Second Grade is built on the national frameworks that most state standards are based on or closely resemble: the Common Core State Standards for math and English language arts, the national K-12 science framework (the Next Generation Science Standards*), and the C3 Framework for social studies. Every lesson lists the standard it teaches.
Iowa Academic Standards for Mathematics
Based on the Common Core, with the state's own changesAdopted 2024
A 2024 update of Iowa's 2010 Common Core-based math standards; Grade 2 keeps the same codes and the goal of fluently adding and subtracting within 100.
Official standards (opens in a new tab)Iowa Academic Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects
Based on the Common Core, with the state's own changesAdopted 2024
Adopted June 2024; keeps the Common Core strands and adds a Writing Foundations strand for handwriting in grades K-5.
Official standards (opens in a new tab)Iowa Academic Standards for Science
Based on the national science framework, with the state's own changesAdopted 2025
Iowa adopted the Next Generation Science Standards* in 2015 and approved a revised, still three-dimensional version on May 8, 2025.
Official standards (opens in a new tab)Iowa Academic Standards for Social Studies
The state's own standards
Revised standards approved January 15, 2026. The Grade 2 focus was not confirmed from the official documents.
Official standards (opens in a new tab)Grade 2 ELA asks students to begin writing in cursive (WF.2.1b).
Add at homeAdd 10 minutes of cursive practice 3 times a week from Week 19, starting with the lowercase letters c, a, d and g, which all begin with the same stroke. Use lined paper and have your child trace, then copy, 3 letters a session, and later join them into short words like cat and dad.
Verified: 2026-09-30. Standards change; always check your state's official page.