Elementary English Language Arts
- Guiding Statements
- Curriculum Standards
- Enduring Understandings
- Essential Questions
- Curriculum Map
- Longtitudinal Rubrics
- Common Assessments
- Stage Three
- Five Year Plan
Secondary English Language Arts
- Guiding Statements
- Curriculum Standards
- Enduring Understandings
- Essential Questions
- Curriculum Map
- Longtitudinal Rubrics
- Common Assessments
- Stage Three
- Five Year Plan
455 N. Woods Mill Road
Chesterfield, MO 63017
Phone (314) 415-8100
Contact Parkway
455 N. Woods Mill Road
Chesterfield, MO 63017
Phone (314) 415-8100
Contact Parkway
English Language Arts
2nd Grade Writing
Course Description
The Second Grade Communication Arts Curriculum is centered around units of study in which the students are actively engaged in the process of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and using informational literacy and vocabulary. Within the structure of writing workshop students learn to build habits and develop strategies that proficient writers use on a daily basis. The units of study include the following inquiries. Writers Build Good Habits - students learn the habits of good writers including how to organize materials, build stamina, choose personally meaningful topics for writing, and explore the writing cycle. Small Moment Personal Narrative - students learn about the crafting techniques that are common to personal narratives including the use of focusing on a personal event/topic, sequencing the events, and using voice. Telling Good Stories: Using Multiple Story Elements - students explore the qualities of effective stories including developing the setting, characters, and events. Craft of Punctuation - students explore how punctuation enhances the meaning of print and apply the craft of various punctuation to their own writing. Non-Fiction: Expert Books - students study the use of structure and craft when writing non-fiction text that is both informational and entertaining. Writing for Readers: Audience and Purpose - students learn how their purpose and intended audience will inform all aspects of their writing, including the form, structure, and choice of words. Writing for Readers: Craft of Revising and Editing - students learn multiple strategies that writers use when they are revising their writing for clarity of meaning and editing their writing to prepare it for publication. The units of study are taught in a Writing Workshop, which is a balanced approach to instruction. The Writing Workshop includes the following: Mini-Lesson - a short, focused lesson taught in whole group format which teaches a strategy, skill, or classroom routine. Independent Writing - a period of time in which individual students are engaged in writing independently. During this time the teacher is conferring with individual students to provide direct instruction. Small Group Instruction - students are grouped flexibly based on specific learning needs. The small group may be structured as a strategy lesson or guided writing lesson. Shared Writing - a time when students and teachers work collaboratively to create a piece of writing for a purpose. This instruction is done in a whole group or small group setting. Celebration - a time when students share published pieces of writing with peers, teachers, and/or parents.
Grade
2
Course Expectations
Rationale: Writing is the process of discovering and recording one's own thoughts. It draws on a complex web of social and cognitive skills that take time and effort to acquire. Writing well is a skill best acquired through active, daily practice. Students are best motivated to write when they are encouraged to address topics and issues that have meaning in their lives. The writing process, consisting of prewriting, composing, revising, editing, and publishing, is fluid and recursive. Writing instruction is based on a realistic and flexible model of what real writers do. Instruction will include a balance of students moving through the writing cycle together on self-selected topics as well as opportunities for students to move through the writing process as they apply various strategies to different publications. Instruction is integrated into the context of the students' own writing and provides a working knowledge of the structures of language, conventions of language, and formal elements of text. Specific lessons on grammar, mechanics, and language patterns are based on assessed needs and applied to student writing. These practices ensure the texts students create are well received and understood by those who are reading or listening to them.
Time Frame: 1 Year
Standards Alignment
Units of Instruction
1. 2nd Grade Writing - Writers Build Good Habits (Rev. July 2009)
Second graders will learn the routines of writing workshop and the habits needed to be productive writers. They will learn the components of the writing process while creating a piece of writing to share with an audience.
During this unit of study, the focus is on establishing procedures and routines that will create an effective writing workshop. The teaching points of this unit will provide an overview of many genres and forms and help develop the habits that all good writers need.
2. 2nd Grade Writing - Small Moment Personal Narrative
Students will compose a personal narrative that is written for an intended audience.
Personal narratives follow a logical sequence to tell a story from one’s life. Writers will be able to think about one moment in time. They will stretch that moment out across several pages to clearly communicate their story. Writers will write with an intended audience in mind.
3. 2nd Grade Writing - Craft of Punctuation (Rev. June 2010)
Writers use conventions of writing to clearly communicate with an intended audience. Good writers will recognize the need for and use correct punctuation to help readers gain meaning from their writing. They will learn to carefully choose the correct punctuation for their intended purpose.
4. 2nd Grade Writing - Telling Good Stories Using Multiple Story Elements (Rev. June 2010)
This unit is designed to teach students how to use multiple story elements in their writing.
Students will learn to write stories using multiple story elements including: charaters, setting and problem/solution. Students will learn to write specific details to develop character, setting, problem and solution.
5. 2nd Grade Writing - Nonfiction Expert Books
This unit is designed to teach students how to write a nonfiction/expert book, one that both entertains and informs readers. It represents a progression from “All About” and “How-To” books published in previous grades.
Students will create “expert books” as they learn to write literary nonfiction: nonfiction which explains or informs a reader about a topic but does so in an engaging, interesting way. Students will learn different styles writers use to craft a nonfiction piece. Students will explore the importance of nonfiction text features.
6. 2nd Grade Writing - Writing for Readers: Revising and Editing
This unit is designed to teach students the difference between and importance of revising and editing. Although students have had experience with revising and editing in all previous units of study, this unit provides an opportunity to lead students into deeper inquiry about these components, all for the sake of preparing a piece for readers.
8. Word Study
Word Study Curriuculum
Includes: Scope and Sequence, Sample Lessons, Sample Assessments, and Appendix
11. 2W Building a Community of Writers (CCSS aligned)
Students will work to collaborate with others and build a community that supports their writing process. Second graders will learn the routines of writing workshop, including how writers get ideas, organize their work, manage their supplies, and what process writers use when creating a piece of writing to share with an audience.
At this time of the year, second grade writers are not expected to rewrite their final published copy. It is acceptable for students to publish their revised and edited draft.
12. 2W Small Moment Personal Narratives (CCSS aligned)
Students will compose a story based on a personal experience from their lives. They will use details to stretch out their small moment and create an engaging story for readers.
See Lucy Calkins Small Moment Personal Narrative book
13. 2W Craft of Punctuation (CCSS aligned)
Writers use conventions of writing to clearly communicate with an intended audience. Good writers will recognize the need for and use correct punctuation to help readers gain meaning from their writing. They will learn to carefully choose the correct punctuation for their intended purpose.
14. 2W Nonfiction Expert Books (CCSS aligned)
This unit is designed to teach students how to write a nonfiction/expert book, one that both entertains and informs
readers. It represents a progression from “All About” and “How-To” books published in previous grades.
15. 2W Persuasive Letters (CCSS aligned)
Second grade students will learn to compose persuasive letters that share personal opinions and influence the thinking of others.
16. 2W Realistic Fiction
Students will compose realistic stories that are engaging to the reader.
16. Elementary Language/Grammar
17. 2W Poetry with a Purpose (CCSS aligned)
Students will learn how to read and write poetry by understanding the imagery, emotion, and music of the genre. The purpose of this unit is to teach children about the essential decisions poets make about language and the format they need to express their feelings about topics.
Adjective is defined in 1st grade, and adverb is defined in 2nd grade.
