Common Core ELA2nd GradeSpeaking & Listening

SL.2.5: Record Poems and Add Drawings

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.5 · Cluster: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas.

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The Official Wording

Create audio recordings of stories or poems; add drawings or other visual displays to stories or recounts of experiences when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.

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

What SL.2.5 Means in Plain English

Second graders read a story or poem aloud into a tablet or recorder, so a classmate at the listening center or a family at home can hear it. For their own stories and recounts, they add a drawing when it shows a feeling or detail words leave out.

First graders (SL.1.5) added drawings to descriptions. Recording is new in 2nd grade, and rehearsal is what makes it work: a title, pauses at line breaks, a voice that fits. Third graders (SL.3.5) record fluid readings at an understandable pace and use visuals to emphasize facts.

SL.2.5 I Can Statements

I can practice a poem out loud before I record it.
I can read slowly and pause at the end of each line.
I can add a drawing that shows how I felt.

SL.2.5 Worked Example

One four-line class poem about hopscotch, recorded twice for the listening center, and only one a classmate could follow with headphones on.

Prompt

Record the class poem “Hopscotch” for the listening center: “Toss the stone and watch it land, / hop on one foot, then on two. / Wobble, wobble, try to stand, / turn around and hop back through!”

Not Yet“Is it on? Okay. Toss the stone and watch it land hop on one foot then on two wobble wobble…” (All in one breath, then the recording cuts off mid-word as the child reaches to stop it.)The listener never hears a title, the lines run together with no pauses, and the recording starts and ends with fumbling. A classmate at the listening center can’t follow it.

Meets the Standard“‘Hopscotch,’ a poem by Ms. Varga’s class, read by Sully.” (Short pause.) “Toss the stone and watch it land, / hop on one foot, then on two.” (A pause at each line break, voice bouncy.) “Wobble, wobble, try to stand, / turn around and hop back through!” (A wobbly voice on wobble, a quick, happy finish, then a breath of silence before stopping.)A title and a reader so the listener knows what is coming, pauses where the lines break, a bouncy voice for a jumping poem and a clean ending. Sully rehearsed it twice before pressing record, which is what made the difference.

Moves to Use

Practice reading it aloud twice before you press record.Start by saying the title, the author and your name.Pause at the end of each line, and read at a speed a listener can follow.Let your voice match the poem: soft, excited, slow or silly.Add a drawing to a story or recount only when it shows something your words can’t.

Common Mistakes with SL.2.5

Saving the first try

Skipped lines, a sneeze and “wait, start over” all saved for the listening center

Try this: Require two out-loud rehearsals with a partner before recording, and let students rerecord until they are proud of it.

Racing through the poem

All four lines in one breath, so the rhyme of land and stand disappears

Try this: Mark a slash at each line break on the reader’s copy and have them take a breath at every slash.

Drawings that only decorate

A rainbow and hearts beside a recount of a scary thunderstorm

Try this: Ask “What does your picture show that your words don’t?” and have students redraw it to show the feeling the listener needs.

Where SL.2.5 Fits

Comes BeforeSL.1.5Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when they help clarify ideas, thoughts and feelings.

AlongsideRF.2.4Read grade-level text aloud with accuracy, an appropriate rate and expression, the fluency a good recording shows.RL.2.4Describe how rhymes, beats and repeated lines give a poem rhythm, which a careful reader brings out aloud.

Comes NextSL.3.5Create engaging recordings that show fluid reading at an understandable pace, and add visuals to emphasize details.

Practice SL.2.5

Classroom TimerFree ToolA two-minute rehearsal countdown before each recording, so every reader practices out loud at least twice before pressing record.2 minutesRehearse first

Start a Timer

Quick Check

What does Sully say before the poem starts, and why does it help?
The title, the author (Ms. Varga’s class) and his own name, so a listener knows what they are about to hear and who is reading.
Where does Sully pause, and what does that help a listener hear?
At the end of each line, so the rhymes of land and stand, and of two and through, come through.
After recording, a child adds a drawing of a proud, grinning face to a recount of finishing a hopscotch board without wobbling. Which half of SL.2.5 does that show?
The second half: adding a drawing to a recount of an experience to clarify a feeling.

SL.2.5: Other Names

SL.2.5CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.5