Second Grade Summer Resources 2011

Many parents have asked about activities for children to work on over the summer. The following are recommendations and online resources for ways to maintain skills during the summer vacation:

We encourage students to read often over the summer, preferably for 20 minutes every day. Summer reading is essential and keeps your child’s reading skills honed for third grade. This might be a great time for your child to explore a new genre of books at the public library.

- Reading lists and recommendations from the OES Lower School Librarians http://www.oes.edu/ls/library/reading.html

- OES Summer Reading Form http://www.oes.edu/ls/library/index.html

- Reading lists and recommendations from the Multnomah County Library. http://www.multcolib.org/kids/booklists/

- RAZ Kids- your child can continue to use his/her personal login over the summer http://www.raz-kids.com/

- Use Scholastic’s Book Wizard to find new books. The BookAlike feature lets you enter a title and find similar books. http://bookwizard.scholastic.com

- Enjoy reading Beverly Cleary’s books with your child? Explore Portland locations that appear in Cleary’s books http://www.multcolib.org/kids/cleary/ and learn more about the author http://www.kidsreads.com/authors/au-cleary-beverly.asp.

- A great article for parents about reading with children at home. http://www.carolhurst.com/profsubjects/reading/parentreading.html

- Printable reading logs http://www.countryclipart.com/ReadingLogs/readinglogs.htm

Journaling, writing creative stories, and helping parents make lists are all great ways to keep up on writing skills (especially when written in cursive!).

- Turn any writing project into a printable newspaper headline. http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp

- Resources for kids to publish their writing. http://www.multcolib.org/kids/writers/youngwriters.html

- Another publishing site which allows the author to add voiceovers, illustrations and e-mail the finished product to others http://www.littlebirdtales.com

- 57 different writing prompts. http://www.journalbuddies.com/e-Teachers/third_grade_journal_writing_prompts.htm

- Make your own madlibs and practice the parts of speech. http://www.eduplace.com/tales/

- The D’Nealian cursive alphabet and practice pages http://www.abcteach.com/directory/basics/handwriting/dn_style_font/cursive/

- Make your own handwriting practice pages http://www.handwritingworksheets.com

Practicing high frequency words, playing games like Boggle and Scrabble, and doing any Word Study activities sent home during the year are wonderful for maintaining spelling skills.

- Games to practice spelling, vocabulary and parts of speech. http://www.funbrain.com/teachers/subj_lang.html

- Activities to practice specific language skills. http://www.internet4classrooms.com/skills-2nd-langbuilders.htm

- Make your own word searches and crossword puzzles. http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/

- Enter your own spelling words to play games, practice words, and generate short quizzes. http://www.spellingcity.com/

- Quick and easy spelling activities to use with any spelling list. http://www.teachnet.com/lesson/langarts/spellingwds040299.html

- 1200 of the most frequently used words. http://school.elps.k12.mi.us/donley/classrooms/berry/sitton_spelling_activities/4thgrade_spelling/sitton_word_list.htm

- Grade level spelling lists and activities to practice each list:

o http://www.aaaspell.com/grade2.htm

o http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/spelling-level-b.html

o http://school.elps.k12.mi.us/donley/classrooms/berry/sitton_spelling_activities/2ndgrade_spelling/core_word_units.htm

We also encourage you to play math games with your child, practice math facts, and take advantage of any opportunities to do math as they arise in your daily activities. Skills in particular to practice: basic addition and subtraction facts, making change, telling time, double digit addition and subtraction strategies.

- General resources for skills, games and extra practice:

o http://www.coolmath4kids.com/

o http://www.mathsphere.co.uk/resources/MathSphereMathsPuzzles.htm

- Fact practice:

o http://www.kidport.com/Grade2/Math/MathIndex.htm

o http://www.mrmyers.org/Math_Mania/math.html

o http://www.aplusmath.com/

o http://www.math.com/students/practice.html

o http://www.dadsworksheets.com/

- Math games:

o Soduku puzzles http://www.jigsawdoku.com/

o Logic puzzles http://www.aimsedu.org/puzzle/index.html

o Mancala http://www.clickopedia.com/games/Mancala/mancala.swf

o http://www.primarygames.co.uk/

o http://www.funbrain.com/teachers/subj_math.html

o http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/websites/4_11/topic/numeracy.shtml

o http://www.apples4theteacher.com/math.html#numbersensegames

- Math skills:

o http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/wholenumbers/

o http://www.mathmastery.com/familyfun/Tree3to5.php?Subject=1

- Everyday Math resources:

o Parent Letters http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/parents/index.shtml

o www.everydaymathonline.com (you will need your child’s username and password to access the online games)

Parents and kids often enjoying revisiting themes studied during the year. You can use the Second Grade Study Links as a jumping off point for your research.

- http://www.oes.edu/ls/grades/2nd/second.html

Most importantly, make sure to find plenty of time for rest and play! It is well deserved!

- Links to brainteasters provided by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Includes cool information about the brain. http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/braint.htm.

- And more brainteasters! http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/brain_teasers.htm.

Best wishes and have a wonderful vacation,

Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Griffin, and Ms. Larson