Grade 2 English Language Arts: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 2 english language arts in the New Brunswick Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- Interactions: Expression. Express feelings and opinions, providing some explanation, and give simple descriptions of experiences.
- Interactions: Exchanges. Ask and respond to questions to clarify and gather further information.
- Interactions: Reception. Receive and reflect on the ideas and opinions of others.
- Reading: Phonological Awareness. Demonstrate an awareness of sounds in spoken language.
- Reading: Phonics. Apply letter-sound knowledge to decode connected text.
- Reading: Fluency. Read with accuracy and expression.
- Reading: Vocabulary. Use a range of vocabulary when communicating.
- Reading: Reading Comprehension. Construct meaning from printed text when being read to and when reading independently.
- Reading: Text Analysis. Select and engage with a variety of text forms for specific uses.
- Representations: Print Mechanics. Print or represent words and sentences using a writing utensil or assistive technology.
- Representations: Spelling. Apply appropriate spelling conventions when creating written works.
- Representations: Sentence Structure. Compose complete thoughts and sentences.
- Representations: Composition. Organize ideas and create written or media texts.
- Representations: Text Analysis. Seek information to support ideas and construct meaning.
Easy ways to practise english language arts at home
- Take turns reading a page aloud, and chat about what happened and why.
- Keep a short journal, with one or two sentences a day to start.
- Hunt for a new word a day and use it at dinner.
- Ask for a prediction before turning the page: “What do you think happens next?”
What each unit covers
Rhyme Time
Hearing rhymes and spotting word families (-at, -ig, -op). Both help with reading and spelling new words.
Sound Detectives
Letter teams that make one sound (sh, ch, th, wh, ee, ai, oa) and clapping syllables.
Word Power
Building compound words, finding opposites and spelling plurals (-s and -es).
Super Sentences
Starting sentences and names with capitals, and choosing a period, question mark or exclamation mark.
Build Sentences
Telling the four sentence types apart, spotting complete sentences, and joining two ideas into a compound sentence.
Story Builders
Reading short stories, then naming the character and setting, explaining why things happened, and retelling events in order.
Reading Detectives
Reading short texts to work out who is telling the story, what will happen next, how characters feel, and how things are the same and different.
Text Features
Using a table of contents, charts and icons to find information, and following order words in steps and journal entries.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Working below
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practising the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Excelling
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the New Brunswick report card guide.
Common questions
Take turns reading a page aloud, and chat about what happened and why. Keep a short journal, with one or two sentences a day to start. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The New Brunswick Curriculum Grade 2 english language arts units include rhyme time, sound detectives, word power, super sentences, build sentences, story builders.
Free printable Grade 2 english language arts practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.