Listen to your child read aloud.

• Write down any words your child reads incorrectly.

• Look for patterns. What types of words does your child need to practice: words with regularly spelled long and short vowels, words with affixes, or high frequency words?

Online Resources for Students
Long and Short Vowels
Slimezilla and Compound Words
Dividing Words into Syllables

Online Resources for Parents
Long and Short Vowels
Affix Hunt
High Frequency Words
Blending Letters, Recognizing and Reading Words
Change a Letter, Change a Word

Fluency

Model Fluent Reading: Read aloud often and with expression. Reading aloud helps your child understand what fluent reading sounds like.

* I Read/You Read: You and your child take turns reading a book, making sure he/she is following along or whisper reading along when it’s not his/her turn.

* Echo Read – You read and then the child reads the exact same sentence, using the parent’s model of fluent reading to guide how to change his/her voice to match the text for phrasing, expression, accuracy, etc.

* Choral reading together, as one. Both parent and child reads the page aloud. This helps model appropriate pace and intonation, and encourages your child to match his/ her voice to what your voice is doing

Online Resources for Parents
Choral Reading
Why Kids Read Slowly
Understanding For Reading
What Reading Fluency Looks Like in Second Grade
Listen To Me Read

Vocabulary

Help your child to understand word relationships and nuances by asking him/her questions:

• Where do you think the word _______ comes from?

• Why did the author use the word _______?

• In what other context could this word be used?

• Without changing the meaning, what word could you add to make the sentence stronger?

• What word would best describe this character?

• What is the literal meaning of this sentence?

• What real-life connection can you make?

• Make a list from ____ to ____ so that you can decide which word is best to use. Examples: hot to cold, slow to fast, walk to run.

Online Resources for Students
Prefix Poppers
The Word Collector

Online Resources for Parents
Nine Ways To Build Your Child's Reading
Semantic Gradients
Grocery Shop Talk

Reading Comprehension- Literature

Read a story aloud to your child, read a story with your child, or listen as your child reads a story aloud to you.

Ask your child to retell the story. Ask questions such as the following:

How did the story begin?

Who were the characters in this story?

Where did the story take place?

What happened next?

How did the story end?

What was the main problem in the story?

How was the problem solved?

Did the character change from the beginning of the story to the end of the story?

After Reading: Ask your child specific questions about the story.

• Who were the characters in this story? What kind of traits did the character have (happy, sad, kind, friendly, disrespectful, mischievous, jealous)?

• Did the character change from the beginning of the story to the end of the story?

• Where did this story take place (setting)? Did the setting change throughout the story?

• What was the problem in the story? How did this problem get solved? Is there a lesson to learn from this story?

Online Resources for Students
Main Idea Game
Video Books
Compare and Contrast
Using Pictures and Words to help Understand Text

Online Resources for Parents
50 Best Books for Second Graders
Story Element Activities
Character Characteristics
Multicultural Fairy Tales
Story Element Activities
Story Pieces

Reading Comprehension- Informational Text

Before Reading: Previewing a text and asking questions are two terrific ways to navigate nonfiction texts. Enjoy spending more time with some fascinating informational books!

During Reading: Help your child use a map or graphic organizer to keep track of the main ideas of each paragraph.

After Reading: Have your child combine his or her list of main ideas to name what the entire text was mostly about. Help your child create a timeline to sequence the historical events mentioned in the text. Help your child show how scientific ideas or concepts are the same and how they are different.

Ask your child to identify the reasons why the author wrote a text, such as: What was the author trying to answer? explain? describe?

Online Resources for Students
PBS Kids
Tropical Travels
Nat Geo Kids
Author's Purpose
Storms
Nat Geo Kids

Oral Language

Remind your child that good conversations include the following:

• Listening and taking turns

• Speaking clearly

• Speaking in complete sentences

• Interacting person to person and not interrupting

Read a book to your child or have your child read a book to you. Talk with your child about the book.

• Tell me about the book.

• Tell me about your favorite part of the book and why.

• Tell me about your favorite character and why

Online Resources for Parents
Conversation Cards
School Day Conversation Cards
Summarize a Story
Developing Language
Strategies for Supporting Speech and Language

Writing
Graphic Organizers
Narrative Graphic Organizers
Read, Write, Think