Reading Tips

There are five key areas in becoming a proficient reader: phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency.

Reading comprehension skills separate the “passive” unskilled reader from the “active” readers. Skilled readers don’t just read, they interact with the text.

As skilled readers read, they are able to:

Predict what will happen next in a story using clues presented in text

Create questions about the main idea, message, or plot of the text

Monitor understanding of the sequence, context, or characters

Clarify parts of the text which have confused them

Connect the events in the text to prior knowledge or experience

By demonstrating self-monitoring techniques as you read aloud to your children, you will help them develop these skills themselves. Periodically stop and ask your child questions that illustrate the skills above.

If you are reading a confusing passage, stop and say, “I didn’t understand that. Did you?” And after listening to their interpretation, say: “Interesting, Let’s check and read this part again.” Reread the passage and then discuss your new understanding.

Spelling Second Grade “No Excuse” Words – 1 to 36

“No Excuse” Words are those which students are expected to spell correctly in all of their everyday writing. They are taken from the list of core words. Below are the groups of words which we hope most children will master by the end of his/her second grade. Please help your child to spell these words correctly in their everyday writing:

the       of     and      a        to      in     is    you

that       it      he      for     was    on    are

as           with     his     they    at     be     this

I           have      or          by     one    had    not     but

what     all     were      when     we