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Texas Standards

2nd Grade ELA TEKS

All 62 Texas English language arts standards for 2nd grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is one click away under each one.

62 standards

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, discussion, and thinking--oral language

5 standards
The student develops oral language through listening, speaking, and discussion.
2.1(A)
Listen with care, ask questions that clear up confusing points, and give answers in phrases or sentences rather than single words.
Official wording
listen actively, ask relevant questions to clarify information, and answer questions using multi-word responses;
2.1(B)
Follow, repeat and give spoken directions with a few connected steps, like explaining to a classmate how to log in and open a reading game.
Official wording
follow, restate, and give oral instructions that involve a short, related sequence of actions;
2.1(C)
Share ideas that stick to the topic being discussed, speaking clearly at a steady pace and in correct, complete sentences.
Official wording
share information and ideas that focus on the topic under discussion, speaking clearly at an appropriate pace and using the conventions of language;
2.1(D)
Follow agreed group rules by listening, waiting to be called on, adding useful comments and building on what classmates say.
Official wording
work collaboratively with others by following agreed-upon rules for discussion, including listening to others, speaking when recognized, making appropriate contributions, and building on the ideas of others; and
2.1(E)
Know the difference between asking and telling when talking with others, like Can I have a turn versus Give me a turn.
Official wording
develop social communication such as distinguishing between asking and telling.

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--beginning reading and writing

5 standards
The student develops word structure knowledge through phonological awareness, print concepts, phonics, and morphology to communicate, decode, and spell.
2.2(A)
Make strings of rhymes, hear long and short vowels in short and longer words, and add, change or drop a sound to make a new word, like slip to sip to ship.
Official wording
demonstrate phonological awareness by:iproducing a series of rhyming words;iidistinguishing between long and short vowel sounds in one-syllable and multi-syllable words;iiirecognizing the change in spoken word when a specified phoneme is added, changed, or removed; andivmanipulating phonemes within base words;
2.2(B)
Decode words with any vowel pattern or silent letters like knee, split long words into syllables, and read compounds, contractions, prefixes, endings and sight words.
Official wording
demonstrate and apply phonetic knowledge by:idecoding words with short, long, or variant vowels, trigraphs, and blends;iidecoding words with silent letters such as knife and gnat;iiidecoding multisyllabic words with closed syllables; open syllables; VCe syllables; vowel teams, including digraphs and diphthongs; r-controlled syllables; and final stable syllables;ivdecoding compound words, contractions, and common abbreviations;vdecoding words using knowledge of syllable division patterns such as VCCV, VCV, and VCCCV;videcoding words with prefixes, including un-, re-, and dis-, and inflectional endings, including -s, -es, -ed, -ing, -er, and -est; andviiidentifying and reading high-frequency words from a research-based list;
2.2(C)
Spell short and long words with every vowel pattern, silent letters, compounds, contractions, doubled middle letters like rabbit, and parts like un- and -est.
Official wording
demonstrate and apply spelling knowledge by:ispelling one-syllable and multisyllabic words with closed syllables; open syllables; VCe syllables; vowel teams, including digraphs and diphthongs; r-controlled syllables; and final stable syllables;iispelling words with silent letters such as knife and gnat;iiispelling compound words, contractions, and common abbreviations;ivspelling multisyllabic words with multiple sound-spelling patterns;vspelling words using knowledge of syllable division patterns, including words with double consonants in the middle of the word; andvispelling words with prefixes, including un-, re-, and dis-, and inflectional endings, including -s, -es, -ed, -ing, -er, and -est;
2.2(D)
Put a list of words in ABC order, and look up words in a dictionary or in the glossary at the back of a book.
Official wording
alphabetize a series of words and use a dictionary or glossary to find words; and
2.2(E)
Write every cursive letter correctly and join letters with the proper connecting strokes.
Official wording
develop handwriting by accurately forming all cursive letters using appropriate strokes when connecting letters.

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--vocabulary

4 standards
The student uses newly acquired vocabulary expressively.
2.3(A)
Look up a new word in a print or online dictionary to find what it means and how to say it.
Official wording
use print or digital resources to determine meaning and pronunciation of unknown words;
2.3(B)
Work out what an unfamiliar word means from clues in its own sentence and the sentences around it.
Official wording
use context within and beyond a sentence to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words;
2.3(C)
Understand and use words with un-, re-, -ly, -er, -est and -tion or -sion, like unpack, retell, slowly, faster, fastest and invention.
Official wording
identify the meaning of and use words with affixes un-, re-, -ly, -er, and -est (comparative and superlative), and -ion/tion/sion; and
2.3(D)
Find, use and explain opposites, words that mean the same, sayings like raining cats and dogs, and same-spelled words like bat, as they appear in a text.
Official wording
identify, use, and explain the meaning of antonyms, synonyms, idioms, and homographs in context.

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--fluency

1 standard
The student reads grade-level text with fluency and comprehension.
2.4
Read second grade texts aloud at a natural pace, getting the words right and using expression that shows the meaning.
Official wording
use appropriate fluency (rate, accuracy, and prosody) when reading grade-level text.

