New Mexico Grade 2 English

Explain how a character responds when a first plan changes

Follow a character’s changing plan in an original Grade 2 story, support a prediction, and practice a worked retelling with New Mexico English resources. New Mexico uses Common Core English expectations together with state additions. This activity addresses selected skills; use the full requirements and the school’s sequence for broader planning.

Curriculum reference: 2010 Common Core ELA/literacy standards, current New Mexico state-hosted copy, from the New Mexico adopted content standards directory.

New Mexico Grade 2 references for this activity

New Mexico uses the Common Core English language arts standards together with additional state expectations in NMAC 6.29.13. The selected Common Core references below identify this activity’s focus. The linked state additions include further cultural, oral-source, writing, and discussion work appropriate to each grade; read the full requirements and the school’s sequence.

NMAC 6.29.13.8(B)(3)(a) adds Grade 2 retelling, prediction, and identification of literary features. This activity selects retelling and prediction. The state’s related cultural and self-identity work needs teacher-selected materials and does not follow automatically from this short story. Read New Mexico’s additional English requirements (NMAC 6.29.13, PDF).

These selected reference labels identify an activity focus, with the grade column and PDF page linked separately. Read the complete standards selected by the school and its learning sequence, including reading, writing, language, speaking, and listening. This short original example does not fulfill the entire curriculum or establish a student’s grade-level proficiency.

The drawing that blew away

This original classroom example is separate from official assessment questions.

Nia laid a drawing on the outdoor table. Before she could show it to Jo, the wind lifted it onto the grass. Nia picked it up and placed a small stone on one corner. The next gust lifted the other corner.

Nia held the drawing with both hands. “We can look inside,” Jo said. Nia carried it to the classroom and set it on a desk. She and Jo leaned over it together. “I can show you the tiny details here,” Nia said.

Try the activity

Pause after the second gust. Predict how Nia might respond and give a story clue. Then read the ending. Explain what she tries first, why she changes the plan, and how the new place helps her show the drawing.

Follow the reasoning

At first Nia tries to keep the drawing on the outdoor table by weighting one corner. The second gust raises the other corner, showing that the first solution does not completely solve the problem. At the pause, holding more corners or moving somewhere sheltered would be reasonable predictions because the wind is moving the paper. The ending actually reports Jo’s suggestion and Nia’s move to the classroom. There, the drawing stays on a desk while they look at it. Her final words connect the new setting with her purpose: showing tiny details. A retelling should include the wind, the stone, the second gust, the move, and the shared look. It can describe her changing actions without inventing anger or claiming the wind stopped outside.

Notice what needs more practice

The stone does not hold every corner; that is the point of the second gust. Jo suggests going inside, while Nia carries the drawing. Avoid swapping their actions. A story may invite an inference about feelings, but this task asks for the action and the stated result. These characters and events are invented.

Use the next session to build independence

1. Retell the first attempt and the problem that remains.
2. Predict a response and explain the clue.
3. Check the ending and connect the new action with the result.

Choose a teacher-approved story from a different setting. Compare how the character responds to a difficulty. If children connect the story with their own experiences, let them describe those experiences themselves. New Mexico’s broader cultural and identity expectations require appropriate texts and discussion beyond this invented classroom example.

For more general reading and writing resources, visit the Grade 2 English Online Center.

New Mexico Grade 2 English: useful planning questions

Can two readers make different reasonable predictions?

Yes. Compare the textual clues supporting each prediction. Once the ending is read, separate what was predicted from what actually happened.

Which standards does the school use?

New Mexico uses the Common Core English language arts standards together with additional state expectations in NMAC 6.29.13. The selected Common Core references below identify this activity’s focus. The linked state additions include further cultural, oral-source, writing, and discussion work appropriate to each grade; read the full requirements and the school’s sequence. The school’s sequence also includes reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language work beyond this example.