Mathematics: Grade 2
Core Question 1:
What can I do to help my child prepare for 2nd grade Math?
Help your child see how math is part of daily life. As you are doing things together, make story problems
out of your tasks.
Examples:
We have 5 people in our family and Uncle Bill’s family is joining us for dinner. How many are in his
family? So how many of us will be eating together tonight?
In our old house, we had 3 bedrooms and each
bedroom had 1 window. In our new house, we have
4 bedrooms and 2 of them have 2 windows and the
other 2 have only 1. So how many more windows do
we have in our bedrooms now?
We usually use 2 jars of spaghetti sauce in our lasagna. We have to make 3 pans of lasagna for the family
reunion. How many jars of sauce do we need? How did you
figure it out?
Core Question 2:
What will my child learn throughout the year during 2nd grade Math?
In second grade, instruction time should focus on four critical areas, (1) extending understanding of
base-ten notation; (2) building fluency with addition and subtraction; (3) using standard units of
measure; and (4) describing and analyzing shapes.
What can I do at home to support what’s being learned at school?
Children gain the knowledge they need for computation from basic facts practice which consists of
playing mathematical games, working with the Fact Triangles, and learning short oral drills (counting by
2s, 3s, 5s, etc.) to review the facts as a group. Practicing without paper and pencil is so very important
for memorization and fluency with facts.
Add and subtract within 20
Memorization and fluency with addition and subtraction basic facts is very important at this time. Find
many different ways to practice with your child and keep it FUN!
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Roll two dice and practice addition and subtraction by adding or subtracting the two numbers.
Alternate turns with your child and have him or her check your answers.
Practice turn-around facts with your child, such as 6 + 4 = ? Then, try 4 + 5 = ? Take turns
creating fact problems and then their turn-around.
Think of a theme (such as sports, toys, or animals) and take turns making up addition or
subtraction number stories related to the theme, Draw pictures of some of the stories. Get
silly! Share some of your solutions strategies to these stories.
Practice addition and subtraction involving multiples of 10 by asking your child “What is 4 + 1?”
After child answers correctly, ask “Then what is 40 + 10?”
Use Fact Triangles to practice addition and subtraction facts.
Books to read together:
Just Enough Carrots by Stuart Murphy
While a bunny and his mother shop in a grocery store for lunch guests, the reader may count and
compare the amounts of carrots, peanuts, and worms in the grocery carts of other shoppers.
Subtraction Action by Loreen Leedy
Introduces subtraction through the activities of animal students at a school fair. Includes problems for
the reader to solve.
Addition Mission by Loreen Leedy
Miss Prime and her animal students explore addition by finding many examples in the world around
them.
Adding by Rozanne L. Williams
Uses various objects and children to demonstrate adding to ten and then adding by tens.
Math for All Seasons: Mind Stretching Math by Greg Tang,
Counting & Arithmetic by Juvenile Literature
Twenty is Too Many by Kate Duke
A tale of twenty adventurous guinea pigs on sea and land illustrates the process of subtraction as their
numbers dwindle
Day, Week, Month
Use the family calendar to discuss the number of months in a year, weeks in a month, and days in a
week. Count how many days, weeks, or months it is until a special event, such as a birthday, holiday,
party or picnic.
Books to Read Together:
100 Days of Cool by Stuart Murphy
Four students arrive on the first day of school looking cool and their teacher challenges them to keep it
up as they count down one hundred days to a cool celebration.
Money
Take out a few dollars and lots of coins. Call out an amount of money, such as $1.45. Ask your child to
show you that amount (for example, 1 dollar bill, 1 quarter, and 2 dimes). Then prompt your child to
show several other ways to represent $1.45. Play again with a new amount.
Say a dollar amount to your child, such as “two dollars and thirty cents.” Ask your child to key in that
number on the calculator. Check the correct placement of the decimal. Make up a few more and then
switch roles. When your child calls out an amount, make sure he or she always says “and” for the
decimal point.
