Struggling Reader Project

Carrie Burns EDC 460

2nd Grade Phonics

Contractions
Goal: Students will learn to read and spell common contractions formed from
a verb paired with the word not. (Ex. do + not = dont)
Standard: L.2.2c. Use an apostrophe to form contractions and frequently
occurring possessives
Materials:

Notecards with the words did, do, are, could, would, is, can, does, was,

had, have, (1 copy each), and not (11 copies)

Sticky notes (large enough to cover one letter and one large enough to
cover two letters) with apostrophes on them

Procedure:
1. Say, Does anyone know what the word contract means? (to shorten
or make smaller) Today, we will be looking at what happens when we
combine two words and contract them into one smaller word. We call
these shortened words contractions because the one combined word
uses fewer letters than the two separate words.
2. Write down the words do and not and the word dont on the
chalkboard. Ask, What did we leave out when the two words were
pushed together? (the letter o) Ask, And what did we add in place of
the letter o? (an apostrophe)

3. Place the cards with the words did and not on the chalk ledge. Place
the narrowest apostrophe sticky note on the chalkboard nearby.
4. Ask, Who can combine these two words into the word didnt? (A
student pushes the two words together and covers the letter o with the
apostrophe sticky note.)
5. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 with the words do and not, forming the
contraction dont.
6. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 with the words is + not, are + not, could + not,
would + not, does + not, was + not, have + not, and had + not.
7. Explain that there is another common contraction that we can form
from the words can and not. Say, What is the single word for can and
not? Instead of saying I can not go, we can say I _____ go. (cant)
8. Say, Who can form the contraction from these two words? (Push can
and not together. Replace the letters n and o with apostrophe. Use the
2-letter wide sticky note.)
9. Say, What was different this time? (We left out the letter n as well as
the letter o and replaced them both with an apostrophe.)
Accommodations: To accommodate, I would do some of the sticky note
replacements first if they were not catching on. In addition, I could also give
each child their own notecards and sticky notes so that they could each do
the words together as a group instead of watching their classmates go up to

the board and do them. This would help the kinesthetic learners the most
because they could actually be doing it as well as seeing it.
Assessment: Students use and spell contraction words correctly in their
journals, homework, and other writing assignments.

Additional Activities:
1. Contraction Bingo: To play this game, just set up a bingo board for each
child to have. Then, instead of pulling the word dont, pull the words
do and not so that the students have to figure out what word it
makes before they can put a chip down.
2. Word Doctors: Have students be doctors while they cut apart words
and combine them with other words onto a separate sheet of paper
include plastic gloves and surgical masks.
3. Make a Contractions Foldable: Use paint chips to create contractions
foldables for those children who need to manipulate and feel the actual
contracting happening!

4. Contractions Caterpillar: As they learn and practice new contractions,

add a new word to the caterpillar with its legs containing the two
separate words and its body containing the contraction. Children can
do this individually or do it on a larger scale as a class on a bulletin
board!

2nd Grade Phonemic Awareness

Building Phonemic Awareness with Phoneme Isolation
Goal: Students will chant beginning and ending phonemes in words, match
objects with the same beginning or ending sound, identify whether a key
phoneme occurs at the beginning or end of a word, and connect phonemes
with written letters.
Standard: RF.2.3 Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis in
decoding words.
Materials:

Paper bag
Select objects/object images

Procedure:

1. Before teaching this lesson, gather several objects with the same
beginning or ending sound and put them in a paper bag. Some ideas
might be a car and a jar, a nail and a nest, and so on.
2. Using the bag of objects, pull one object out of the bag. Ask students
to identify the object. Ask them what sound they hear at the end of the
word. Have students make the sound (e.g., /n/ for can).
3. Begin a chant by slapping knees and clapping hands with the object.
For example, if the object was a can, the chant would go:
can slap knees, clap hands
can slap knees, clap hands
/n/ /n/ can snapping three times
4. Continue the chant with all objects in the bag. NOTE: be sure to
alternate the chant between beginning and ending sounds.
5. Say each object aloud and ask students which sound they hear at the
end of the word. If they are able, have students identify the correct
letter for that phoneme. If not, tell the students which letter makes
that sound.
6. After identifying all of the objects and doing the chant, have students
group the objects in whichever way that they choose, either by
beginning sound or ending sound.
Accommodations: Some accommodations that could be made for this
activity would be to say the name of the object instead of making the
students figure out what it is. I could also say the name of the object out loud
in front of the class and emphasize the different sounds before we do the
chant together as a class.

