My Favorite Resources for Second Grade Teachers

Congratulations second grade teacher! Second graders are so excited about school! They are starting to read fun chapter books and they are going to make huge growth in math this year. It’s an exciting time!

Now that you know you will be teaching second grade, you are probably starting to wonder what resources you might want to have in your classroom.

I have compiled a list of my very favorites. I hope it helps!

I’m starting with my book recommendations because I think that books are the most important part of ANY classroom! A good classroom library is a must. 

It doesn’t have to cost a fortune though. You can get books from garage sales, used book stores and even from your friends. I highly recommend putting a post on your personal Facebook asking if any of your friends have books that their children have outgrown. It’s a great way to grow your library. 

Gooney Bird Greene

Amelia Bedelia

Charlotte’s Web

Magic Treehouse

Clementine

The Chocolate Touch

The World According to Humphrey

I use these for read alouds and mentor texts during reading or writing.

Peanut Butter and Cupcake

Nerdy Birdy

Mother Bruce

Yes Day

The Jelly Donut Difference

Unplugged

I Need My Monster

Math centers and small groups completely changed the way that I taught math. I would NEVER go back to completely teaching in whole group! Math centers and small group instruction make it much easier to differentiate my instruction. Every student doesn’t need the same thing, so why waste time teaching everyone exactly the same way? Plus, math centers are engaging!

If you are looking for more info on how to start and run successful math centers, check out THIS video series that I created.

I highly recommend THESE math centers. They are consistent. The centers will look very similar all year and this means that you don’t have to spend nearly as much time teaching the expectations and directions. Also, you can use the centers in any order that you choose because they aren’t specific to any month or holiday. I love this because we don’t all have the same pacing guide!

Teaching writing can be one of the toughest subjects. Many teachers don’t teach it at all, or just brush over the standards by giving their students a journal prompt during reading centers. I totally get it! Without great resources and training, I had no idea how to teach writing and it frustrated me.

First, if you are really looking to transform your writing instruction, I highly recommend taking my online writing professional development course. This course was specifically created for grades 2-5 teachers and it includes 27 different videos. When you complete the videos, you will feel so much better about teaching writing! Plus, you will get to print a professional development certificate. Yippee!! 

The Not So Wimpy Writing Masterclass is only available a couple of times per year. Make sure to get on the waitlist so that you know when it opens again!

Lots of teachers have told me that they just don’t know what lessons they should teach during writing workshop. I put together THIS free guide to make it easier for you to decide what lessons to include when you are planning your mini lessons. Enjoy!

Now that you know what to teach, you are ready to create your writing lesson plans. But that takes time. A lot of time. So I decided to create them for you!

My writing units include lesson plans, mentor text passages, anchor charts, student printables and task cards for the entire year. They are so easy to use that you can leave them for a substitute if you need to!

Grammar is hard! There are so many rules that our students have to memorize and this can make the lessons rather boring. 

I noticed that most curriculum did not include enough engaging materials and did not break down the grammar skills into small enough pieces. Therefore, I decided to create my own grammar curriculum!

My grammar units include an activity for every day of the week.

Monday: PowerPoint to introduce the skill

Tuesday: Interactive notebook activity

Wednesday: Writing activity

Thursday: Task card scoot

Friday: Assessment

I broke down the language standards into very small pieces that will make it easier for your students to learn all of the skills.

I currently have a bundle for grammar that covers every third grade standard. Many second grade teachers choose to use these units because our grammar standards are so similar. You may want to supplement with lessons on contractions and punctuation.

It can be handy to have a resource that students can reference as they learn new skills during the year. You can add a poster to your display each week as you teach the new skills.

Some teachers have a reading curriculum that they love. Many do not. I have created some resources to help you to teach and practice reading skills and standards. I think that the most important aspect of any reading resource is whether or not it helps to increase a student’s love for reading.

I also love using book clubs. I used book clubs with all of my reading groups. It really helped to increase their love for reading and helped them to choose new books for their independent reading time.

If you want to learn more about how I ran my book clubs, you can watch THIS video.

Vocabulary

Teaching vocabulary is a must! It will improve your students’ reading comprehension, their writing word choice and their standardized testing scores. That’s big!

I found that adding ten minutes of vocabulary to my daily instruction made a huge difference. I love having a routine!

Monday: introduce word definitions and sentences
Tuesday: antonyms and synonyms
Wednesday: roots, prefixes and suffixes
Thursday: draw pictures to represent the words
Friday: play a review game and take an assessment.

I put together a resource that includes everything that you will need to teach, practice and assess vocabulary words. I carefully researched and chose tier 2 words that show up often in grade level text and on standardized tests.

Click HERE to read more about my vocabulary resource.

Teaching is tough! Don’t do this alone!

I have a Facebook group for second grade teachers. It is the perfect place to ask for suggestions or tips when you are having a tough day. 

I have shared so many great resources for second grade, but don’t get overwhelmed! Keep in mind that the most important thing that you need in your second grade classroom is a positive relationship with your students. You can do that without centers or anchor charts or reading menus. I believe in you!

Have a Not So Wimpy day,