What does a student learn in StateKansas,GradeGrade 2,SubjectEnglish Language Arts?

This standard does not apply in second grade. By this point, students are expected to already know how print works, so teachers focus on reading and writing skills instead.

This skill was formally taught in kindergarten and first grade. By second grade, students have moved on to reading and spelling full words in print.

Students use letter-sound patterns they know to read unfamiliar words and spell them correctly. This is the decoding and spelling work that builds reading speed and confidence in second grade.

Reading a word like "hat" versus "hate," students learn to hear whether the vowel makes a short sound or a long sound. This helps them read simple, regularly spelled words correctly.

Students learn that two vowels side by side can make one sound, like the "ea" in steak or the "oa" in boat. They practice reading words with these vowel pairs on sight.

Students read two-syllable words where the vowel makes its long sound, like "robot," "music," or "baby." This builds the word-recognition skills students need to read sentences without stopping to sound out every word.

Students read words built with common word parts like re-, un-, -est, and -er. Spotting those pieces helps them sound out and understand new words faster.

Students learn that some letter combinations make the same sound in many words but don't follow the usual rules. They practice reading those patterns, like the long-i sound in "night" or the long-a sound in "play."

Students read words that are common at this grade level but don't follow regular spelling rules, like "said," "come," or "been." Knowing these words on sight helps students read sentences without stopping to sound them out.

Students read words where two letters make one unexpected sound, like "ph" sounding like f in "phone," "gh" in "enough," or "ch" sounding like k in "school" or sh in "chef."

The letter y can act like a vowel. Students learn that y makes a long "i" sound in short words like "cry," a long "e" sound at the end of words like "baby," and a short "i" sound in words like "gym."

Students read aloud smoothly and accurately enough that they can focus on what the words actually mean. Speed and accuracy together make the meaning click.

Students read a passage with a clear reason in mind, not just to get through the words. They think about what the text means as they go.

Reading aloud, students work on sounding out words correctly and reading at a steady pace, not too fast or too slow. The goal is to sound natural, the way a person talks, rather than flat or choppy.

Students catch their own reading mistakes and fix them while reading. They use clues from the sounds, spelling, and meaning of words to check whether what they just read makes sense.

Students read a story and answer questions about who is in it, what happens, where it takes place, and why characters do what they do. Answering those questions shows they understood what they read.

Students retell a story in their own words, then explain what lesson or moral it teaches. This covers fables and folktales from different cultures.

Students read a story and explain how a character acts or feels when something important happens, like a problem, a surprise, or a big change in the story.

Students notice how poets and songwriters use repeating sounds, rhyming words, and repeated lines to give a poem or song its beat. They explain what those choices add to the meaning.

Students explain how a story is put together: how the opening sets up the characters and problem, and how the ending wraps things up. It's about seeing the shape of a story from first page to last.

Reading a story, students notice that different characters think or feel differently. When reading dialogue out loud, students use a different voice for each character to show they understand whose perspective they're hearing.

Students use the pictures and words together to understand what a story is about. They might notice details in an illustration that help explain a character's feelings or what is happening in the scene.

This standard doesn't apply to literature. Reading: Literature focuses on stories and poems, not arguments or facts to evaluate.

Students read two versions of the same story and explain how they are alike and how they differ. This might mean comparing a fairy tale retold by two different authors or from two different countries.

Students notice how a sentence is built and what word choices mean, then use those clues to understand a story or poem more fully.

Students notice the difference between the careful, proper language in a book and the casual way people talk with friends. They practice reading both kinds of writing and explaining what makes them sound different.

Students figure out what an unfamiliar word means using clues from the sentence or paragraph around it. They also learn that some words have more than one meaning depending on how they are used.

Students use clues in the same sentence to figure out what an unfamiliar word means. A nearby definition or a word that means nearly the same thing helps them work it out.

Students figure out what a word means after a prefix changes it. For example, if they know "happy," they can work out that "unhappy" means the opposite.

Students use a familiar word they already know to figure out the meaning of a new one. If they know "play," they can take a guess at "playful" or "replay."

Students learn that two smaller words can join to make one new word with its own meaning, like "bird" and "house" becoming "birdhouse." Spotting those pieces helps students figure out what an unfamiliar word means.

Students look up unfamiliar words in a glossary or dictionary, print or online, to figure out what the word means. This is the same skill adults use when reading something new.

