Second Grade Spelling Lessons The spelling lessons covered in second grade address the state standard 1.5.3F. The words in red denote high-frequency words that need to be placed on the classroom word wall. The categories listed for Word Sorts are suggestions only. There may be others that also work. Also, in many of the sorts suggested, it is understood that there is always a category for other words that do not fit into the given categories. You will want to give the students a picture or word with which they can associate the given category, sound, or spelling pattern to be learned when you introduce the word sort. Some suggestions are included. The following four spelling rules are considered to be consistently applicable and are of value in teaching students to spell. A spelling lesson has been devoted to each rule. 1. change the final y to an i before adding -es (Spelling Lesson 29) 2. drop the final e before adding -ing (Spelling Lesson 30) 3. double a single, final consonant, after a short vowel, before adding an inflectional ending (-ed, -ing, -es) (Spelling Lesson 31) 4. i before e except after c or when sounding like ay as in neighbor and weigh (Spelling Lesson 35) Lesson 1: Focus: Review of short vowels camp, ask, bed, net, win, him, not, fox, sun, cut end, tell, put, very, live Word Sorts: short vowel sounds (anchor words may be a-apple, e- Eddie, i-itchy, o-octopus, u-umbrella), CVC pattern, three- and fourletter words Other resources: Rhyme poster A1 Leroy s Lunch and A2 Juice Pop Drip Drops
Lesson 2: Focus: Review of long vowels (silent e ) made, lake, same, side, mine, nice, note, rope, cube, cute use, like, give, because, name Word Sorts: long vowel sounds Other resources: Rhyme poster A3 Jake Lesson 3: Focus: r-controlled vowels yard, dark, perch, bird, dirt, girl, porch, corn, turn, hurt car, her, every, after, form Word Sorts: r-controlled vowel sounds (/ar/ like car, /er/ like her, /or/ like for), spelling patterns (ar, er, ir, or, ur) Other resources: Rhyme poster D1 Hardy Har Har, D2 Bird Alert, and F1 Airfare Lesson 4: Focus: Single final vowels maybe, she, we, also, hello, ago, sky, fly, cry, dry why, try, again, animals, said Word Sorts: one- and two-syllable words, long vowel sounds Other resources: Rhyme poster A4 Lucky Me (only addresses e ) Lesson 5: Focus: Beginning blends ( r blends and l blends) bring, drop, from, grand, print, trim, clip, flag, glad, slip place, plants, close, trees, great Word Sorts: r blends and l blends, CCVC and CCVCC pattern, vowel sounds Other resources: Rhyme poster B1 Sly Sleuth (only addresses sl )
Lesson 6: Focus: Beginning blends (other blends) scan, skim, skin, skunk, smash, snap, spend, stop, swim, twin small, spell, study, started, story Word Sorts: vowel sounds, CCVC and CCVCC pattern Lesson 7: Focus: Three letter blends (scr, spr, str, spl) scrap, scream, spread, spring, sprout, street, string, strong, splash, split, say, still, such, does, same Word Sorts: sort by blend (scr, spr, str, spl), short vowels and long vowels Other resources: Rhyme poster B6 Scroungers (only addresses scr ) Lesson 8: Focus: Initial digraphs (ch, sh, th, wh, ph) chin, chunk, shut, shop, thank, those, there, when, which, phone, show, what, think, three, where Word Sorts: sort by digraph (anchor words may be ch-chin, shshhh, th-thumb, wh-whistle, ph-phone), vowel sounds Other resources: Rhyme poster B3 Charlie s Chickens (only addresses ch ), and B5 Pitchers and Catchers (addresses medial ch ) Lesson 9: Focus: Three letter clusters (thr, shr, squ) thread, throat, threw, throw, shrink, shred, shrug, squint, squid, squish, school, change, through, under, help Word Sorts: sort by cluster (thr, shr, squ), things (nouns) and actions (verbs)
