What Ontario grade 2 students learn in language arts

Your child will learn that skills they use in one situation, like talking to friends, can also help them understand and create different kinds of stories and messages, even when they encounter new cultures or ways of speaking.

Your child will understand how skills they learn in one area, like talking about their feelings, can help them in other areas, like participating in classroom activities.

Your child will learn about their rights and responsibilities when they are online, and how to make good choices that help create a positive online identity for themselves and their communities.

Your child will understand how to use the internet safely, protect their personal information, and interact kindly with others online, including knowing when to ask for permission.

Your child will be able to find information from different places, think about different points of view, and use this to learn new things and show what they know.

Your child will understand how different types of digital and media texts, like videos or websites, are put together and use this knowledge to better understand them.

Your child will understand how the way a story is told, what it's about, and where and when it was created all connect with who wrote it and who is reading it.

Your child will be able to use computers and other media to help them with different steps of solving problems and coming up with new ideas for real-life situations.

Your child will be able to talk and work with others online in a way that is safe, respectful, and includes everyone. They will also learn about and appreciate different cultures when using online tools and platforms.

Your child will be able to use the reading, writing, and language skills they learned this year to help them in other school subjects and in their daily life.

Your child will read different stories and texts to understand how people from various backgrounds, including those in Canada, see themselves and where they belong. They will learn about different identities and experiences through these stories.

Your child will learn about the main ideas and messages found in stories from First Nations, Métis, and Inuit cultures. This helps them understand different ways people see the world, their relationships, and their traditions.

Your child will be able to listen carefully and show they understand by asking good questions, repeating what they heard, and showing interest when talking with others or during school activities.

Your child will learn different ways to listen well, both to what people say and to what they show with their actions or expressions. This will help them understand messages and know when something is confusing.

Your child will learn to understand why they are speaking and who they are speaking to, whether it's a casual chat or a more formal talk. They'll also practice good speaking habits like taking turns and sticking to the main idea so their message is clear.

Your child will learn to use different ways of communicating, like their voice, hand movements, and body language, and understand how these actions help them share their message.

Your child will be able to choose the right words, including new vocabulary, and use correct grammar to speak and share ideas clearly so that others can understand them.

Your child will use their knowledge of phonics (the sounds letters make) to read words, including blending sounds together. They will also learn to adjust their reading if a word doesn't sound quite right, and break words into sounds to help them spell.

Your child will use their knowledge of how letters and letter patterns work in words (orthography) to help them spell words and read new words. They will also learn that certain letters or letter groups tend to appear in specific places within words (position-based tendencies).

Your child will be able to use their growing understanding of word parts (like prefixes, suffixes, and root words) to help them read and spell new words.

Your child will understand and use new words they learn, including words from other subjects like science or math. They will also learn how to break down words into smaller parts (like prefixes or suffixes) to figure out what new words mean.

Your child will be able to read words, sentences, and paragraphs smoothly and correctly, at a good pace, to help them understand what they are reading. They will also be able to read aloud with feeling and using different tones of voice (intonation).

Your child will be able to tell the difference between different types of sentences: statements, commands, questions, and exclamations. They will also be able to build compound sentences, which are two simple sentences joined together.

Your child will understand how different kinds of words, like nouns (which name things), pronouns (which replace nouns), and verbs (which show action), work in sentences. This will help them understand what they read and write clearly.

Your child will be able to use capitalization and punctuation correctly to make their writing clear. This includes using capital letters for names, commas to separate things in a list, apostrophes to show who something belongs to, and quotation marks when someone is speaking.

Your child will be able to read and understand short stories and other texts by using what they know about words, grammar (the rules for how words are used in sentences), how sentences are put together, and what they already know about the topic.

Your child will learn to recognize different types of books, like storybooks and factual books, and understand what makes each one special.

Your child will be able to recognize common ways texts are organized, like stories told in order of events or diary entries. They will also understand how parts of a book like a table of contents, charts, or pictures help people understand what they are reading or hearing.

