Advanced Phonics for Growing Readers
Grade 2You are becoming a GREAT reader! In Grade 2, we will learn:
A syllable is a word part with ONE vowel sound. Every syllable has a vowel!
| Word | Syllables | How Many? |
|---|---|---|
| cat | cat | 1 |
| kitten | kit - ten | 2 |
| butterfly | but - ter - fly | 3 |
| caterpillar | cat - er - pil - lar | 4 |
Clap and count the syllables. Write the number.
1. apple
2. elephant
3. sun
4. watermelon
5. happy
6. Yahusha
7. beautiful
8. dog
Draw a line to split these words into syllables:
Close this book. Write down the rule: Every syllable must have a _______________.
When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking! These are called vowel teams.
| Vowel Team | Sound | Example Words |
|---|---|---|
| AI | long A | rain, train, wait, brain |
| AY | long A | play, day, say, pray |
| EA | long E | read, seat, clean, teach |
| EE | long E | tree, see, keep, week |
| OA | long O | boat, coat, road, soap |
| OW | long O | snow, grow, show, know |
| UE | long U | blue, true, glue, clue |
Circle the vowel team in each word. Write the vowel sound you hear.
1. beach - vowel team: sound:
2. train - vowel team: sound:
3. throw - vowel team: sound:
4. sleep - vowel team: sound:
5. toad - vowel team: sound:
Fill in the vowel team to complete each word:
6. We pr to Yahuah every day. (long A)
7. The sk is blue. (long I)
8. A gt has horns. (long O)
9. I like to rd the Bible. (long E)
Sort these words by their vowel team sound:
play, beat, coast, follow, brain, cream, float, stay, green, rainbow
Long A words:
Long E words:
Long O words:
When the letter R comes after a vowel, it changes the vowel's sound. R is so bossy!
Circle the bossy R pattern in each word:
Write a word with each bossy R pattern:
AR:
OR:
ER:
IR:
UR:
Which three bossy R patterns make the same sound? , ,
Some vowel pairs make a gliding sound - your mouth moves while you say them!
| Pattern | Sound | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| OI | oy as in "boy" | coin, oil, join, point |
| OY | oy as in "boy" | toy, joy, enjoy, royal |
| OU | ow as in "cow" | house, out, loud, cloud |
| OW | ow as in "cow" | cow, now, how, brown |
Read each word. Write OI/OY or OU/OW to show which pattern it has:
1. cloud
2. enjoy
3. point
4. brown
5. choice
6. flower
Fill in OI or OY:
7. We should have j in Yahuah!
8. A cn is round.
9. The b played with his t.
Fill in OU or OW:
10. The c says "moo."
11. A mse lives in a hse.
Some letters are SILENT - they don't make any sound at all! But they're still important for spelling.
| Silent Letter | Pattern | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Silent K | KN at the start | know, knee, knife, knight, knock |
| Silent W | WR at the start | write, wrong, wrist, wrap, wreath |
| Silent G | GN | gnat, gnaw, sign, design |
| Silent B | MB at the end | lamb, climb, comb, thumb, crumb |
| Silent E | E at the end | make, hope, time, huge, name |
Cross out the silent letter in each word:
Match the word to its meaning:
Write three words with silent K:
Adding endings to words changes their meaning! Let's learn these important endings.
/t/ after unvoiced sounds (p, k, s, ch, sh, f): jumped, walked, missed
/d/ after voiced sounds: played, called, rained
/ed/ after t or d: wanted, needed, landed
| Ending | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -LY | in a ___ way | quickly, slowly, kindly, lovely |
| -FUL | full of | joyful, thankful, hopeful, beautiful |
| -LESS | without | hopeless, careless, fearless |
Add -ING to each word (remember to drop the E!):
1. bake →
2. run →
3. hope →
4. read →
5. smile →
Add -ED to each word. Circle which sound it makes: /t/, /d/, or /ed/
6. jump → Sound: /t/ /d/ /ed/
7. play → Sound: /t/ /d/ /ed/
8. want → Sound: /t/ /d/ /ed/
Add -FUL or -LESS to make new words:
9. Full of thanks = thank
10. Without fear = fear
11. Full of joy = joy
A compound word is made when two small words join together to make one bigger word!
