Grade 2 English Language Arts: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 2 english language arts in the Newfoundland and Labrador Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- Speaking and listening: explore and reflect. Students will speak and listen to explore, extend, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, ideas, feelings, and experiences.
- Speaking and listening: communicate. Students will be able to communicate information and ideas effectively and clearly, and to respond personally and critically.
- Speaking and listening: interact with respect. Students will be able to interact with sensitivity and respect, considering the situation, audience, and purpose.
- Reading and viewing: select and read. Students will be able to select, read, and view with understanding a range of literature, information, media, and visual texts.
- Reading and viewing: interpret and combine information. Students will be able to interpret, select, and combine information using a variety of strategies, resources, and technologies.
- Reading and viewing: respond personally. Students will be able to respond personally to a range of texts.
- Reading and viewing: respond critically. Students will be able to respond critically to a range of texts, applying their understanding of language, form, and genre.
- Writing and representing: explore and reflect. Students will be able to use writing and other ways of representing to explore, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and learning; and to use their imagination.
- Writing and representing: create texts. Students will be able to create texts collaboratively and independently, using a variety of forms for a range of audiences and purposes.
- Writing and representing: strategies. Students will be able to use a range of strategies to develop effective writing and other ways of representing and to enhance their clarity, precision, and effectiveness.
Easy ways to practise english language arts at home
- Take turns reading a page aloud, and chat about what happened and why.
- Keep a short journal, with one or two sentences a day to start.
- Hunt for a new word a day and use it at dinner.
- Ask for a prediction before turning the page: “What do you think happens next?”
What each unit covers
Rhyme Time
Hearing rhymes and spotting word families (-at, -ig, -op). Both help with reading and spelling new words.
Sound Detectives
Letter teams that make one sound (sh, ch, th, wh, ee, ai, oa) and clapping syllables.
Super Sentences
Starting sentences and names with capitals, and choosing a period, question mark or exclamation mark.
Story Builders
Reading short stories, then naming the character and setting, explaining why things happened, and retelling events in order.
Word Power
Building compound words, finding opposites and spelling plurals (-s and -es).
Build Sentences
Telling the four sentence types apart, spotting complete sentences, and joining two ideas into a compound sentence.
Reading Detectives
Reading short texts to work out who is telling the story, what will happen next, how characters feel, and how things are the same and different.
Text Features
Using a table of contents, charts and icons to find information, and following order words in steps and journal entries.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Not Yet Achieving
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practising the tricky parts.
- Good
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Excellent
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the Newfoundland and Labrador report card guide.
Common questions
Take turns reading a page aloud, and chat about what happened and why. Keep a short journal, with one or two sentences a day to start. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The Newfoundland and Labrador Curriculum Grade 2 english language arts units include rhyme time, sound detectives, super sentences, story builders, word power, build sentences.
Free printable Grade 2 english language arts practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.