ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS GUIDE FOR PARENTS
PITT COUNTY SCHOOLS
Second Grade
Phonics:
Uses phonics knowledge and structural analysis to decode regular multi-syllable words when reading texts (1.01)
Second grade students will increase their ability to decode or read words by expanding their knowledge of phonics and structural analysis skills such as identifying syllables (pronounceable parts of a word), suffixes (endings such as –ing, -ed, -ly,-er, -est), prefixes (un, dis, re, im) and root words such as bio, cycle, geo, gram, graph, meter, phon, photo, aqua, aud, loc, port, vid/vis and ped to help them read regular multi-syllabic words. Students will participate in intensive, systematic word study. In a K-2 classroom word study is a regular part of every Guided Reading lesson. As students participate in daily Shared Writing experiences the teacher will assist them as they use their knowledge of phonics and structural analysis to encode/write the intended message. In addition to word work during Guided Reading and Shared Writing students will participate in the Buddy Study Word Study Program. Buddy Study is a research based intensive, systematic method of studying words. During Buddy Study the teacher conducts a daily 10-15 mini-lesson that is focused on a specific principle or structural analysis skill. Students will use these principles and skills to analyze and decode unknown words.
Parent Tip: Helping students to use what they know about how words work should be fun. Two of the best ways to help children internalize how words work is through word sorts and word searches. To create a word sort simple decide on the principle or pattern to be studied. For example: Words that the “y” is changed to an “i” before adding the suffix “er” such as pretty, prettier, silly, sillier, happy, happier, ugly, uglier, bumpy and bumpier would be printed on individual cards. Another set of cards might have words like small, smaller, tall, taller, sweet, sweeter, short, shorter, loud, louder, quiet and quieter or other words where the suffix “er” is just added to the word. The two sets of cards are shuffled. Have your child sort the words into different piles. Then ask them why they made each pile. The important part of this task is the answer they give you to why they sorted the cards the way that they sorted them. This is called an open sort. Word searches are a bit easier. Simply identify the principle you will search for and begin looking for words that exemplify the principle EVERYWHERE! Keep a running list that is read and reread and read again!
Self-monitors decoding by using letter-sound knowledge of all consonants and vowels (1.03)
Self-monitoring or self-checking is a life long skill. We self-monitor the gas in our cars unless we want to walk. We wish our children would self-monitor their rooms, so we wouldn’t have to monitor for them and say, “Clean your room.” As children problem solve on text, they must check on their reading. They must use all the information they have available to construct the meaning the author intended. Second grade students will be taught to self-monitor on multiple cues. They will monitor on the intended meaning of the message, their knowledge of the structure of the English language, and their knowledge of letter-sound relationship. This will involve the knowledge of all consonants, single vowel or vowel combination sounds. Students will learn to use beginning, ending and dominate consonant letters within a word, the rime or ending portion of a word minus the prefix and suffix (bat, play), vowel sounds, root words and the length of a word to monitor their decoding of text. Students will be taught to monitor as teachers model self-monitoring when they read aloud, make a mistake and fix it, while the children listen. When second grade students participate in Shared and Guided Reading activities, they will be practicing self-monitoring skills. The Buddy Study method of learning words will also support children in monitoring on letter-sound relationship or visual information. The act of rechecking a math problem or noting the cleanliness of your bedroom, without being told, is self-monitoring!
Parent Tip: If you’re reading to your child and you make a mistake, keep reading to the end of the sentence and then stop. Tell your child you made a mistake and that ALL readers make mistakes when they read. But like them, you self-monitored. Now you are going to go back to the beginning of the sentence, reread and fix it. Be sure to tell your child what you noticed that made you monitor. It is very true that actions speak much louder than words!
Spells correctly using previously studied words, spelling patterns, and analysis of sounds (5.01)
Using conventional spelling, when communicating in written form, is a cultural expectation. Second grade students will be held responsible for spelling the words they have studied during Buddy Study correctly. They will also be expected to slowly articulate a multi-syllabic word, identify the syllables (individual word parts) in the word and then use letter to sound analysis to identify the letters within each of the syllables, recording them in sequential order. These strategies will be taught during the word work section of Guided Reading and the daily Buddy Study mini-lesson.