Assessment: Students should be assessed through observation and

anecdotal notes during the activity.

Additional Activities:
1. Initial Sound Bingo: Pass out bingo boards with the consonants on them
and as you say words, students will determine what sound and what
letter are at the beginning of the word. They will then put a chip on
that letter on their bingo board.
2. Syllable Hopscotch: Tape large circles onto the floor of your classroom
in a row. As children say a word, have them jump to a new circle with
each sound that they hear.
3. Phoneme Wheels: Have students make these fun manipulatives to help
them understand how changing one phoneme or sound can change the
word as a whole.

4. Whats In My Bag?: This is a song that goes like this:

Who can guess what is in my bag?
Let me peek in and see.
It starts with a _____ (beginning sound)
And ends with a ______________ (rime)

Who can guess for me?

This song can help students with their phonemic awareness because
they will be able to put sounds together to create words that make
sense.

2nd Grade Fluency

Using Expression in Reading
Goal: Students will learn how to read with expression and how they can
change their voices depending on punctuation.
Standard: RF.2.4b. Read grade-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate
rate, and expression on successive readings.
Materials:

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Open classroom library for students to pick a book at their own reading
level

Procedure:

1. Introduce the lesson by drawing a period, a comma, an exclamation

point, and a question mark on the board ask students to talk about
what each of these things mean when reading a sentence
2. Pick a poem from the book Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel
Silverstein and read it with no expression and reading quickly by
ignoring punctuation
3. After finishing reading, have a discussion with the class about what I
could have done to improve my fluency
a. Notice the punctuation, it tells us to do something
b. Slow down when reading
c. Think about the characters emotions
d. Read smoothly
e. Etc.
4. After discussion, re-read the same poem and improve in all of the
things that were discussed read with LOTS of expression
5. Compare the two reads and have the children vote on which reading
they liked better
6. Send children off to read with a partner and use as much expression as
they can in their reading
Accommodations: To accommodate, I would allow students to pick a book
of their choice to read to a partner something at a reading level that they
are comfortable with. For students that are academically advanced, I would
pair them up with someone at their same reading level and give them books
to read that would be more challenging in expression and punctuation.
Assessment: Students will be assessed through participation in discussion
about fluency and through observations while they are reading with a
partner and practicing their own fluency and expression.

Additional Activities:
1. PVC Pipe Phones: These phones made out of PVC pipes allow students
to read to themselves and hear their own voices. By hearing their own
voices more clearly, they can find that they need to be more fluent in
their reading.
2. iPad Recording: Have students record themselves reading a story on
the iPad and then listen to their recording. Encourage students to find
ways to improve their fluency each time!
3. Reading Nonsense: Hand out nonsense sentences and hear your
students change their intonation in sentences based of certain
punctuation!

4. Roll an Emotion: Use a six sided die and write down what each number
means. For example, one can mean excited, two can mean sad, three
can mean angry, four can mean tired, five can mean annoyed, and six
can mean surprised. Give students a short story to read and when they
roll the die, they must read with the emotion that their die lands on!

2nd Grade Vocabulary

Using Dictionaries
Goal: Students will learn how to use a dictionary to find out what words
mean.
Standard: L.2.4e. Use glossaries and beginning dictionaries, both print and
digital, to determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases.
Materials:

Childrens dictionary
iPad
Passage: How Rocks Are Like Dessert from readworks.org
Document camera
Vocabulary notebooks
Pencils

