How to Prepare Your 1st Grader for 2nd Grade

Article after article has been written to address "getting pre-schoolers ready for that 1st day of school." What about getting the 1st grader off to as good of a start in his or her new grade? As a 12 year veteran having taught grades k-3, here is my TOP 10 list of things an incoming 2nd grader needs to know to have a "head start" in 2nd grade.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Time with your child!
• A consistent and familiar workspace in the home.
• Books available in the home or from a local library.
• Access to basic supplies: pencil, paper and crayons.
• Clock
• Coins: Quarter, dime, nickel, penny etc.

1. Child is able to write their first and last name correctly and legible using appropriate capital and lower-case letters.
2. Child is able to recite and write their home address and phone number.
3. Child is able to read the 1st 100 basic sight words. Many FREE lists can be found on the internet. Use your favorite search engine and type in "free sightword lists". Some websites offer sorted lists by grade level.
4. Child is able to write numbers to 100 as well as count by 2s, 5s and 10s with little effort.
5. Child can tell time to the hour and half hour on both digital and analog clocks.
6. Child can identify the names and values of the following coins: half dollar, quarter, nickel, dime, and penny.
7. Child knows the days of the week and the months of the year in order and knows the current month and year.
8. Child knows addition and subtraction facts to 10. If the facts aren't memorized the child should know of some way to solve them using a learned strategy, a number line, or some way OTHER than using their fingers.
9. Child is familiar with books that he or she can read or has read with someone else. The more exposure to books a child gets the better they are at reading and comprehending. One of the greatest gifts you can give your child is your time and a good book to read again and again and again.
10. Child knows something they did over the summer! MOST teachers will require students to recall and or write down an event or an activity they remember doing over the summer. "Nothing" and "I dont know" are rarely acceptable answers.

Tips & Warnings

• California's Academic Content Standards differ from other states' standards. Become familiar with the standards for your state and your district.
• Ask your child's 1st grade teacher if there are any resources, online links, suggestions they may have, or work that can be given to enhance your child's summer learning opportunity.
• Some teachers send the students home with the pencil-boxes they used during the school year. If not, ask the teacher for a spare box of crayons, and some paper for practice at home. He or she will be happy to help out!