National Standards Alignment — Grade 2
This document shows how the unit Stories Around the Table: Culture, Tradition, & Community addresses national standards across Reading, Writing, Speaking & Listening, Language, Science, and Social Studies. Each row names the lessons that teach the standard. Standards are drawn from the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for ELA/Literacy, Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and the C3 Framework (NCSS) for Social Studies. Food of the Week lessons are listed under the Speaking & Listening and Geography standards they practice.
What this unit covers, and what it doesn’t
Stories Around the Table teaches reading comprehension, writing, grammar, science, and social studies through one theme. It does not include phonics or math. Keep teaching your school’s phonics program and math curriculum every day alongside this unit.
Reading: Literature
ELA · CCSS Reading Standards for Literature · Grade 2
| Standard Code | Standard Language (Grade 2) | How This Unit Addresses the Standard |
|---|---|---|
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.1 | Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. | Students answer questions about key details in Gittel's Journey in W2 SS-L1 (Ellis Island Introduction & Read Aloud) and recall what the families in three read-alouds carried in W2 SS-L3 (Journeys & What We Carry). In W4 R-L2 (Using Key Details to Compare & Contrast), they support each comparison with a key detail from the text. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.2 | Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral. | Students recount stories in order in W1 R-L1 (Retelling: Beginning, Middle, and End), W2 R-L1 (Retelling: The Five Finger Retell), W2 R-L2 (Oral Retelling Practice with Sentence Starters), and W3 R-L1 (Writing a Retelling Paragraph). They find a story's central message in W3 R-L2 (Theme) and W4 R-L1 (Comparing & Contrasting Stories by the Same Author), the values behind the tall tales in W5 R-L2 (Tall Tale Heroes) and the West African folktale Anansi the Spider in W6 R-L2 (Comparing and Contrasting Tall Tales Across Cultures), what each author wants readers to remember in W6 R-L1 (Author Comparison), and the lesson each read-aloud passes down in W6 SS-L1 (Storytelling & Identity). |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3 | Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. | Students describe how the family in Watch the Stars Come Out faces its problem in W1 R-L2 (Story Elements: Characters, Setting, and Plot) and how John Henry meets the steam-drill challenge in W5 R-L2 (Tall Tale Heroes). |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.5 | Describe the overall structure of a story, including how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action. | Students retell the beginning, middle, and end in W1 R-L1 (Retelling: Beginning, Middle, and End), name the problem and solution in W1 R-L2 (Story Elements: Characters, Setting, and Plot), and retell each part with the Five Finger Retell in W2 R-L1 (Retelling: The Five Finger Retell), W2 R-L2 (Oral Retelling Practice with Sentence Starters), and W3 R-L1 (Writing a Retelling Paragraph). In W4 W-L1 (Drafting the Ending), they study how three mentor texts end before drafting their own endings. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.7 | Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot. | In W6 W-L2 (Adding Artifacts to Our Cookbook Stories), students look at what the illustrations in The Keeping Quilt, Thank You, Omu!, and other mentor texts show about each family's tradition, then add their own illustration to their family story. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.9 | Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures. | Optional extension only. In the Two John Henrys extension in W5 R-L2 (Tall Tale Heroes), students compare Julius Lester's and Ezra Jack Keats's versions of the John Henry legend: how each begins, what John Henry does, how the pictures and words feel, and how each ends. |
Reading: Informational Text
ELA · CCSS Reading Standards for Informational Text · Grade 2
| Standard Code | Standard Language (Grade 2) | How This Unit Addresses the Standard |
|---|---|---|
