Course Description

The Second Grade Language Arts course has two strands of instruction, Skills and Knowledge.  

The Skills Strand provides explicit and systematic instruction in the foundational skills of reading. Code-based instruction includes print awareness, phonological awareness, direct and explicit instruction in sound-spelling correspondences with ample practice decoding and encoding individual words and longer pieces of text including readers that have been written to match the scope and sequence of the core program. Discussions about the simple yet compelling stories in the readers help students develop oral language, speaking, listening, and comprehension skills.  The foundational skills of handwriting, grammar, spelling, writing structure and process are also included in the Skills Strand.

In the Knowledge Strand students enjoy texts read aloud from a variety of genres. These texts expose students to the complex language structures of written language. The texts are carefully sequenced to build vocabulary and content knowledge in a variety of topics and domains including literature, social studies, history, science, and the arts.  The vocabulary and knowledge students build will support their comprehension of texts now and in the future.  Students further develop their oral and written expression skills and comprehension skills through daily discussions of the text; opportunities to recount what was read and make connections to what they already know; and answer literal, inferential, and evaluative text-dependent questions about the text orally, through drawing, and/or in writing.

Class Materials

Skills Strand

• Activity Books

• Readers

Knowledge Strand

• Activity Books

• Flip Books

Course Objectives

This course is aligned to develop the following overarching Nebraska State English Language Arts Comprehensive Standards (p. 7):

• Students will develop and apply decoding and language comprehension skills and strategies to comprehend and learn from increasingly complex texts.

• Students will learn and apply reading skills and strategies to comprehend grade-level literary texts.

• Students will learn and apply reading skills and strategies to comprehend grade-level informational texts.

• Students will build and use conversational, academic, and discipline-specific, grade-level vocabulary.

• Students will learn and apply writing skills and strategies to communicate effectively for a variety of purposes.

• Students will learn and apply speaking and listening skills and strategies to communicate effectively for a variety of audiences and purposes.

The objectives of this course are the 2021 Nebraska State English Language Arts Standards for Second Grade (p.35 - 43).

Pacing

Skills Strand 

Unit 1

• 
  Read one- and two-syllable words with basic code spellings for short vowels, all consonants, spelling alternatives for /s/, /j/, /w/, /r/, /n/, and selected tricky spellings ‘c’, ‘g’, ‘s’, ‘n’

• Tricky Words he, she, we, be, me, the, was, of, a, do, down, how, to, what, where, why, from, once, one, two, could, would, should, there, said, says, word

• Answer text-dependent questions about stories in complete sentences orally and in written form

Unit 2

Read one- and two-syllable words with basic code spellings for long vowels and r-controlled vowels, as well as vowel digraph spellings for /oo/, /oo/, /ou/, and /oi/

• Read and write words with inflectional endings

• Tricky Words I, you, your, street, my, by, have, all, who, no, go, so, are, were, some, they, their

• Increase accuracy, fluency, and expression

• Use context and punctuation (including periods, question marks, exclamation marks, and commas) to understand text structure and meaning

• Use apostrophes to create contractions and quotation marks to designate direct speech

• Use the “Plan-Draft-Edit” writing process to write a fictional narrative and a book report

• Read closely and discuss sections of the text that might pose difficulty due to complex syntax, dense information, challenging transitions, or that require inferences

Unit 3

• 
  Read multisyllable words with the following spelling alternatives: ‘ai’, ‘ay’, and ‘a’ for /ae/, ‘oa’ and ‘o’ for /oe/, ‘ie’ and ‘i’ for /ie/, ‘ue’ and ‘u’ for /ue/, and ‘au’ for /aw/

• Read and write words with inflectional endings

• Increase accuracy, fluency, and expression

• Use context and punctuation (including periods, question marks, exclamation marks, and commas) to understand text structure and meaning

• Answer text-dependent questions about fiction and nonfiction text orally and in written form including a reference to the specific text that provides the answer

• Capitalize the first word in a sentence, the word I, and proper nouns

• Use common and proper nouns in oral and written tasks

• Identify and use synonyms and antonyms

• Read closely and discuss sections of the text that might pose difficulty due to complex syntax, dense information, challenging transitions, or that require inferences

