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 course is aligned to the NC Standards for 2nd Grade ELA in Writing.

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

ABCya Storymaker is a fun and easy way for children to create and print their own stories. Kids can write a simple narrative or a thrilling mystery, and then bring their words to life with custom illustrations. With just a few clicks, young authors can save or print their work, too!

Students are involved in an interactive read-aloud of A My Name is Alice by Jane Bayers, during which they identify and examine the characteristics of alphabet books. Students then engage in shared writing to create a class alphabet book. After completing the class book, they work in small groups using technology to write their own alphabet books. These books are later shared with an audience, giving an authentic purpose to the writing experience.

Using a wide variety of nonfiction literature, students learn to sort and categorize books to begin the information-gathering process. Then, working with partners and groups, using pictures and text, students are guided through the process of gathering information, asking clarifying questions, and then enhancing the information with additional details. Students complete the lesson by collaboratively making “Question and Answer” books for the classroom library.

During a science unit on animal life cycles, AIG students will write and publish short, alliterative poems about the stages of a selected animal's growth. 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.

After the whole class has learned about different cultures in the community through books and internet articles, higher level students will work collaboratively in groups to research and gather more detailed information about different cultures within their own community. They will create a PowerPoint or Prezi and present it to the class. 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.

After the teacher has read books about trading and bartering and discussed situations in our history when bartering was extremely important for survival (for example when the Pilgrims traded with the Native Americans for survival/needs/wants), she will lead the higher level students in a game of bartering. 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.

Book Buddies is a program which pairs up a child from a primary class and a child from an intermediate class. In this lesson, students create a personalized biography for their reading buddy as a great way to break the ice when Book Buddies meet for the first time. Students brainstorm questions they can ask to get to know their Book Buddy. Then they use the questions to interview their Book Buddies. They write a biography of their new friend and publish it using an online tool.

In this lesson, students complete two prewriting activities, one on brainstorming ideas using story maps, and one on creating beginnings of stories. They then work on two collaborative-writing activities in which they draft an "oversized" story on chart paper. Each student works individually to read what has been written before, adds the "next sentence," and passes the developing story on to another student. The story is passed from student to student until the story is complete. In a later lesson Collaborative Stories 2: Revising, the story is revised by the groups.

In this lesson, using a story which has been written collaboratively, students engage in a whole-group revising process by having each student add a sentence at a time. The teacher leads this shared-revising activity to help students consider story content. Students begin by reading their collaborative story and then discuss ways of making changes. Then, after revisions have been made, they reread the story as a group. Finally, students come to a consensus on a title for their story.

MyStoryBook is a user-friendly website that allows students to create their own stories. Tools are provided to help design and create stories. Once completed they can be saved.

After the whole class science unit of study on sound, which includes biographical information about Helen Keller, the AIG students will select an additional famous person with a disability to research. They will engage in research and write a short biography of their selected notable person to be compiled in a class e-book. They will also increase their leadership and social skills through presenting to the whole class. 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.

Seesaw is a web-based and application platform where students can post pictures from the classroom, annotate, speak their mind, and create electronic portfolios that connect school and home. Parents are able to see student work as soon as it is posted.
In this activity, students will take a common problem and use the design process to come up with a solution.

This extended task will be integrated with a second grade social studies unit on the contributions of historical figures. AIG students will research Leonardo da Vinci's futuristic inventions, and then work collaboratively to design original inventions for the future. Emphasis will be on inventions that will help solve a real-world problem or issue. They will write descriptive paragraphs about their invention and publish the finished product using a digital program. They will also build a model of their innovative creation. 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.

According to Eastern Michigan University, composing at a computer is a unique activity that many students will need time to master. Students have played games and may know some of the keys on the keyboard. Before students actually begin composing, they need to learn about the different keys on the keyboard without focusing on their writing skills and typing. Students need to learn how to create spaces between their words, type capital and lower case letters, delete text, save and print a document.

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 technology-based lesson will teach students the basic characteristics of different types of butterflies. Students will use approved Internet sites to locate illustrations and facts about various species of butterflies. Students will work together and with teacher assistance to create a slideshow presentation that combines all of the species of butterflies the students locate. A rubric is provided for assessment of student work.

In this lesson, students will draw and write about a shared experience (e.g. trip, class performace); students will audio record their writing on VoiceThread.