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.1 | Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in an informational text. | Students read an Immigrant Voice Card to answer who, where, when, and why in W3 SS-L2 (Immigrant Social Hour), and answer guiding questions from the holiday packets in W4 SS-L1 (Holidays Immigrants Bring to America) and the labor packets in W5 SS-L1 (Immigrant Contributions to Work & Labor). |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.5 | Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently. | In W6 W-L1 (How to Write a Recipe), students study real cookbooks and notice the ingredients list, numbered steps, times, and servings before writing their own recipe. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.7 | Explain how specific images contribute to and clarify a text. | In W4 SS-L1 (Holidays Immigrants Bring to America), each jigsaw group studies the pictures in its holiday packet before reading and says what the colors, symbols, and decorations show about the holiday. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.10 | Read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently. | Students read the labor information packets in small groups in W5 SS-L1 (Immigrant Contributions to Work & Labor) and the four innovator information pages in W5 SS-L2 (Immigrants and Innovation). |
Reading: Foundational Skills
ELA · CCSS Reading Foundational Standards · Grade 2
| Standard Code | Standard Language (Grade 2) | How This Unit Addresses the Standard |
|---|---|---|
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.2.4.A | Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding. | Students read independently with a set purpose (retelling, theme, or spotting exaggeration) in W1 R-L1 (Retelling: Beginning, Middle, and End), W2 R-L1 (Retelling: The Five Finger Retell), W3 R-L2 (Theme), and W5 R-L1 (What Are Tall Tales?). |
Writing
ELA · CCSS Writing Standards · Grade 2
| Standard Code | Standard Language (Grade 2) | How This Unit Addresses the Standard |
|---|---|---|
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.2 | Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section. | In W6 W-L1 (How to Write a Recipe), students write their family recipe for the class cookbook as an ingredients list followed by numbered steps. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.3 | Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure. | Students write one family story across the unit in the My Family, My Stories Organizer. They plan in W2 W-L2 (Planning the Story's Beginning, Middle, and End), draft in W3 W-L1 (Drafting the Beginning), W3 W-L2 (Drafting the Middle), and W4 W-L1 (Drafting the Ending), and add dialogue and specific details in W4 W-L2 (Dialogue Brings Stories to Life) and W5 W-L1 (Adding Small but Important Details). |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.5 | With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing. | Students revise their family stories by adding dialogue in W4 W-L2 (Dialogue Brings Stories to Life) and proper nouns and adjectives in W5 W-L1 (Adding Small but Important Details), then edit with a partner and the Polishing Checklist in W5 W-L2 (Polishing for Publication). |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.7 | Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., read a number of books on a single topic to produce a report; record science observations). | The class records shared observations of the class plants in the Plant Investigation Tracker in W3 Sci-L1 (Planting Our Investigation) and W4 Sci-L1 (Thriving vs. Struggling). Jigsaw groups research and chart one holiday in W4 SS-L1 (Holidays Immigrants Bring to America) and one kind of immigrant labor in W5 SS-L1 (Immigrant Contributions to Work & Labor). |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.8 | Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question. | Students recall family memories in W1 W-L1 (What's a Family Story?), write questions to gather family stories in W1 W-L2 (Generating Questions for Family Interviews), and use their interview notes in W2 W-L1 (How Heirlooms and Recipes Spark Stories). In science, they write what they observed and measured to answer questions about the class plants in W4 Sci-L1 (Thriving vs. Struggling), W5 Sci-L1 (Measuring and Analyzing Growth), and W6 Sci-L1 (Why Some Plants Thrive in America). In W6 SS-L2 (The Melting Pot of America), they gather facts on the gallery walk to answer how immigrants shaped America. |
Speaking & Listening
ELA · CCSS Speaking and Listening Standards · Grade 2
| Standard Code | Standard Language (Grade 2) | How This Unit Addresses the Standard |
|---|---|---|
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.1 | Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups. | Students talk in partners and small groups throughout the unit: the Culture Corners in W1 SS-L1 (What is American Culture?), the push and pull relay in W1 SS-L2 (Immigration to America), the family-story turn-and-talk in W1 W-L1 (What's a Family Story?), the Ellis Island debrief in W2 SS-L2 (Ellis Island Re-enactment), the linking-verb trios in W3 R-L3 (Linking Verbs), the enclaves discussion in W3 SS-L1 (Ethnic Enclaves in America), the Social Hour in W3 SS-L2 (Immigrant Social Hour), the jigsaws and stations in W4 SS-L1 (Holidays Immigrants Bring to America), W5 SS-L1 (Immigrant Contributions to Work & Labor), and W5 SS-L2 (Immigrants and Innovation), the