English Language Arts — Grade 2

Getting to know spiders

This lesson is useful for helping students understand the differences between spiders and insects. They will also learn about a spider's particular body parts. Live spiders will be observed over the course of a few days to see how sound, light, and movement affect the spiders.

Format: lesson plan (grade 2 Information Skills, English Language Arts, and Science)

By Bree Welmaker.

More Vivid Word Choices-Said Is Dead

The students will expand their vocabulary and learn synonymns for overused words. By using the story Chicken Little by Stephen Kellog, students will see how an acclaimed author uses many different words for "said."

Format: lesson plan (grade 1–4 English Language Arts)

By Linda Justice.

Stretch It Out

Good writers stretch out the important scenes in a story to make them more interesting to their readers. In this lesson, students will learn to stretch out a scene by adding things that they see, hear, think, and say to others.

Format: lesson plan (grade 2–5 English Language Arts)

By DPI Writing Strategies.

Lesson plans on the web

Acrostic poems: All about me and my favorite things

Introduces students to acrostic poetry. They create poems using their names as a starting point for writing about themselves. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 1–2 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Action ABC's: Learning vocabulary with verbs

Students review the definition of a verb and then expand their vocabulary by using verbs they already know in sentences. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–2 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

As slippery as an eel: An ocean unit exploring simile and metaphor

Students explore simile and metaphor in fiction and nonfiction ocean books. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–2 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Collaborative stories 2: Revising

Engages students in a group-revising activity. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 2–3 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Composing Cinquain Poems: A Quick-Writing Activity

Students write simple cinquain poetry of their own as a follow-up to a subject they have been exploring in class. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 2 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Going on a shape hunt: Integrating math and literacy

Students learn shape names, locate shapes in their environment, practice spelling out the names of items and shapes they locate, and reflect, in writing, on the process. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–2 English Language Arts and Mathematics)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

An owl in the woods

Illustrations in the book Owl Moon serve as the inspiration for an arts exploration in which students create a watercolor painting. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–3 English Language Arts and Visual Arts Education)

Provider: The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Right whales and people

Students will learn about the highly endangered northern right whale and think about how this species' geographical distribution places it in direct contact with human threats such as ships. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–2 English Language Arts and Visual Arts Education)

Provider: National Geographic

Shape hunt

Students look for examples of patterns and shapes in both the natural and designed world. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–2 English Language Arts, Visual Arts Education, and Mathematics)

Provider: American Association for the Advancement of Science

Teaching audience through interactive writing

Students work together to create an invitation letter for a group of their peers. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–2 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Trade and Transportation in the United States

Students will imagine what it would be like to operate a plane, train, or truck along a trade route across the United States. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 2 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Provider: National Geographic

Using a predictable text to teach high-frequency words

Students develop fluency as they participate in a choral reading of the predictable text. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–2 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

What should a house do?

This is a set of nine lesson plans which compares and contrasts the homes built by the first American settlers with those of the Native American peoples. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–2 English Language Arts, Visual Arts Education, and Social Studies)

Provider: National Endowment for the Humanities

Write right back: Recognizing readers' needs and expectations for e-mail replies

In this lesson students explore issues of reply format and content with audience needs and expectations in mind. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–2 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE