2nd grade reading comprehension

A little more to read

Second grade passages run about 92 to 101 words, so there is more to hold in mind than on the 1st grade sheet. The print is still large, a little smaller than first grade, and the paragraphs are short. Sentences get longer and a few less familiar words appear, but no formal level such as a Lexile measure is claimed for them.

Several questions ask the reader to use words like who, what, why and how, which is the kind of question the grade 2 reading standards name.

What prints

The title is "2nd Grade Reading Comprehension". The instructions line sits below it, then the bold passage title and the text. Questions follow the passage.

• Three multiple-choice questions, each with three choices in a single column. Every choice has a small lettered circle to mark.
• One written question with two ruled lines, spaced for second grade handwriting.

On the key page each right choice is ringed in color, and the model reply to the written question fills the top ruled line.

What is in the rotation

• The Bee Dance, an article on how bees share where food is.
• The New Boy, a story about a child on his first days at a new school.
• Penguin Dads, an article about how penguin fathers care for eggs.
• The Lost Mitten, a story about a missing mitten.
• From Seed to Sunflower, an article that follows a plant as it grows.

The settings

• Grade is set to 2nd grade here. You can pick 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th. New problems chooses another 2nd grade passage, and the same one can come up twice.

Worked example: The New Boy

Omar is new at school and eats lunch alone. Lena comes over with markers and asks if he likes to draw, and soon other kids gather to look at his dragon drawings.

Question 1 asks how Omar felt at the start of lunch: proud, lonely or silly. The text says he sat alone and his stomach felt tight, so the answer is "lonely". Question 3 is harder: why did other kids come to the table? The choices are that they wanted markers, that they wanted to see the drawings, or that they were hungry. Only one fits the sentence about the notebook.

The written question is "How did Omar feel at the end of the story? How do you know?" The model answer is "Happy. He could not wait to come back to school." Ask for the second half, because naming the feeling is not enough. The words after "how do you know" are where a child learns to point at the text.

Using it well

Have the child underline the sentence that supports each answer. When a wrong choice is circled, ask which words in the text made it tempting. If this page is easy, try 3rd grade reading comprehension, or work on spelling with 2nd grade spelling words.

Sources

1. Common Core State Standards: Reading Literature, Grade 2 (RL.2.1, RL.2.3) thecorestandards.org
2. Common Core State Standards: Reading Informational Text, Grade 2 (RI.2.1, RI.2.2) thecorestandards.org
3. Institute of Education Sciences: Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade (WWC practice guide) ies.ed.gov