Ready for Second Grade: Skills, Checklists & Success Strategies

0:00 Well, hey there, it is Robin Wilson and I want to welcome you to the Education Connection. I am a first grade teacher with years of experience helping young learners build the skills they need to thrive. I want to help you as the caregiver, the teacher, the mom, whoever you are, you have little ones in your life and you're wanting to help them succeed. And tonight's topic is about is my child ready for second grade?

0:41 Now if you have a little one going into first grade, you don't want to miss last week's episode and then the same if you have one going into kindergarten. Two weeks ago I did a podcast on getting ready for kindergarten so I really want to help you. You have primary students. Listen, I've taught first grade, second grade and third grade so I'm a primary teacher all the way around and I've worked with children for many years now and so I have what you need to help them succeed and I'm here to help you. I want to serve you in this capacity. Now have you ever worried about whether your child will make that big jump successfully?

1:26 You're not alone. Let me tell you, it is a huge jump from first grade to second grade. Well actually it is a big jump from all the... So I can say that about kindergarten going into first grade. Sorry if you hear me wrestling, I'm taking off a jacket. It was a little chilly taking it off. But if you go from kindergarten to first, it's a big jump and if you go from first to second, it is a big jump. So just be prepared for that and be ready for that. But the good news, there are simple practical things you can do right now to help them feel confident and capable.

2:08 By the end of this episode, you're going to have a clear roadmap to set them up for success. So before we dive in though, I don't want you to forget I have something that might interest you if you teach Sunday school or if you homeschool and want to put a little bit of Bible in your child's life. I have a 13 lesson bundle that makes Bible learning engaging and easy. And if you struggle to find lessons that keep kids interested while teaching solid biblical truths, this bundle is designed to help solve that problem. I'm going to share more details in the end, but for now, let's jump into today's episode.

2:48 By the way, it's called the Genesis bundle. So it's the Genesis Bible bundle. Oh my goodness, I'll have to look that up again and see what that is. It will definitely be in the show notes. So I do also want to share that I have been working on something new. Now, you know, as a creator and you're probably a creator as well, if you teach, we are constantly thinking about new things for our students. We're constantly thinking about new things for our school or for our lessons. I'm always trying to figure out different ways that I can teach fun things. For example, this week in first grade, a little off topic, but it's a lot of fun.

3:33 I'm teaching EW and EW says, ooh. Like in the words, chew, few and stew. And so guess what we made today for Fun Friday? We made monster snot. That's right. I said it, monster snot and it is, yeah, it's slime. And so the kids were just having a hoot with it in the classroom today. They were talking about all the little green things in there and, you know, being totally six years old, which they should be. And it was so much fun. And I put up on the board, what does EW say? And they will never forget EW. So you as a creator, you're just like me. You're thinking of things all the time.

4:14 And so I'm thinking about something that I have in the works and I don't want to say it yet because I'm so excited, but I want to make sure that I have all the pieces together before I actually do this. So I'm looking for ways to support you and for your students and your child. And I can't wait to tell you more about what's coming soon. So stay tuned. It's going to be a game changer. I'm really excited about it. So I want to tell you a story. Meet Emily. She's a bright, energetic first grader who loves story time and playing with her friends. But when it comes to reading, she sometimes stumbles over words and math.

4:54 Well, let's just say that when her teacher introduces two digit addition, that's what we're doing right now in first grade. She gets that deer in the headlights look. Emily's mom, Sarah, knows that summer is coming and second grade is just around the corner. She doesn't want Emily to struggle. She wants her to feel prepared, excited and ready to shine. But between work, family life, summer activities, Sarah isn't sure where to start and let's just be real. When we get home from work, I don't know about you, but I dive straight into dinner. And then after dinner is where I come in here and talk to you, you know, doing my podcast or creating new resources for teachers and that kind of thing.