Parent Tip: Your child will be bringing home a list of their Buddy Study words each week. Put them in a highly visible place such as on the mirror in the bathroom where they brush their teeth. To help your child internalize these words you may want to try having them write them on a sugar or salt tray. Children love shaking to erase the words. Shaving cream or pudding can also be used.
Fluency:
Reads most high-frequency words accurately in texts (1.02)
High-frequency words are words that make up 75-90% of the texts that K-2 students read. Pitt County’s second grade students will master the second grade high frequency word list. When students can instantly identify words within a text they have a greater amount of mental energy to devote to understanding or comprehending the text.
Parent Tip: A fun way to help your child internalize the high frequency words is to play “Go Fish” or “Concentration” with a select set of words. Ask your child’s teacher for the second grade list of high frequency words to use for both games. Remember to always include a few words that your child already can recognize instantly.
Uses a variety of strategies and skills to read self-selected texts independently for 20 minutes daily (1.05)
If you want to get really good at playing basketball, you must spend a lot of time on the court playing basketball. If you wish to become an accomplished pianist, you must spend a lot of time on the piano. Like these two skilled actions, reading requires a lot of practice, if you want to become good at it! Second grade students will spend 20 minutes daily reading from a self-selected text to practice problem solving on text. Although students have multiple opportunities during the day to read independently, this block of time is designed to enable the student to build reading stamina enabling them to sit and concentrate on a text for an extended amount of time. It is the hope of the North Carolina Standard Course of study, that the gradual building up of independent reading time from kindergarten to second grade will enable the students to build up their reading stamina so that the extended amount of time required for the Third Grade pretest will not present a problem for the children.
Parent Tip: To increase your child’s reading stamina establish a “Family Reading Time.” A good book read aloud by mom or dad would be a great way to kick off the Family Reading Time. Following the read aloud would be 20 minutes of individual reading, where everyone reads a text of their choice. Dad could read the paper. Mom could work on that novel she’s wanted to find time to read, while the children read their “Take Home Book” or a text of their choice. After this 20 minute block of time, everyone could tell the group what they learned or enjoyed about what they read. Family Reading Time is also a great way to foster discussions around current events.
Reads aloud with fluency and expression any text appropriate for early independent readers (4.03)
Leading researchers in reading have identified fluent reading as a key component that leads to comprehension/understanding of the text. To read fluently students must be able to decode the text with a minimal effort. Fluent reading involves chunking text into meaningful units or phrases. It also involves using intonation or the rise and fall of the voice to convey meaning. Teachers will model fluent reading as they daily read aloud to students. They will also teach for fluency during Guided Reading. Second grade students will be able to read fluently any text that is appropriate for independent readers.
Parent Tip: Fluent reading is best taught through modeling. You may model for your children as you read nightly to them. As your child reads to you, be sure to be a “Careful Listening Friend” for your child and note examples of their fluent, phrased reading. You may also purchase books on tape that model fluent phrased reading.
Vocabulary:
Increases oral and written vocabulary by listening, discussing and composing texts when responding to literature that is read or heard (3.04)
Current research has identified 5 critical areas in which teachers must assure that children receive intensive, systematic instruction. Vocabulary development is one of these 5 critical areas. A full/complete understanding of words is attained when students learn about word families, the multiple meanings of words, ways to extend them into meaningful use, ways to discriminate them from similar words and ways to integrate them comfortably into their own use (Allen, 1999) Second grade students will benefit from exposure to vocabulary through daily Interactive Teacher Read Alouds, reading independently from a variety of genre/different types of books and participating in semantic mapping and independent word play during workstations. As teachers plan the texts to be read, they will identify several key words that they believe are critical to understanding the texts. As the text is read the teachers will highlight the vocabulary, holding a brief discussion as to the meaning and usage of the word in this text. Teachers will present the word, in its written form to the children, allowing them to take a critical look at the letter-sound relationships that form the word. Students will be encouraged to use the word in a sentence, thus practicing the word’s pronunciation and meaning. Shared and Guided Reading strategies will allow the students further opportunities to expand their vocabulary. Content area reading, Learning Logs or Journals will allow further experiences for students to demonstrate vocabulary and concept knowledge across the curriculum. Natural curiosity and the desire to understand are traits that all teachers want to nurture. Teachers support this curiosity by holding genuine conversations after the reading of all texts and keying into the student’s natural curiosity about the topic. These conversations are a time for the children to develop key understandings of the theme or big idea of the text. It also allows students to clarify the meaning of any vocabulary that they do not understand. These conversations are held after teachers read aloud to students, after children participate in a shared reading experience and as children finish a story during Guided Reading. Students will also be given the opportunity to identify and illustrate their understanding of specific vocabulary as they participate in content area discussions.
