What is in each PDF
Every worksheet is a two-page PDF that prints in black and white on US Letter paper. Page 1 has 8 to 12 problems on one skill, easier ones first, with room for a name and date. Page 2 is the answer key. Free to print, no sign-up.
What 2nd grade math covers
Two-digit addition and subtraction take up much of 2nd grade. The hard part is regrouping: when the ones add up to more than nine, a new ten is made, and when there are not enough ones to subtract, a ten is broken apart. Later in the year children stretch the same thinking to three-digit numbers and add within 1,000.
Place value grows to hundreds, tens and ones. Children learn what each digit in a number like 396 is worth, compare three-digit numbers, and skip count by 5s, 10s and 100s. They also sort numbers into even and odd, and use arrays, rows and columns of objects, to add equal groups. That quietly prepares them for multiplication in 3rd grade.
Real-life math rounds out the year: adding up pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters, reading a clock to the nearest five minutes, working with lengths in inches and centimeters, and solving one- and two-step word problems.
Using these worksheets at home
- For regrouping, let your child use a place value chart or draw quick sticks for tens and dots for ones. The picture explains why the little 1 gets carried.
- Put real coins on the table for the money sheet. Sorting them from largest to smallest value first makes counting them up much easier.
- On word problems, ask what the story is about before asking what to do. A quick sketch helps a lot, especially with two-step problems.
- Pick a time of day for one sheet a week rather than a pile at the weekend. Second graders tire of long practice quickly, and a little often sticks better.
Where children get stuck
- Subtracting the smaller digit from the bigger one. In 42 minus 17, many children do 7 minus 2. Ask whether there are enough ones to take 7 away.
- Zero in the middle. Numbers like 305 confuse children who say three hundred five but write 3005. Have them build it in a place value chart.
- Coins by size. A dime is smaller than a nickel but worth more, and that takes repeated handling to sink in.
- Clock minutes. The numbers on the clock are hours, but the long hand counts by fives, so 4 on the clock can mean 20 minutes. Skip count around the face together.