Grade 2 Spelling

Discover Grade 2 spelling standards

Our Program

In Grade 2, children will continue to review and consolidate their phonic knowledge while learning some exceptions to rules and further alternative spellings for sounds. They will learn to spell a selection of prefixes and will add to the suffixes they learned in Grade 1. The consonant l-e syllable type will be introduced and they will learn more r-controlled vowels. Additionally, in Grade 2, children will begin to use dictionaries to check and correct spellings.

Spelling Contractions

Children broaden their knowledge of contractions in Grade 2. They will learn to spell contractions with is, am, not, and will.

Review:

  • Is
  • Am
  • Not

Learn:

  • Not
  • Will

Practice Tip: Your child can play their way through lessons on nightzookeeper.com to help them practise their contractions skills!

graphic adding apostrophe

Spelling Possessives

As well as using the apostrophe to spell contractions, children will learn to use the apostrophe to spell possessives. Children can join Ant on nightzookeeper.com for a rundown on where and when to put possessive apostrophes!

Activity on Night Zookeeper adding apostrophe

Long Vowel Sounds

Second grade students will recap the alternative spellings for sounds and learn some new alternative spellings. They will be expected to spell words that use all of these spellings.

VowelSpellingExample
aa-e / ai / aycake / snail / day
ee-e / -y / ee / ea / e / ie / -eyeve / candy / cheese / sea / be / field / monkey
ii-e / igh / -y / i / iebike / light / cry / item / pie
oo-e / oe / oa / ow / ohome / toe / boat / snow / go
uu-e / ew / -ue / ucube / few / rescue / music

Word Endings: Consonant l-e

This is a new syllable type that children will learn to spell in Grade 2. It is a spelling pattern that appears at the end of words.

-ble -fle -tle -dle -gle -kle -ple -zle
bub/ble
waf/fle
tur/tle
can/dle
ea/gle
spar/kle
ap/ple
puz/zle

Prefixes

A prefix is a group of letters added to the beginning of a word. Adding a prefix to a word changes its meaning. Understanding what a prefix is and spelling words that have a prefix is a Grade 2 skill. The following prefixes are usually taught in Grade 2.

  • re-
  • un-
  • mis-
  • dis-
  • pre-

Suffixes

A suffix is a group of letters added to the end of a word. In Grade 2, children will review adding -s, -es, -ed, and -ing to the ends of words. For words where a change is needed to the root word before adding -ing, this work will include the rule to drop the e and add -ing.

Choosing correct spelling game

In the above example, children are asked to put this rule into practise by selecting the correctly spelled word to complete the sentence.

Other suffixes that are often taught in Grade 2 include the following:

  • -er
  • -est
  • -ful
  • -less
  • -ly

R-Controlled Vowels

In this type of syllable, a vowel is followed by the letter r which changes the sound the vowel makes.

R-Controlled Vowel Example Image
ar
car
are
hare
air
chair
er
ladder
ear
ear
eer
deer
ir
bird
ire
fire
or
corn
ore
core
oar
oar
ur
nurse
ure
vulture

Diphthongs

A diphthong is a sound with two parts whereas a digraph is two letters that make one sound. In Grade 2, children need to relate diphthongs to spelling patterns.

  • ou and ow
  • aw and au
  • oi and oy

Dictionaries

In Grade 2, children should be shown how to look for words in an age appropriate dictionary. Explaining the references and abbreviations in a dictionary helps children to get the most out of this tool. Most dictionaries will give information about a word’s part of speech, the number of syllables in a word and where the syllable break comes, and how to pronounce the word.

How Night Zookeeper can help

On nightzookeeper.com we’ve created a range of fun and interactive games that encourage children to practise their spelling skills. These games draw upon concise lists of age appropriate words that children should know by the time they graduate second grade. You can download these word lists below:

Age 7-8 word lists

Related articles:

Grade 2 Reading

Grade 2 Writing

Grade 2 Grammar

Grade 2 Punctuation

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