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2nd grade · English Language Arts · Unit 13 of 17

Sight Words and Reading with Expression

Read common words quickly and use punctuation to read well.

What your child practices

Recognizing common words quickly and noticing punctuation to read in phrases with the right pausing and expression.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 2RF4 · reading common words quickly and using punctuation to read smoothly and with expression

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Common words like said, our and they show up in many stories; learn them by sight.
  2. Read in phrases so it sounds like talking.
  3. Punctuation tells you how to read: an exclamation mark means strong feeling.

Example: Which mark tells you to read a question? Questions end with a special mark. It is the question mark. Answer: a question mark

Sight Words and Reading with Expression in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 13 of 17 in 2nd grade English Language Arts, after Media Detectives and before Plan, Write and Make It Better.

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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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

    Which mark tells your voice to stop at the end of a telling sentence?

    • a period
    • an exclamation mark
    • a question mark

  2. Question 2

    Read the word: “were”. Which word is it?

    • wear
    • where
    • were

  3. Question 3

    Read the word: “where”. Which word is it?

    • where
    • when
    • were

  4. Question 4

    How should you read “Wow, that is huge!”?

    • in a sleepy voice
    • with surprise
    • in a whisper

  5. Question 5

    Read the sentence: “Can we go?” How does your voice end?

    • it goes up
    • it stays flat like a hum
    • it goes down a lot

  6. Question 6

    Which word do you need to look at carefully so you do not mix it up with “then”?

    • thin
    • this
    • than

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