Parent Tip: There are two primary ways that parents can help their children meet this goal. First, remember to hold genuine conversations with your child around topics of interest. Often it helps if these conversations are being held around a book, magazine, TV program or a “real life” experience such as a trip to the zoo, art gallery or a museum. Second, reading to your child a book on a topic they are interested in but that is slightly above where they can currently read is a great way to expand vocabulary. In addition, making room on the fridge for some great work that is created at home that demonstrates newly learned vocabulary or concepts would be fabulous. As your child reads or is read to be sure to discuss the key vocabulary within the text. As you discuss the vocabulary, remember that to really “know” a word requires that we know it in many ways. You will want to help your child consider the following: What word means almost the same thing as ______? What word means the opposite of ______? Can I illustrate/draw what ______means? Can I use ____ in a sentence? To further enhance your child’s vocabulary development, try having a special place where the new and exciting words can be kept and reviewed. You will surely want to add these new and exciting words to your conversations with your child and praise them when they correctly use a new and exciting word in their conversations.
Discusses the effect of an author’s choices for nouns, verbs, modifiers, and specific vocabulary which helps the reader comprehend text (3.06)
The state of North Carolina requires that all fourth, seventh and eleventh grade students take and successfully pass a prompted writing test. Our state has developed criteria in which each student’s paper is scored. The Department of Public Instruction has identified 5 critical characteristics that work together to make a piece of writing a “Great” example of written communication. These criteria represent what research has shown to be characteristics of proficient writing. Katie Wood-Ray, the author of multiple books designed to help teachers understand the writing process, tells us that first students must learn to hear and identify specific aspects of craft, and then they can begin to use the crafting technique in their writing. To this end, teachers will read a variety of quality text to their students and hold discussions around the identified crafting technique. Keep in mind that the first read of all text should be for enjoyment. However, the following reads should focus the child on how the author has structured the book or the writer’s use of craft that is exemplified in the book. Authors use a variety of specific words (nouns, verbs and modifiers) to help the reader create a clear picture or image. Identifying writer’s craft, such as techniques that enhance voice or sentence fluency is one of the key reasons for rereading. Voice is how you, as an adult, are able to pick up the newspaper or a magazine and read an article, without looking at the author and know who wrote it. Voice is characterized by the word choice and particular language that an author chooses to use. When a text has voice, it stirs up emotions in the reader. It may make you laugh, cry or even get you angry. In second grade, students will participate in the study of various authors. They may include names like Patricia Polacco or Mem Fox. As teachers expose children to the work of specific authors, children begin to notice the way different authors “put their words together.” It’s not uncommon to hear a second grader say, “That sounds like something Mem Fox would write.” Another valued criterion for writing is the ability to use different kinds of sentences to interest a reader or listener. Authors also organize their thoughts around a clear idea or theme. These are some of the crafting techniques that can be taught and are scored, on the North Carolina Writing Tests. Once children have been exposed to the different crafting techniques that authors use, they will begin to notice and discuss these techniques from other texts. Once students can identify/notice these techniques, they will begin to use these same techniques in their writing which is the goal of proficient writing instruction. Second grade teachers will begin to lift specific examples of writer’s craft from the variety of texts that students have read or heard. They will use these examples to teach and demonstrate crafting techniques during Shared Writing or the mini-lessons of Writer’s Workshop. By discussing the effect of an author’s way with words, students will be encouraged to use these crafting techniques in their own written products.
Parent Tip: Ask your teacher which authors your child will be exposed to within each 9 weeks. Seek out books written by these authors. Your public library and local book stores will have access to any author that your child will be studying. As you reread these texts to your child, discuss what they know about the author and how this author “uses words” or structures their texts in their own special way. In addition, as you read stories that your child has written, be sure to comment on the way they put words together or structure their text. Identifying the crafting techniques that they use will strengthen your child’s desire to use these techniques, over and over again, until they are internalized.