AC9E2LA06
Official content description
understand that connections can be made between ideas by using a compound sentence with 2 or more independent clauses usually linked by a coordinating conjunction
What AC9E2LA06 actually looks like when you teach it
Compound sentences give children a way to join ideas that they are already joining in speech. Most Year 2 writing is a run of short simple sentences, or one enormous sentence held together with and — and the second problem is the more common. Teach and, but and so first, because they cover most of what children actually need to say, and teach them by what they do: and adds, but contrasts, so shows a result. The test for a compound sentence is that both halves could stand alone, which links neatly back to the Year 1 work on complete ideas.
What the class will get wrong — and what to do about it
The error
Chaining clauses endlessly with and — "we went to the park and we had lunch and my sister fell over and we went home" — because and is the only joining word in active use.
How to confront it
Take one of these sentences from the child's own writing and rebuild it together, choosing a different conjunction for each join or splitting it into separate sentences. Their own writing makes the point better than an exercise does.
Ready to put on the board
We are learning to join two complete ideas into one compound sentence.
- I can find the two ideas in a compound sentence.
- I can choose and, but or so to join two ideas.
- I can check that both halves of my sentence would work on their own.
Join the halves
- Put and, but and so on the board with what each one does written underneath.
- Give pairs a set of sentence halves. They join two halves with whichever conjunction makes sense.
- Each pair reads out one compound sentence. The class checks that both halves would stand alone.
- Now the harder task: take the same two halves and join them with a different conjunction. Does the meaning change?
- Children find one and in their own writing book and try replacing it with but or so.
Free to use in your classroom. Written for AC9E2LA06, not adapted from another year level.
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The Year 2 English planning scaffold
A one-page planning sheet with the official achievement standard, every content description grouped by strand, and space for your assessment and week-by-week sequence. Print it and plan on paper, or use it as the skeleton for a unit.
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What Year 2 English students should achieve
Coverage is judged against the achievement standard — not by ticking every content description. These are the official Year 2 English standard sentences this code builds towards:
- They use text structures to organise and link ideas for a purpose.
- They share ideas, topic knowledge and appreciation of texts when they recount, inform or express an opinion, including details from learnt topics, topics of interest or texts.
- They write words using consistently legible unjoined letters.
- They create written and/or multimodal texts including stories to inform, express an opinion, adapt an idea or narrate for audiences.
- They use phonic and morphemic knowledge, and grammatical patterns to read unfamiliar words and most high-frequency words.
- They organise and link ideas, and use language features including topic-specific vocabulary and features of voice.
The Language progression either side of AC9E2LA06
A class can only meet this descriptor if they were taught the one before it. If yours hasn't, that's where the lesson starts — not here.
Taught before · Year 1
- AC9E1LA01understand how language, facial expressions and gestures are used to interact with others when asking for and providing information, making offers, exclaiming, requesting and giving commands
- AC9E1LA02explore language to provide reasons for likes, dislikes and preferences
- AC9E1LA03explore how texts are organised according to their purpose, such as to recount, narrate, express opinion, inform, report and explain
Builds towards · Year 3
- AC9E3LA01understand that cooperation with others depends on shared understanding of social conventions, including turn-taking language, which vary according to the degree of formality
- AC9E3LA02understand how the language of evaluation and emotion, such as modal verbs, can be varied to be more or less forceful
- AC9E3LA03describe how texts across the curriculum use different language features and structures relevant to their purpose
Other Year 2 Language codes
- AC9E2LA01investigate how interpersonal language choices vary depending on the context, including the different roles taken on in interactions
- AC9E2LA02explore how language can be used for appreciating texts and providing reasons for preferences
- AC9E2LA03identify how texts across the curriculum are organised differently and use language features depending on purposes
- AC9E2LA04understand how texts are made cohesive by using personal and possessive pronouns and by omitting words that can be inferred
- AC9E2LA05navigate print and screen texts using chapters, tables of contents, indexes, side-bar menus, drop-down menus or links
- AC9E2LA07understand that in sentences nouns may be extended into noun groups using articles and adjectives, and verbs may be expressed as verb groups
- AC9E2LA08understand that images add to or multiply the meanings of a text
- AC9E2LA09experiment with and begin to make conscious choices of vocabulary to suit the topic
Content description and achievement standard © Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), Australian Curriculum Version 9, used under CC BY 4.0. TeachKoala is not affiliated with or endorsed by ACARA.