Overview:

The second grade language arts curriculum is part of a developmental continuum that provides connected literacy experiences as an integral part of learning to communicate in a variety of ways.  Students will experience a literate environment by engaging daily in speaking, listening, reading, and writing activities spanning all genres and curricular areas. 

Speaking and Listening

Note: Many objectives for reading and writing relate directly to the area of listening and speaking. Such objectives have been included in the Reading and Writing sections and have NOT been duplicated here. The following objectives focus on listening and speaking for oral communication (speaking) and aural understanding (listening) with others. The state of Alaska has not developed Grade Level Expectations for Listening and Speaking.

Comprehension & Collaboration:

FNSBSD Core Learner Objectives

Using a gradual release of responsibility model, students will:

• Participate in collaborative conversations with a variety of partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups

• Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion)

• Build on others’ talk in conversations by linking their comments to the remarks of others

• Actively participate in conversation; listening and looking at the person who is speaking as appropriate

• Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to clarify comprehension, gather additional information, or deepen understanding of a topic or issue

• Write a simple, dictated sentence

• Evaluate whether a selection was intended to inform or entertain 

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas:

FNSBSD Core Learner Objectives

Using a gradual release of responsibility model, students will:

• Restate, understand, and follow two to three-step oral directions

• Tell stories about self, others, and ideas using logical order

• Speak clearly, audibly, and at an appropriate pace for the type of communication needed

• Summarize or paraphrase a conversation or story

• Listen for meaning in conversations, discussions, and stories by:

  • • retelling in own words information that has been shared orally by others

    • using story elements to retell a narrative text

    • restating key facts from informational text 

Writing

Genres and Purposes:

6+1 Trait Focus: Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, Conventions, & Presentation

Alaska Grade Level Expectations (GLEs):

The student writes about a topic by:

• • [2] 1.1.1 Writing complete sentences with a subject and predicate

  • [2] 1.1.2 Writing and organizing thoughts into a topic sentence and two supporting sentences

  • [2] 1.1.3 Writing a story or composition with a beginning, middle, and end

The student writes for a variety of purposes and audiences by:

• • [2] 1.2.1 Producing a variety of written forms for specific audiences (e.g., stories, reports, letters, journal entries)

  • [2] 1.2.2 Using expressive language when responding to literature or producing text (e.g., journals, pictures supported by text or poetry) 

FNSBSD Core Learner Objectives (GLEs are labeled as (ES)):

Using a gradual release of responsibility model, students will:

• Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply reasons that support the opinion, use linking words (e.g., because, and, also) to connect opinion and reasons, and provide a concluding statement or section

• Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section

• Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure

• Write (friendly) letters in which they use all parts (date, salutation, body, closing, signature, and sometimes P.S.) and understand a letter as written communication between people

• Write poetry to express feelings, sensory images, ideas, or stories

• Analyze a test writing prompt and use complete sentences to answer a question about an assigned topic to demonstrate what they know or can do as a writer

• Write for a variety of audiences

• Recognize and produce the following genres: narrative, informative, opinion, friendly letter, and poetry (ES) 

Research to Build & Present Knowledge (Research Skills):

6+1 Trait  Focus: Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, & Conventions

Alaska Grade Level Expectations (GLEs):

The student documents resources by:

• [2] 1.5.1 Listing sources or authors and titles of books and other materials when used as references in written work with support 

FNSBSD Core Learner Objectives (GLEs are labeled as (ES)):

Using a gradual release of responsibility model, students will:

• • • Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., read a number of books on a single topic to produce a report; record science observations)

    • Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question

    • Participate in note-taking to gather information

    • Use resources when attempting to write words and copy print from the environment (word walls, books, peer and teacher support)

    • List sources of information used and demonstrate an understanding of using more than one type of resource 

Production & Distribution of Writing (Writing Process):

6+1 Trait  Focus: Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, Conventions, & Presentation

Alaska Grade Level Expectations (GLEs):

The student writes for a variety of purposes and audiences by:

• • [2] 1.2.1 Producing a variety of written forms for specific audiences (e.g., stories, reports, letters, journal entries)

  • [2] 1.2.2 Using expressive language when responding to literature or producing text (e.g., journals, pictures supported by text or poetry)

The student revises writing by:

• • [2] 1.4.1 Rearranging and/or adding supporting details to improve clarity

  • [2] 1.4.2 Giving/receiving appropriate feedback about written work

The student writes and edits using conventions of Standard English by:

