Grade 2 Math: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 2 math in the Ontario Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- B1 Number Sense: Demonstrate an understanding of numbers and make connections to the way numbers are used in everyday life
- B2 Operations: Use knowledge of numbers and operations to solve mathematical problems encountered in everyday life
- C1 Patterns and Relationships: Identify, describe, extend, create, and make predictions about a variety of patterns, including those found in real-life contexts
- C2 Equations and Inequalities: Demonstrate an understanding of variables, expressions, equalities, and inequalities, and apply this understanding in various contexts
- C3 Coding: Solve problems and create computational representations of mathematical situations using coding concepts and skills
- C4 Mathematical Modelling: Apply the process of mathematical modelling to represent, analyse, make predictions, and provide insight into real-life situations This overall expectation has no specific expectations. Mathematical modelling is an iterative and interconnected process that is applied to various contexts, allowing students to bring in learning from other strands. Students’ demonstration of the process of mathematical modelling, as they apply concepts and skills learned in other strands, is assessed and evaluated. Read more about the mathematical modelling process.
- D1 Data Literacy: Manage, analyse, and use data to make convincing arguments and informed decisions, in various contexts drawn from real life
- D2 Probability: Describe the likelihood that events will happen, and use that information to make predictions
- E1 Geometric and Spatial Reasoning: Describe and represent shape, location, and movement by applying geometric properties and spatial relationships in order to navigate the world around them
- E2 Measurement: Compare, estimate, and determine measurements in various contexts
- F1 Money and Finances: Demonstrate an understanding of the value of Canadian currency
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
Numbers to 200
Place value to 200, counting by 20s, 25s and 50s, comparing and ordering numbers, and knowing what makes a number even or odd.
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.
Fair Shares
Sharing items fairly among 2, 3, 4 or 6 people, including leftovers cut into halves, thirds and fourths, and seeing that different fractions can be equal.
Groups & Sharing
Seeing multiplication as repeated equal groups and division as sharing equally, with arrays, pictures and short stories.
Patterns
Finding the repeating core of a pattern and describing how increasing patterns grow (skip counting).
Graphs & Mode
Sorting by two features, reading bar graphs and two-way tables, and finding the mode (the most common choice).
Chance & Opposites
Describing how likely an event is, and how its opposite compares, and using results so far to predict what is likely next.
Shapes & Symmetry
Counting sides and right angles, finding lines of symmetry, putting shapes together and apart, and knowing when two shapes match exactly.
Simple Maps
Reading a map of a familiar place, saying where things are, and describing the moves from one place to another.
Measuring
Measuring with a ruler from zero and choosing between centimetres and metres.
How Long?
Choosing seconds, minutes or hours for different events, comparing units of time and knowing how they connect.
Money to $200
Counting coins and bills, making the same amount in different ways, and knowing which coins and bills are worth more.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Level 1
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Level 2
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practising the tricky parts.
- Level 3
- Has it! Level 3 is the provincial standard. Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Level 4
- 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 Ontario report card guide.
Common questions
How can I help my Grade 2 child with math?
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.
What does my child learn in Grade 2 math in Ontario?
The Ontario Curriculum Grade 2 math units include numbers to 200, facts to 20, adding to 100, balance it, fair shares, groups & sharing.
Free printable Grade 2 math practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.