holiday turn-and-talks in W4 SS-L2 (How Holidays Become American Traditions), fragment pairs in W5 R-L3 (Sentence Fragments), editing partners in W5 W-L2 (Polishing for Publication), the think-pair-share in W6 Sci-L1 (Why Some Plants Thrive in America), story sharing and the gallery discussion in W6 SS-L1 (Storytelling & Identity) and W6 SS-L2 (The Melting Pot of America), and cookbook groups in W6 W-L1 (How to Write a Recipe). Every Food of the Week lesson ends with a class discussion or turn-and-talk: W1 SS-L3 (Pizza), W2 SS-L4 (Bagels), W3 SS-L3 (Rice), W4 SS-L3 (Dumplings), W5 SS-L3 (Tacos), and W6 SS-L3 (Hot Dogs). |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.2 | Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media. | Students say what surprised them in the Ellis Island Virtual Field Trip video in W2 SS-L1 (Ellis Island Introduction & Read Aloud), discuss the Holidays That Adapted in America slideshow and the Heritage and Holidays video in W4 SS-L2 (How Holidays Become American Traditions), and name the exaggerations they heard in the Paul Bunyan read-aloud in W5 R-L1 (What Are Tall Tales?). |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.3 | Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to clarify comprehension, gather additional information, or deepen understanding of a topic or issue. | In W1 W-L2 (Generating Questions for Family Interviews), students write open-ended questions for an interview with a family member and learn to listen for follow-up questions. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.4 | Tell a story or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking audibly in coherent sentences. | Students retell stories aloud in W1 R-L1 (Retelling: Beginning, Middle, and End), W1 R-L2 (Story Elements: Characters, Setting, and Plot), W2 R-L1 (Retelling: The Five Finger Retell), and W2 R-L2 (Oral Retelling Practice with Sentence Starters), tell a classmate's immigrant story in W3 SS-L2 (Immigrant Social Hour), present their group's chart in W4 SS-L1 (Holidays Immigrants Bring to America) and W5 SS-L1 (Immigrant Contributions to Work & Labor), and read their family stories aloud in W6 SS-L1 (Storytelling & Identity). |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.5 | Create audio recordings of stories or poems; add drawings or other visual displays to stories or recounts of experiences to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings. | In W6 W-L2 (Adding Artifacts to Our Cookbook Stories), students add a drawing, a photo, or a sketch of an heirloom to their family story and recipe. The unit does not include audio recordings. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.6 | Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification. | In W2 R-L2 (Oral Retelling Practice with Sentence Starters), students use a sentence starter to retell each part of a story in a complete sentence. |
Language
ELA · CCSS Language Standards · Grade 2
| Standard Code | Standard Language (Grade 2) | How This Unit Addresses the Standard |
|---|---|---|
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.1 | Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. | Students learn action verbs in W1 R-L3 (Action Verbs), subjects and predicates in W2 R-L3 (Subject and Predicate), linking verbs and subject-verb agreement in W3 R-L3 (Linking Verbs), simple sentences in W4 R-L3 (Simple Sentences), and how to fix fragments in W5 R-L3 (Sentence Fragments). |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.1.F | Produce, expand, and rearrange complete simple and compound sentences. | Students build and write complete simple sentences in W2 R-L3 (Subject and Predicate), W3 R-L3 (Linking Verbs), W4 R-L3 (Simple Sentences), and W5 R-L3 (Sentence Fragments), and check for complete sentences when they edit in W5 W-L2 (Polishing for Publication). Compound sentences and expanding or rearranging sentences are not taught in this unit. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.2 | Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. | In W5 W-L2 (Polishing for Publication), partners use the Polishing Checklist to find spelling mistakes, missing words, and sentences that don't sound right in each other's family stories. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.2.C | Use an apostrophe to form contractions and frequently occurring possessives. | W6 R-L3 (Contractions) teaches contractions with the Contractions Cards. Possessives are not taught in this unit. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.5.A | Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., describe foods that are spicy or juicy). | Students add describing words for real foods, objects, and places from their own family stories in W5 W-L1 (Adding Small but Important Details). |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.6 | Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts. | In W5 W-L1 (Adding Small but Important Details), students study the proper nouns and adjectives in four mentor texts, then add their own to describe the people, places, and food in their family stories. |
