Keep a Journal

Keep a family journal of trips, weekends and special times spent together. Your child can both write and illustrate the journal. Pick a favorite entry from the journal and use it to expand your child’s writing. You and your child can write a longer piece or story about that event and illustrate it with photographs or drawings.

Research and Report

Pick a topic your child is passionate about and research it. Go to the library or look online together for information on that topic. Then work together to create an informative collage, magazine or article about that topic, using illustrations or photographs from magazines or online.

Write What You Think

Kids have very strong opinions! Ask your child to express her opinion about something through writing and be sure to explain reasons why she thinks this. Your child can then read the piece out loud to family members and take questions from the “audience.”

Read Other People’s Writing

Second grade is a great time for your child to start reading magazines made especially for kids such as Scholastic News. These often have many types of texts including narratives, fiction and non-fiction and opinion pieces. Read the magazines together and talk about the articles. Reading these pieces will help your child become a better writer.