What to do with your second grader when school is cancelled

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Are you lot trying to figure out how to homeschool your second grader when y'all're stuck at habitation due to schoolhouse cancellations?

I'one thousand here to help!

Do you find yourself suddenly homeschooling?

Even though I'm a erstwhile teacher and now have a houseful of kids age iv-12, I never planned on homeschooling.

But here we are … homeschooling for at least 2 weeks, and probably longer.

As we seek to stop the spread, many of u.s.a. find ourselves home with our kids without anywhere to go.

Here are some tips for teaching your second grader at home.

*Only free resources are included in this mail service, but you are always welcome to check out my shop and online membership.

How to teach your second grader

If you have assigned work from the teacher …

If you already know what your child needs to practise – and you just need topractice it – here are some tips:

Proceed your regular waking upward/going to bed routine.
After your child has breakfast, motility into "school time" every bit shortly as possible.
Start with the work that requires the most patience from you and your child. Get that out of the manner while you're both fresh.
Recognize that homeschooling your second grader may take just two-3 hours (max) a day, and that'south perfectly fine. You lot are not declining your child if your school day is fast. Remember that much of a second class teacher's mean solar day involves managing a large group (I speak from experience here).

If you don't take a lot of guidance from the school (or desire to supplement) …

Reading

Second graders are all over the map when it comes to reading power, then you'll desire to inquire your child's teacher what south/he needs to work on. Let'southward start with some phonics skills.

Review silent e words.

Outset with these games that help children hear long vowel sounds in words.
Here are some fold and read cards.
Endeavor a silent e 4 in a row game.
Need more? Here's a giant mail service with over l complimentary printables for teaching silent due east words.

Move on to vowel teams.

Vowel teams include long vowel digraphs – such every bit ee and oa,also as diphthongsoi, oy, aw, au.

Nearly of what I have for these are in the membership, just here are the freebies from the chief site.

Practise reading multi-syllable words.

I have quite a few of these on the membership site but non much here on the free site. Yous might desire to check out This Reading Mama.

Practice sight words.

I would enquire your kid'due south teacher for a listing of sight words to practice. And then use my gratuitous editable sight word games to type in the words you want to practice. Remember to practice but a few at a time, and always mix in words your child already knows.

Schedule time for your child to read on his/her ain.

All these phonics skills don't do much skillful if we don't give our learners chances to apply them as they read real books.

Of course the best place to become books for your child is the library – but your library may exist closed indefinitely (as ours is).

If you are able to impress books for your child to read, I HIGHLY recommend Reading A to Z. I have a subscription to this website so I can print books for my youngest readers (fifty-fifty though I don't homeschool – or at to the lowest degree I don't usually homeschool).

Bully news! Reading A to Z is offering an extended FREE trial. Seriously. Go on over in that location and print some books for your child, or observe some your child tin can read correct on the calculator. Not certain which books are for your child? Electronic mail me (anna(at)themeasuredmom(dot)com, and I'll endeavor to point you in the right management.

Another great (usually for a cost, just currently FREE) resource for books to read online is Ballsy.

Focus on reading comprehension.

Afterwards your kid reads a book, ask about it. Use the wordswho, what, when, where, why,andhow.
Does your child struggle to recollect what s/he reads? Check out these tips.

Grammar

This isn't a huge focus in second grade, simply it will become a big one in third grade. It's important to acquire some basic concepts at present.

While near of my grammar printables are in the membership site, hither are some freebies from the main site.

Learn about nouns. Here's a free game.
Identify verbs. Hither'due south a game.
Recognize when to utilise capital letters. This game teaches capitalization rules.

Handwriting

This is something that can quickly autumn apart without regular exercise. It'due south a proficient idea to accept your child fill up out a curt handwriting folio one time or twice a calendar week.

Free level 4 handwriting pages

Writing

Creative writing is important, only I'll exist honest … teaching writing isn't easy (fifty-fifty for experienced teachers). This is because writing isn't easy. Instruction information technology isn't supposed to exist either.

Don't give upwards, though!

If y'all're looking at an extended homeschool situation (more than than two weeks), I recommend writing with your child a few times a week; schedule 20-30 minutes each fourth dimension.

Brand sure in that location's an audition for the writing. Don't have your child write just considering you say then. Here are some ideas for audience:
- grandparents (share it on FaceTime or over the telephone)
- another parent
- a sibling
- a friend or neighbor (electronic mail information technology)
- someone in a nursing home (mail information technology)

Consider unlike genres of writing.
- a personal narrative (writing about his/her ain life)
- writing a nonfiction piece about something he/she knows about, similar a particular animal
- a how-to piece (how to make a sandwich, etc.)
- a letter
- a costless-verse poem

MODEL first. If yous ask your kid to write a letter, have him/her watch you exercise that first.

