will keep kids reading!
Looking for fun & engaging supplemental resources, activities & lessons to help you teach HMH Into Reading for first grade? This post has it!
In second grade we worked on teamwork and sportsmanship this week. By introducing this topic early, I hope to be preventative in the increasing number of playground conflicts that happen as they develop. I found this great video that shows 3 different examples of teamwork: We brainstormed ideas that we saw in the video. How did the animals show teamwork? How did the animals show great sportsmanship in their challenges? How can we show these skills when we're playing with each other or learning in the classroom? After our discussion, we played one of my favorite games, Transformation Rock Paper Scissors! I recently played this with third grade, you can check it out here. I can't take all of the credit, I stumbled across this fun game here. I left a few minutes at the end of the lesson to process how we each did with teamwork and sportsmanship. What went well? What do we need to work on for next time? Are there any rules we should take out or add to make the game more successful?
Chapter book read alouds for the elementary classroom. My 1st and 2nd grade kids love some of these read alouds. Come find your new favorite!
Wondering what grammar skills to teach to your Kindergarten, first grade, or second grade students? I’ve got you covered! In this “grammar skills by grade level” post, I’m listing out skills to teach in each grade level, K-2! Where did this list come from? Well, it reflects the Common Core Standards — but also what I’ve personally seen to be appropriate and helpful for each grade level. Of course, what you teach your students will ultimately depend on your own curriculum and your own standards — and most importantly, what you see that your kids need. Every class and school is different! So while I hope that these lists are helpful to you as a starting point, I anticipate that you’ll need to make some adjustments and adaptations. Let’s dive in! Each list includes grammar, language arts, and writing conventions skills. (Vocabulary skills are not included, nor are concepts that can be included in spelling instruction, like homophones.) Grammar & Language Skills for Kindergarten Use spaces between words Write from left-to-right, top-to-bottom Identify “sentence” and “word” by name (use those terms) Identify the period, question mark, and exclamation point by name Consistently use periods to end sentences With support, use question marks or exclamation points to end sentences Capitalize the first word in a sentence Capitalize the pronoun “I” Capitalize names of familiar people (i.e., friends’ names) Speak in complete sentences Write in complete sentences (may need support) Understand and use question words (who, what, where, when, why, how) orally Use common nouns to name people, places, and things — orally and in writing Use describing words to give detail — orally (adjectives, but I don’t require Kinders to know the word “adjective”) Use specific action words — orally (verbs, but I don’t require Kinders to know the word “verbs,” though I may use it myself) Use simple pronouns correctly — orally and in writing Demonstrate understanding of and use common prepositions — orally Use plural nouns with -s and -es — orally (should also attempt in writing but may not spell them correctly, especially the -es ending) Produce statements, questions, and exclamations with prompting — orally (I don’t require Kinders to identify these sentence types by name) Expand simple sentences by adding more details — orally, with prompting Discuss differences between present and past tense verbs and use them correctly — orally, should also attempt in writing Grammar & Language Skills for First Grade Use spaces between words Write from left-to-right, top-to-bottom Identify “sentence” and “word” by name (use those terms) Identify the period, question mark, and exclamation point by name Consistently use correct ending punctuation marks Use commas to write the date Use commas to separate words in a list or series Capitalize the first word in a sentence Capitalize words in the date Capitalize names of people Form the abbreviations Mr., Ms., and Mrs. — in writing, with support Speak in complete sentences Identify the subject and predicate of a simple sentence (know terms “subject” and “predicate”) Write in complete sentences (use knowledge of subject and predicate) Understand and use question words (who, what, where, when, why, how) — orally and in writing Use common nouns to name people, places, things, and ideas — orally and in writing Correctly identify nouns (using the term “noun”) Use proper nouns to name specific people, places, and things — orally (should attempt to use in writing but may not always capitalize correctly yet) Use possessive nouns (i.e., “the girl’s book”) — orally (may attempt in writing but correct spelling and punctuation are not yet expected) Use pronouns correctly — orally and in writing Use personal pronouns (i.e., “me”), possessive pronouns (i.e. “ours”), and indefinite pronouns (i.e., “someone”) correctly — orally and in writing Correctly identify action verbs (using the term “verb”) Use correct subject-verb agreement in simple sentences — orally and in writing Discuss the differences in meaning between the past-tense, present-tense, and future-tense forms of a verb Use past-tense, present-tense, and future-tense forms of verbs correctly — orally and in writing Discuss and use irregular past-tense verbs — orally and in writing Correctly identify adjectives (using the term “adjective”) Use adjectives to give detail and describe — orally and in writing Use common conjunctions (i.e., “and,” “but”) — orally and in writing With support, combine 2 simple sentences to form a complex sentence Expand on simple