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2nd grade · English Language Arts · Unit 4 of 12

Word Power

Compound words and opposites

What your child practices

Building compound words, finding opposites and spelling plurals (-s and -es).

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 2.1.8.1; 2.1.8.2 · compound words, multiple-meaning words and working out new words

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A compound word is two words joined together: rain + bow = rainbow.
  2. Opposites mean very different things: hot and cold, win and lose.
  3. Say both small words to check a compound word makes sense.

Example: Put the two words together: sun + flower. What new word do you make? Join the two words with no space. sun + flower = sunflower. Answer: sunflower

Word Power in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 4 of 12 in 2nd grade English Language Arts, after Story Builders and before Book Explorers.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    What is the opposite of “first”?

    • dry
    • last
    • late

  2. Question 2

    What is the opposite of “hot”?

    • first
    • clean
    • cold

  3. Question 3

    Put the two words together. What new word do you make?

    tooth + brush

    • 🪥toothbrush
    • 🌈rainbow
    • 🏈football

  4. Question 4

    One cat, two…

    🐱 🐱
    • cat
    • cates
    • cats

  5. Question 5

    One frog, two…

    🐸 🐸
    • frogs
    • froges
    • frog

  6. Question 6

    Put the two words together. What new word do you make?

    air + plane

    • ⛵sailboat
    • ✈️airplane
    • 🍉watermelon

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