Make compound words by matching:
Break these compound words into two parts:
1. sailboat = +
2. moonlight = +
3. airplane = +
4. seashell = +
5. birthday = +
Make your own compound words:
6. snow + =
7. + house =
A prefix is a word part added to the BEGINNING of a word. It changes the word's meaning!
| Prefix | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| UN- | not, opposite | unhappy, unkind, unfair, unlock |
| RE- | again | redo, reread, rebuild, replay |
| PRE- | before | preschool, prepay, preview |
| DIS- | not, opposite | dislike, disagree, disobey |
Add UN- to make opposite words:
1. happy → (not happy)
2. safe → (not safe)
3. kind → (not kind)
4. lock → (opposite of lock)
Add RE- to mean "again":
5. read → (read again)
6. write → (write again)
7. build → (build again)
Circle the prefix in each word:
What does each word mean?
8. preview =
9. disobey =
A suffix is a word part added to the END of a word. It can change what the word means or how it's used!
| Suffix | Meaning/Use | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -ER | one who does | teacher, reader, helper, farmer |
| -EST | most | biggest, fastest, kindest, tallest |
| -TION | act of (makes nouns) | action, creation, nation, vacation |
| -NESS | state of being | kindness, sadness, happiness, darkness |
Add -ER to make "one who does":
1. One who teaches =
2. One who reads =
3. One who farms =
4. One who plays =
Add -EST to mean "most":
5. Most tall =
6. Most fast =
7. Most kind =
Add -NESS to make a noun:
8. The state of being kind =
9. The state of being dark =
10. The state of being happy =
Circle the suffix and write the base word:
11. creation - base word:
12. teacher - base word:
You've learned so much! Let's review everything.
Part 1: Syllables - How many syllables?
1. wonderful
2. creation
3. butterfly
Part 2: Vowel Teams - Circle the vowel team:
beach, train, grow, sleep
Part 3: Bossy R - Write the bossy R pattern (ar, or, er, ir, ur):
4. st___m
5. g___l
6. f___m
Part 4: Silent Letters - Cross out the silent letter:
knight, write, thumb, gnaw
Part 5: Compound Words - Make compound words:
7. rain + = rainbow
8. sun + = sunset
Part 6: Prefixes & Suffixes
9. Add UN- to make the opposite of happy:
10. Add RE- to make "read again":
11. Add -ER to make "one who helps":
12. Add -NESS to make "state of being kind":
Write a sentence using at least 3 phonics patterns you learned:
This certifies that
has completed Grade 2 Phonics Adventures
and is ready for even bigger reading challenges!
Date:
1. apple = 2, 2. elephant = 3, 3. sun = 1, 4. watermelon = 4, 5. happy = 2, 6. Yahusha = 3, 7. beautiful = 4, 8. dog = 1
Split words: rab-bit, sis-ter, pil-low, bas-ket, sun-set, win-ter
1. EA/long E, 2. AI/long A, 3. OW/long O, 4. EE/long E, 5. OA/long O
6. pray (ay), 7. sky (no vowel team - y acts as vowel), 8. goat (oa), 9. read (ea)
Long A: play, brain, stay, rainbow | Long E: beat, cream, green | Long O: coast, follow, float
Same sound: ER, IR, UR
Answers will vary for words with each pattern
1. OU, 2. OY, 3. OI, 4. OW, 5. OI, 6. OW
7. joy, 8. coin, 9. boy/toy, 10. cow, 11. mouse/house
Silent: k in knight, w in write, b in thumb, g in gnome, k in knock, w in wring
Matches: knot=tied string, wrist=part of arm, lamb=baby sheep, wrap=cover with paper
1. baking, 2. running, 3. hoping, 4. reading, 5. smiling
6. jumped /t/, 7. played /d/, 8. wanted /ed/
9. thankful, 10. fearless, 11. joyful
Matches: sunflower, football, cupcake, bookworm, starfish
1. sail+boat, 2. moon+light, 3. air+plane, 4. sea+shell, 5. birth+day
1. unhappy, 2. unsafe, 3. unkind, 4. unlock
5. reread, 6. rewrite, 7. rebuild
8. preview = view before, 9. disobey = not obey
1. teacher, 2. reader, 3. farmer, 4. player
5. tallest, 6. fastest, 7. kindest
8. kindness, 9. darkness, 10. happiness
11. create, 12. teach
1. 3, 2. 3, 3. 3
4. storm (or), 5. girl (ir), 6. farm (ar)
7. bow, 8. set
9. unhappy, 10. reread, 11. helper, 12. kindness