sentences — orally and in writing Use “a” and “the” correctly — orally and in writing Use “this,” “these,” “that,” and “those” correctly — orally Demonstrate understanding of common prepositions Use common prepositions correctly — orally and in writing Produce statements, questions, exclamations, and commands — orally and in writing (may or may not know names of these sentence types, although I use the terms with them) Discuss the meaning of simple contractions — orally Discuss how language is used differently in different contexts (i.e., formal and informal English) Grammar & Language Skills for Second Grade Identify the period, question mark, and exclamation point by name Consistently use correct ending punctuation marks Use commas to write the date Use commas to separate words in a list or series Use commas in the greeting and closing of a letter Capitalize the first word in a sentence Capitalize words in the date Capitalize names of people Capitalize names of products Capitalize names of holidays Capitalize geographic names Form and correctly punctuate the abbreviations Mr., Ms., and Mrs. Correctly form simple contractions with an apostrophe Correctly form simple possessives with an apostrophe Speak in complete sentences Identify the subject and predicate of a simple sentence (know terms “subject” and “predicate”) Write in complete sentences (use knowledge of subject and predicate) Understand and use question words (who, what, where, when, why, how) — orally and in writing Use common nouns to name people, places, things, and ideas — orally and in writing Use plural nouns correctly — orally and in writing Use pronouns correctly — orally and in writing Use reflexive pronouns correctly — orally and
We are working on telling time in first grade and I wanted to share this cute song in case anyone else is teaching time right now. This is another one of those songs that I have known forever but that I don’t know the origins of- if it’s yours let me know! We’ve been singing […]
Late last summer, just before we were set to start back to schooling our little Miss 6 and Miss 4... I stumbled upon The Peaceful Press. When I researched The Playful Pioneers curriculum and saw that it was based on The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, it spoke to me right away.&nb
Can y’all even BELIEVE that I am writing an “end of year review” blog post right now? It’s March, so it’s really where our attention is turning here in Tennessee, but woah. It’s so funny to me every year how the year flies by up until December. And then it comes to a c-r-a-w-l in January and Februar
Are you a new 2nd grade teacher? Here are the best tips for taking on grade 2 and all the fun that comes with it!
How to teach retell in primary grades and make it fun! Get ideas and a FREE retell activity here for first-grade and second-grade.
Need the BEST low prep 2nd grade spelling activities and phonics games for teaching ture and tion quadgraphs? These ture and tion quadgraphs spelling activities are hands on, low prep and are SURE to get your students not only spelling but READING FLUENTLY as well. With daily practice for spelling, phonics, fluency and more through hands on games and centers, students won't even know they are learning. Grab the entire second grade year of spelling worksheets and phonics curriculum! What's Included in the ture and tion quadgraphs Phonics Curriculum and Spelling Activities: 2 Anchor Charts Print & Go Spelling Words and Lists Weekly Craft Spelling Test SPELLING PRACTICE: Word Sort Rainbow Write Pyramid Writing Bedazzle It! FLUENCY PRACTICE: Decode Decodable Word Fluency Decodable Sentence Fluency Decodable Passage Fluency PARTNER GAMES: Attach 4 Roll & Read Snakes & Ladders Race to the Top PHONICS CENTERS: Play Doh Elkonin Boxes Blend and Read Squish and Say (Play Doh) Write the Room Please open the file to see the exact activities included each week. Phonics Curriculum vs. Spelling Activities vs. Fluency This phonics curriculum resource is designed to help students not only learn to recognize and decode phonics patterns, but to spell and fluently read words in many scenarios as well. There are 4 activities for phonics, 4 spelling word activities, 4 fluency activities and 4 partner activities included EACH WEEK for repetitive practice. When to use the ture and tion Worksheets and Spelling Activities: These phonics activities are PERFECT for whole group reading, reading centers, substitutes, student teachers, parent read alouds, morning work, independent work, small group reading, spelling homework and more. Each activity is repeated with new words each week so students know what to expect and can complete the spelling word activities independently. Timeline for ture and tion Worksheets and Spelling Activities: Each skill is intended to be practiced during a full week of school. Personally, I skip any short weeks and use these for review. Some skills may be harder than others and might require repeated activities. Who are the 2nd Grade Phonics Curriculum and Activities for? These 2nd grade phonics activities are aligned specifically for 2nd graders. However, advanced 1st graders or 3rd or 4th graders who need extra spelling practice can benefit from these skills. These resources are great for schools implementing the concepts behind the science of reading. Grab the entire second grade year spelling and phonics curriculum! The spelling and phonics curriculum is also available for 1st grade. Please ask all questions before purchasing. Are you looking for a missing skill? Email me at [email protected] to see if I can help you!
Personal Narrative Writing Prompts 2nd Grade are perfect for writing lessons, writing centers and writing assessments!
Here's a close look at each component of an effective 2nd grade math schedule, including tips for optimizing each part of your math routine!