• Use the “Plan-Draft-Edit” writing process to write a personal narrative

Unit 4

• 
  Read multisyllable words with the following spelling alternatives: ‘ir’ and ‘ur’ for /er/; ‘y’ for /i/; ‘i’, ‘igh’ and ‘y’ for /ie/; ‘o’ and ‘ow’ for /oe/; ’e’, ‘y’, and ‘ey’ for /ee/; and ‘al’ for /aw/

• Use context and punctuation (including periods, question marks, exclamation marks, and commas) to understand text structure and meaning

• Use the “Plan-Draft-Edit” writing process to write a friendly letter and a persuasive writing piece, express an opinion or point of view in writing, using supporting details

• Identify and use regular and irregular plural nouns in oral and written tasks

• Identify and use regular and irregular past-, present-, and future-tense action verbs and the verb to be in oral and written tasks

• Read closely and discuss sections of the text that might pose difficulty due to complex syntax, dense information, challenging transitions, or that require inferences

Unit 5

• Read multisyllable words with the schwa sound spelled different ways, as well as the spelling alternatives ‘o’, ‘ou’, and ‘o_e’ for /u/

• Use the “Plan-Draft-Edit” writing process to write a fictional narrative, express an opinion or point of view in writing, using supporting details

• Use common and proper nouns in oral and written tasks

• Identify and use regular and irregular plural nouns in oral and written tasks

• Identify and use regular and irregular past-, present-, and future-tense verbs in oral and written tasks

• Identify and use adjectives in oral and written tasks

• Identify and use subjects and predicates in oral and written tasks

• Identify and use abbreviations, with correct punctuation, for titles of people

• Read closely and discuss sections of the text that might pose difficulty due to complex syntax, dense information, challenging transitions, or that require inferences

Unit 6

Read multisyllable words with the following spelling alternatives: ‘ph’ for /f/; ‘ar’ or ‘or’ for /er/; and ‘ch’ for /k/

• Use basic text features including title, table of contents, chapter headings, pictures, captions, and glossary

• Utilize background knowledge to make connections to text and interpretations of text

• Retell and/or summarize a passage or selected part of a text

• Generate questions and seek information from multiple sources to clarify text

• Interpret information presented in diagrams, charts, graphs, etc.

• Create and interpret timelines

• Categorize and organize facts and information, also distinguish between events of long ago and contemporary events

• Use the “Plan-Draft-Edit” writing process to write an informational report

• Gather information from multiple sources and group similar information into paragraphs

• Write about a topic including topic sentence, facts and supporting details relevant to topic, and concluding sentences

• Identify and use adverbs in oral and written tasks

• Read closely and discuss sections of the text that might pose difficulty due to complex syntax, dense information, challenging transitions, or that require inferences

Knowledge Strand

There are twelve units in the Knowledge Strand.  The Welcome Letters below have specific information about each unit along with questions you can discuss with  your child as they are studying the unit. 

Unit 1 Fairy Tales & Tall Tales Welcome Letter

Unit 2 Ancient Asian Civilizations Welcome Letter

Unit 3 Ancient Greek Civilization Welcome Letter

Unit 4 Greek Myths Welcome Letter

Unit 5 The War of 1812 Welcome Letter

Unit 6 Cycles in Nature Welcome Letter

Unit 7 Westward Expansion Welcome Letter

Unit 8 Insects Welcome Letter

Unit 9 The U.S. Civil War Welcome Letter

Unit 10 The Human Body:  Building Blocks and Nutrition Welcome Letter

Unit 11 Immigration Welcome Letter

Unit 12 Fighting for a Cause Welcome Letter

Ways to Support Your Child At Home

1. Do activities from the Read at Home Booklets by from the Nebraska Department of Education (available in English, Arabic, Karen, Somali, Spanish, & Vietnamese)

2. Do activities from the Florida Center for Reading Research - Printable activities for 2nd & 3rd grade to reinforce literacy skills.

3. Use suggestions from the Instutute of Educational Sciences website on Supporting Your Child’s Reading at Home:  Link 

4. Read the interactive ebooks on the MINDSTARBOOKS website with your child.

5. Watch the “Reading Buddies” Dusty and Dott on their youtube channel (developed by the Reading League):  Link