Second grade is a year of immense growth.  Over the course of the year, second-graders start to run faster, write longer, and form more lasting friendships.  In reading, they go from reading early chapter books like Fly Guy to longer, more complicated books like Magic Tree House.  In writing, they start the year with four or five sentences per page and end the year with ten or twelve sentences filling up a multi-page booklet.  Second-grade phonics is about closing the gap between what kids can read and what they can write conventionally.