The best 2nd grade summer reading book list with chapter books and graphic novels that will keep 7-8 year old kids reading all summer long!
Looking for math tutor near me? Brighterly’s tutors offer your child high-quality education, personalized classes, and a seamless learning experience.
Character Traits are a favorite unit of ours; one reason is there are SO MANY good books and strong characters to choose from! Come find out about some of our favorite books and resources! Like our Story Elements pack, we created the Character Traits Detective pack out of the need for simple, easy to use graphic organizers and tools that can be used with any book (and multiple times for repeated practice). Let's take a look at some of our favorite activities! One of the first things we do is to have the kiddos think about themselves. What outside characteristics (what do people see?) would you list for yourself? What inside character traits (how do you act?) would you list for yourself? This concept is the hardest for our students to grasp - that character traits are the way a character acts, not what they look like. Once we have done that, we do the same activity with a character in a book that we read aloud. In this case, we used the book Wemberly Worried (affiliate link). Next we practice finding a character trait that defines a main character in a book that we read aloud. In this case, we used the book Fancy Nancy (affiliate link). We do this particular activity with multiple books so that students have plenty of practice identifying character traits. We do this whole group, small group, and eventually....independently. Later we take a look at how one character in a book might have a change in the character trait(s) that have been identified. In this case, we used the book Lion's Lunch? (affiliate link). This book is great at showing how a character can transform from being the "bad guy" to the "good guy." Once we have had plenty of time looking at one character in a book, we take a look at how character traits vary between two different characters in one book. In this case, we used the book The Little Red Hen (affiliate link). In this book, the two main characters "Hen" and "Dog" vary in obvious ways. Throughout the unit, we use a couple of tools to help students with character traits. This magnifying glass reminds students that identifying character traits requires that you look "inside" the character - how does the character act vs. what does the character look like. The magnifying glass tool is great for students to keep in their Daily 5 bucket so that they can think about character traits as they read independently. Giraffes Can't Dance (affiliate link) This character trait clipboard gives students a bank of ideas to use when determining character traits. They can use the clipboard for any of the activities in this blog post. The clipboard tool is great for students to keep in their Daily 5 bucket so that they can think about character traits as they read independently. Mean Jean the Recess Queen (affiliate link) Once we have had plenty of time to work on character traits, we love using this Character Trait Detective Scoot Game. Students move around the room and read character scenarios and identify character traits. This works for a practice activity or even an assessment. All of the activities / tools in the blog post can be found in our Character Traits Detective pack. You can use the activities multiple times and, most importantly, can be used with any book you choose! We showed many of the books that we like to use in this post, but there are many more we use to practice! Check these out! The Pout Pout Fish (affiliate link) Olivia (affiliate link) Junie B. Jones (affiliate link) Tacky the Penguin (affiliate link) Leo the Late Bloomer (affiliate link) Splat the Cat (affiliate link) Another book that works well for Character Traits (to discuss feelings); is The Way I Feel (affiliate link). After you read the book, you can make a class book using our FREE template! It's a great way to help students connect to the feelings they have and know to feelings that characters have in the books they read!
FREE morning work for second grade. These second-grade worksheets include a math spiral review and ELA spiral review for 2nd grade.
Hi everyone! I've decided to share my lesson plan outlines with everyone each week or at least as often as I can. If you aren't signed up for my newsletter, please sign up now. I'll send the lesson plans and free resources out each month for you to have. If my newsletter opt-in doesn't pop up for you, just email me and I'll add you to the list. My hope is that we can collaborate and make the best learning experience possible for students. You will definitely find lesson ideas and outlines in these series of posts. You will not find detailed plans in these posts, but you will find links to my detailed units in my TPT store. The following lesson plan templates are from A Modern Teacher. Just like every teacher at back to school time I'm spinning my wheels and working through my exhaustion to get my plans up, going and best suited for students. Please be patient with me. Below you will find a very rough draft of my yearly plans. As the next month goes by I will be updating these outlines and replacing them. The first two weeks of my lesson plans are short. My main focus is building a classroom culture with students and going over procedures with students that will set them up for success. In my lesson outlines you will see T for teacher and Ss for students. Grizzly Bear Unit Superhero vs. Villain Character Education Print and Teach Phonics Games Mini ELA Anchor Charts for students Asking and Answering Questions: Differentiated Panda Passages The first week of writing is most successful when procedures are created to set students up for success. My main focus is on teaching students proper penmanship and a love for writing. Youtube has a ton of videos that you can use to walk students through handwriting instruction. Free Handwriting YouTube Tutorial
The five things you must have when planning your first grade reading block and how to make them all fit in a short amount of time!
This one thing has made my reading station super easy, helped me save time planning and also helped my students mastering skills is faster.
An easy way to encourage a love for reading is to read to students everyday. So here's a list of the best chapter books for 2nd grade...