Your child will be able to understand how pictures, drawings, and the way things look on a page help to tell a story or share information in different books and texts.

Your child will be able to recognize simple ways authors write, like their unique "voice" (how they sound), the words they choose, repeated words, and how sentences are built, and understand how these choices help tell the story.

Your child will be able to figure out who is telling a story (the narrator) and from what perspective (point of view), like if it's told by "I" (first person) or "he/she" (third person). They will also be able to think of another way the story could be told.

Your child will read, listen to, and watch different kinds of stories and information created by First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people. This will help your child understand their past, traditions, communities, and daily lives.

Your child will learn to connect what they already know from their own life and from other books to help them understand new stories and information.

Your child will understand that people read for different reasons, like for fun or to find out information.

Your child will be able to guess what might happen next in a story by using what they already know, looking at parts of the book like pictures or headings, and finding clues in the text itself.

Your child will learn to understand simple stories and books better by using strategies like rereading parts, picturing what's happening in their mind, and asking themselves questions about the text.

Your child will be able to connect what they read in simple stories to their own life experiences, to other stories they know, and to the world around them.

Your child will be able to find the main message or point of a story and understand the order of important details.

Your child will learn to recognize and use different strategies, like rereading a story, imagining what's happening, or asking questions, to help them better understand what they read.

Your child will be able to spot simple literary devices like consonance (when the same consonant sound repeats in nearby words, like "pitter-patter") and similes (when two different things are compared using "like" or "as," like "sly as a fox"), and explain how these devices help tell the story or get a message across.

Your child will be able to make educated guesses (inferences) about what they are reading, using clues from the story even if the information isn't directly stated.

Your child will be able to understand simple stories and information by picking out the main ideas, putting events in order, and seeing how things are alike and different.

Your child will be able to recognize cultural elements like symbols (pictures or objects that stand for something else), language, and values in stories and other texts. They will also be able to ask questions and share their thoughts about how these elements help to create the meaning of the text.

Your child will be able to find and explain the obvious and hidden viewpoints in a story, and understand how these viewpoints might affect the people reading or listening to it.

Your child will be able to share their own thoughts and feelings about the ideas they find in stories and books, especially about topics like diversity (people being different), inclusion (everyone feeling welcome), and accessibility (things being usable by everyone).

Your child will learn how stories, songs, or other works from First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people share information about the past and their culture. They will also understand how these works connect to what's happening in their lives right now.

Your child will be able to recognize the thinking skills they used to help them understand easy stories and books.

Your child will be able to figure out the main idea of what they want to write, why they are writing it, and who they are writing for.

Your child will be able to come up with and develop ideas for their writing, using simple methods and drawing on their own experiences and what they've learned in other subjects.

Your child will be able to find information about a topic from at least three different places, like books or websites.

Your child will be able to organize their thoughts and information in a logical order, considering what type of writing they are doing (like a story or a letter).

Your child will be able to talk about the ways they came up with ideas for their writing.

Your child will be able to write short stories, convincing arguments, and how-to guides using different tools like paper and pencils or computers.

Your child will be able to print clearly and easily, forming letters correctly, and making sure they are the right size, in the right place, and spaced appropriately.

Your child will be able to share their own thoughts and feelings in their writing, using interesting words to make their ideas clear.

Your child will be able to tell if a story is told by one of the characters (first person) or by someone outside the story.

Your child will be able to make changes to their writing, like adding or taking out sentences, based on suggestions from others.

Your child will be able to make simple changes to their writing, like fixing mistakes in capitalization, punctuation (like commas and periods), and spelling.

Your child will be able to use simple writing techniques to make their stories and other writing have the effect they want them to have.

Your child will be able to share their writing with others, including reading it aloud with feeling and expression.

Your child will be able to share some ways they found helpful when presenting their writing or stories to others.