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Common Core ELA2nd GradeSpeaking & Listening

SL.2.2: Recount Key Ideas from a Read-Aloud or Video

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.2 · Cluster: Comprehension and Collaboration.

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The Official Wording

Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 2, Speaking & Listening · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What SL.2.2 Means in Plain English

Second graders listen to a read-aloud, a guest’s talk or a video, then tell it back with the main ideas and the details that hold them up. After a video about geese, a child explains why they fly in a V and how the birds take turns at the front.

In 1st grade (SL.1.2) students asked and answered questions about key details. Second grade asks for the recount itself, without the teacher’s questions to lean on. Third grade (SL.3.2) separates main ideas from supporting details, including information shown in charts and numbers.

SL.2.2 I Can Statements

  • I can tell the most important ideas from a book I heard.
  • I can add the details that explain each big idea.
  • I can retell a video in my own words, not the narrator’s.

SL.2.2 Worked Example

A two-minute video about geese, one question afterward, and two recounts: one remembers the funny part, one remembers the ideas.

Prompt

The class watches a two-minute video, “Why Geese Fly in a V.” Then: Tell your partner what the video taught us about how geese fly.

Not Yet“There was a goose and it went HONK really loud and then it landed in the water and splashed. It was so funny.”One vivid moment, retold well, but it is the least important part of the video. Nothing about the V, why the geese use it or how they share the hard work.
Meets the Standard“Geese fly in a V so the long trip is easier. Each goose rides on the air pushed up by the wings of the goose in front. The front goose works hardest, so when it gets tired it drops back and a new goose takes the lead. They honk to stay together.”The main idea comes first, the V makes the trip easier, then the details that explain it: the lift from the bird ahead, the turns at the front and the honking. Every sentence came from the video, put in the child’s own words.
Moves to Use
Start with the big idea: what was it mostly about?Add two or three details that explain the big idea.Tell it in your own words, in the order it came.Leave out the parts that were funny but not important.Check: did all of it come from the book or the video?

Common Mistakes with SL.2.2

The funniest part, not the main part

“The goose went HONK and splashed!” and nothing about why geese fly in a V

Try this: Ask “What was it mostly about?” before any detail, and write the answer on the board for students to build from.

Adding what wasn’t there

“And geese eat bread at the park,” a fact from home, not from the video

Try this: Have partners check each detail with “Did the video say that?” and drop the ones nobody can point back to.

Retelling everything

A recount longer than the video, every scene in order, with the V buried in the middle

Try this: Limit the recount to three sentences, one big idea and two details, using three fingers to count them off.

Where SL.2.2 Fits

Comes BeforeSL.1.2Ask and answer questions about key details in a read-aloud or in information shared aloud or through media.
AlongsideRI.2.2Name the main topic of a multiparagraph text and the focus of each paragraph, the same big-idea thinking in print.RL.2.2Recount fables and folktales and find their central message, the story version of this retelling.
Comes NextSL.3.2Find the main ideas and supporting details of a read-aloud or of information shown in pictures, numbers or speech.

Practice SL.2.2

Classroom TimerFree ToolOne minute per partner to recount the read-aloud or video, so each child has to choose the big idea instead of telling every scene.1 minute eachPartner recount
Start a Timer
Random Name PickerFree ToolSpin for who recounts to the class after partner time, so everyone watches the video expecting to retell it.Who recountsAfter the video
Spin a Name

Quick Check

  1. What is the main idea of the strong recount?
  2. Which detail in the strong recount explains how the V makes the trip easier?
  3. Why is “It went HONK and splashed” a weak recount, even though it happened in the video?

SL.2.2: Other Names

SL.2.2CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.2

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.