Writing to a prompt is okay once in a while, but it's best to have your child come up with his or her ain topics. This post will help.

As your child writes, sit downwards and do your own writing. Helps him realize yous're in this together, and reminds you that writing is challenging – gives you more empathy.

Don't insist that the work is perfect. Your child needs to spell his/her best. "Invented spelling (too called "developmental" spelling) is necessary for this age. Follow these tips for using it well.

It's too true that second graders are prepare to spell quite a few words correctly, and we desire them to spell the words they know without mistakes. It'southward helpful to keep track of spellings using a personal spelling dictionary. Download a free spelling lexicon here.

Share it! Read it to a parent or grandparent (use FaceTime or the telephone if needed). Email it or snail mail service it.

Math

Aid your child memorize improver and subtraction facts inside 20.

Free addition games
Free subtraction games
Pull out some flash cards, and play 15 in a Row. It works for both addition and subtraction.

Teach place value (hundreds, tens and ones) with two and 3-digit numbers.

Free place value games
Forth with this, teach your child to mentally add and decrease 10 or 100 from a number.

Show your child how to add two-digit numbers (with and without regrouping).

I have complimentary resources for this inside the membership, simply not on the costless site.

Practice telling time to the nearest 5 minutes.

Free telling time games

Practice counting money with quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies.

Free counting money games

Teach basic fractions.

I have nothing on the free site, merely Life Over C's has this complimentary fraction pack.

Measure out things around your house.

I recommend doing this with nonstandard units at first. How many pennies long is your pencil? How many dominoes long is this piece of paper?
It's a good idea to guess first. "How many pennies long exercise y'allcall up your shoe will be? Allow's check it and come across if you were correct!")
When your child is ready, pull out a ruler and measure in inches or centimeters.

Review the concept of 3-D shapes.

Go on a hunt effectually your firm. Can you detect examples of the mutual 3-D shapes? (cylinder, cone, cube, triangular prism, rectangular prism, and sphere)

Endeavour these simple ane-player games.
Play these 2-player 3-D shape games.

Social Studies and Science

I don't want to say these aren't important, but for a second grader they are at the bottom of the list. Your kid tin can learn social studies and scientific discipline concepts through real life. Don't stress nearly these.

Watch a few YouTube videos and have conversations with your kid about the world. Seriously, your child will not get behind if you don't focus on these in 2d grade.

How should y'all fill the residual of the day?

Those are the academic skills I recommend working on, but you take a whole day ahead of you. What else should you practise?

Read, read, read to your child. Practise this equally often as possible – for equally long as both you and your kid are enjoying it. Yes, even kids who can read on their own should be read to. Here are some book ideas for family read alouds.

- Demand books to read only y'all can't get to the library?
  - Get a free one month trial of the app Skybrary (with LeVar Burton from Reading Rainbow) – we used this in the past and loved information technology.
  - Get a costless one calendar month trial of Epic!, a bang-up digital library for ages 12 and under. We utilise information technology and love information technology.

Get moving. If possible, ship your child outside.As often every bit possible.

Pull out things that will go on your kid busy.

- Make homemade play dough, or buy it online.

- Practice simple fine art projects. My favorite site for like shooting fish in a barrel, fun crafts to exercise at abode is I Heart Crafty Things. Accept fun browsing her site! I also recommend creating small cards/crafts that you tin postal service to family and friends.

- If you can, FaceTime grandparents and other relatives.

- Cook together. Here are a bunch of fun ideas.

- Do unproblematic scientific discipline projects, like these.

- Encourage your child to play with building toys –Legos, Magna Tiles, etc.

- Play board games. Practiced games for second graders include Sorry, Phase x, Chinese Checkers, UNO, Mancala, Qwirkle, and Penny Drop. My second graders is crazy nigh Monopoly.

- Find some gratis drawing tutorials on YouTube. We absolutely dearest Fine art for Kids Hub and utilize itall the time. Here's a playlist of the easier drawing projects.

- Requite them screen time. Yes, I said it. I recommend planning this for specific times in the mean solar day – as late in the twenty-four hours as possible so you lot salvage it for when you really demand it. Here'due south a list of free education sites for kids.

I hope this helps as you plan for several weeks at domicile. Please feel free to achieve out to me through my email: anna(at)themeasuredmom(dot)com.

My inbox is bursting these days, but I do my best to answer every bulletin.

Hugs to y'all!

Anna

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