English Language Arts — Grade 2

"Twas the Night Before Christmas": Retelling through thinking maps

After reading and discussing “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” students will work together to create a Flow Map. Each student will then use the map they created individually to retell the story in his/her own words.

Format: lesson plan (grade 2 English Language Arts)

By Amy Rhyne, Paulette Keys, and Sarah Carson.

Inside and outside: Paradox of the box

This lesson serves to introduce students to symbolism (the box), to the literary element paradox, and to the abstract notion of ambiguity (freedom vs. confinement). It is designed for 2nd and 3rd graders, but may be adapted for use with upper elementary or early middle school grades.

Format: lesson plan (grade 2–6 English Language Arts)

By Edie McDowell.

Hello, friend!: Writing a friendly letter

Students will apply their knowledge of a friendly letter to compose a letter to send to their pen pals. Students will then type up their letters using the Kidspiration program.

Format: lesson plan (grade 2 Computer/Technology Skills and English Language Arts)

By Kelly Norton.

The Legend of the Blue Bonnet

Students will create their own version/retelling of The Legend of the Blue Bonnet by Tomie dePaola

Format: lesson plan (grade 2 English Language Arts)

By Shari Peacock.

Resources on the web

Writing workshop: Helping writers choose and focus on a topic

This lesson from ReadWriteThink helps young writers bring greater focus to their writing. Students use a timeline to break a larger topic into several events or moments. They then select an event to write about from the timeline. Students first work with... (Learn more)

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

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Using children's natural curiosity to lead to descriptive writing

Inspired by the book It Starts with an A, this ReadWriteThink lesson invites kindergarten students to turn their curiosity and guesswork into a class book, complete with illustrated objects and descriptive language. Students can share this... (Learn more)

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

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Telling a story about me: Young children write autobiographies

In this ReadWriteThink lesson, students learn to develop ideas collaboratively, plan writing projects before executing them, and compose sentences related to a specific topic. The lesson teaches these skills while drawing from the lives of first- and second-grade... (Learn more)

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

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Teaching about story structure using fairy tales

The teacher guides students through read-alouds of fairy tales in this unit that introduces the concept of the beginning, middle and end of stories. After students use storyboards to identify common plot sequences in fairy tales, they work in groups to... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 2 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Reading and writing about whales using fiction and nonfiction texts

This lesson from ReadWriteThink teaches students how to formulate research questions and write letters. The lesson uses the nonfiction picture book Big Blue Whale by Nicola Davies to present factual information about blue whales and the fiction... (Learn more)

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

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Rain, ice, steam: Using reading to support inquiry about the water cycle

This unit of study allows students to discover the repetitive cycle of water. Read-alouds introduce the topic of rain and hands-on experiments and classroom centers teach students about the water cycle and how it functions. After introducing the topic of... (Learn more)

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

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Our community: Creating ABC books as assessment

Students study the theme of community and collect vocabulary words and key concepts from areas they study in class. Using this information, they create alphabet books that relate each letter of the alphabet with a fact, keyword, or phrase from the unit... (Learn more)

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

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

I wonder: Writing scientific explanations with students

Students learn about scientific inquiry in this lesson that focuses on reading and writing. After students have collected items that relate to trees participated in several activities based on trees, they ask questions or “wonderings” about... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 2 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Get writing with "Weekend News!"

In this lesson, from ReadWriteThink, students write about their weekends, using skills they have learned in writing workshop. Following the writing, students self-assess their work based on criteria developed in the classroom. (Learn more)

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

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Completing the circle: The craft of circular plot structure

In this lesson, from ReadWriteThink, students explore the organizing structure and writer's craft of picture books. They then identify, explore, and apply the elements of circle plot structures to their own stories. This lesson uses an interactive Circle... (Learn more)

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

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Collaborative stories 2: Revising

This lesson from ReadWriteThink engages students in a group-revising activity. Students demonstrate reading comprehension skills by suggesting revisions to a collaborative story draft. The emphasis of this activity is on revising for content, rather than... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 2 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Collaborative stories 1: Prewriting and drafting

In this lesson from ReadWriteThink, students engage in prewriting activities that include writing the beginning of a story and brainstorming ideas using an online, interactive story map. Students will then write a collaborative story on chart paper, adding... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 2 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Acrostic poems: All about me and my favorite things

In this ReadWriteThink lesson, students are introduced to acrostic poetry. They create poems using their names as a starting point for writing about themselves. Students can use the printing press interactive to print up their works. (Learn more)

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

Provided by: ReadWriteThink