6 Back to School Reading Tips for Second Graders

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My youngest is starting second grade in a week. My oldest is heading into the third grade.  I LOVE this age. My son is an avid reader and devours the Magic Tree House books. Pea is just discovering her love of reading. As a second grader, she’ll be diving into worlds that are more complex than the beginning reader and early chapter books.

This summer (since they’ve spent so much time restricted from their iPads lol), I’ve found them reading in cozy reading nests throughout the house. My first and foremost tip is to allow your kids to “earn” electronics time with reading time. I know many parents who started that rule this summer and it is working!

I’m sharing a few more tips to help your second grader ease back into reading as summer draws to an end. (Got a first graders? I have ultimate reading tips for first graders too!)

6 Back to School Reading Tips for Second Graders

Brush Up on Old Reading Skills

Before your child can move on to better reading skills, they need to brush up on what they already know. Taking the summer off can make a child forget some stuff, but with a little practice, they’ll remember again in no time.

Challenge Your 2^nd Grader

No one gets better at reading by getting all of the easy stuff. Make sure you pick out books that challenge your reader this year. When heading to the library for new books, ask the librarian what a good “book” would be for your second grader. They are sure to have lots of suggestions. My daughter is always competing with her big brother. Though it can get annoying, the upside is that she is determined to read as well as he does.

New Sight Words

Whether your second grader likes it or not, it’s time to step it up in the sight word department. They will need to practice new words to help them become a better reader. Ask the teacher to hook you up with new sight words on a weekly basis or you can Google sight words for second graders and a whole slew of them will become available.

Rhyming Words

A great way to practice reading for second graders is to do a little rhyming. It’s a reading exercise that’s fun and that can get the mind moving in the right direction. When your child has mastered rhyming words, it’s time to move onto nonsense words. These words are cool because your child is just working at getting better at reading.

Practice Speed Reading

Once you get in the upper grades, it’s not enough to just read anymore. You have to be able to read quickly. Have your child practice speed reading to help them get better and faster at reading. It’s never a contest and you want to make sure they’re still grasping what’s going on content wise, but reading faster and comprehending is always a good thing.

Always Ask Questions

Perhaps your child isn’t comprehending well when it comes to second-grade reading, one way to help this is to ask questions. By asking questions, you will be able to tell if your child is understanding what’s going on or not. You could even have your second grader journal what happened in the story they read. My kids made up a “book report” worksheet.

Because Mom gets a little bit of a break when the kids are reading, I have something awesome to share! I want to make it easier for you to get that little quiet time. 

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I credit Pork Chop and Pea’s love of reading to one woman, their first-grade teacher. We will be donating most of our books to the amazing Mrs. Stokes for her new first-grade class. I am grateful that both of my children had such an amazing experience in her class.

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It’s quick and easy! What reading tips do you have for second graders heading back to school?