5 Activities to Teach Any 2nd Grade Grammar Standard

There are a lot of grammar and language standards to teach in second grade. Trying to fit them all in with engaging activities can be overwhelming. Not to mention the time it takes to find materials to teach each one. In this post I’ll share simple activities that you can use every week to teach any second grade grammar standards.

Common Core Grammar & Language Standards

If you’re new to 2nd grade or just not sure what students need to learn you can find a list of Common Core Grammar and Language Standards here.

Activities to Teach Any 2nd Grade Grammar Standards

Now that you know what students need to learn, how can you help them get there? The following are performance objectives students should be working toward for each grammar standard. These simple activities will help your students achieve these goals in a fun and engaging way.

What should students be able to do each week?

For each grammar skill, students should be able to:

1. Identify words in the target skill

Students should be able to identify the target skill from a list, a written sentence, or a passage.

This weekly grammar routine provides short targeted practice throughout the week.

2. Read the target skill in context

In addition to finding words, students should be able to read those words in context. Providing short reading passages for students to identify and read target words is a fun way to reinforce the grammar skill.

3. Sort and classify target words

Students should be able to categorize words by skill. For example, if the target grammar skill is possessive nouns, students should be able to sort examples and nonexamples of possessive nouns into categories.

If the target skill is plural nouns, students should be able to look at a word and determine if it is a plural noun or is not a plural noun.

The easiest way I’ve found is to teach a minilesson using slides to introduce each grammar skill. These grammar units include teaching PowerPoints with interactive practice slides.

sentence types grammar activities for 2nd grade

Source: Sentence Types unit

4. Generate examples and nonexamples

Each week, students practice generating and identifying examples and nonexamples of the target skill. For example, if the target skill is nouns, students should be able to come up with words that are nouns and also words that are not nouns.

Source: Nouns unit

I have students practice generating examples during our minilessons and our whole group practice. Students also work with partners during the week to review together.

Source: Verb Tenses unit

Using 2nd grade grammar standards to support writing

5. Apply the skill in their writing

One of the most important learning goals is for students to use the skill in their writing. Ultimately, we want students to be able to use what they’re learning and apply it. These grammar passages are presented as fun newspaper stories written by kid reporters.

activities to teach any 2nd grade grammar standard

Source: Second Grade Grammar bundle

These reading passages include three formats and can be used in a number of ways that make them easy to differentiate.

Read a pre-written news story and identify the grammar skill throughout.
Students write their own news story based on the picture
Students who need more guidance write a news story using the provided word bank.

Ready-to-Use Activities to Teach Any 2nd Grade Grammar Standard

If you’re looking for a no-prep solution for quickly and effectively teaching 2nd grade grammar standards each week, I’ve created a yearlong series of second grade grammar units that include everything you’ll need to teach, practice and assess your students in 15 minutes or less each day.

Each unit includes:

A teaching PowerPoint with minilesson & interactive teaching slides
Detailed lesson plan & teacher directions
Practice worksheet
Reading passage
Writing activity
Task cards and recording sheet
Assessment
Skill poster

2nd grade grammar activities worksheets and PowerPoint lessons

Click here to see all 2nd grade grammar units and bundles.

I’ve taken all the guesswork and prep time out of the equation for these all-inclusive grammar units. After making a few copies and cutting out a set of task cards, you’ll be ready for a week of engaging grammar lessons!