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--self-sustained reading

1 standard
The student reads grade-appropriate texts independently.
2.5
Choose books and read them alone for a long, steady stretch of time, like twenty minutes of quiet reading.
Official wording
self-select text and read independently for a sustained period of time.

Comprehension skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

9 standards
The student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of increasingly complex texts.
2.6(A)
Decide on a reason for reading an assigned or chosen text, like learning how to care for a hamster or enjoying a mystery.
Official wording
establish purpose for reading assigned and self-selected texts;
2.6(B)
Ask questions before, during and after reading to understand more and find out facts, like wondering how the storm will change the trip.
Official wording
generate questions about text before, during, and after reading to deepen understanding and gain information;
2.6(C)
Predict what will happen using headings, the kind of book and how it is built, then confirm or revise the guess while reading.
Official wording
make and correct or confirm predictions using text features, characteristics of genre, and structures;
2.6(D)
Build pictures in the mind while reading to understand more, like imagining the inside of an ant tunnel.
Official wording
create mental images to deepen understanding;
2.6(E)
Connect a text to personal experiences, other books and the wider world, like linking a story about a drought to news about water.
Official wording
make connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts, and society;
2.6(F)
Figure out ideas a text does not state directly and back them with evidence, like inferring the season from the snow boots.
Official wording
make inferences and use evidence to support understanding;
2.6(G)
Weigh the details in a text to work out its key ideas, like which facts matter most about how frogs grow.
Official wording
evaluate details read to determine key ideas;
2.6(H)
Combine information from across a text or several texts to build a new understanding, like what two books together show about ocean life.
Official wording
synthesize information to create new understanding; and
2.6(I)
Catch confusion while reading and repair it by rereading, using background knowledge, studying pictures or asking a question, like rereading a tricky page.
Official wording
monitor comprehension and make adjustments such as re-reading, using background knowledge, checking for visual cues, and asking questions when understanding breaks down.

Response skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

6 standards
The student responds to an increasingly challenging variety of sources that are read, heard, or viewed.
2.7(A)
Explain links between personal life and different sources, like a poem about grandparents and a visit to grandma's house.
Official wording
describe personal connections to a variety of sources;
2.7(B)
Write short comments on a story or fact text that show it was understood, like explaining why the hero changed her mind.
Official wording
write brief comments on literary or informational texts that demonstrate an understanding of the text;
2.7(C)
Back up a response with details from the text, like quoting the sentence that proves the plan failed.
Official wording
use text evidence to support an appropriate response;
2.7(D)
Retell and restate a text in your own words, keeping its meaning and events in the right order.
Official wording
retell and paraphrase texts in ways that maintain meaning and logical order;
2.7(E)
Engage with texts and media in useful ways, like sketching a scene, making a chart of facts or writing a response.
Official wording
interact with sources in meaningful ways such as illustrating or writing; and
2.7(F)
Use words newly learned from reading in talk and writing about texts, like calling a character determined or a plan clever.
Official wording
respond using newly acquired vocabulary as appropriate.

Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--literary elements

4 standards
The student recognizes and analyzes literary elements within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse literary texts.
2.8(A)
With an adult's help, discuss what a story is about and find its message, like honesty matters, backing it up with details from the text.
Official wording
discuss topics and determine theme using text evidence with adult assistance;
2.8(B)
Describe what the main characters are like inside and out, like a tall, shy girl who is kind to everyone.
Official wording
describe the main character's (characters') internal and external traits;
2.8(C)
Explain a story's big events, its central conflict and how it ends, for stories heard aloud and those read alone.
Official wording
describe and understand plot elements, including the main events, the conflict, and the resolution, for texts read aloud and independently; and
2.8(D)
Explain why a story's time and place matter, like how a blizzard traps the family and shapes what happens next.
Official wording
describe the importance of the setting.

Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--genres

6 standards
The student recognizes and analyzes genre-specific characteristics, structures, and purposes within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse texts.
2.9(A)
Know what makes well-known children's tales stand apart, like a trickster in a folktale, a moral in a fable, or royalty in a fairy tale.
Official wording
demonstrate knowledge of distinguishing characteristics of well-known children's literature such as folktales, fables, and fairy tales;
2.9(B)
Explain how poems look and are built on the page, like lines, stanzas, and shape poems drawn in the form of their topic.
Official wording
explain visual patterns and structures in a variety of poems;
2.9(C)
Talk about the parts of a play, like its characters, the lines they speak and where the scenes take place.
Official wording
discuss elements of drama such as characters, dialogue, and setting;
2.9(D)
With help, find a fact text's main idea and its support, use features like headings and diagrams, and spot time order or clearly stated cause and effect.
Official wording
recognize characteristics and structures of informational text, including:ithe central idea and supporting evidence with adult assistance;iifeatures and graphics to locate and gain information; andiiiorganizational patterns such as chronological order and cause and effect stated explicitly;
2.9(E)
Recognize persuasive writing by saying what the author wants readers to think or do and telling facts apart from opinions, like dogs bark versus dogs are best.
Official wording
recognize characteristics of persuasive text, including:istating what the author is trying to persuade the reader to think or do; andiidistinguishing facts from opinion; and
2.9(F)
Recognize the features of texts that mix media or live online, like a nature video with captions or an interactive map.
Official wording
recognize characteristics of multimodal and digital texts.

