Arizona Standards
Arizona 2nd Grade ELA Standards
All 44 Arizona English language arts standards for 2nd grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Arizona Department of Education's document, linked at the end of this page.
44 standards
Reading Standards for Literature
9 standards2.RL.1
Ask and answer who, what, where, when, why and how questions about a story on your own, like why the fox tricked the hen.
2.RL.2
Retell a fable or folktale from another culture, like The Tortoise and the Hare, and say what lesson or moral it teaches.
2.RL.3
Explain how a character deals with a big event or problem in a story, like what a lost puppy does to find its way home.
2.RL.4
Explain how beats, rhymes, repeated lines and words starting with the same sound give a story, poem or song its rhythm and meaning.
2.RL.5
Explain how a story is built, showing how its opening sets things up and how its ending wraps up what happened.
2.RL.6
Notice that the characters in a story see things differently and show it by using a different voice for each one when reading their lines aloud.
2.RL.7
Use both the pictures and the words of a book or e-book to explain who the characters are, where the story happens and what goes on in it.
2.RL.9
Compare the characters and settings in two or more versions of one tale, like the Three Little Pigs told by different writers or cultures.
2.RL.10
By the end of the year, read and understand second-grade stories, plays and poems well and on their own.
Reading Standards for Informational Text
10 standards2.RI.1
Ask and answer who, what, where, when, why and how questions about a story on your own, like why the fox tricked the hen.
2.RI.2
Name and explain the main topic of a nonfiction text with several paragraphs, and tell what each paragraph is mostly about.
2.RI.3
With help, explain how a series of history events, science ideas or steps in a how-to text connect to each other.
2.RI.4
Figure out what a subject word in a 2nd grade science or social studies text means, like habitat in a book about animals.
2.RI.5
Use captions, bold words, subheadings, a glossary, an index or the menus and icons on a screen to find a fact quickly instead of rereading everything.
2.RI.6
Say why the author wrote an informational text, like to answer a question, explain how something works or describe a place.
2.RI.7
Explain what a diagram, photo or map adds to an informational text, like a labeled drawing that shows how a pulley lifts a load.
2.RI.8
Find a point the author makes, like that recycling helps the planet, and explain how each reason given backs it up.
2.RI.9
Read two informational texts on one topic, like two books about volcanoes, and tell where their most important points agree and where they differ.
2.RI.10
By the end of the year, read and understand second-grade history, science and technical texts well and on their own.
Reading Standards: Foundational Skills
2 standards2.RF.3
Decode one- and two-syllable words by telling long from short vowels, reading vowel teams like ai, using the six syllable types, prefixes, suffixes and tricky words.
2.RF.4
Read 1st-grade books aloud smoothly and accurately with expression, understand them, and reread when a word or sentence does not make sense.
Writing Standards
8 standards2.W.1
Write an opinion about a topic or book, give reasons for it linked with words like because and also, and finish with a closing sentence.
2.W.2
Write a short report that introduces a topic, like how plants grow, builds its points with facts and definitions, and ends with a closing sentence.
2.W.3
Write a story about one event or a few in a row, with details about what people did, thought and felt, order words like first and then, and a real ending.
2.W.4
With an adult’s help, organize a piece of writing so it fits the job, like a thank-you note versus a report on bats.
2.W.5
With help from adults and classmates, stick to one topic and improve a piece of writing by revising the ideas and editing the mistakes.
2.W.6
With an adult's help, use digital tools like a tablet or classroom computer to write, polish and publish a piece, sometimes with a partner.
2.W.7
Join a class project that gathers information, like reading several books about insects to write a report together or keeping notes on a science experiment.
2.W.8
Answer a question by drawing on something you remember or by finding the facts in books or websites the teacher gives you.
Writing Standards: Foundational Skills
3 standards2.WF.1
Write neatly in print with correct letter shapes, and copy down ideas in print quickly and easily with good spacing.
2.WF.2
Write the most common spellings for each sound, like ph for the f sound or ai and ay for long a.
2.WF.3
Spell words with patterns like -dge, vowel teams, contractions and homophones, and with help spell longer words and suffix changes like babies or running.
Speaking and Listening Standards
6 standards2.SL.1
Discuss 2nd grade topics and books in small and large groups, follow the rules, build on what others say and ask when something is unclear.
2.SL.2
Retell the main ideas and details of a story read aloud, a talk or a video, like the steps shown in a video about making butter.
2.SL.3
Ask a speaker questions to clear up a confusing part, learn more or go deeper into the topic, and answer questions about what was said.
2.SL.4
Tell a story or share something that happened, like a trip to the zoo, with the right facts and vivid details, speaking clearly in sentences that hang together.
2.SL.5
Record yourself reading a story or poem, and add drawings or other visuals to a story or recount when they help make the ideas and feelings clear.
2.SL.6
Use complete sentences when asked to add detail or explain something more clearly, like describing a weekend trip.
Language Standards
6 standards2.L.1
Print many letters, use everyday nouns, verbs and little words like in and on, make plurals like dogs and wishes, ask with who and where, and speak in full sentences.
2.L.2
Capitalize the first word of a sentence and the word I, name the period and question mark, and spell simple words the way they sound, like kat for cat.
2.L.3
Notice the difference between formal and casual English, like Good morning, Mrs. Lee versus Hey, and choose which fits the moment.
2.L.4
Figure out a new word in 2nd grade reading from its sentence, a prefix like un- in unhappy, a root like add in addition, its parts like birdhouse, or a dictionary.
2.L.5
Connect words to real life, like naming foods that are spicy or juicy, and tell apart close words like toss, throw and hurl or thin, slender and scrawny.
2.L.6
Put new words from talks, books and read-alouds to work, including describing words like gentle and quickly, when speaking and writing about what was read.
The official Arizona documents
- Arizona English Language Arts Standards: 2nd Grade · adopted December 2016 · since 2018-19
The plain-English lines on this page are EMStudio's own explanations of Arizona's standards, not the official wording, which Arizona Department of Education publishes in the documents above. Codes and strand names identify each standard.