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

Reading a story or article all the way through and showing they understood it, by answering questions, retelling what happened, or explaining what the text was about.

Students go back to the text to find facts and details that answer a question or explain an idea, then point to that specific part of the text to back up their answer.

Retelling means covering the full arc of a story, from how it starts to how it ends. Students retell a story in order and explain the lesson or message the author wants readers to take away.

Students learn what new words mean by using clues from the sentences around them, looking at word parts, or asking what fits the context. Building vocabulary helps students read and understand more on their own.

Students use word parts like "un-," "-ful," or "-ness" to figure out what an unfamiliar word means. Knowing a few common prefixes and suffixes helps students crack open new words without stopping to look them up.

Students use the words and sentences around an unfamiliar word to figure out what it means. This includes words that have more than one meaning depending on how they're used.

Students learn words in three registers: everyday words they already use in conversation, general academic words that show up across subjects, and topic-specific terms tied to what they're studying.

Students read on their own for a stretch of time, not just a few minutes. They practice reading different kinds of books and texts for different reasons, like enjoyment, information, or answering a question.

Reading fiction, poetry, and plays, students figure out what the text says directly and what it leaves unsaid. They use clues in the writing to draw conclusions the author never spells out.

Students describe where and when a story takes place, explain the problem a character faces and how it gets solved, and put the story's events in order to find the lesson or big idea the author wanted to share.

Students describe a story's main character by what the character wants, how the character acts, and how the character feels at different points in the story.

Students read a story and explain why something happened and what happened because of it. For example, a character gets wet because it started to rain.

Stories can be told from different viewpoints. Students compare how two characters see the same events differently, and notice whether a story is told by a character inside it or a narrator outside it.

Students read nonfiction books and use headings, photos, captions, and diagrams to figure out what the text means, even when the author doesn't spell it out directly.

Students find the big idea a section of text is making, not just the subject it mentions. A paragraph about frogs might be about frogs, but the main idea is what the author actually says about them.

Students read nonfiction passages and use clues in the text to figure out ideas the author didn't state directly. They pay attention to how the text is organized to help them understand and think beyond what's on the page.

Students read a nonfiction passage and name the most important idea the author is making, then point to the sentences that back it up.

Students find the problem in a nonfiction passage and explain how the author shows it getting solved. This builds the habit of following an author's reasoning from start to finish.

Students learn how letters and letter combinations map to sounds, then use that knowledge to read unfamiliar words on the page.

Students break longer words into chunks while reading, using what they know about how letters and letter pairs sound. This helps them sound out words like "sunshine" or "rainbow" without guessing.

Students read two-syllable words where each vowel says its name, like "baby" or "open." Spelling follows a regular pattern, so students can sound out the whole word without guessing.

Students learn to read longer words by recognizing how syllables fit together, including vowel sounds shaped by the letter r, like the sounds in "bird," "farm," and "corn."

Students read common words that don't follow normal spelling rules, like "said," "come," and "was," without sounding them out letter by letter. Recognizing these words on sight helps students read sentences without stopping.

Students turn their planning notes into a first draft, writing out their ideas in the form that fits the assignment, whether that's a story, an opinion piece, or an informational paragraph.

Students go back to a piece of writing, look for ways to make it clearer, and fix spelling or punctuation with help from a teacher or classmate.

Students write short opinion pieces that tell a reader what they think and why. They pick a topic, state their view, and give at least one reason to back it up.

Students write to explain or share information on a topic. They group related details together, use some facts or examples, and wrap up with a closing sentence.

Students write their own short stories, true accounts, or poems. This is early practice putting ideas and experiences into words on the page.

Students find information from more than one source (books, websites, interviews) and use what they learned to write about a topic.

Students find facts and details that support their writing by pulling information from books, articles, and stories. They use what they read to back up ideas on the page.

Students find facts in books or stories, then organize what they learned into a simple chart, drawing, or list.

Students use correct grammar in sentences they say aloud and write down. That means using nouns, verbs, and pronouns the way standard English expects.

Students practice writing four kinds of sentences: a statement, a command, an exclamation, and a question. Each type ends with different punctuation and serves a different purpose.

Students practice putting capital letters, punctuation marks, and correct spelling into their own writing, not just recognizing them on a worksheet.

Students learn when and how to use apostrophes to shorten two words into one, like turning "do not" into "don't" or "I am" into "I'm."

Students practice capitalizing the names of days, months, and holidays in their writing, like Monday, October, and Thanksgiving.

Students practice speaking in front of others clearly and on topic, using complete sentences and proper words for the situation, whether presenting alone or with classmates.

After listening to a story or reading on their own, students retell what happened and ask questions about parts they want to understand better.