Lesson 10: Focus: Final consonant blends (ft, lt, mp, nd, nk) gift, left, felt, tilt, stamp, bump, send, stand, drink, trunk, around, land, old, kind, hand Word Sorts: sort by final blend, sort by single beginning consonant or beginning blend, sort by short vowels Lesson 11: Focus: Final consonant blends (sk, sp, st, nt, pt) desk, mask, crisp, wasp, first, best, sent, spent, slept, wept, want, different, most, last, hard Word Sorts: sort by final blend, sort into CVCC and CCVCC Other resources: Rhyme poster B2 Dragon Guest (only addresses st ) Lesson 12: Focus: Final digraphs (ch, sh, th, ph, ng) inch, rich, fish, wish, trash, bath, graph, song, swing, bang, much, with, earth, things, beginning Word Sorts: sort by final digraph Other resources: Rhyme poster B4 Hogwash (only addresses sh ), and B5 Pitchers and Catchers (addresses medial ch ) Lesson 13: Focus: Final digraphs (tch, ck, nk) catch, watch, scratch, stitch, lock, duck, trick, bank, sink, blank, back, take, asked, because, said Word Sorts: sort by final digraph, sort by things (nouns) and actions (verbs)
Lesson 14: Focus: Medial double consonants ladder, middle, happy, hammer, mitten, dinner, giggle, sorry, dresser, muffin, little, letters, following, every, again Word Sorts: sort words by beginning sound, sort by ending sounds Lesson 15: Focus: Long e (ee, ea) street, free, cheese, week, green, beach, weak, dream, leaf, clean, keep, near, between, seemed, great Word Sorts: sort by spelling pattern (ee, ea), sort by single beginning consonant or blends Other resources: Rhyme poster C2 Busy Beaver Creed Lesson 16: Focus: Long a (ai, ay) rain, brain, paint, mail, trail, spray, stray, may, way, tray, air, American, any, play, very Word Sorts: sort by spelling pattern (ai, ay), sort by beginning single consonants or blends Other resources: Rhyme poster C1 Afraidy Day and F1 Airfare (only addresses ai ) Lesson 17: Focus: Long i (ie, igh, i) tried, flies, pie, bright, delight, fight, wind, find, child, mind, right, high, light, might, while Word Sorts: sort by spelling pattern (ie, igh, i) Other resources: Rhyme poster C3 Light Pie Delight
Lesson 18: Focus: Long o (oa, oe, ow) toad, toast, float, poem, hoe, toe, snow, show, window, slow, know, own, close, through, open Word Sorts: sort by spelling pattern (oa, oe, ow), sort by word ending ( vowel digraph or consonants) Other resources: Rhyme poster C4 Tree Toad and E6 Snowplow Tow (uses variable sounds of ow) Lesson 19: Focus: Dipthongs (oi, oy) coin, soil, joint, moist, noisy, toy, enjoy, cowboy, royal, annoy, point, boy, off, would, should Word Sorts: sort by spelling pattern (oi, oy), anchor words can be oi-oil, oy-boy Other resources: Rhyme poster E5 Joyce s Toys Lesson 20: Focus: Dipthongs (ou, ow) shout, loud, round, mouth, cloud, frown, growl, crown, owl, plow, sound, country, house, our, around Word Sorts: sort by spelling pattern (ou, ow) and anchor words can be ou-out and ow-how, combine lesson 18 and lesson 20 words and sort by vowel sound Other resources: Rhyme poster E3 Howie s Ride, E4 Bug Thoughts and E6 Snowplow Tow (variable sounds of ow )
Lesson 21: Focus: Less Common Vowel Sounds (aw, oo, au) draw, straw, hawk, spoon, hood, stood, cool, wood, taught, cause, good, too, food, father, school Word Sorts: sort by vowel sound (/o/, /oo/, /oo/) Other resources: Rhyme poster E1 Whoop Whoop Ball (variable sounds for oo) and E2 Awesome Augie Auk (sounds of au and aw ) Lesson 22: Focus: Contractions (is, not) what s, there s, it s, that s, she s, doesn t, isn t, won t, couldn t, can t, don t, us, open, little, want Word Sorts: sort by contraction, sort by one or two syllable words Lesson 23: Focus: Silent letters (b, l, t) climb, lamb, thumb, comb, doubt, palm, calm, castle, whistle, wrestle, answer, picture, along, does, thought Word Sorts: sort by silent letter (b, l, t) Lesson 24: Focus: Silent letters (kn, wr, gh) knight, knot, knife, kneel, wrong, wrap, wrist, though, caught, bought, know, write, light, next, eyes Word Sorts: sort by silent letters (kn, wr, gh), sort words by long or short vowels Other resources: Rhyme poster D3 Fix it Quick (silent consonants gh, wr, kn, b)