Science
Next Generation Science Standards · Grade 2
| Standard Code | Standard Language (Grade 2) | How This Unit Addresses the Standard |
|---|---|---|
| NGSS 2-LS2-1 | Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow. | Students name what plants need in W2 Sci-L1 (People Brought Plants Too), plant a Light Plant and a Dark Plant in W3 Sci-L1 (Planting Our Investigation), observe them in W4 Sci-L1 (Thriving vs. Struggling), measure them in W5 Sci-L1 (Measuring and Analyzing Growth), and explain the results in W6 Sci-L1 (Why Some Plants Thrive in America). The investigation tests light only; both plants get the same water. |
| NGSS 2-LS2-2 | Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants. | In W6 Sci-L1 (Why Some Plants Thrive in America), partners play Be the Bee: a cotton-ball bee carries chalk “pollen” from one paper flower to another, and they tell what job the bee did. |
| NGSS 2-LS4-1 | Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats. | In W6 Sci-L1 (Why Some Plants Thrive in America), students look at crop photos placed on the Crops by Region map and talk about why different plants grow in different parts of the country. This is a first step toward the standard: students do not observe animals or compare habitats directly. |
Social Studies: Civics
C3 Framework · Dimension 2 (Civics) · K–2 Indicators
| Standard Code | Standard Language | How This Unit Addresses the Standard |
|---|---|---|
| C3.D2.Civ.2.K-2 | Explain how all people, not just official leaders, play important roles in a community. | In W5 SS-L1 (Immigrant Contributions to Work & Labor), students learn that railroad workers, farmers, factory workers, and builders, most of whom never became famous, built much of America. |
| C3.D2.Civ.7.K-2 | Apply civic virtues when participating in school settings. | In W6 SS-L1 (Storytelling & Identity), the class agrees on how to listen before students share their family stories: listen, don't judge or compare, and honor each story. |
Social Studies: Economics
C3 Framework · Dimension 2 (Economics) · K–2 Indicators
| Standard Code | Standard Language | How This Unit Addresses the Standard |
|---|---|---|
| C3.D2.Eco.6.K-2 | Explain how people earn income. | In W5 SS-L1 (Immigrant Contributions to Work & Labor), jigsaw groups learn the jobs immigrants took to earn wages for their families (railroads, farms, factories, and city building) and what made that work hard. |
Social Studies: Geography
C3 Framework · Dimension 2 (Geography) · K–2 Indicators
| Standard Code | Standard Language | How This Unit Addresses the Standard |
|---|---|---|
| C3.D2.Geo.2.K-2 | Use maps, graphs, photographs, and other representations to describe places and the relationships and interactions that shape them. | Students use photographs of Chinatown, Little Italy, the Lower East Side, and tenements to describe ethnic enclaves in W3 SS-L1 (Ethnic Enclaves in America), and use the Crops by Region map to describe where crops grow in W6 Sci-L1 (Why Some Plants Thrive in America). |
| C3.D2.Geo.6.K-2 | Identify some cultural and environmental characteristics of specific places. | Students share family foods, holidays, and traditions on the Culture Corners posters in W1 SS-L1 (What is American Culture?), describe life in ethnic enclaves in W3 SS-L1 (Ethnic Enclaves in America), study four holidays in W4 SS-L1 (Holidays Immigrants Bring to America), and compare how three holidays are celebrated in their home countries and in America in W4 SS-L2 (How Holidays Become American Traditions). They connect foods to specific cultures in W2 SS-L4 (Bagels), W3 SS-L3 (Rice), and W6 SS-L3 (Hot Dogs), and bring it together as American culture in W6 SS-L2 (The Melting Pot of America). |
| C3.D2.Geo.7.K-2 | Explain why and how people, goods, and ideas move from place to place. | Students sort push and pull reasons for immigration in W1 SS-L2 (Immigration to America), give their Ellis Island character a reason for coming in W2 SS-L1 (Ellis Island Introduction & Read Aloud), connect the re-enactment to those reasons in W2 SS-L2 (Ellis Island Re-enactment), and decide what they would carry to a new country in W2 SS-L3 (Journeys & What We Carry). Each Food of the Week lesson traces how one food came to America with immigrant families: W1 SS-L3 (Pizza), W2 SS-L4 (Bagels), W3 SS-L3 (Rice), W4 SS-L3 (Dumplings), W5 SS-L3 (Tacos), and W6 SS-L3 (Hot Dogs). |
Social Studies: History
C3 Framework · Dimension 2 (History) · K–2 Indicators
| Standard Code | Standard Language | How This Unit Addresses the Standard |
|---|---|---|
