I know many of you are looking for resources to help your child meet the rigorous expectations of the Common Core State Standards. There are many reading comprehension workbooks at stores like Barnes and Noble that you can use to provide your child with extra practice at home. I did a quick search online and found many different workbooks. I would especially recommend any workbook that focus on nonfiction texts. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/reading-comprehension-2nd-grade?store=allproducts&keyword=reading+comprehension+2nd+grade
It doesn’t take a workbook, however, to help your child develop strong comprehension skills. Simply reading and discussing high quality, high level books can boost your child’s reading tremendously. The key with Common Core is the difficulty of the text. As I mentioned at Open House, the Lexile reading levels have shifted with Common Core and 2nd graders are expected to access much higher level texts, although this is often done with support. I found a website that allows you to search the Lexile level of any book to see if it matches the rigor of Common Core. http://www.lexile.com/
Use the “Quick Book Search” bar on the top, right hand corner of the page to type in the title of a book. The website will tell you the Lexile level of the book. The new Lexile level range for 2nd grade is 450 to 790. If the book you searched falls within that range, then it is probably a good match. Common Core does take other qualitative measures into account when selecting exemplar texts, but Lexile level is a good place to start. Your child may not be able to read some of the higher level books independently yet, but you can read them together! With your support and guidance, they can access these challenging books and develop those higher level thinking skills. As you read, try asking some of those implicit comprehension questions mentioned in the article I emailed a few weeks ago: http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/43410/. This article also has some great tips: http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/inference/.
I hope those resources help. Please feels free to brainstorm ideas with me anytime! Working together, we can help our students obtain Common Core success!
Now, on to the Homework Log and Fridge Notes! I’m also attaching the challenge spelling list. Remember, the challenge spelling words are only for practice at home. There is no separate quiz, but I do love seeing students practice those words on the Monday night homework! I also wanted to mention that the math homework might be a little sporadic over the next couple of weeks. I often use my own resources and they do not always align with the sequence of the math series, meaning that the homework doesn’t always match. If math pages come home out of order or your child tells you I changed the directions to match how we learned it in class, don’t be surprised. 🙂