GETTING STARTED
If you are new to the LLATL curriculum visit the Program Philosophy for 1st and 2nd grade levels, 3rd-8th grade levels, and High School - American Literature.  Or visit the Products Overview page for a guide to all the grade levels available in the LLATL series.

Looking for information for Another Grade Level?
Want to read About The Authors or Frequently Asked Questions????


Welcome to Learning Language Arts Through Literature, The Red Book, which is part of The Common Sense Reading Program.  A complete reading and phonics program in one package.  This comprehensive curriculum covers everything needed for the second grade.  A Skills Index explains the elements of each lesson, giving teachers security about the comprehensiveness.  Whether you used our first grade, The Blue Book, program or not, you will delight seeing your students grow in confidence as they expand their love of reading.

The Common Sense Reading Program is the simplest, most effective method for reading instruction available today.  Perfect for home schooling the easy-to-use format is both understandable for the teacher and enjoyable for the student.  The authors relied heavily on Dr. Ruth Beechick's principles, as outlined in A Home Start in Reading.  This sound and proven method ensures that the necessary grammar and reading skills are taught.   Higher order thinking skills usually overlooked by other programs challenge your student into higher learning.
We are honored to be a part of the continuing process of opening-up the wonderful world of reading to your student, using the common sense approach.

The Integrated Language Approach has the benefits of all teaching methods.  By working with pieces of real literature, you focus on English grammar, reading, vocabulary, spelling, writing, thinking skills, and penmanship.  Your student has the best advantage for learning skills in this effective and lasting manner.

Looking for The Red Book Scope and Sequence?  Want to read About The Authors?  Like information on The Red Book Program Overview?

The Red Book
Second Grade Skills
Program Features

The Red Book begins with a short review of first grade skills and continues in second grade skills.

Your students will learn second grade reading skills with the exciting stories and clever illustrations in the six readers that come with the program.  Learning important grammar and writing skills in the context of a story makes them meaningful to your students and enhances your students' retention.

Story folders are found in the Student Activity Book.  Classic read aloud books are found at your local library.  Reading stories aloud to your students benefits them in listening, story writing, and thinking skills.  Coordinated activities reinforce these skills in an effective and exciting way. 

Phonics is taught in a systematic manner with continual review.  A systematic phonics approach also helps your students enjoy successful reading quickly.     

Cut and paste activities teach your students important grammar and phonics skills.   Ideal for all types of learners.

Word wheels, flip books, and games make phonics learning fun and interesting for your students.  These same activities teach poetry, sentence structure and more for the advanced reader.

In The Red Book program your students will review the formation of all letters and numbers, as well as the use of punctuation marks.  The attractive (write-on) display pages used in the Student Activity Book give your students a reason to use their best handwriting.

Special instructions improve your students' spelling in weekly word lists and in their own writing.  Also spelling words are  reviewed with puzzles and games.

Using The Red Book program, which includes crucial higher-order thinking skills  not taught in most phonics programs, you can be sure your students receive all they need to be effective readers.

Higher-thinking skills and reading skills are fun, effective and easy to learn with our unique and personalized activities that include acting out and creating stories.

Easy To Use - Effective - Complete

Our program uses a fully integrated approach as it takes your students through all the activities needed to learn phonics, reading, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, handwriting, creative writing, higher-order thinking skills, and more.

Just turn to Lesson 1 and begin teaching.  The authors have done the work for you in an easy-to-follow format needing little or no preparation.  Perfect for home schooling or for use in the traditional classroom setting.

• All the phonics skills are listed for each lesson.
• A materials list in conveniently located at the beginning of each lesson.
• No preparation is needed because you read the lessons as you teach.
• Higher-order thinking skill questions are italicized for your convenience.
• Answers are in bold type beside the questions for quick and easy reference.
• Examples and diagrams are easy to follow and located in the lessons.
• Easy reference to the Student Activity Book is provided.

LLATL-The Red Book 2nd Grade Teacher Book

LLATL-The Red Book 2nd Grade Student Activity Book

Scope and Sequence

Phonics
• long vowel sounds • review first grade phonics • r-controlled vowels: ar, ear, er, ir, ur • root words • short vowel sounds • sounds of: au, augh, aw, ay, ea, ee, ei, ew, ie, oi, oo, or, ou, ough, ow, oy, ue, ui • sounds of: al, ch, el, le, nd, sh, th, tion, ture, war, wor • sounds of : a, c, g, s, y • silent consonant in: ck, dge, gn, igh, kn, mb, ph, tch, wh, ur • syllabication • suffix sounds • words families

Spelling
• copy words • games • how to study words • puzzles • review phonics • spelling tips • suffix

Reading
• cause and effect • character development • compound words • comprehension •context clues • dialogue • discussion of context • drawing conclusions • facts • fiction • illustrations • main idea • non-fiction • onomatopoeia • opinion • oral reading • ordinal numbers • plot poetry • poetry • reading aloud • real and make-believe • recalling detail • rhyme • setting • summary • syllables

Grammar
• adjectives • alphabetical order • antonyms • apostrophes • articles • capitalization • commas • common noun • comparative adjective • conjunctions • contractions • days of the week • declarative sentences • exclamation marks • exclamatory sentences • homonyms • hyphen • interrogative sentences • irregular nouns • months of the year • nouns • number words • past tense • periods • plural nouns • possessive nouns • predicate • prefix: un • present tense • pronouns • proper nouns • question marks • quotation marks • singular noun • subject • suffixes: ed,er,est,ful,ing,ly,y • superlative adjectives • synonyms • verbs

Composition
• address • copying literature • creative writing • dates • descriptive writing • editing • invitations • letter writing • list • narration • paragraph • recording information • report • writing from dictation

Research and Study Skills
• atlas • dictionary • encyclopedia • library • map • parts of a book • parts of a story • survey • thesaurus • time line

Higher Order Thinking Skills
• alphabetical order • calendar • categorizing • compare and contrast • context clues • describing • details • drawing conclusions • evaluation of a story • following directions • grouping • inferences • interpreting illustrations • making a list • matching • memorization • ordinal sequencing • patterns • personal application • predicting outcome • real and make-believe • retelling a story • story recall • sequencing

Creative Expression / Games
• book making • bingo • calendar • card making • diorama • drama • illustrating • interpreting illustrations • poetry • nature walk • oral presentation • pantomime • plays • puppetry • riddles

Penmanship
• lower case letters manuscript • upper case letters manuscript • numbers • punctuation • sentences