Gather a handful of coins with a value of less than $2. Have your child calculate the total value. Make
up number stories involving shopping. For example, pretend that your child wants to buy a pencil that
is marked $0.64 and a tablet marked $0.98 and an eraser marked $0.29. Help your child estimate
whether theses three items can be purchased.
Books to Read Together:
Learning About Coins by Rozanne L. Williams
A group of children demonstrates how to count pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters.
Pigs Go to Market: Fun with Math and Shopping by Amy Axelrod
Concepts of price and quantity enter the picture when Mrs. Pig wins a five-minute shopping spree at the
supermarket on Halloween night.
The Penny Pot by Stuart Murphy
The face painting booth at the school fair provides plenty of opportunities to count combinations of
coins adding up to fifty.
Follow the Money by Loreen Leedy
A quarter describes all the ways it is used from the time it is minted until it is taken back to a bank.
2-dimensional & 3-dimensional Shapes
Name and discuss the characteristics of 2- and 3-dimensional shapes in your home or neighborhood.
Use household items, such as toothpicks and marshmallows or straws and twist-ties, to create and name
geometric shapes. Encourage your child to try combine shapes to make new shapes.
Books to Read Together:
Grandfather Tang’s Story by Ann Tompert
Grandfather tells a story about shape-changing fox fairies who try to best each other until a hunter
brings danger to both of them.
Round is a Mooncake by Roseanne Thong
As a little girl discovers things round, square, and rectangular in her urban neighborhood, she is
reminded of her Chinese American culture.
Pigs on the Ball: Fun with Math and Sports by Amy Axelrod
The Pig family visits a miniature golf course and learns about shapes, angles, and geometry.
The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns
Dissatisfied with its shape, a triangle keeps asking the local shapeshifter to add more lines and angles
until it doesn't know which side is up.
Seeing Symmetry by Loreen Leedy
Measuring
Measure objects around the house in inches. At another time, measure objects in centimeters.
Read a recipe and discuss the fractions in it. Find the tools to use to measure while using the recipe.
Plan to need to ask questions like, “How many ¼ cups would I need for ¾ cup of a cup of sugar?”
Use measuring tools. Have your child visualize and compare fractions, such as:
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Which is greater or more, 1/3 or ¼ of a cup?”
Find a container that holds 1 pint, 1 cup, 1 quart, and 1 gallon. You can use the measuring tools in your
kitchen. Hold up the pint and ask your child to guess how many cups in a pint. Fill up the pint container
with water and pour it into the cup until it is filled. Check your guess. It is also fun to find different
shapes of containers (small teapot, small food storage containers, etc,) to try to guess the number of
pints each will contain. Now try cups to quarts and then quarts to gallon.
Gather a tape measure, yardstick, ruler, cup, gallon container, and bathroom scale, if available. Discuss
which the best tool for different measurement situations is. For example, what would you use to
measure the length of the floor and why? Sometimes different tools can be used in the same situation,
but the numbers then become larger and therefore, harder to keep track. Remember that if square tiles
are being used to cover a floor, it might make more sense to measure with a foot ruler rather than a
yard stick.
Commercial games that help math understanding:
Clue Jr.
Rummikub
Uno
Crazy Eights
Jigsaw puzzles
Tangrams
Chutes & Ladders
Checkers
Battleship
Memory Card Games
Connect Four
Jenga
Mancala
More excellent games can be found on the Internet by searching the internet for “Educational math
games.” Many excellent games can be found in electronic versions. These also support math
understanding. Every DPS student has a code to play Everyday Math games online at
www.everydaymathonline.com. All level of Everyday Math games are available to each student.
Students will need to get password cards from their teachers.
***All books listed can be found at Denver Public Libraries***
Activities are suggested from the Everyday Mathematics HOME CONNECTION HANDBOOK.
Core Question 3:
How do I monitor my child’s progress and learning throughout the school year?
What resources can I use in order to do this?
When you are reading the books, your child should be able to anticipate and correctly predict the
number situations that arise in the stories.
Be sure to look at the work that is returned to your child, noticing scores and comments. Take the time
to correct the answers with your child even if not required by the teacher.
Make sure to have regular contact with the teacher to be updated on your child’s progress.