Grade 2: Module 4: Cycle 20 | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA G2:S4:C20

Grade 2: Module 4: Cycle 20

In this Cycle

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Phonemes Introduced in This Cycle

"-y" to "-ies" or "-s" plural rule

High-Frequency Words

"usually," "eight," "animal," "people," "around," "they're," "that's," "you've"

High-frequency words are words that occur most frequently in written material and do not follow phonetic rules or, as we say in the EL Education curriculum, "don't play fair." Due to this fact, it is important that students are able to navigate these words with ease to improve their reading fluency and comprehension.  While high-frequency words on their own don't carry much meaning, they are essential to sentences and help students gather meaning. Below you will find five activities for each day of the week that teachers can do with students or parents can do with their children at home as high-frequency words are being introduced cycle by cycle.

  • Read it, say it, write it, read it again
  • Use high-frequency words in sentences (oral and written)
  • Read a list of high-frequency words and time yourself on fluency (keep running list)
  • Search for high frequency words in sentences / poems and underline them
  • Fishing for high-frequency words (one person reads the word aloud, other students find the word in a stack of other high-frequency words)

Instructional Practices

The instructional practices listed below summarize the instruction that accompanies the skills that are being taught in this cycle for the respective grade level. Teachers should review these routines for guidance on how to teach the skills and patterns reflected in the microphase.

Lesson 96

  • Poem Launch: Students hear/read a poem that includes vowel sounds and spelling patterns introduced in the cycle. Students identify words with similar spelling patterns and vowel sounds both aloud with the teacher and independently.
  • Words Rule (Identify and Match): Students apply their knowledge of open and closed syllables to identify syllable types and decode multisyllabic words. 

Lesson 97

  • Engagement Text: Students use knowledge of phoneme segmentation to isolate and identify the initial, middle, and final sound in a word. As they identify each sound, they must connect it to its written representation (grapheme) and practice proper letter formation using a skywriting technique.
  • Comprehension Conversation (optional): Students answer suggested (or similar) text-based comprehension questions about the engagement text.
  • Snap or Trap: Students are introduced to the high-frequency words of the cycle. This practice explicitly teaches all high-frequency words students will see in the Decodable Reader. Students decode and analyze each word to determine if the word is a "snap" word because it is decodable (regularly spelled) or "trap" because it is irregularly spelled.
  • Decodable Reader Partner Search and Read: Students read a short text that incorporates words using familiar phonemes (sounds) and high-frequency words from the cycle, which students search out in the text with a partner before reading the text. Students receive practice with concepts of print (e.g., one-to-one match and return sweep) and apply knowledge of taught graphemes and phonemes as they decode words.

Lesson 98

  • Word Parts: Students apply their knowledge of word parts to correctly identify and spell basewords, suffixes, and prefixes to help them easily decode and understand unknown words.
  • Interactive Writing: Students work together to brainstorm a list of words with specific spelling patterns. Next, students construct a silly sentence using words with the same spelling pattern and review high-frequency words taught.

Lesson 99

  • Word Rule (Homophones): Students identify words that sound the same but are spelled differently (homophones) in a text and use context to determine the meaning of each word.
  • Snap or Trap (Review): Students review high-frequency words of the cycle. This practice explicitly reviews all high-frequency words students read in the Decodable Reader. Students decode and analyze each word to determine if the word is a "snap" word because it is decodable (regularly spelled) or "trap" because it is irregularly spelled.
  • Fluency: Students interact with an excerpt from the Decodable Reader by applying elements of fluency to decode (read) excerpt aloud. In Modules 1 and 2, teacher leads analysis of excerpt and students choose one or two elements of fluency to focus on 
    (dependent of excerpt). In Modules 3 and 4, teacher introduces Fluency Rubric for students to provide specific feedback to their classmates in the elements of fluency.

Lesson 100

  • Word Workout (Make It Plural): Students apply their knowledge of singular words that can be made plural by changing spelling to add "s" to make singular words plural. 

Cycle Word List

In this cycle, students are introduced to the "-y" generalization for plural endings. For the full cycle overview with word list, Cycle-at-a-Glance, and teaching notes, download the cycle overview.

cherry
cherries
family
families
fly
flies
puppy
puppies
story
stories
monkey
monkeys
turkey
turkeys

Engagement Text and Decodable Readers

The text listed below can be utilized to reinforce the skills taught in the cycle.  Teachers can use the text to have students apply their learning during small group work or teacher-led groups.  By focusing on the skills/patterns being taught, students can apply their learning to text.  A list of activities to consider with the text are listed in the activity section. 

Engagement Text: "Babies"

Did you know that every person (and creature) in the world used to be a little baby?

A human baby is called an infant. Monkey babies are also called infants. Monkeys and humans are both mammals, which means they carry their babies inside their bodies until they are ready to be born.

Fish do not keep their babies in their body until they are ready to be born. Instead, female fish lay many eggs, which hatch into baby fish. A baby fish is called a fry. Most fish babies have a yellow sac attached to their belly for the first hours or days of their life. This sac feeds them until they swim on their own and can find their own food.

Now on to some furry babies! A baby rabbit is called a bunny but is also sometimes called a kitten. Female rabbits can give birth to as many as 14 babies at a time! Although a mother rabbit does not lay eggs like a bird does, she does make a nest. The nest is used to hide her bunnies from predators and to keep them warm.

Now let's talk about some creepy-crawly babies: maggots! A maggot begins as an egg then hatches into a larva, also known as a maggot. The maggots are white and legless. These maggots search for a dark place where they begin to pupate. Soon, they become an adult, also known as a fly.

Like maggots, baby birds come from eggs, but they are not legless and wingless. They are blind and naked when they're first born, though!
A baby bird is called a hatchling. Hatchlings do not leave the nest at first, so they must be fed by their parents. A hatchling makes a "chirping" sound called "food begging," which alerts its parents to put food straight into its mouth. They sometimes do this as frequently as every 15 minutes!

Whether the baby is furry or feathered, comes from an egg or from their mother's belly, most babies have one thing in common: They're all pretty cute!

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