Grade 2 • Lesson 35: Their, There

Homophone Mastery

Distinguishing "Their" and "There": Confusion between their (possessive adjective) and there (adverb of place / expletive) is among the most frequent spelling errors in elementary writing. The lesson gives children an infallible rule: their must always accompany an object belonging to persons.

Key Section 2: Copying Analysis & Structural Notes

1. Their hats are black.
Analysis: Capitalized at start of sentence; their indicates ownership of the noun hats.

2. The boys wore their coats.
Analysis: their links directly to the boys and modifies the plural object coats.

3. The girls like their books.
Analysis: their modifies books, indicating the books belonging to the girls.

4. We play with their balls.
Analysis: their modifies the object of the preposition, balls.

Model Section 3: Exemplar Student Compositions with "There"

Adverb of Place (Pointing to Location):
• Exemplar 1: Please place your clean slates over there on the corner table.
• Exemplar 2: Look there across the green meadow to see the grazing sheep.

Introductory / Expletive "There":
• Exemplar 3: There are three sweet singing birds in the tall apple tree.
• Exemplar 4: There is a bright silver star shining in the evening sky.

Evaluation Focus	Exemplary (Proficient)	Developing (Needs Support)
Homophone Discrimination	Accurately spells their for possessive phrases and there for place/introductory statements.	Confuses their and there (e.g. writes "Look their" or "there coats").
Sentence Completeness	Composes two rich, grammatically complete statements for Section 3 with clear meaning.	Writes fragmented phrases lacking a subject or predicate.
Penmanship & Mechanics	Accurate cursive or print transcription; correct capitalization and final periods on all sentences.	Omitted capital letters; missing end periods; hurried letter spacing.

Lesson 35: Teacher Answer Key & Guide