5:45 But as a mom, you have little children around and I don't have that at home anymore. And so, you know, they need your attention and so you don't have the time or know where to start and then, you know, you can take the time to search on the internet, but I am here to help you. You know, you can listen to this as you're driving and you can get ideas along the way. Just keep following this podcast and you're going to be getting little sparks along the way of how you can help your child. Well, you're not alone if you're feeling this way. You don't know where to start. Many parents feel like Sarah, wondering how to bridge that gap between first and second grade without making learning feel like a chore.

6:31 So the solution is to find a smooth transition and it's not overwhelming for your child and you don't want to just give them worksheet after worksheet and drills after drill. It's about building competence through small, simple tasks, small, simple habits that they feel like play, but put a pack, a big learning punch into it, a pack of learning punch into that. So, it's not that you're never going to do worksheets because let's be for real, when your child gets to second grade, they're going to have to know how to face a worksheet.

7:14 Not that teachers are going to do this every single day, but it is going to be presented and so you just want to give them those skills and a worksheet really is a good way to practice. Now, you can take a worksheet and change it into a game. You can gamify it and so we can talk more about that later. So here are some social emotional, excuse me, some emotional readiness skills that you can get your first grader going into second grade ready. So these are some things you can work on because second grade comes with new expectations for independence and social interactions.

7:56 Now, as a first grade teacher, I am walking kind of hand walking my students along a little bit more slowly releasing that as the second half of the year comes in and that's where students are wanting me to help them more and I'm trying to back off a little bit because I don't want to give them that learned helplessness. I want them to be more independent because when they get to second grade, it is a lot different and it is a lot more independent than what first grade is. Your child is going to be expected to follow multi step directions, work in a small group.

8:38 So you can give them for small or multi step directions. You can give them test three to four things to do in a sentence and just see how many of them they can do on their own independently and just practice that. You can also work in small groups. So we found in an earlier episode, there are areas that you can go to, you can go to your church and work in small groups in your church or maybe if you could have your child join girl scouts, there's summer camps and things that they can do, make sure that they are able to work in a group and be able to get along with others because that's going to become more and more important as your child grows older.

9:32 Talk about their emotions. So when things come up with siblings or when things come up with friends, talk about it so that they can work these things out before they get there. And let me tell you, when they get to second grade, they're going to have these issues, but your teacher will be or you, you are amazing. You're going to be able to talk with them at school or your teacher. If you're sending them off to school, your teacher is qualified. Others are amazing and they went into the profession to help others. And so they also are a lot of them, our moms or aunts, uncles, and they really do have the best interest of your child at heart.

10:19 So they're going to talk them through that, but you don't want that to be the first time and I know you, you already do this at home too. So but just practice it even more than you are. Practice calming strategies like deep breathing and role play different social situations. So we did deep breathing yesterday. The kiddos came in from recess and we were, we've been cooped up a lot because of the cold and it kind of warmed up a little bit and the sun was out, but the wind was really blowing and it got those kids just all hyped, really hyped up. And so when they came in and we needed to jump into another learning block, it took a minute to calm down.

11:03 And so, you know, we did some deep breathing exercises. So I had the kiddos just breathe in deeply, feel every little bit of their lungs and breathe out slowly. They actually liked doing that and it calms them down. We might play a game of quiet mouse and it also calms them down. So quiet mouse is just where they're all, they put their heads down and they, and I pick a quiet mouse and the quiet mouse walks around and finds another quiet mouse. That's really all it is. And then that quiet mouse gets up to walk around to find another quiet mouse. They love that game. Love that game. It just seems so simple, but it is something that I have used all the years of my teaching and I keep going back to it because it is amazing how much they will just settle down with that game.

11:53 Teach simple phrases like taking a turn. Can I have a turn or I need help with this? Playing board games will help. Let them lose. Please, please let them lose if you are winning. Now on occasion, you might let them win if you see that you are winning every time. I know some parents are, crack me up because they are very competitive and they want to win too. And so they're like, no, I'm not, I'm not going to let them win. I mean, they can win if they win, but if, if I win, I'm winning. But let them lose sometimes because they're going to need to know how to lose playing little Johnny at the table and not get really angry because they grew up and their parents or grandparents had let them win every single time.