Students notice how words connect and how small differences in meaning matter. For example, they learn why "cold" and "freezing" are similar but not the same, or why "walked" and "stomped" paint different pictures.

Students find words they already know in stories and connect them to real life. For example, a word like "shiver" in a book might remind them of a cold morning at the bus stop.

Students look at pairs of words that are close in meaning, like "whisper" and "shout" or "chilly" and "freezing," and explain how one word feels stronger or different from the other.

Students read stories, poems, and short plays written at a second-grade level. The goal is to understand what they read, not just say the words.

Students read a nonfiction passage and answer questions like who, what, where, when, why, and how about what they read. The focus is on finding key details directly in the text.

Students read a nonfiction passage and name what the whole piece is mostly about, then say what each individual paragraph focuses on.

Students read nonfiction and explain how one event or idea leads to the next. They might trace why a volcano erupts or how a invention was built, step by step.

Students figure out what unfamiliar words mean by using the surrounding sentences and pictures in a nonfiction book or article. This skill focuses on topic-specific words, like science or social studies vocabulary, not everyday conversation.

Students use tools built into a book or webpage, like headings, bold words, and captions, to find facts without reading every single word.

Students figure out why an author wrote a piece. Were they answering a question, explaining how something works, or describing a person or place? Students name that purpose in their own words.

Students look at diagrams, photos, and other images in a nonfiction book and explain what those pictures add that the words alone don't show.

Students find the main point an author is making, then look at the reasons the author gives to back it up. It's the same idea as explaining why something is true, not just that it is.

Students read two books or articles on the same topic, then explain what both sources agree on and where they differ. The focus is on the big ideas, not small details.

Students notice how word choice and sentence structure affect meaning in a nonfiction text. They use what they know about grammar and language patterns to better understand what they read.

Students look at two pieces of writing and explain why one sounds like a text message and the other sounds like a report. They practice spotting when formal or casual language fits the situation.

When students hit an unfamiliar word in a nonfiction passage, they figure out what it means using context clues or other strategies. Some words have more than one meaning, and students practice choosing the right one for the sentence.

When students hit an unfamiliar word in a nonfiction passage, they look at the surrounding sentences for a definition or a word that means the same thing. That context helps them figure out what the word means.

Students take a word they know, add a prefix to the front of it, and figure out what the new word means. For example, adding "un-" to "happy" makes "unhappy," and adding "re-" to "do" makes "redo."

Students use a familiar word to figure out an unfamiliar one that shares the same root. For example, knowing "happy" helps unlock "unhappy," and knowing "do" helps with "redo."

Students use words they already know to figure out what a compound word means. For example, knowing "bird" and "house" helps students work out what "birdhouse" means.

Students look up unfamiliar words in a glossary or beginner's dictionary, in a book or online, to figure out what a word means while reading.

Students learn that words can be related by category, feeling, or degree. For example, they sort words like "cold," "cool," and "freezing" to understand how similar words carry different shades of meaning.

Students find words they know from everyday life, like "enormous" or "freezing," and notice where those same words show up in books and articles.

Students learn that words like *run*, *sprint*, and *jog* are not the same speed, and that *cold*, *cool*, and *freezing* are not the same temperature. They read carefully enough to notice the difference.

Second graders read nonfiction books and articles written at the right level for their age. The topics, words, and sentence length all match what a typical seven- or eight-year-old can handle.

Students write a short opinion piece, state what they think, and give reasons to back it up. They use words like "because" and "also" to connect their thinking, then wrap up with a closing sentence.

Students write a short informational piece about a topic they know or have studied. They open with an introduction, back it up with facts and definitions, and wrap it up with a closing sentence.

Students write a short story about something that happened, using details about what people did, thought, and felt. They put events in order with words like "first," "then," and "next," and wrap up the story with a clear ending.

This standard starts in third grade, so nothing is assessed here in second grade.

With a teacher's help, students pick one topic and stick to it. They go back to improve their draft by fixing unclear sentences, correcting mistakes, and making the writing say what they meant.

With help from a teacher, students use a computer or tablet to write and share their work. That might mean typing a story, adding pictures, or working on a piece together with a classmate.

Students work with classmates to research a topic together, then write up what they found. This might mean reading several books about one subject and writing a short report, or writing down observations from a science activity.