• • [2] 1.3.1 Writing a variety of complete, simple sentences (i.e., statement, question, exclamation)

  • [2] 1.3.2 Identifying and/or correcting mistakes in spelling (e.g., grade-appropriate, high frequency words)

  • [2] 1.3.3 Using punctuation in written work (e.g., periods, question marks, exclamation marks, commas, quotation marks)

  • [2] 1.3.4 Identifying and/or correcting mistakes in punctuation at the end of sentences and capitalization (i.e., beginning of sentences and proper nouns

The student documents sources by:

• [2] 1.5.1 Listing sources or authors and titles of books and other materials used as references in written work with support 

FNSBSD Core Learner Objectives (GLEs are labeled as (ES)):

Using a gradual release of responsibility model, students will:

Writing Process

Embedded in the teaching of writing is the use of the writing process and 6+1 Traitsâ analysis.  Students will use the 6+1 TraitÒ Writing framework as developmentally appropriate, which includes: Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, and Conventions. (ES)

• • Focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing

  • Use a variety of tools to organize, produce, edit, and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers

  • Have experience with the guided use of the Writing Process including brainstorming, drafting, response (questions and compliments), revising, editing, and publishing (ES)

Prewrite: Gather ideas and organize

• • Participate in activities such as: brainstorming, listening to stories, and discussing class experiences

  • Make and use organizational tools such as Thinking Mapsâ, word lists, webs, and notes to record information gathered from a variety of sources (ES)

  • Organize information into categories for presentation

Draft: Composition and fluency

• Write both expository and narrative compositions

• Write for a specific purpose: to inform, entertain, persuade, reflect, instruct, retell, or plan

• Write a range of complete sentences (declarative, interrogative, exclamatory)

• Write a five sentence paragraph with a topic sentence, three supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence (ES)

• Engage the reader with a strong introduction, descriptive  body, and effective conclusion (ES)

• Write in past, present, and future tenses

• Use transitional words for time flow (first, next, after, then)

• Use literature as a model for writing

Revise: Change content for clarity and originality

• • Reflect on own writing for improvement in sentence fluency, word choice, organization, etc.

  • Participate in asking questions and giving appropriate feedback

  • Use descriptive words and interesting important details for clarity (ES)

Edit: Correct mechanics, spelling, and format

• • See Writing Strands: Draft, Word Study, and Conventions

  • Check for capitals in names, first word of a sentence, and the pronoun “I”

  • Ensure correct punctuation of sentence endings, greetings and closings of letters, dates, and contractions

  • Verify spelling of grade level sight words

  • Confirm standard grammar (e.g., subject-verb agreement)

  • Edit for appropriate formatting features (e.g., margins, indentations, titles)

  • Know how to use an editing and proofreading checklist

Publish: Share work with an audience

• • See Writing Strand: Presentation

  • Communicate ideas using varied tools of technology

  • Continue to develop efficient keyboarding skills

  • Publish a minimum of one product per quarter 

Conventions of Standard English:

6+1 Trait  Focus: Conventions

Alaska Grade Level Expectations (GLEs):

The student writes and edits using conventions of Standard English by:

• • [2] 1.3.1 Writing a variety of complete, simple sentences (i.e., statement, question, exclamation)

  • [2] 1.3.2 Identifying and/or correcting mistakes in spelling (e.g., grade-appropriate, high frequency words)

  • [2] 1.3.3 Using punctuation in written work (e.g., periods, question marks, exclamation marks, commas, quotation marks)

  • [2] 1.3.4 Identifying and/or correcting mistakes in punctuation at the end of sentences and capitalization (i.e., beginning of sentences and proper nouns 

FNSBSD Core Learner Objectives (GLEs are labeled as (ES)):

Using a gradual release of responsibility model, students will:

• • • Compose 3-5 sentences on topic using correct mechanics, spelling, and format (ES)

    • Form and use frequently occurring irregular plural nouns (e.g., feet, children, teeth, mice, fish)

    • Use reflexive pronouns (e.g., myself, ourselves)

    • Form and use the past tense of frequently occurring irregular verbs (e.g., sat, hid, told)

