Grade 2 Unit 1
Module A: Understanding Communities
Big Ideas

Community Relationships
Reading/Writing
Enduring Understandings
Readers understand relationships between characters
through the events and challenges in a story.
Writers understand that details and signal words help
readers sequence events in a story.
Learners understand that relationships matter to a
community.
Essential Questions
Module Goals
Readers will identify points of view of characters.
How does connecting with the character help readers
Writers will create stories from the points of view of familiar
connect to a story?
characters.
How do writers create characters that readers can
Explore Content:
relate to?
Learners will develop their own opinions about characters
and how they respond to their situations and interact in
their communities.
Text Set:
Performance Based Assessment:
Children will write a narrative in which they add a scene to
Anchor Text:
Charlotte’s Web. They will choose a specific line from the
Charlotte’s Web
text and insert their scene after that line. They will focus on
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one or two characters.
Literary Text
A New Scene
Write a narrative in which you add a scene to Charlotte’s
Web. Choose a specific line you like from the text and insert
your scene after that line. Focus on one or two characters.
Remember to:
 draw or describe the characters and setting.
 write a short sequence of events with a beginning,
middle, and end.
 include details to describe the actions, thoughts,
and feelings of the characters.
 use signal words to show sequence of events.
Then share your writing with the class as part of an author
celebration.
Supporting Text:
Snowshoe Hare’s Winter Home
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Literary Text
Sleuth:
“The Hunt for Amelia’s Ring”
“The Birthday Surprise”
Common Core Learning Standard: W.2.3
Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated
even or short sequence of events, include details to describe
actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to
signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.
Vocabulary: Charlotte’s Web
Vocabulary: Charlotte’s Web
Text Based:
Words in Context:
Shrieked, sobbed, yelled, cried, injustice, demanded,
commanded, captivity, freedom, wits, scheming,
imagination, conversation, witnessed, event,
determined, patient, weaving, unusual, terrific,
sensational, radiant, invent, fibs, tangled, sagging,
dodging, pummeled, crushed, squashed, buffeted,
bruised, lacerated, scarred, biffed, fainted, collapsed,
modest, embarrassed, revived, deserve, tremendous,
trifle
Runt, litter, weakling, snout, infants, appetite pigpen,
trough, orchard, barnyard, loneliness, Friendless, frolic,
friendship, cruel, fierce Loyal, morals, conscience,
friendliness, conspiracy plot, butchered, strands spinnerets
hurl dragline miracle, bewilderment mysterious wondrous
Vocabulary:
Snowshoe Hare’s Winter Home
Text Based:
tumbling
twirling
ambling
exploring
nibbling
Words in Context:
signal
hibernate
freeze
Phonics:
Pre-Assessment: (previous
state exams, previous units
assessments, student work
samples)
Areas of Strength:
Areas of Weakness:
End of Unit Assessment (end of Module B)
The end of unit assessment consists of two passages, each followed by selected response comprehension and
vocabulary questions and a constructed-response writing prompt. At the end of the test, there is also an extendedresponse writing prompt that requires children to draw on information from both passages.
Standards Addressed:
Literature 1: Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why and how to demonstrate understanding
of key details in a text.
Literature 2: Recount stories including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message,
lesson, or moral.
Literature 3: Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges
Literature 7: Use information gained from the illustrations and words in print or digital text to demonstrate
understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
Language 1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or
speaking
Language 2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
when writing.
Language 4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple meaning words and phrases based on grade 2
reading and content choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.
Writing 3: Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated even or short sequence of events, include details to
describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.
Informational 1: Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why and how to demonstrate
understanding of key details in a text.
Informational 2: Identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the
text.
Informational Text 4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 2 topic or subjectarea.
Writing 2: Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop
points, and provide a concluding statement or section.
Writing 8: Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
Reflections/Next Steps: (Fill in during/after teaching the unit)
**Attach the Performance Assessment, Writing Rubric, and End of Unit Assessment (from Mod B)
behind these pages.