Reading with your Second Grader at home

Tell Family Tales: Children love to hear stories about their family. Talk about a funny thing that happened when you were young.

Create a Writing Toolbox: Fill a box with drawing and writing materials. Find opportunities for your child to write, such as the shopping list, thank you notes, or birthday cards. 

Be Your Child's #1 Fan: Ask your child to read aloud what he or she has written for school. Be an enthusiastic listener.

One More Time with Feeling: When your child has sounded out an unfamiliar word, have him or her re-read that sentence. Often kids are so busy figuring out a word they lose the meaning of what they've just read.

Create a Book Together: Fold pieces of paper in half and staple them to make a book. Ask your child to write a sentence on each page and add his or her own illustrations.

Do Storytelling on the go: Take turns adding to a story the two of you make up while riding in a car, bus, plane etc. Try to make the story funny or spooky. 

Point out Relationship between words: Explain how related words have similar spellings and meanings. Show how a word like knowledge, for example, relates to a word like know. 

Use a Writing Checklist: Have your child create a writing checklist with reminders such as, "Do all of my sentences start with a capital? Yes/No.

Quick, Quick: Use new words your child has learned in lively flash card or computer drills. Sometimes these help kids automatically recognize and read words, especially those that are used frequently.