Lesson 25: Focus: Contractions (am, are, had, have, will, would, us) I m, we re, you re, they re, she d, I ve, they ve, I ll, you ll, let s, only, world, mother, father, house Word Sorts: sort by noun or pronoun, sort by number of letters omitted when contraction is made (example one letter left out I m, two letters left out she d, I ll, etc.) Lesson 26: Focus: Sounds of c and g corn, candy, city, face, nice, garden, gum, gate, giant, gym, large, page, came, sentence, place Word Sorts: sort by sound of c (/k/ like cat or /s/ like city) and sound of g (/g/ like go or /j/ like gym), sort by person, place or thing Other resources: Rhyme poster A6 Gabby Goose s Gold (sounds of g) Lesson 27: Focus: Compound words raindrop, weekend, grandmother, sunshine, afternoon, grandfather, classroom, fingerprint, everything, homework, something, another, below, also, between Word Sorts: sort by number of syllables, sort by those with a long vowel and those with only short vowels Lesson 28: Focus: Plural nouns (adding -s or -es) girls, boys, desks, lunches, foxes, buzzes, wishes, dresses, buses, watches, men, years, head, animals, letters Word Sorts: sort by s or es ending, sort by number of syllables
Lesson 29: Focus: Plural nouns (changing f to v, y to i) *Spelling Rule: change the final y to an i before adding -es wolves, leaves, calves, elves, halves, babies, cities, flies, cherries, puppies, home, man, set, things, put Word Sorts: sort by ending (-ves, -ies), sort by people, places, things and animals Lesson 30: Focus: Double final consonants before adding endings (-ed, -ing) *Spelling Rule: double a single, final consonant before adding an inflectional ending (-ed, -ing, -es) stepped, planned, rubbed, dropped, stopped, hitting, quitting, winning, hugging, shopping, big, work, move, add, beginning Word Sorts: mix words from Lesson 30 and Lesson 31 to have students sort by words in which the final consonant is doubled and words in which it is not, sort by vowel sound Lesson 31: Focus: Adding endings (drop the e) *Spelling Rule: drop the final e before adding -ing caring, driving, writing, taking, riding, liked, smiled, shared, stared, graded, turned, read, means, asked, seemed Word Sorts: sort by ed and ing endings Lesson 32: Focus: Prefixes (re- and un-) reuse, reread, rewrite, review, recycle, untie, unhappy, unfold, unable, unwrap, even, just, form, light, set Word Sorts: sort words by meaning, those that mean do again and those that mean not
Lesson 33: Focus: Prefixes (pre- and dis-) preheat, pretest, preschool, precook, prepay, disagree, dislike, dishonest, disobey, distrust, need, away, well, thought, right Word Sorts: sort words by meaning, those that mean before and those that mean not Lesson 34: Focus: Less common vowels (ie, ei) Spelling Rule: i before e except after c or when followed by gh as in neighbor and weigh chief, field, thief, friend, believe, weigh, neighbor, sleigh, receive, eight, should, left, city, found, learn Word Sorts: sort by spelling pattern (ie, ei), sort words by vowel sound (long e, short e, long a, other) Lesson 35: Focus: Irregular plurals deer, sheep, men, feet, teeth, children, geese, mice, monkeys, toys, few, example, man, eyes, picture Word Sorts: sort into the following categories words that stay the same for singular or plural, words that change spelling, words that just add s Lesson 36: Focus: Review of previously learned words never, over, before, must, above, line, our, after, below, here, story, under, point, always, there Word Sorts: sort by opposite pairs