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. Ask and answer questions (e.g., who, what, where, when, why, how), orally or in writing, requiring literal recall and understanding of the details and/or facts of a fiction text read independently;
2. Describe how characters in a fiction text that has been read independently respond to major events and challenges;
3. Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading aloud;
4. User information gained from the illustrations and words in a text read independently to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot;
5. Read and understand decodable text of appropriate complexity for grade 2 that incorporates the specific code knowledge taught;
6. Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words;
7. Read and write words with the following inflectional endings: –ed, –ous;
8. 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); ‘a’ > /o/ (water);
9. Read the following Tricky Words: alphabet, kingdom, war, water, schwa, edge, father, ghost, again, bridge, eyes, death, wizard, break, against, friend, sure;
10. Read decodable text that incorporates the letter-sound correspondences taught with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension;
11. Read decodable text that incorporates the letter-sound correspondences taught, with purpose and understanding;
12. Use phonics skills in conjunction with context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary;
13. Plan, draft, and edit a narrative retelling of a fiction read-aloud, including a title, setting, characters, and well-elaborated events of the story in proper sequence, including details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, using temporal words to signal event order, and providing a sense of closure;
14. With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing;
15. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking;
16. Use collective nouns (e.g., group);
17. Form and use irregular plural nouns orally and in own writing;
18. Capitalize holidays, product names, and geographic names;
19. Consult the Individual Code Chart and simple dictionaries to check spelling; and
20. Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.

Unit 5 - Tricky spelling, vowel sounds, and decoding