Helping K-2 Teachers Like You Save Time, Grow Instructional Skills, and Teach With Confidence!
Ideas and Resources for Elementary Teachers
Introduce informational writing in 2nd grade with a biography writing project!
Want a list of 2nd grade books for summer reading list that your kids will love? These best books for 2nd graders, ages 7 or 8, will keep kids reading!
Character Traits are a favorite unit of ours; one reason is there are SO MANY good books and strong characters to choose from! Come find out about some of our favorite books and resources! Like our Story Elements pack, we created the Character Traits Detective pack out of the need for simple, easy to use graphic organizers and tools that can be used with any book (and multiple times for repeated practice). Let's take a look at some of our favorite activities! One of the first things we do is to have the kiddos think about themselves. What outside characteristics (what do people see?) would you list for yourself? What inside character traits (how do you act?) would you list for yourself? This concept is the hardest for our students to grasp - that character traits are the way a character acts, not what they look like. Once we have done that, we do the same activity with a character in a book that we read aloud. In this case, we used the book Wemberly Worried (affiliate link). Next we practice finding a character trait that defines a main character in a book that we read aloud. In this case, we used the book Fancy Nancy (affiliate link). We do this particular activity with multiple books so that students have plenty of practice identifying character traits. We do this whole group, small group, and eventually....independently. Later we take a look at how one character in a book might have a change in the character trait(s) that have been identified. In this case, we used the book Lion's Lunch? (affiliate link). This book is great at showing how a character can transform from being the "bad guy" to the "good guy." Once we have had plenty of time looking at one character in a book, we take a look at how character traits vary between two different characters in one book. In this case, we used the book The Little Red Hen (affiliate link). In this book, the two main characters "Hen" and "Dog" vary in obvious ways. Throughout the unit, we use a couple of tools to help students with character traits. This magnifying glass reminds students that identifying character traits requires that you look "inside" the character - how does the character act vs. what does the character look like. The magnifying glass tool is great for students to keep in their Daily 5 bucket so that they can think about character traits as they read independently. Giraffes Can't Dance (affiliate link) This character trait clipboard gives students a bank of ideas to use when determining character traits. They can use the clipboard for any of the activities in this blog post. The clipboard tool is great for students to keep in their Daily 5 bucket so that they can think about character traits as they read independently. Mean Jean the Recess Queen (affiliate link) Once we have had plenty of time to work on character traits, we love using this Character Trait Detective Scoot Game. Students move around the room and read character scenarios and identify character traits. This works for a practice activity or even an assessment. All of the activities / tools in the blog post can be found in our Character Traits Detective pack. You can use the activities multiple times and, most importantly, can be used with any book you choose! We showed many of the books that we like to use in this post, but there are many more we use to practice! Check these out! The Pout Pout Fish (affiliate link) Olivia (affiliate link) Junie B. Jones (affiliate link) Tacky the Penguin (affiliate link) Leo the Late Bloomer (affiliate link) Splat the Cat (affiliate link) Another book that works well for Character Traits (to discuss feelings); is The Way I Feel (affiliate link). After you read the book, you can make a class book using our FREE template! It's a great way to help students connect to the feelings they have and know to feelings that characters have in the books they read!
Oh.mi.word, y'all. Let me be a little dramatic here for a moment. I move into a new house in 6 days. I go to Washington DC in 3 days for an adoption meeting. Easter is in 5 days. My computer DIED yesterday. I can't even tell you how crazy things are right now. Needless to say, I barely have time to breathe, let alone think straight. This time of year is just a whirlwind. Plain and Simple. It's a good thing I have this cutie... reminds me of how blessed I am even when I think I am stressed. Life could be much harder, that's for sure! So, to make things a little less hectic, I started working on an end-of-the-year project a couple of weeks ago. I want to send my kids off from 2nd grade as ready as possible... and let's face it, summer regression gets the best of us every.single.year. Here's my plan... review skills through station work as much as possible while I still have my kiddos... Target guided reading instruction to make it as meaningful as can be, and send my kiddos home with summer review booklets! I will get two uses out of THESE booklets... 1. We will use a portion of it at the end of 2nd grade DURING school. 2. I will send home the other portion to be done DURING the summer. Can I force my kiddos to complete it when they are away from me? No! But, I can do a lot of encouraging and offer some incentives for those that bring it to me when they make it to 3rd grade! I'm hoping that the silly glasses and bright pencil will help it seem fun :)) I love that this booklet is formatted as half-pages... it saves a lot of paper, especially when you copy it 2-sided! The Review Booklet includes activities for Reading, Grammar, and Math. It doesn't cover every little thing that we did throughout the year, but I did try to focus on the important skills. And in my opinion, any extra practice will help! I am hoping to make a version that can be used with my incoming 2nd graders as well... so stay tuned!
