The Foundational Skill standards are directed toward fostering students' understanding and working knowledge of:
Phonics and Word Study: The relationship between letters and sounds in language. Students will learn to recognize high-frequency words automatically. Students will also practice recognizing words with irregular spellings
(sometimes referred to as sight words).
Fluency: The ability to read smoothly and expressively. A fluent reader is one who reads and understands what he or she is reading. Fluency skills should increase as learners progress from beginning to advanced.
The foundational skills standards are not meant to be taught as isolated skills. These standards are necessary and important components of an effective, comprehensive reading program designed to develop proficient readers with the ability to comprehend
what is read across a range of text types and content areas (social studies, science).
How to help your child at home with the foundational skill strand:
Help your child to decode (take apart) common words so that he/she becomes familiar with how to read an unknown word
Assist your child in seeing how vowel combinations are spelled
Point out the difference between long/short vowels in regularly used words
Read aloud higher levels of text to your child so that he/she can hear you read with accuracy, appropriate speed, and expression
Help your child identify and understand common prefixes (beginnings, re-, -in, sub-) and suffixes (endings -ment, -tion)
Practice reading words that are spelled differently but can sound the same (read/red, threw/through)
Help your child recognize common irregularly spelled words (said, laugh)
Encourage your child to read to you often, and allow them to re-read the same books, to help improve reading with accuracy, appropriate rate and expression
Strands are larger groups of related standards. The Strand Grade is a calculation of all the related standards. Click on the standard name below each strand to access the learning targets and proficiency scales for
each strand's related standards.
Grade 2
