This unit was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 2nd Grade ELA.

This parent guide supports parents in helping their child at home with the 2nd Grade English Language Arts content.

The central idea of this unit is how sharing artifacts is a fundamental characteristic of humans that connects them to each other and culture.

In this unit, students will become familiar with fables and trickster tales from different cultural traditions and will see how stories change when transferred orally between generations and cultures. They will learn how both types of folktales employ various animals in different ways to portray human strengths and weaknesses and to pass down wisdom from one generation to the next. Use the following lessons to introduce students to world folklore and to explore how folktales convey the perspectives of different world cultures.

In this unit, students will explore literature about Africa and exhibit an interest in learning more about it. This unit will introduce them to the seven continents of the world.

In this lesson, students will read Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish. Students will discuss text-dependent questions to promote an understanding of the story’s character. Through subsequent readings, they construct and support arguments concerning the character traits of Amelia Bedelia and use the text to determine how Amelia Bedelia and the Rogers can have different reactions to the same events. After these discussions, students demonstrate their understanding of character by completing a trading card for Amelia Bedelia.

This lesson is for Grades 1 - 2 on literacy. At Home Learning Lessons are a partnership between the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, PBS North Carolina, and the William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation.  Each lesson contains a video instructional lesson, a PDF lesson plan with a transcript, and a PDF file of extension activities.

This lesson is for Grades 1 - 2 on literacy. At Home Learning Lessons are a partnership between the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, PBS North Carolina, and the William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation.  Each lesson contains a video instructional lesson, a PDF lesson plan with a transcript, and a PDF file of extension activities.

This lesson is for Grades 1 - 2 on literacy. At Home Learning Lessons are a partnership between the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, PBS North Carolina, and the William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation.  Each lesson contains a video instructional lesson, a PDF lesson plan with a transcript, and a PDF file of extension activities.

In this unit, students will read several books by Kevin Henkes. Students will study the characters, retell the stories, and will compare and contrast the plots of the different stories written by Kevin Henkes.

In this lesson, students explore the different purposes readers have and how to determine what their purpose for reading is. Students also learn how to evaluate whether a book is at the right reading level and length for their abilities.

In this lesson, students will study four different versions of the Cinderella story. As a group students will identify the good characters, mean characters, problem, and solution of each story. Story elements will be written down on a large poster board and categorized so students can draw identify patterns and differences. Then, students will work in small groups of seven to identify the main parts of the traditional story. Each student will choose a part in the story to illustrate. After illustrations are complete students will practice retelling their part of the story. Students will then scan in their illustrations and use the program, Movie Maker, to format their group's story. Students will record their portion of the retelling with a microphone.

This is a multi-day unit on Cinderella and the many versions of the fairy tale. Students will listen to four versions of Cinderella and then compare/contrast two. Then students will design a background, decorate a puppet and use a script to create a green screen video summarizing one of the versions shared. There is also a rubric and assessment component.

This lesson uses two books, Charlie Needs a Cloak by Tomie dePaola and A Symphony for the Sheep by C.M. Millen, to provide early exposure to economic concepts while encouraging reading comprehension. Prereading and postreading discussions and activities promote vocabulary building and analytical thinking. Students gain knowledge of the economic terms "natural resource" and "producer" as they make text-to-world connections.

This lesson plan features an example of a cumulative literary experience or “literature unit” structured around a text set made up of conceptually-related fiction and nonfiction for reading aloud and for independent reading.

Beginning with a comparative study of selected, illustrated retellings of the traditional folktale “Little Red Riding Hood,” including versions from several different cultures, this literature unit continues with a study of modern revisions of this well-known tale. After students have an opportunity to explore similarities and differences among the retellings and revisions, they are introduced to fiction and nonfiction texts featuring wolves in order to provide them with a different perspective of the “villain” in the "Little Red Riding Hood" tales. The unit culminates in a class-written version of the folktale.