12:40 They will not win every single game on the playground and in the classroom. So they need that experience at home in a safe environment where you can kind of talk to them about it, where they can have some time to process that before being in a classroom where they've never lost a game. So build actually playing board games at home with your children builds their confidence and it builds their communication with peers and with you. So they're going to be doing this a lot in second grade. And this will just help them if you get them ready for that. The more socially and emotionally prepared they are, the easier their transition to second grade will be.

13:27 So let's talk a little bit about academic readiness. Academically second graders build on foundational skills in reading, writing and math. They're going to be moving from learning to read. Yes, learning to read in first grade. That's what we're doing now to reading to learn. So now they're going to be presented with a book and they will need to read the chapter or the short paragraph or even a couple pages alone. And then so then they're going to be asked some questions about their reading.

14:10 But second grade is really when they start that reading to learn. So they're going to be reading about habitats, reading about the solar system. So the learning to read is gone. Like we need to learn how to read in first grade. So when we get to second grade, we are learning or sorry, we're reading to learn. They're going to be tackling longer stories, answering comprehension questions that require deeper thinking. I was watching as we do a reel on a social media and I was just kind of relaxing after work for a few minutes before I started supper tonight.

14:53 And there was the cutest little thing. It was it was a dad and his daughter and he was asking about Cinderella and he was saying what happens at midnight when Cinderella when what happens to our clothes and all her things at midnight in the little girl. I think she's about three and she said, well, everything turned back to normal. And he said, well, why didn't the shoes turn back to normal? And because she had the glass slippers and the shoes didn't turn back to normal. Tell me why the shoes didn't turn back to normal. And then they zoomed in on her little face. She was confused.

15:34 She was thinking and I wanted to put in the comments. I didn't. I should have that you are a teacher's dream because if you are asking those critical thinking questions, you are creating thinkers. So ask those questions. You know the movies that you watch with the kids of the Disney and all of that and you think to yourself, that didn't quite make sense there. Talk to your kids about that. Point that out to them. Let them be critical thinkers. They might come up with a good answer and it might be a good real answer. It might be, oh, yeah, I didn't think of that. Even that is still being an amazing critical thinker for your child.

16:18 Also, so I think I said this before. So they're going to be moving from learning to read to reading to learn, tackling longer stories and then also let's write. Write with them. Let them write about their day. Start a journal this summer. What did you do this day? Let's write it down. Write what you did in the morning. If you are a Christian family, which many of you are listening to this podcast, journal out a Bible verse. So maybe you and your child or your children do a Bible verse first thing in the morning. Have them write that. They can copy that Bible verse, but then have them write what that means to them.

17:03 And if they are little, little, you know, you might not want to have the littlest ones writing, but they can talk it out. But your first graders going into second grade should be able to write one sentence about what that Bible verse meant. Now, you don't have to do Bible verse, but maybe you can journal. Like what are we going to, what, how are you feeling this morning and what are you going to be doing today? Or what did you do yesterday? So just treat it like maybe like a diary, but call it a journal and then that will get them writing. Maybe they can write a book. I know my daughter wrote a book when she was really little.

17:44 I think it was second grade stapled the edges and everything. She still has that book to this day. It's very cute. And so just, yeah, just be writing with them. Now in math, let's talk about addition and subtraction fluency. So just like reading in first grade, we are working to learn those math facts. We're really working to get them to be fluent. So just being able to quickly shout out five plus nine is 14. Like just quickly to be able to do those flashcards. They really need to have that fluency.

18:25 It's not wrong for them to be counting on their fingers in first grade, the beginning of first grade, because that's 10 digits that they have right in front of them and they can use that to help them. But once they start memorizing some of those by second grade, hopefully they are just able to spit out those one digit addition problems and one digit addition, sorry, and subtraction. And that's called fluency just to be able to say it quickly. So you can play so many games with addition and subtraction fluency. One that comes to mind years ago, they called it war. You lay a card down, your child lays a card down and who can say the addition first adding them together is the winner.