Author's purpose and craft: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

6 standards
The student uses critical inquiry to analyze the authors' choices and how they influence and communicate meaning within a variety of texts. The student analyzes and applies author's craft purposefully in order to develop his or her own products and performances.
2.10(A)
Discuss the reasons an author had for writing a text, like persuading readers to recycle or teaching how plants grow.
Official wording
discuss the author's purpose for writing text;
2.10(B)
Discuss how the way a text is arranged helps the author's goal, like cause and effect explaining why floods happen.
Official wording
discuss how the use of text structure contributes to the author's purpose;
2.10(C)
Discuss why an author chooses features like bold words, captions, maps and diagrams, such as a map that shows where penguins live.
Official wording
discuss the author's use of print and graphic features to achieve specific purposes;
2.10(D)
Talk about how authors use vivid description, plain literal words and figurative language, like saying the boy was quiet as a mouse.
Official wording
discuss the use of descriptive, literal, and figurative language;
2.10(E)
Tell whether a text is narrated in first person with I and we or in third person with he, she and they.
Official wording
identify the use of first or third person in a text; and
2.10(F)
Spot repeated words, lines or events in a text and explain why the author repeats them, like a refrain that builds excitement.
Official wording
identify and explain the use of repetition.

Composition: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--writing process

5 standards
The student uses the writing process recursively to compose multiple texts that are legible and uses appropriate conventions.
2.11(A)
Plan before drafting by sketching and brainstorming ideas, like making a web of everything known about sharks.
Official wording
plan a first draft by generating ideas for writing such as drawing and brainstorming;
2.11(B)
Shape a draft into a focused piece with a clear structure, like a strong opening and closing, and build the main idea with specific, fitting details.
Official wording
develop drafts into a focused piece of writing by:iorganizing with structure; andiideveloping an idea with specific and relevant details;
2.11(C)
Improve a draft by adding, cutting or moving words, phrases and sentences, like moving a sentence so events are in order.
Official wording
revise drafts by adding, deleting, or rearranging words, phrases, or sentences;
2.11(D)
Edit for full sentences, verb tenses, nouns, pronouns, joining words like and, capitals on months and days, apostrophes, commas in lists and dates, and spelling.
Official wording
edit drafts using standard English conventions, including:icomplete sentences with subject-verb agreement;iipast, present, and future verb tense;iiisingular, plural, common, and proper nouns;ivadjectives, including articles;vadverbs that convey time and adverbs that convey place;viprepositions and prepositional phrases;viipronouns, including subjective, objective, and possessive cases;viiicoordinating conjunctions to form compound subjects and predicates;ixcapitalization of months, days of the week, and the salutation and conclusion of a letter;xend punctuation, apostrophes in contractions, and commas with items in a series and in dates; andxicorrect spelling of words with grade-appropriate orthographic patterns and rules and high-frequency words; and
2.11(E)
Produce a polished final copy and share it with an audience, like posting it on a class blog or reading it from the author's chair.
Official wording
publish and share writing.

Composition: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--genres

3 standards
The student uses genre characteristics and craft to compose multiple texts that are meaningful.
2.12(A)
Write stories and poems, including true stories from personal life, like a narrative about learning to ride a bike.
Official wording
compose literary texts, including personal narratives and poetry;
2.12(B)
Write pieces that teach, including how-to steps and short reports, like a report on how bees help flowers.
Official wording
compose informational texts, including procedural texts and reports; and
2.12(C)
Write notes and letters to real people, like a thank-you letter to a firefighter who visited the class.
Official wording
compose correspondence such as thank you notes or letters.

Inquiry and research: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

7 standards
The student engages in both short-term and sustained recursive inquiry processes for a variety of purposes.
2.13(A)
With an adult's help, ask research questions for a class study or own curiosity, like what makes thunder so loud.
Official wording
generate questions for formal and informal inquiry with adult assistance;
2.13(B)
With an adult's help, lay out a research plan, like listing questions and where to look, and carry it through.
Official wording
develop and follow a research plan with adult assistance;
2.13(C)
Find sources that fit the research question and gather the facts that answer it, like a website and a book about tornadoes.
Official wording
identify and gather relevant sources and information to answer the questions;
2.13(D)
Tell firsthand sources, like a letter or photo from the time, from secondhand sources, like an encyclopedia article.
Official wording
identify primary and secondary sources;
2.13(E)
Show understanding of the facts collected, like summing them up in a few sentences or a simple chart.
Official wording
demonstrate understanding of information gathered;
2.13(F)
List the books, websites and other sources used, naming each one correctly, like giving a book's title and author.
Official wording
cite sources appropriately; and
2.13(G)
Present research results in a suitable format, like a written report, a speech, or a poster or video that mixes words and images.
Official wording
use an appropriate mode of delivery, whether written, oral, or multimodal, to present results.

The official Texas documents

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, 19 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 110, adopted by the Texas State Board of Education.

The plain-English lines are EMStudio's own explanations, shown beside the official wording. They are not part of the standards.