Students engage with the text by talking back to characters in Cinderella, dramatizing events in Bubba the Cowboy Prince, inserting themselves into the story of Little Red Riding Hood, and critiquing and controlling story elements in Little Red Cowboy Hat. After comparing and contrasting Little Red Riding Hood and Little Red Cowboy Hat, students plan and create an original fractured tale.

In this multiple activity lesson, students will read and watch the video, "The Crayon Box That Talked". Students will discuss the book with a series of questions, graph their favorite colors, perform a Reader's Theater, rhyme words, and explore the story with several other activities.

As a way to support teachers with English Language Arts (ELA) instruction during the pandemic, the NCDPI ELA team created choice boards featuring standards-aligned ELA activities.The intended purpose of these choice boards is to provide a way for students to continue standards-based learning while schools are closed. Each activity can be adapted and modified to be completed with or without the use of digital tools. Many activities can also be repeated with different texts. These standards-based activities are meant to be a low-stress approach to reinforcing and enriching the skills learned during the 2019-2020 school year. The choice boards are to be used flexibly by teachers, parents, and students in order to meet the unique needs of each learner.Exploration activities are provided for a more self-directed or guided approach to independent learning for students. These activities and sites should be used as a way to explore concepts, topics, skills, and social and emotional competencies that interest the learner. 

This lesson will help students identify the moral of the story The Empty Pot by Demi. During this lesson, students will have an opportunity to discuss and write about the character trait honesty. Students will share about a time when they demonstrated this character trait

Students will read two similar versions of the same fairy tale, such as the traditional tale of The Three Little Pigs and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by John Scieszka.  Students will acknowledge differences in the points of view of the characters, including speaking in different voices of each character when reading dialogue. Students will use illustrations and details in the two versions to describe the characters, setting, events and plot through questioning and analysis. The product of the lesson will a graphic organizer used to compare and contrast the two different versions of this story.  This lesson fits into the larger context of examining different genres in literature, learning the elements of the particular genre and comparing and contrasting literature. This lesson would fit well into a unit on fairytales, folklore, myths etc. This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.

As some of the foundational texts for beginning readers, fairy tales are a staple of many classrooms. This lesson allows students to engage with fairy tales from different regions around the world and compare important cultural elements of these stories.

As some of the foundational texts for beginning readers, fairy tales are a staple of many classrooms. This lesson allows students to engage with fairy tales from different regions around the world and compare important cultural elements of these stories. Students will then have the opportunity to pick three-four key illustrations and retell the story in their own words in a Hip Hop edition.

Students will read books about families and make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections using those books. Students gain a deeper understanding of a text when they make authentic connections. Beginning with a read-aloud of Donald Crews' "Bigmama's", the instructor introduces and models the strategy of making connections. Read-alouds of "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats and "The Relatives Came" by Cynthia Rylant are followed by activities that help students learn to apply each type of text connection when responding to texts. After sharing and discussing connections in a Think-Pair-Share activity, students plan and write a piece describing a personal connection to one of the texts.

Using the Zimbabwean folktale "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters" by John Steptoe, students will learn strategies and methods on how to describe the overall structure of a story. Students will also be shown how to show respect for other cultures through the use of this book, world maps, graphic organizers and other African folktales.This lesson was developed by Lisa Bruet as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.            

The teacher will use the book, Lon Po Po by Ed Young. The students will learn strategies and methods on how to describe the overall structure of a story. The students will also be shown how to show respect for other cultures through the use of this book, world maps, graphic organizers and other Chinese folktales. While reading this Chinese folktale, the students will be able to explain how the artistic expressions of the culture contributes to the community through food, crafts, and stories. This lesson was developed by Lisa Bruet as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

Students will compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures. The students will be able to understand how the cultures differ in food, language and arts through the two stories that are being compared and contrasted. Then, the students will use these tools that they know to help broaden and expand their cultural views by intergrating the folktales into the math, language arts and social studies curriculum.This lesson was developed by Lisa Bruet as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.            

