Common Core Lesson Plans
for Second Grade

Using Common Core lesson plans with your second graders can be a lot of fun! First check out the standards on the Common Core website. Then try these lesson plan ideas.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.2a  (Capitalization)

Capitalize holidays, product names, and geographic names.

S.I.P. (Specific Important Person)

Use this fun-filled lesson to emphasize the need of capitalizing the names of holidays and product names.

A. Holidays

Ask students to raise their hands if their name begins with a capital letter. When all of them raise their hands, ask several students individually, “Why is your name capitalized?”  Lead them to state that everyone’s name is capitalized because it is a proper name, because they are a specific, important person, or S.I.P.!

Next, talk about the names of holidays. Start with the name of a well-known holiday such as Christmas. Write it on the board with a lowercase c. Ask, “Is this a specific day? Is it an important day? Should we capitalize it?”

Continue this method with several other holidays. Guide students to suggest immediately that you capitalize the name of the holiday as you write it on the board. Also sneak in other common days such as yesterday, today and tomorrow. Help them to see that those are not specific, important days so those words do not need to be capitalized.

B. Brand Names

On another day, follow a similar process with brand names. Begin by asking students to name their favorite brands of foods and beverages, such as Kellogg’s, Sunkist and Campbell’s. Write these names on the board with lowercase first letters.

Ask students if anything should be changed in the words you’ve written and if so, what and why. If have a hard time answering, remind them of the earlier lesson S.I.P. lesson on holidays.

Continue this method with other brand names. Also insert non-branded names such as bread, eggs, and juice. Help them to see that since they are not names of specific brands they should not be capitalized.

C. Geographic Names

Also use a similar approach to locations. Start by asking students to name places they have visited recently. Tell them it could be anyplace, even ordinary locations. 

This list could include the grocery store, the park, Grandma's house, the library, McDonald's, Lake Michigan, the art museum, and so on. List the locations exactly as the kids name them. If your list contains proper and common nouns, as this list, ask them to explain why certain places have capital letters and other do not.

Review, as needed, the correct practice of capitalizing the specific names of proper names, brands and places!

Two Places! - A fun activity

For a simple change of pace, divide the classroom into two sections, or draw two big circles on the pavement outside.

Label the first area as No Capital Letters. Label the second CAPITAL Letters.

Then call out these places. Ask students to move quickly to the correct area of the room. For example, if you say the White House, kids should move to the CAPITAL letters area.

• Treasure Island
• the bus station
• Applebee's Restaurant
• a pond
• the Kalamazoo River
• mountains
• a fun house
• the amusement park
• a circus
• the Golden Gate Bridge

...and so on. Encourage students who get the correct answers. Gently nudge the others into the right spaces. Stop and write the answers correctly on the board and explain the capital letters (or uncapitalized letters) for some of the items.

You may also use this activity with common and proper nouns and with brand name products.

Common Core Lesson Plans - Wrap Up

As a final wrap up to these common core lesson plans, ask students to do one or both of these: 

• Make a list of your 5 favorite holidays. Write one sentence about each one, telling what you like about the day. Draw a picture of one of the holidays and label it with the holiday name.  

• List 5 of your favorite brand-name foods. Write one sentence about each item, stating why you like it. Add a drawing of at least one of the food packages, labeled with the brand name.

• Draw 2 - 5 of your favorite places that are spelled with capital letters. Label them with words, and color your picture. 

Additional CCSS Resources: 

Here are more resources to help you with Common Core Lesson Plans for 2nd grade:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy L.2.1b  (Irregular plural nouns) 

Spelling Crossword Puzzle – Spelling puzzles are a great way for students to have fun while learning important spelling words and language concepts. Students write the correct plural nouns for each singular form into the crossword.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy L.2.2c (Contractions)

Contraction Action – Fun worksheets to form and use contractions. Kids will have fun completing the Contraction Action pages. Calendar words are on this page, too, with our Calendar Clues crossword puzzle!

CCSS.ELA-Literacy L.2.2e (Using reference materials)

Dictionary Spelling Tips – A good dictionary spelling strategy is important to have when you need help in spelling a difficult word. Some of these tips for older students are worth sharing with your elementary students, too!

Fun Spelling Worksheets for Grades 1 and 2 – 50 reproducibles to build on LOTS of important spelling skills!

Common Core Ideas for Kindergarten

Common Core Lesson Plans for Grade 1

Ann Richmond Fisher is a longtime published educational writer, a former classroom teacher and a former homeschool teacher. Ann's spelling bee resources, graded spelling word lists, spelling games, worksheets, and other language arts resources have become respected around the globe since she launched Spelling-Words-Well in 2010.

Ann is also the creator of www.word-game-world.com.

Visit my YouTube Channel for fun spelling practice videos!

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AnyWord Spelling Practice Series Worksheets, Games and Prompts that work with almost ANY spelling words!

Fun Spelling Worksheets for Grades 1 and 2    50 All-new reproducible pages for early learners!

Young Spellers Spelling Bee Word List for Grades 1 & 2 only