In addition, second graders have flexible grouping as a part of their reading time with other children who are working at the same level. This way, we can be sure that every child receives instruction at the level where they are currently reading, and can also experience more challenging material. Second graders continue to use phonics. They will experiment with changing the beginning, middle and ending sounds to form new words. They will break longer words apart and deal with them one syllable or part at a time.
Second graders read more difficult words.
Second graders are reading words with more than one syllable. They learn how to break apart new words, looking for the root word by separating suffixes and prefixes. Second graders build a list of words they can read. The first few times they see a new word, they will still have to sound it out and break it down. Sooner or later, however, that word will become part of their permanent memory.