Hello, incoming second grade students and families!
We are thrilled to have your child in the 2nd grade next school year! Second
grade is a big year, personally and academically, and we look forward to
sharing it with your children.
There are a few assignments and skills your child should work on over the
summer, which we’ve detailed in the next few pages. This summer, second
graders will read books from the “Flat Stanley” series by Jeff Brown and write
about their own summer adventures with Stanley. Incoming second graders
will use the “Getting Ready For Grade 2” pages in their Go Math! standards
practice books for summer math practice. If you have any questions about
summer homework or next year, please contact Sara Lemcke at
slemcke@utmcs.org. Otherwise, have a safe, fun and relaxing summer!
The Second Grade Team
2nd Grade Summer Homework!
Reading:
*Many of the kids who attended MCS in first grade are very familiar with the “Flat
Stanley” series by Jeff Brown. Pick one or more of the books and read it over the
summer. Sometime over the summer, you’ll want to take Flat Stanley (See the last page)
on an adventure. He can join you on vacation, or participate in an activity you do at
home. He can also travel with someone else. Stanley can witness a normal summer day,
or participate in a special event – anything!
Write a page about what Stanley did with you over the summer (At least six sentences.)
Include a photograph or hand drawn picture of Stanley on his adventure. Bring your
writing and your picture with you on the first day of school, and be prepared to share
both!*
Encourage your student to read every day, preferably on a level that's comfortable to
them. The "rule of five" is an easy way find an appropriate book – if you pick out five
words on a page that you can't read or don’t know the meaning of, it's probably too
difficult.
-Continue working on various decoding strategies:
-sounding out (stretch out a difficult word, look for smaller words within a larger
word, etc.)
-context clues (what do I see in the illustration? How can I use the other words in
the sentence to help me?)
-tricky word lists (write down various words that are difficult to read, or hard to
define, and go over them with an older friend or family member)
-Continue working on fluency, expression and comprehension:
-Practice reading out loud with speed, expression and naturalism (it sometimes helps to
use a book that your student is familiar with to practice these strategies.)
-Do picture walks to help comprehend the story (start a book by looking only at the
illustrations, talking about what you see and using them to help you make predictions
about the story. This helps build background knowledge, which helps with
understanding.)
-Practice recognizing first grade sight words (please call or email me if you'd like a list.)
Writing:
*Take a look at the Flat Stanley Assignment included in the reading section above*
-Write whenever you can this summer. Feel free to keep a summertime journal, and
bring it to school in the fall. Incoming second graders should be writing with detail and
should concentrate on word choice ('terrified' instead of 'scared,' etc.) Stories should
have a distinct beginning, middle and end.
-Focus on handwriting, especially forming good sentences (using appropriate capitals,
punctuation and spaces.)
Math:
*Incoming second graders will use “Go Math! Getting Ready For Grade 2” pages during
summer break in order to help with retention of the previous year’s math concepts and
enable readiness for the upcoming year. There’s no set limit to when or how often to
use the practice, but spreading practice evenly over the summer will likely work the best.
Please bring completed “Go Math!” to school on the first day. If you need the practice
pages, please contact me at slemcke@utmcs.org ASAP.
Incoming second graders should be very familiar with addition and subtraction facts up
to 20. Please practice a little every day. This will help your student greatly at the
beginning of the year, because we will start borrowing and carrying early on!*
-Look for math opportunities around the house and the community.
-Identify the digits into numbers, up to the 100's.
-Practice identifying coins and bills and naming their values.
-Talk about fractions and geometric shapes found in everyday objects, like household
tools or food.
-Count objects by 2's, 5's, 10's and 25's.
-Try to identify the time up to the half-hour.