English Language Arts Curriculum
Northern Illinois District
Grade 2
I. Reading Skills
State Goal: As a result of their schooling, students will be able to read with understanding and fluency.
Learning Standard A: Apply word analysis and vocabulary skills to comprehend selections.
Phonemic awareness
Objective 1: Recognize rhyming patterns within the context of oral and written language.
Objective 2: Identify and blend phonemes.
Objective 3: Develop the use of onsets and rimes.
Objective 4: Apply blending, segmenting, and substituting to decipher words.
Phonics
Objective 5: Develop the use of sound/symbol relationships.
Objective 6: Apply knowledge of word patterns and families to read unfamiliar words.
Decoding
Objective 7: Apply phonics to decode words:
· Initial, medial, and final consonants
· Short/long vowel sounds
· Soft/hard c and g
· R controlled vowels
· Diphthongs
· Special vowel spellings
· Common word endings
· Blends and digraphs
· Syllable patterns
Objective 8: Use multiple strategies to decode unfamiliar words:
· Context clues
· Picture clues
· Prior knowledge
· Self – correct
Word analysis
Objective 9: Develop knowledge of structural analysis strategies to recognize words:
· Compound words
· Word families/chunks
· Prefixes and suffixes
· Root/base words
· Plurals (regular and irregular)
· Contractions
· Syllabication
· Spelling patterns
Vocabulary
Objective 10: Recognize synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms.
Objective 11: Recognize high frequency words.
Objective 12: Use dictionary, thesaurus, and glossary to verify word meanings.
Objective 13: Use prior knowledge to establish word meanings.
Learning Standard B: Apply reading strategies to improve understanding and fluency.
Reading skills
Objective 1: Activate and use prior/ background knowledge to aid in comprehension.
Objective 2: Make, change, and confirm predictions before, during, and after reading.
Objective 3: Use self – monitoring strategies.
Objective 4: Make inferences while reading.
Objective 5: Make connections to self, text, and world while reading.
Objective 6: Use graphic and mental visualizations to improve comprehension.
Objective 7: Generate questions before, during, and after reading.
Objective 8: Differentiate between less important ideas and key ideas that are central to the meaning of the text.
Objective 9: Establish a purpose for reading
Objective 10: Determine an author’s purpose for writing a given selection.
Text features
Objective 11: Identify author, illustrator, and title within various forms of literature.
Objective 12: Use a table of contents and index to locate information or a selection.
Objective 13: Read and interpret information from simple charts, tables, and maps.
Objective 14: Use information found in the following text aids to increase comprehension: illustrations, graphs, tables, charts, maps, diagrams, captions, and timelines.
Fluency
Objective 15: Read instructionally appropriate materials with expression at an appropriate volume.
Objective 16: Use punctuation cues to develop appropriate rhythm and phrasing.
Objective 17: Read at an appropriate rate for the text.
Learning Standard C: Comprehend a broad range of reading materials.
Comprehension strategies
Objective 1: Use a variety of reading skills to enhance comprehension including:
· Self – correct
· State main idea/supporting details
· Retell main events in sequential order
· Identify the basic story elements of characters, setting, and problem/solution
· Compare and contrast
· Determine cause and effect
· Summarize text by stating essential information
· Identify topic and theme
· Use graphic organizers (e.g. Venn Diagram, KWL Chart, timeline, concept maps, clusters)
· Discriminate between fact and opinion
· Draw conclusions
· Interpret figurative language
Genre
Objective 2: Distinguish between fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in various forms of literature.
II. Literature
State Goal: As a result of their schooling, students will be able to read and understand literature representative of various societies, eras, and ideas.
Learning Standard A: Understand how literary elements and techniques are used to convey meaning.
Objective 1: Retell stories and events using a beginning, middle, and end.
Objective 2: Identify literary elements of theme, setting, plot, and character.
Objective 3: Describe the difference between prose, poetry, and plays.
Objective 4: Classify literary works as fiction or nonfiction.
Learning Standard B: Read and interpret a variety of literary works.
Objective 1: Recognize different styles of several major children’s authors and illustrators.
Objective 2: Respond to literary materials by connecting them to personal experience.
Objective 3: Communicate in written and/or verbal form connections to stories, themes,
and authors.
Objective 4: Identify common themes in literature from a variety of time periods and cultures.
Objective 5: Relate character, setting, and plot to real life situations.
III. Written Communication
State Goal: As a result of their schooling, students will be able to write to communicate for a variety of purposes.
Learning Standard A: Use correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and structure.
Concepts of print
Objective 1: Demonstrate the ability to write left to right and top to bottom.
Objective 2: Demonstrate the ability to use a variety of writing formats:
· Paragraph
· Poetry
· Friendly letter
Grammar
Objective 3: Identify and use the following parts of speech correctly:
· Noun types – singular, plural, common, proper, and possessive
· Verb types – action and forms of be
· Adjectives
· Adverbs
· Pronouns – personal and possessive
Spelling
Objective 4: Demonstrate correct spelling of high-frequency words in written work.