Students find facts from books, articles, or their own experiences to answer a question someone gave them. They pull the right details together and write them down as a short answer.

This standard doesn't apply in second grade. Writing research skills formally start in fourth grade.

Students use correct grammar when they write: complete sentences, proper nouns capitalized, and verbs that match their subjects. This standard covers the everyday rules that make writing clear and easy to read.

Collective nouns are words like "flock," "team," or "crowd" that name a group as one thing. Students use these group words in their own writing instead of listing every member separately.

Students practice spelling plural nouns that don't follow the usual add-an-s rule, like writing "feet" instead of "foots" or "mice" instead of "mouses."

Students use words like "myself," "yourself," and "herself" in sentences to show that the subject and the object are the same person. Think "I did it myself" rather than "I did it me."

Students practice past-tense forms of common irregular verbs, the ones that don't follow the usual rules. Instead of adding -ed, these verbs change shape entirely: "go" becomes "went," "tell" becomes "told," "eat" becomes "ate."

Students pick the right kind of describing word for the job: an adjective to describe a noun (a tall tree) or an adverb to describe an action (ran quickly). They practice choosing between the two in their own writing.

Students write complete sentences, then practice stretching them with more detail or combining two short sentences into one longer one.

Students use capital letters, punctuation, and correct spelling in their writing. This standard covers the mechanical rules that make writing readable, like starting sentences with a capital letter and ending with a period.

Students learn which words in a sentence need a capital letter beyond the first word. That means holidays like Thanksgiving, brand names like Cheerios, and places like Main Street all start with a capital.

Students learn where to put commas in a letter, like after "Dear Grandma" at the start and "Your friend" at the end.

Students learn to use apostrophes in two ways: to shorten word pairs like "do not" into "don't," and to show ownership, as in "the dog's leash." Both show up often in everyday writing.

Students apply spelling patterns they've learned to write new words. This includes joining two words (rainfall), doubling the final consonant (running), and dropping the silent e before adding an ending (riding).

Students use a beginning dictionary to look up words and fix spelling mistakes in their own writing.

This standard doesn't start until third grade, so there's nothing for second graders to cover here.

Students take turns talking and listening in small groups or whole-class discussions about books and topics. The goal is to build on what others say, not just wait for a turn to talk.

Students take turns talking in group discussions, listen while others speak, and raise their hand or wait to be called on instead of interrupting. It's about learning the basic habits that make a conversation work.

Students listen to what classmates say and connect their own response to those ideas. They practice the back-and-forth of a real conversation, not just waiting for a turn to talk.

When something is confusing during a class discussion, students ask a question to clear it up. They don't wait until they're lost.

Students listen to a story or passage read aloud, then retell the key ideas in their own words. This could be a book, a short video, or a spoken explanation from a teacher.

Students listen to a speaker and ask questions to clear up anything confusing, then answer questions about what they heard. The goal is to understand the topic more fully, not just follow along.

Students tell a short story or describe something that happened to them, using specific details and speaking clearly enough for the class to follow.

Students record themselves reading a story or poem aloud, then add a drawing or picture to help listeners understand what happened or how something felt.

Students form complete sentences when speaking, not just one-word answers, adding details a listener needs to understand the full idea. They use correct grammar in everyday conversation and class discussion.

Students follow basic grammar rules when they speak out loud, using complete sentences, correct verb forms, and the right pronouns in class discussions and presentations.

Students use words like "flock," "team," or "herd" to name groups of things in one word instead of listing them one by one.

Students practice plural words that don't follow the usual rules, like saying "teeth" instead of "tooths" or "mice" instead of "mouses." They use these words correctly in conversation and writing.

Students learn to use words like "myself," "yourself," and "ourselves" correctly in sentences when speaking and writing.

Students practice the past tense of common irregular verbs, the ones that don't just add "-ed." They learn that "hide" becomes "hid," "run" becomes "ran," and "sit" becomes "sat."

Students choose describing words that fit the moment, like picking "quietly" instead of "loudly" when talking about a sleeping baby. They learn that the right word depends on what is actually happening in the sentence.

Students write and say full sentences, including ones that join two ideas with a connecting word like "and," "but," or "so."

Students use describing words picked up from books, read-alouds, and class discussions to make their own speaking and writing more specific and vivid.