| C3.D2.His.2.K-2 | Compare life in specific historical time periods to life today. | Students compare how holidays were celebrated in their home countries long ago with how they are celebrated in America today in W4 SS-L2 (How Holidays Become American Traditions), and how people communicated before and after the telephone in W5 SS-L2 (Immigrants and Innovation). |
| C3.D2.His.3.K-2 | Generate questions about individuals and groups who have shaped a significant historical change. | Students ask each other questions about the real immigrants on the Immigrant Voice Cards in W3 SS-L2 (Immigrant Social Hour), and about Levi Strauss, Irving Berlin, Alexander Graham Bell, and Joseph Pulitzer at the Innovation Stations in W5 SS-L2 (Immigrants and Innovation). |
| C3.D2.His.4.K-2 | Compare perspectives of people in the past to those of people in the present. | After the Ellis Island re-enactment, students compare their own feelings with those of the immigrants who passed through Ellis Island in W2 SS-L2 (Ellis Island Re-enactment) and W2 SS-L3 (Journeys & What We Carry). |
| C3.D2.His.6.K-2 | Compare different accounts of the same historical event. | Students compare two stories of who first put a sausage in a bun, Charles Feltman’s cart at Coney Island and Anton Feuchtwanger’s gloves in St. Louis, and explain which they believe and why there might be more than one story in W6 SS-L3 (Hot Dogs). |
| C3.D2.His.14.K-2 | Generate possible reasons for an event or development in the past. | Students suggest why families would leave home and sort push and pull reasons in W1 SS-L2 (Immigration to America), and give reasons families went through Ellis Island instead of staying home in W2 SS-L2 (Ellis Island Re-enactment). |
| C3.D2.His.16.K-2 | Select which reasons might be more likely than others to explain a historical event or development. | Students choose which push or pull reason mattered most to most families and explain why in W1 SS-L2 (Immigration to America). |
Social Studies: Inquiry
C3 Framework · Dimension 1 (Developing Questions and Planning Inquiries) · K–2 Indicators
| Standard Code | Standard Language | How This Unit Addresses the Standard |
|---|---|---|
| C3.D1.1.K-2 | Explain why the compelling question is important to the student. | When the driving question is launched, students share why it matters to them in W1 SS-L1 (What is American Culture?). |
| C3.D1.2.K-2 | Identify disciplinary ideas associated with a compelling question. | Students name what they need to learn to answer the driving question on the Our Big Question + Need-to-Know chart in W1 SS-L1 (What is American Culture?). |
| C3.D1.3.K-2 | Identify facts and concepts associated with a supporting question. | Students check which Need-to-Know wonderings the Ellis Island lesson answered in W2 SS-L1 (Ellis Island Introduction & Read Aloud). |
| C3.D1.4.K-2 | Make connections between supporting questions and compelling questions. | Students return to the Our Big Question chart, connect what they learned across the unit to the driving question, and write the class’s answer in W6 SS-L3 (Hot Dogs). |
Grade Adaptability
Stories Around the Table is designed with flexible entry points that allow teachers to adjust depth, pacing, and expectations while remaining aligned to grade-level standards in reading, writing, and social studies. Below is a grade-band overview showing how the unit naturally meets expectations from Grades 1–4.
Grade 1 · Building Foundations — Read the mentor texts aloud and retell them on five fingers with picture support. Students draw and label each part of their family story and write one sentence for the beginning, middle, and end; the recipe becomes a labeled drawing with numbered steps. In Social Studies, focus on the words culture, tradition, and immigration and on one push and one pull reason.
Grade 2 · Deepening Understanding — Teach the unit as written: retelling and comparing stories, a family story with a beginning, middle, end, dialogue, and details, a recipe for the class cookbook, and the Social Studies arc from push and pull reasons through Ellis Island to how holidays and foods became part of American culture.
Grade 3 · Expanding Analysis and Explanation — Students compare themes across more texts and versions of tall tales, write a longer family story in paragraphs with a reflective ending, and use the labor and innovation pages to write a short report on one group of workers or one innovator. In Science, they graph plant growth and explain what the data shows.
Grade 4 · Applying and Synthesizing — Students write a multi-paragraph family history with quotes from their interview and a caption for their artifact, compare primary sources such as photos and newspaper pages, and trace how one tradition changed from its home country to America using evidence. Their plant investigation ends with a written conclusion backed by their measurements.