    • Produce, expand, and rearrange simple and compound sentences

    • Determine if a sentence is a complete sentence

    • Identify and compose telling sentences and questions

    • Use a capital letter for the first word of a sentence and proper nouns

    • Capitalize holidays, product names, and geographic names

    • Use commas in a series, greetings, and closings of letters

    • Use an apostrophe to form contractions and frequently occurring possessives

    • Identify the following parts of speech: noun, verb, and adjective (ES)

    • Identify common and proper nouns (ES)

    • Build on the appropriate use of punctuation (periods, exclamation points, question marks, commas, apostrophes) (ES) 

Word Study - Phonics, Spelling, & Vocabulary:

6+1 Trait Focus: Word Choice & Conventions

Alaska Grade Level Expectations (GLEs):

The student writes and edits using conventions of Standard English by:

• [2] 1.3.2 Identifying and/or correcting mistakes in spelling (e.g. grade-appropriate, high frequency words)

The student writes for a variety of purposes and audiences by:

• [2] 1.2.2 Using expressive language when responding to literature or producing text (e.g. journals, pictures supported by text or poetry) 

FNSBSD Core Learner Objectives (GLEs are labeled as (ES)):

Using a gradual release of responsibility model, students will:

Phonics

• Decode and compose words using:

  • • Consonant vowel patterns

    • Vowel dipthongs (ou, ow, au, aw, oi, oy)

    • Vowel digraphs (ea, ai, oa)

    • Variant vowels (oo, ou)

    • R-controlled vowels (ar, er, ir, or, ur)

    • Consonant digraphs (ch, sh, th, wh, ph, gh)

    • Compound words

    • Root words and endings

    • Regular plurals (boy-boys, peach-peaches)

    • Irregular plurals (man-men, child-children)

    • Regular verb tenses (walk-walks-walked-walking)

    • Irregular verb tenses (come-came)

Spelling

• • Use No Excuse Spelling Words for 2nd Grade (ES) (see pg. 84)

  • Use letter-sound knowledge to monitor accuracy of spelling

  • Sort and spell words using spelling patterns (e.g. seat, beat, cheat; glow, grow, sow)

  • Consult reference materials, including beginning dictionaries, as needed to check and correct spellings

  • Use glossaries and beginning dictionaries, both print and digital, to determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases

  • Alphabetize to the second letter (ES)

Vocabulary

• • Recognize simple antonyms (stop/go), synonyms (big/large), and homophones (two/to/too; there/their/they're)

  • Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., describe foods that are spicy or juicy)

  • Use new words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading, and responding to texts 

Presentation:

6+1 Trait Focus: Presentation

Alaska Grade Level Expectations (GLEs):

The student writes and edits using conventions of Standard English by:

• [2] 1.3.5 Rewriting handwritten work to improve legibility, if necessary, when producing final drafts 

FNSBSD Core Learner Objectives (GLEs are labeled as (ES)):

Using a gradual release of responsibility model, students will:

• • • Prepare a grade-level appropriate piece of writing for an audience (ES)

    • Use a variety of digital tools to organize, produce, edit, and publish writing

    • Demonstrate mastery of all upper and lower-case manuscript letters and numerals using proper form, proportions, and spacing (ES) 

Attitude/Stamina:

Alaska Grade Level Expectations (GLEs):

• Not addressed through Alaska Grade Level Expectations 

FNSBSD Core Learner Objectives (GLEs are labeled as (ES)):

Using a gradual release of responsibility model, students will:

• • • Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences

    • Persevere to complete a writing task (ES)

    • Build stamina to write independently for 15–20 minutes through participation in the writing process (ES)

    • Set 2-4 personal goals for writing (ES) 

Reading Literature*

Key Ideas & Details (KI):

1. Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of a literary text using key details from the text. 

Essential Vocabulary:

• Literature

2. Retell stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine the author’s purpose (e.g., teach a lesson, make you laugh, tell a scary story, describe an imaginary place), lesson or moral. 

Essential Vocabulary:

• Genre

• Fable

3. Describe how characters in a story, play, or poem respond to major events, problems, and challenges. 

Craft & Structure (CS):

4. Identify words and phrases that supply rhythm or sensory images and meaning in a story, poem, or song (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) and describe how they make a reader feel or what a reader might see in his or her mind. 

Essential Vocabulary:

• Alliteration

• Rhyme

5. Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story (who, what, why, where), the middle describes the problem (how characters react or feel and what they do), and the ending concludes the action or tells how the problem was solved. 

FNSBSD Additional Objectives:

• Understand realistic fiction as stories that could be real and fantasy as stories that could not be real.

