School Skills: Second Grade Milestones
By second grade our younger friends should be getting into the rhythm of the school system. The big school is just slightly less daunting than last year. It can sometimes be hard to know what to expect or what they ‘should’ know after their second year at around 7-8 years of age.* By the end of the second grade, your child should be able to do the following tasks in each area.
Listening
Follow 3-4 directions in a row.
Understand direction words like here, there, over, next to, before, or later.
Answer questions about a story at a second-grade level.
Speaking
Speak clearly.
Answer more difficult yes/no questions.
Ask and answer who, what, when, where, and why questions.
Use more complex sentences.
Explain words and ideas.
Give directions with 3-4 steps.
Use words to inform, persuade, and entertain.
Stay on topic, take turns, and maintain eye contact during conversations.
Start and end conversations.
Reading
Know how letters make sounds in words (phonics).
Recognize many words by sight.
Use clues like pictures or titles to figure out words while reading.
Reread parts of a story and fix mistakes.
Find information to answer questions.
Explain key points of a story, like the main idea, characters, and plot.
Use personal experiences to guess what might happen next in a story.
Read and retell a story in the correct order.
Read grade-level stories and poetry smoothly, both silently and out loud.
Read independently.
Writing
Write clearly.
Use different types of sentences to write essays, poetry, or short stories.
Use basic punctuation and capitalization.
Organize writing with a beginning, middle, and end.
Spell common words correctly.
Move from spelling by sound to spelling correctly (e.g., from "by" to "boy").
Grammar & Punctuation
Use conjunctions to elaborate on sentence structure (e.g., and, but, or, because).
Use most irregular verb forms, though some mistakes may occur in the irregular past tense (e.g., "yesterday he broked the vase").
Use superlatives (e.g., biggest, prettiest – "the biggest dog won the race").
Use adverbs regularly (e.g., "He ran quickly").
Social Skills
Initiate and maintain conversations.
Role-play and take the listener’s point of view.
Determine and use appropriate discourse codes and styles (e.g., informal with friends, formal with adults).
Use nonlinguistic and nonverbal behaviors – posture, gestures – appropriately.
Sustain a topic with individuals or small groups through several conversational turns, though topics tend to be more concrete.
Suggestions for Parents:
Talk to your child often
Read different types of books (fiction and non-fiction)
Read every day, and talk with your child about the story. Ask them to tell you about the pictures or their favourite parts.
Help your child learn the sound-letter patterns of words. You can play rhyming games and point out letters as you read.
Have your child retell stories and talk about their day.
Talk with your child about what you do during the day.
Give them directions to follow around the house.
Talk about how things are the same and different. Play games of ‘odd one out’.
*As the age at which children can start or end certain grades varies wildly from country to country, this guide is written with general achievements in mind, so has tried to use as broad age ranges as possible. Please check with your kindergarten or school for more detailed local information and guidelines.
Please note the above information is general in nature and is not intended as professional medical advice. Please seek an appointment with a registered speech-language pathologist if you are at all worried about your child's development.
References:
ASHA (2009). Your Child’s Communication: Second Grade. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. https://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/secondgrade/
Paul, R., Norbury, C., & Gosse, C. (2018). Language Disorders from Infancy through Adolescence: Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing, and Communicating (5th ed.). Elsevier.
Roseberry-McKibbin, C., Hegde, M. N., & Tellis, G. M. (2024). An Advanced Review of Speech-language Pathology.
Suggested Resources
FREEBIE Hickory Dickory Dock: Auditory Comprehension
A classic nursery rhyme auditory comprehension and WH question activity for early learners. Includes audio for students to sing along.
FREEBIE The Gingerbread Man: Reading Comprehension
A classic fairy tale reading comprehension and sequencing activity for early readers.
FREEBIE Classroom Concepts: Before & After
Helps students to practice important concepts for the school environment, like before and after, which can improve their retelling and ordering skills.
FREEBIE The Write Sounds: Basics 1 a, i, m, s, t
A game show-themed activity set for students to practice their early phonics and spelling skills. Practice important abilities like blending, segmenting, and picking sound with audio.
FREEBIE Investigator Ivan: Recognising Emotions
Follow the adventures of Ivan as he navigates the world of social skills. Help students practice recognising different emotions and how others may be feeling.