This resource accompanies our Rethink 2nd Grade ELA course. It includes ideas for use, ways to support exceptional children, ways to extend learning, digital resources and tools, tips for supporting English Language Learners and students with visual and hearing impairments. There are also ideas for offline learning.  

This unit was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This unit 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.

Students are prompted to use comparisons to discuss what they see as they picture walk through books about the ocean. They identify what these comparisons have in common to arrive at an informal name and definition of simile. They then create illustrations showing these comparisons. Next, students picture walk through two additional picture books about the ocean and comment about what they see. They are introduced to metaphor by rewording some of their comments into metaphors. They continue to note metaphors as the books are read aloud, and then name and define this new type of comparison. They again draw pictures to illustrate some of these metaphors. Students discuss why writers use these types of comparisons, then work to revise existing writing to incorporate figurative language through guided practice or independent work. Finally, students use templates to create a book on the ocean that features similes and metaphors.

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.

Students engage in games and chants to recognize the same sounds in different words. Students match objects with the same beginning or ending sound, identify whether a given sound occurs at the beginning or ending of a word, and connect phonemes with graphemes.

This educator's guide demonstrates how Brian Floca's books provide an exceptional blend of text and illustrations to present information. Students will study diagrams and use them to glean information about the main topic of the book. Students will also examine how Floca uses various features throughout the books to enhance readers' enjoyment.

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 worksheet activity, students study the pictures of a pair of unusual animals and make some guesses about what they are, where they live, and what they eat.

This lesson is about using detective skills to be better nonfiction readers. Students will gather clues from the text to make assumptions and connections that will solve, and make meaning about the text. The students will use nonfiction text context clues, and pictures to realize that the author’s purpose is for them to find ALL the clues and make meaning of a topic.

Hello, my name is Kim. I am a 2nd grade teacher in North Carolina. As a teacher, it is important that my students feel seen, heard, and valued. I build relationships and do my best to use materials that reflect my students, their families, and their home lives. This may be through books, music, or visuals. I also work to develop their sense of curiosity and expose them to the rich and diverse cultures that exist across the globe. In this instructional unit, my goal was to bring a student’s Vietnamese culture into the classroom.

The unit I am sharing was created as part of a summer program hosted by The National Humanities Center. I chose to participate in a summer institute on Vietnamese history and created this virtual field trip using a multimedia platform called Argis. My goal was to expand my own learning as I demonstrated one way teachers can integrate geography, social studies, and literacy. The unit is called the Seven Wonders of Vietnam. The unit begins with a couple of leveled readers that I used to introduce the topic. Then it goes into the virtual filed trip. When you click on each location on the map, a window opens. The slide provides you with an image, a short description, and an optional video to learn more about the landmark.

As you scroll down, you see a literacy extension that allowed my students to find meaningful books to them. There are the seven wonders of the world, but there are also so many other places, people, and events that are special to us. Through this extension activity, students can explore a topic they care about. That can be seven wonders of North Carolina, or somewhere special to their heart.

This lesson supplements the curriculum of Core Knowledge Language Arts Domain 2 Unit Listening and Learning: Early Asian Civilizations. Domain 11 Listening and Learning: Immigration explores the push and pull factors for people from diverse cultures to migrate to the United States.

Day 1-Guided Reading (Books that introduce students to the geographical area of Southeast Asia)
The lesson provides an integrated social studies and reading unit to front-load background knowledge for second graders to better access middle-school social studies non-fiction content. This unit explores how place can form a person's culture and identity.

Day 2- Argis website
This lesson will provide an enrichment lesson connecting the two units. The students will learn about Ancient Vietnam and Modern Day Vietnam. Please refer to the Argis website for the learning activities.

Day 3-The teacher can select how many days to focus on the famous sites in Vietnam. For example, I spent two days going over on how to use non-fiction text features on a map and how we can use informational text to learn about Vietnam.

Day 4- Making personal connections to the informational text. The teacher will model to the students on how to write their personal connection to different parts of world. The teacher can adapt the lesson to fit the students' demographics.

Additional Resources: Read-aloud videos of the leveled readers provided.