Writing reports and other kinds of informational pieces is a skill unto itself. It requires an understanding of organizing and sequencing thoughts, tying them together in a way that makes sense to the reader and sometimes a bit of research. It is recommended that students participate in writing their own informational essay on a topic of their choice. This will allow them to apply all that they are learning through the exercises in this unit.

Did you know Melitta Benz invented the coffee filter? Who is the father of text messaging? Kids learn about 3 cool inventors in this quick typing game. They will practice typing symbols, numbers, and capital letters as Floyd surfs a big wave! Have them play over and over again to beat their previous words per minute!

Bag, cat and cap are all examples of short A words that kindergarteners will be learning to read this year. You can support this learning with a guided exploration of the short A sound. Kids will be taught how to identify the short A within text, in addition to the corresponding sound. Check out our short A printables for more phonics practice.

As students begin to read more sophisticated texts, understanding how authors use figurative language becomes critical. In this unit, students will revisit some of the figurative language they learned in fourth grade and also study some new ones too, including onomatopoeia, hyperbole, puns and oxymorons. Analyzing how figurative language is used in texts will help readers apply what they have learned.

This literature lesson guides kids towards a deeper understanding of second grade texts through an exploration of character, setting, and plot. Kids will be challenged to answer the who, what, where, when and why of a story, in addition to determining the story's message. Two versions of the same story will be presented in order for second graders to see story elements in action.

Understanding the function of nouns is a crucial part of reading and writing fluency. This guided lesson focuses on the types of nouns kids are most likely to come across in third grade texts. Designed by our curriculum experts, the lesson provides grammar instruction and examples to support learning. For more practice, see the nouns worksheets recommended to go along with this lesson.

The short E sound, found in words such as leg, lemon and pen, is one of the most common vowel sounds in the English language, and one that first graders will often find in the texts they are learning to read. This lesson provides guided practice with the short E sound through targeted instruction and helpful examples. Check out our short E worksheets at the end of the lesson.

Sight words are commonly founds words that are not easy to decode because they don't follow set phonics rules (and must be learned by sight). Examples of sight words commonly found in first grade texts are would, thank, rain, and should. This guided lesson introduces first grader readers to even more sight words to help boost their comprehension and fluency.

Second grade phonics covers more advanced rules that build upon kids' foundational reading skills, such as vowel pairs (ai, ee, ea, oo), long and short vowels, and the silent E. This guided lesson covers these three areas in order to enhance kids' skills with decoding more challenging texts. You can boost reading fluency further by printing the phonics worksheets that go with this lesson.