Grade 2 Math: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 2 math in the New Brunswick Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- Number: Number Sense. Develop number sense.
- Number: Operations. Develop number sense.
- Statistics and Probability: Data Analysis. Collect, display and analyze data to solve problems.
- Statistics and Probability: Chance and Uncertainty. Use experimental or theoretical probabilities to represent and solve problems involving uncertainty.
- Patterns and Relations: Algebra. Use patterns to describe the world and solve problems.
- Shape and Space: Measurement. Use direct and indirect measurement to solve problems.
- Shape and Space: 2-D Shapes and 3-D Objects. Describe the characteristics of 3-D objects and 2-D shapes, and analyze the relationships among them.
Easy ways to practise math at home
- Practise math facts in short bursts, such as five minutes while dinner cooks.
- Let your child handle small cash purchases, working out the change in multiples of 5¢.
- Cook together and double or halve a recipe.
- Ask “How do you know?” after an answer, even when it is right.
What each unit covers
Tens & Ones
Seeing 47 as 4 tens and 7 ones. This place-value idea underpins all Grade 2 adding and subtracting.
Bigger or Smaller
Comparing and ordering numbers, using <, > and =, and noticing numbers close to 50.
Facts to 20
Fluent facts to 20 using strategies like making ten and thinking addition to subtract.
Adding to 100
Two-digit adding and subtracting by working with tens and ones, including making a new ten.
Balance It
Finding the unknown number that makes both sides of an equation equal, using symbols for unknowns, and spotting number patterns.
Patterns
Finding the repeating core of a pattern and describing how increasing patterns grow (skip counting).
Measuring
Measuring with a ruler from zero and choosing between centimetres and metres.
Shapes
Describing shapes by their sides, corners (vertices) and faces, and spotting 3D shapes in real life.
Graphs
Reading picture graphs: how many, which has the most or fewest, and how many more.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Working below
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practising the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Excelling
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the New Brunswick report card guide.
Common questions
Practise math facts in short bursts, such as five minutes while dinner cooks. Let your child handle small cash purchases, working out the change in multiples of 5¢. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The New Brunswick Curriculum Grade 2 math units include tens & ones, bigger or smaller, facts to 20, adding to 100, balance it, patterns.
Free printable Grade 2 math practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.