Reading and writing are closely related language skills. Success in one skill will likely lead to success in the other. 2nd grade is an integral time to improve and build both these skills.

If your child ends up struggling in one of these skills they will likely struggle in the other. The best way to help your child improve their skills is to find reading programs for 2nd graders that also improve writing.

What is the relationship between reading and writing?

This is because reading and writing are reciprocal processes, which means they heavily rely on one another to work effectively.

Reading instruction is more effective when it is taught with writing instruction and vice versa.

Research has consistently found that extensive reading will often lead to better writers. This is because children who read extensively are exposed to new vocabulary and grammar conventions more often and are then able to actually use and produce this vocabulary and grammar themselves.

Additionally, reading more and reading a variety of genres can help children learn more information and gain prior knowledge.

The main way we learn new information is through reading and is a primary way children learn in school. Being able to articulate what we have read and learned comes from effective reading comprehension.

Writing is one of the main ways we share information we know, so in order to learn information we need to read.

In the same way reading highly affects writing, writing highly affects reading. Writing can especially help younger children and new readers learn to develop phonemic awareness, phonics, and build vocabulary.

As children become more familiar with building their own words such as using suffixes and prefixes to modify words, they are able to learn to decode new words in texts that they are reading.

When children begin writing their own longer texts, writing can help them analyze and comprehend the reading materials that they are reading as well.

Writing about the texts they are reading such as summarizing can help them improve their reading comprehension.

What should my 2nd grader know?

By second grade, your child is able to write and read more complex sentence structures.

 When it comes to writing:

• They are working on their basic writing skills like capitalization and punctuation as well as spelling.
• They are able to write an organized piece of writing like a short essay with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
• They are also able to write and distinguish between different genres such as a fiction versus a nonfiction piece. 
• They also can understand the writing process better and revise and edit their writing to improve it.

Reading skills should mirror their writing skills:

• They are able to read and decode new vocabulary much better. 
• They are also able to understand and decode complex sentence structures.
• They are able to read and distinguish between different genres such as fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
• They are able to make connections with the reading and their prior knowledge. 
• They are able to self-correct mistakes as they read and re-reads when necessary.

What reading programs for 2nd graders also improve writing?

If your child is struggling or if you just would like to give them some extra practice, a reading program can help them improve both their reading and writing skills.

Reading programs essentially are for providing extensive reading opportunities, but they can also be a great resource for improving writing.

Here are some reading programs for 2nd graders that can also help improve writing:

• Readability – This app is a great reading program that can help 2nd graders improve their writing through reading comprehension practice.

The app also provides feedback and error correction for pronunciation errors which can help your child improve their phonemic and phonetic awareness.

Readability also offers an extensive library of reading materials at various reading levels to work with so your child will never run out of stories to read.

• Local library reading groups – Many libraries offer weekend or afterschool reading groups or book clubs for children. The groups often read a book or several books together then host discussions about the book. This can help your child learn to analyze a book effectively as well as help with their summarizing.
• ABCMouse – ABCMouse offers several different activities to help your child improve their reading skills and writing skills. Through fun games and activities your child can work on targeted reading skills such as vocabulary or writing skills such as grammar.
• Free Reading Program – The Free Reading Program is used by many schools to help supplement reading curriculums. The site offers thousands of activities that help with reading that also help improve writing skills such as building vocabulary and improving reading comprehension and analysis.

Both reading and writing are skills that are needed to improve learning. Eventually your child will make the switch from learning how to use these skills to actually using them to learn new information.

For students that are struggling in one or both of these areas, immediate intervention in the form of reading programs can help them catch up to their classmates and improve their skills.

Reading programs such as Readability can help improve both reading and writing skills at the same time. Improving reading and writing skills can make a world of difference for your child’s learning process.