The Skills strand of the Core Knowledge Language Arts program teaches students the decoding skills needed for (future) independent reading. Each Skills lesson begins with a warm-up, reviewing previously taught content in reading, writing, and/or grammar.

By the end of this unit, students will be able to:

1. Read and understand decodable text of appropriate complexity for grades 2–3 that incorporates the specific code knowledge taught;
2. Read independently and demonstrate understanding of nonfiction/informational text in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range;
3. Use knowledge of the letter-sound correspondences that have been taught to distinguish and correctly read long and short vowels in one-syllable words: ‘a’ > /a/; ‘e’ > /e/; ‘i’ > /i/; ‘o’ > /o/; ‘u’ > /u/;
4. Decode two-syllable words with any combination of the following syllable types: closed syllables, magic –e syllables, vowel digraph syllables, r-controlled syllables, open syllables, consonant –LE syllables;
5. Read and write words with the following inflectional endings and suffixes: –ing, –ed;
6. Read and write words with the following letter-sound correspondences: ‘a’ as /a/ (hat), /ae/ (paper), /ə/ (about), or /aw/ (wall); ‘i’ as /i/ (hit), /ie/ (item), or /ee/ (ski); ‘o’ as /o/ (hop), /oe/ (open), or /u/ (son); ‘e’ as /e/ (pet), /ee/ (me), or /ə/ (debate); ‘u’ as /ue/ (unit) or /u/ (but); ‘y’ as /y/ (yes), /ie/ (try), /i/ (myth), or /ee/ (funny); ‘ir’ (bird), ‘ur’ (hurt), or ‘er’ as /er/ (her); ‘ar’ > /ar/ (car) or /or/ (war); ‘al’ > /ə/ + /l/ (animal); ‘il’ > /ə/ + /l/ (pencil); ‘ul’ > /ə/ +/l/ (awful); ‘el’ > /ə/ + /l/ (travel), ‘le’ > /ə/ + /l/ (apple); ‘tion’ > /sh/ + /ə/ + /n/; ‘ph’ > /f/ (phone); ‘ch’ > /k/ (school); ‘wa’ > /o/ (water);
7. Read the following tricky words: he, she, we, be, me, the, was, of, a, do, down, how, to, two, what, where, why, from, once, one, could, would, should, there, said, says, why, word;
8. Read decodable text that incorporates the letter-sound correspondences taught with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension;
9. Read and understand decodable text that incorporates letter-sound correspondences taught with purpose and understanding;
10. Read decodable text that incorporates the letter-sound correspondences taught with increased accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings;
11. Use phonics skills in conjunction with context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary;
12. Read and write words in which ‘c’ > /k/ as in cat or /s/ as in city; ‘g’ > /g/ as in got or /j/ as in gem;
13. Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification;
14. Use both regular and irregular past-, present-, and future-tense verbs orally and in own writing;
15. Use and expand complete simple and compound sentences orally and in own writing;
16. Spell and write one-syllable words using the letter-sound correspondences taught in grade 2, using the Individual Code Chart as needed; and
17. Use knowledge of the meaning of individual words to predict the meaning of compound words (e.g., birdhouse, lighthouse, housefly, bookshelf, notebook, bookmark).

Unit 1 - Spelling, tricky words, and comprehension