• Identify genres: biography, realistic, (sic) fiction, fantasy, etc. 

Essential Vocabulary:

• Captions

• Bold Print

• Biography

• Fantasy 

6. Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud. 

Essential Vocabulary:

• Dialogue

Integration of Knowledge & Ideas (IK):

7. Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot (e.g., problem-solution; chronology). 

Essential Vocabulary:

• Chronology / Chronological 

8. (Not applicable to literature). 

9. Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story/text (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures. 

FNSBSD Additional Objectives:

• Make connections (T-S, T-T, T-W) and use evidence to support. 

Essential Vocabulary:

• Compare

• Contrast 

Range of Reading & Level of Text Complexity (RR):

10. By the end of the year, read and comprehend a range of literature from a variety of cultures, within a complexity band appropriate to Grade 2 (from upper Grade 1 to Grade 3), with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. 

FNSBSD Additional Objectives:

• Listen to, identify, and explore a variety of children’s literature and genres. 

• Participate in self-selected reading of appropriate level extending to 25 minutes. 

• Choose a good-fit book for independent reading. 

• Self-monitor understanding and ask questions when meaning is lost. 

Reading Standards: Foundational Skills for K-5*

Print Concepts:

1.  (Applicable to Grade 1 only). 

Phonological Awareness:

2.  (Applicable to Grade 1 only). 

Phonics & Word Recognition:

3.  Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

a. Distinguish long and short vowels when reading regularly spelled one-syllable words.

b. Know spelling-sound correspondences for additional common vowel teams.

c. Decode regularly spelled two-syllable words with long vowels.

d. Decode words with common prefixes and suffixes.

e. Identify words with inconsistent but common spelling-sound correspondences.

d.    Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words. 

FNSBSD Additional Objectives:

• Use known words and word parts to help decode new words.

• Recognize base words and remove prefixes and suffixes to break them down and read them.

• Use parts of compound words to solve a word and derive the meaning.

• Use context clues to develop an increasing bank of sight words, including content-specific words (e.g., science, social studies, holiday). 

Fluency:

4.  Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

a. Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.

b. Read on-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.

  c.    Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary. 

FNSBSD Additional Objectives:

• Read on-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, expression and attention to punctuation.

• Read grade-level text at a fluency rate based on the district’s currently adopted Reading Curriculum Based Measure (R-CBM) instrument.

• Read and follow simple directions to complete a task. 

Speaking & Listening Standards*

Comprehension & Collaboration:

1. Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about Grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

a.     Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).

b.    Build on others’ talk in conversations by linking their comments to the remarks of others.

   c.    Ask for clarification and further explanation as needed about the topics and texts under discussion. 

FNSBSD Additional Objectives:

• Actively participate in conversation listening and looking at the person who is speaking as appropriate. 

2. Retell or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media. 

FNSBSD Additional Objectives:

• Record basic notes (main idea, supporting details) from oral presentation or other media. 

3. Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to clarify comprehension, gather additional information, or deepen understanding of a topic or issue. 

FNSBSD Additional Objectives:

• Write a simple, dictated sentence. 

Presentation of Knowledge & Ideas:

4. Tell a story or retell an experience with relevant facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking audibly in coherent sentences. 

5. Create audio recordings of stories or poems; add drawings or other visual displays to stories or recounts of experiences when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings. 

6.  Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification. (See Grade 2 Language standards 1 and 3 for specific expectations). 

FNSBSD Additional Objectives:

• Read grade-level text in three to four-word phrases using intonation, expression, and punctuation cues. 

• Restate, understand, and follow two to three-step directions. 

* Alaska English/Language Arts Standards, June 2012

These word lists were derived from the Fry High Frequency Word Lists and are designed to be one component of your instructional practices. They can be used as an assessment tool to inform and guide your teaching. Mastery of these words contributes to your students’ reading success by improving fluency and comprehension. Instant Recognition Words are words that students can read within 3 seconds by the completion of the grade level. 

300 Words (includes 150 1st grade I.R.W.) 

No Excuse Spelling Words are those words that students are expected to master in all aspects of their everyday writing at each grade level. All prior lists should be practiced at subsequent grade levels. These word lists are intended to be only one component of a comprehensive Word Study Program. 

These grade level No Excuse Spelling Words were derived from Rebecca Sitton’s 1200 High-Frequency Writing Words; words that appear in 89% of everyday writing.