19:13 Play that for a few nights or weeks because you don't want to get them confused. You can switch to subtraction then after that. Then when you're doing subtraction, if you lay a nine and they lay a four, they're going to have to think of which is greater than. So it's also helping with greater than and then they're going to say nine minus four and the first one to say five is the winner of that. But I would recommend you not doing addition one night and subtraction the next stick with addition for a while and then you can switch over to subtraction and help them make that transition a little slower. Begin working with larger numbers, exploring concepts like time.

19:55 So let's go back to working with larger numbers. Going into second grade and actually we do this in first grade too. So it's not too big of a concept. You're going to do two digit addition and two digit. No not subtraction. Sorry. That's the second. I think we're going to touch on it, but basically the two digit addition, so 34 plus 62, adding those together because second grade is going to be when they get to that. Your teacher is going to love you because you have already introduced that to them. They heard it in first grade. Then you've practiced it in second grade.

20:36 So practicing two digit addition. You can introduce them to the two digit subtraction. Be careful not to do the borrowing yet because things are so different now with the Cormor Core that they do teach it differently now. So if you do two digit subtraction, try to keep it without borrowing would be my suggestions. Others might think differently. So you might do 54 minus 23 so that they're just basically taking that four minus three and putting a one down there. I don't remember what my first numbers were, but you're not having to borrow.

21:17 So try doing that. You can do that for subtraction. Explore concepts like time. We are actually teaching to the hour in first grade. So moving on to second grade, they need to kind of get that little more fluent. You can do to 30 so the half hour as well. So 10 and 10 30 practice that make sure that's pretty good and fluent. You can add they're going to be learning and working more with a quarter after and five minutes after you are to the five. So 1005 1010 1015 a quarter after.

21:57 Make sure that they're using you're using that vocabulary with them as well. Money so knowing those coins what they're called and how much they're worth to support academic readiness. Encourage your child to read every day. So what would be amazing if they take off reading and you are catching them reading on their downtime. That's what when it really starts to click in there. And your teacher. Oh my goodness or you if you're homeschooling. It's going to make your life so much easier if you can spark that learning for them to become more independent.

22:41 You can count change at the store. You can measure ingredients while cooking. These small steps will strengthen their foundation and help them feel confident and ready for second grade. So look I look down and I'm at 22 minutes. I don't want to keep you too long. I'm going to just quickly go over the last few steps that I have. I have read every day which I've already talked about. Make math a game. Get those cards out and play that war game we just talked about. Encourage writing like a journal. Build that independence. Let them do these things independently maybe with a sibling or maybe on their own if they're reading on their own and talk about their feelings when they are with others.

23:31 So I'm coming to a close and if you'd like a simple structured way to help your child get ready for second grade. I have put together a get ready for second grade resource pack. It's filled with engaging activities. Reinforce reading, writing, math and independence skills in a fun way. It's perfect for summer and even this spring to just kind of start dipping your toes a little bit into getting ready for the next year. And again if you're looking for faith based resources don't forget my 13 lessons in the school and home school Bible bundle. It's designed to make teaching God's word easy and engaging.

24:16 You can find these both at my TPT store and the links will be in the show notes. Listen, helping your child get ready for second grade doesn't have to be overwhelming with small simple steps and I'm here. I'm going to be here talking more about this every week. You can build their confidence, strengthen their skills and set them up for success both academically and socially. Remember the key is consistency over perfection so you don't want to work a couple of nights a week and then for a week or two and then not be working on anything for a month.

24:59 You want to kind of keep that consistent. If you found this episode helpful I would love for you to share it with a friend, leave a comment and give a five star review. Your support helps me continue creating resources that make learning fun and stress free for parents and teachers just like you and you are amazing. The very fact that you are listening to a podcast that is helping you help your child it just goes right back to you and how amazing you are reaching out to get the help that you need. So I want to say thank you for listening and I'm going to see you the next time on the Education Connection.