Ohio adopted the Common Core State Standards for English language arts in 2010. This state-led initiative has resulted in a majority of the states sharing common guidelines for what skills and knowledge to teach in the English language arts. As such, Ohio teachers can use these standards to guide the development of their lesson plans.
By the end of grade two, Ohio students should be able to write using standard English conventions, including spelling. As part of this, they should be able to generalize spelling patterns. For example, the long e sound has several spelling patterns associated with it, including "ea" in treats and "ee" in tree. Students should also be able to use reference books such as dictionaries to check and fix spellings.
Reading is intimately tied to writing and spelling. By the end of grade two, students should be able to tell the difference between long and short vowels in regularly spelled one- and two-syllable words, such as bat, kitten and classroom. They should also be able to read irregularly-spelled words appropriate for the grade two level, such as have, said and two.
Students should know the relationships between spelling and sound for common groups of vowels, as with the "ow" sound in loud and cow. They should also be able to identify common words that have inconsistent correspondences between the spelling and sound, such as the different sounds of "ea" in heat and head.