Procedure:
1. Hand out a copy of the passage, How Rocks Are Like Dessert, to each
student
2. Have students partner-read this passage and use a highlighter to
identify words of which they do not know the meaning

a. If one student knows the meaning of a word, they can inform

their partner. Have them highlight words that they both do not
know
3. Pass out a childrens dictionary to each pair of students
4. Using the same childrens dictionary on the document camera, have
one pair of students give you a word that they highlighted
5. Model how to use a dictionary to find a word and its definition
a. Explain to students that dictionaries are written in alphabetical
order
b. If the word cannot be found in the childrens dictionary, model
how to find a word on the dictionary app on the classroom iPad
6. Send pairs of students off to find the words that they highlighted
7. Instruct students to write down in their vocabulary notebook the word
along with its definition encourage students to write the definition in
their own words
a. If applicable, they may draw a picture to help their
understanding of the word
Accommodations: Depending on how the class is doing with finding the
words in the dictionary, you may have to do more modeling on how to use a
dictionary. For the academically advanced students that speed through this,
give them a more challenging passage or book and have them keep adding
more and more words to their vocabulary notebook to keep expanding their
own personal vocabulary.
Assessment: Assessment will take place through observations while
students are using the dictionaries. In addition, students should have
successfully entered their new vocabulary into their vocabulary notebooks.

Additional Activities:
1. Vocabulary Ball: use a beach ball and write your current vocabulary
words on each colored panel of the ball. Have students take turns
passing the ball around and whatever word their right index finger
lands on, they must define the word and act it out.
2. Multiple Meanings Match-Up: use vocabulary words in a triangle
template to learn about different meanings. Have students cut each
section of the triangle out and match up each word with its two
different meanings!

3. Fly-Swatter Vocabulary: For this game, write many vocabulary words on

the board. Divide the students into two teams (red and blue) and give
the red team a red fly-swatter and the blue team a blue-fly swatter. Ask
for a volunteer to keep score. Have one student from each team come

up to the board and give a definition for one of the vocabulary words.
Whichever student swats the word first gets the point. Have a
different student from each team come up for each new definition.
4. Vocabulary on the Move: Each student is given a vocabulary word on a
sentence strip and it is taped around their head. The student does not
know what their word is. During this game, students must walk around
the classroom and ask their fellow classmates questions about their
word. After time is up, students must make a guess about what their
word is and then take of their sentence strip to discover if they were
correct!

2nd Grade Comprehension

Identifying the Main Idea of a Text
Goal: Students will be able to identify the main idea of a text and determine
the topic and also come up with a new title for the passage based on their
findings.
Standard: L.2.6. Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the
author wants to answer, explain, or describe.
Materials:

Passage: Mommy Bird Feeds Her Chicks from readworks.org

Lined paper
Pencils
Document camera

Procedure:
1. Distribute a copy of the passage, Mommy Bird Feeds Her Chicks, to
each student
2. Read aloud the passage and instruct students to follow along on their
copy of the story
3. While reading aloud, do some thinking out loud
a. Jot down notes and questions
b. Highlight important information

4. Discuss with students about what the main idea of this story might be,
call on students to give their reasoning and write down notes on the
document camera
5. Have students write a sentence about what they believe the main idea
of the story is on their own sheet of paper
6. When they are finished writing about the main idea, have students
write down what they would title the passage
Accommodations: To accommodate, I would have students work in groups
to come up with a new title to the passage. If students are having a hard
time with this, I could also allow students to work in groups to figure out the
main idea of the passage.
Assessment: Observations will take place during discussion and summative
assessment will happen by having students complete their assignment. The
assignment will be considered complete when they have a sentence written
down about the main idea and they have come up with a new title to the
passage.

Additional Activities:
1. Beginning, Middle, and End: When students finish books or short
stories, have them complete a Beginning, Middle, and End worksheet
for each one. These worksheets help students think about what they

have read and how to identify different parts of a story by looking at

what happens at the beginning, middle, and end.
2. Balloon Comprehension: Blow up balloons and put a comprehension
question inside each one. After reading a passage together with the
class, have each student pop a balloon and answer the comprehension
question inside the balloon!
3. Comprehension Ball: have students use this ball after reading a
passage or short story. Students will throw around the ball in a circle
and wherever their right index finger lands, they will answer that
question.

4. Character Traits Chart: Read a story aloud to the class and have them
identify the main character. Hand out a worksheet where they can
draw the main character and list some character traits that they have.