Students will compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures. The students will be able to understand how the cultures differ in food, language and arts through the two stories that are being compared and contrasted. Then, the students will use these tools that they know to help broaden and expand their cultural views by intergrating the folktales into the math, language arts and social studies curriculum.This lesson was developed by Lisa Bruet as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.            

Students will collaborate with a group of students and select a Culture Project to complete together in school.  The group will choose, design and plan and implement what the groups roles will be and what materials are needed to complete the project.  The teacher should allow the students to work on projects in school so that equal participation is taking place and can be observed. The students may select the countries in the folktale unit to research or one of their own as long as the project goals are met and agreed upon by all members in the group.This lesson was developed by Lisa Bruet as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.            

Students will collaborate together to choose, design, plan, and implement groups roles to determine what materials are needed to complete the project.  The teacher observe as student groups complete projects during the school day to ensure participation is achieved in an equitable manner. Students will select and research a specific folktale from the unit  Upon completing the group project, students may research a folktale independently provided the group agrees and their project goals are met.This lesson was developed by Lisa Bruet to fulfill requirements of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.                

In this unit, students will read and explore a folktale from Vietnam, while utilizing interdisciplinary connections in language arts, geography, science and social studies. Opportunities are provided for differentiated instruction as well as the development of story vocabulary. Terms include: narrator, point
of view, main character, dialogue, setting, title and quotation marks.

 Students will review April Rain Song and Rain Poem and then use the Seasonal Poetry template to create an original poem to be recorded using Flipgrid.  

In this activity, students will read Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers, and then take another look at one dramatic moment in the story. After revisiting the moment, they will create a new scene that is not in the book, based on the character of Abraham Lincoln.

Students collect data within their school about current social issues and create graphs to display and analyze the data. Students simultaneously read and write fables based on the prevalent social issues. Students then make 2D illustrations for their fables and practice reading their stories aloud with fluency. The culminating event is a Meet the Author showcase for parents to hear the stories and get autographs from the new authors.

Students listen to A Pocket for Corduroy and three other Corduroy stories and discuss the characters and plots. A letter to parents introduces a follow-up writing activity, in which a stuffed classroom "Corduroy" goes home with a different student each night. With parents' help, students write and illustrate a two- to three-sentence adventure story about Corduroy's stay with them, and share their stories with the class.

After whole class participation in a Socratic seminar led by the teacher, with procedures and ground rules stressed, AIG students will be grouped in pairs to plan and lead small group Socratic seminars for their second grade class. The seminars will focus on fables during a fables and folktales literature unit. This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.

In this lesson, students will learn that building a snowman is one way to provide food for birds and animals during the winter. Students begin by listening to a book about snow. Students are then introduced to a K-W-L chart and discuss what they know about how animals find food in the winter. As students listen to Henrietta Bancroft's Animals in Winter, they listen for details about how some animals survive during the winter and record those details in the last column of the chart. To continue to build students' knowledge of the topic, they listen to additional fiction and nonfiction books and view a website about animals in winter. As a culminating activity, students use their charts to write and illustrate a story.

ABCya! presents its fifth children's storybook for the classroom. It's called Marvin Makes Music, an original work by Michelle Tocci. The story is about a frog that is sad because he cannot sing like his friends, until one day when he gets a new musical instrument. This is a great storybook to share with kids using an interactive whiteboard.

*This storybook has narration! Students can click the speaker button to have the story read to them.

In this lesson, students become familiar with the short /u/ sound as they listen to Taro Yashima’s Caldecott Honor-winning book, Umbrella. Prereading activities build vocabulary and comprehension skills, a read-aloud introduces students to the sounds of the story, and concluding exercises allow students to apply their understanding of phonic elements in other contexts.

In this lesson, students read a folktale. The teacher models the thinking and work required to recount the story and determine the lesson.  Students create story maps of the text that show the major events and the lesson in the text.

In this lesson, students read a folktale. The teacher models the thinking and work required to recount the story and determine the lesson.  Students create story maps of the text that show the major events and the lesson in the text.