Objective 5: Apply spelling patterns and strategies in written work.
Objective 6: Identify and correct misspelled age-appropriate words.
Punctuation and capitalization
Objective 7: Identify and use the following punctuation correctly:
· Periods (end of a sentence and abbreviations)
· Commas (city and state, salutations and closings in a friendly letter, items in a series, and dates)
· Question marks
· Exclamation points
Objective 8: Recognize the use of apostrophes and quotation marks.
Objective 9: Identify and use the following capitalization correctly:
· Pronoun “I”
· First and last names
· Sentence beginnings
· Days and months
· Titles
· Abbreviations
· Proper nouns
· Greeting/Closing of a friendly letter
· Cities and states
Sentence structure
Objective 10: Write simple sentences using correct subject/verb agreement.
Objective 11: Identify sentence fragments and complete sentences.
Objective 12: Identify and use four types of sentences:
· Statements
· Questions
· Commands
· Exclamations
Word use and vocabulary building
Objective 13: Demonstrate correct usage and spelling of high-frequency words in written work.
Objective 14: Identify and use parts of speech correctly.
Objective 15: Correctly use homophones and homographs.
Objective 16: Identify and use synonyms and antonyms.
Objective 17: Draw upon prior knowledge to demonstrate correct usage of vocabulary words.
Handwriting
Objective 18: Demonstrate growing fluency in handwriting:
· Form upper and lower case letters
· Hold pencil properly
· Position paper correctly
· Space letters and words
· Accommodate size of letters to lines and spaces
Learning Standard B: Compose well-organized and coherent writing for specific purposes and audiences.
Process writing
Objective 1: Use the writing process to produce written pieces:
· Pre-write
· Draft
· Revise
· Edit
· Publish
Objective 2: Use prewriting strategies to generate and organize ideas:
· Gather information
· Brainstorming
· Listing/Webbing/Drawing
· Graphic organizers
Support and elaboration
Objective 3: Use the following elements to demonstrate the ability to support and elaborate when writing:
· Facts
· Examples
· Details
· Descriptions
· Personal reactions
· Pictures
· Strong word choice
Objective 4: Select and use appropriate compare/contrast words (e.g. also, like, but).
Organization
Objective 5: Organize ideas around a given structure or format:
· Paragraph
· Friendly letter
· Report
· Essay (persuasive or expositive)
· Story (personal/creative narratives)
· Poem
Objective 6: Establish and maintain focus throughout narrative and expository pieces:
· Unifying event
· Effective introduction and closing
Objective 7: Select and use appropriate transition words and/or phrases when writing:
· Internal (within a paragraph)
· External (between paragraphs)
· Time order (e.g. first, next, then, last)
Learning Standard C: Communicate ideas in writing to accomplish a variety of purposes.
Modes of writing
Objective 1: Write for a variety of purposes including description, information, explanation, persuasion, and narration.
Visual presentation
Objective 2: Create media compositions or productions that convey meaning visually for a variety of purposes.
IV. Oral Communication
State Goal: As a result of their schooling, students will be able to listen and speak effectively in a variety of situations.
Learning Standard A: Listen effectively in formal and informal situations.
Objective 1: Listen attentively by facing the speaker, making eye contact, and paraphrasing what is said.
Objective 2: Listen for a specific purpose.
Objective 3: Ask and respond to questions from the teacher and from group members to improve comprehension.
Objective 4: Follow oral instructions accurately.
Objective 5: Use visually and auditory based media.
Learning Standard B: Speak effectively using language appropriate to the situation and audience.
Objective 1: Present brief oral reports with language and vocabulary appropriate to the message and audience using the following behaviors:
· Voice projection
· Ability to stay on topic
· Fluency
· Expression
· Eye contact
· Correct grammar usage
Objective 2: Participate in discussions around a common theme or topic demonstrating the following behaviors:
· Take turns
· Listen attentively
· Look at speaker
· Use appropriate volume
· Stay on topic
· Ask for repetition, restatement, or explanation to clarify
V. Application of the Language Arts
State Goal: As a result of their schooling, students will be able to use the language arts to acquire, assess, and communicate information.
Learning Standard A: Locate, organize, and use information from various sources to answer questions, solve problems, and communicate ideas.
Objective 2: Locate information using a variety of resources including:
· Encyclopedia
· Teacher bookmarked Internet websites
· Nonfiction text
· Word and picture dictionaries
· Maps and atlases
· Bible
Learning Standard B: Analyze and evaluate information acquired from various sources.
Objective 1: Select and organize information from various sources for a specific purpose.
Objective 2: Use key words to locate relevant information.
Objective 3: Discriminate between relevant/irrelevant information.
Objective 4: Categorize related information under main topics.
Objective 5: Identify sources used.
Learning Standard C: Apply acquired information, concepts, and ideas to communicate in a variety of formats.
Objective 1: Write letters, reports, and stories based on acquired information.
Objective 2: Use print and technological resources to gather information.
Objective 3: Use human resources to gather information.
Objective 4: Share acquired information with classmates in a variety of ways.