Classroom activity Grade 2 English Language Arts

Reporters on Gilder Street: A Grade 2 Storm Drain Interview

A 40-minute grade 2 activity where partners trade roles as reporter and street crew member, ask question-word questions from fact cards, and write a news line.

Grade: Grade 2
Subject: English Language Arts
Material: Classroom activity
Time: 40 min
Prep: Moderate prep
Materials: Printed student handout for every student, Six fact cards cut apart for each pair, Six question-word cards cut apart for each pair, Clipboards or hard folders

Standards

RI.2.1 Common Core ELA

Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

How this material aligns: Students ask and answer who, what, where, when, why, and how questions to pull key details out of the printed crew fact cards.

All materials for RI.2.1 →

W.2.2 Common Core ELA

Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

How this material aligns: Item seven asks students to introduce the topic of drain cleaning and develop it with a fact recorded during the interview, which practices the introduce and develop parts of the standard in a two-sentence form.

All materials for W.2.2 →

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This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-09-03.

Objectives

Students will ask questions using who, what, where, when, why, and how.
Students will record a key detail from a partner's fact card.
Students will write two informative sentences using one recorded fact.

Vocabulary

Storm drain: A storm drain is the grate at the edge of a street that swallows rainwater and sends it through pipes to the nearest creek or river. That water is usually not treated, so only rain belongs down the drain.

Also: grate, grit, clog, reporter

Teacher overview

Partners take turns as a reporter and as a member of a street crew that cleans storm drains in the fictional town of Rowan Bend. The reporter draws a question-word card and must build a real question from it; the crew member answers only from the matching fact card. The structure of each round matches the standard closely, because a student cannot get the answer without forming a who, what, where, when, why, or how question first. The cards also address a common assumption, that a storm drain carries anything away and cleans it on the way; the cards make clear that leaves and grit clog the drain and that the water runs to a creek rather than to a treatment plant.

Activity Directions

Setup (5 min). Pair students. Give each pair one set of six fact cards, one set of six question-word cards face down, and give every student a handout and a clipboard. Fact cards stay with whoever is playing the crew member.
Model one round (6 min). Take the crew role yourself and ask a volunteer to be the reporter. The volunteer draws the card that says why, forms a question aloud, and you answer from the matching fact card. Show the class how the reporter writes only the answer, in a few words, on the handout.
Round one (8 min). In each pair, the reporter draws all six question-word cards one at a time, forms a question for each, and records the answer on items 1 through 6. The crew member reads only from the fact card that matches. Neither partner may show the cards to the other.
Swap roles (8 min). Partners trade cards and roles. The new reporter asks all six questions and fills in any items left blank or checks the answers already written. Both students should leave this round with all six items recorded.
Compare and correct (5 min). Pairs sit side by side, lay the six fact cards face up, and check each recorded answer against its card. Students fix any answer that does not match.
Write the news line (6 min). Each student writes item 7, two sentences for the class news board, beginning with a topic sentence and using one fact from the interview.
Debrief (2 min). Ask two students to read item 7 aloud. Then ask the class one question: if the crew stopped cleaning the drains on Gilder Street, what would happen the next time it rained hard, and what evidence from a card supports that answer? The activity ends once every pair has checked all six answers and each student has written a news line.

Reporters on Gilder Street: A Grade 2 Storm Drain Interview — Grade 2 English Language Arts

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

Fact cards for the crew member

Print the fact cards on a separate page and cut them apart; the reporter's handout shows only the Reporter notes.

Who: I am Ms. Baptiste. I work on the street crew in the town of Rowan Bend. My crew takes care of the storm drains on Gilder Street.
What: We use a vacuum truck. It has a long hose. The hose pulls leaves, grit, and mud out of the drain.
Where: Water from these drains runs to Sparrow Creek. It does not go to a plant first.
When: We clean every drain each fall, after the leaves drop. We come back again in spring.
Why: Leaves and grit clog the drain. A clogged drain makes the street flood. Flood water can reach the school steps.
How: We lift the metal grate. We drop the hose in. Then we set the grate back and sweep the curb.

Reporter notes

Who takes care of the storm drains on Gilder Street?
What machine does the crew use?
Where does the water from these drains go?
When does the crew clean the drains?
Why does the crew clean the drains?
How does the crew get the leaves out of the drain?
Write two sentences for the class news board. Start with a topic sentence. Add one fact you wrote down today.

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key

Answer: Ms. Baptiste and her street crew in Rowan Bend. The who card names her and her crew.
Answer: A vacuum truck with a long hose. The what card says the hose pulls leaves, grit, and mud out of the drain.
Answer: To Sparrow Creek. The where card adds that the water does not go to a plant first.
Answer: Each fall, after the leaves drop, and again in spring. Both times appear on the when card.
Answer: Because leaves and grit clog the drain and a clogged drain makes the street flood.
The why card also notes that flood water can reach the school steps.
Answer: They lift the metal grate and drop the hose in. The how card ends with setting the grate back and sweeping the curb.
Answer: Answers will vary. A full-credit news line has a topic sentence naming the crew or the drains and one accurate fact from the cards, such as the vacuum truck or the fall cleaning schedule.

Differentiation

Support

Give these students the six question words printed on their handout beside a picture cue so they do not have to hold the word in memory while forming the question. Let them record answers as single words or short phrases, and give the frame for item 7: "The crew on Gilder Street ___. They ___."

Extension

Ask the reporter to add one follow-up question of their own after each card, such as what the crew does with the leaves after the truck is full, and to mark on the handout which questions the fact cards could not answer.

ELL supports

Pre-teach grate, grit, and clog by showing a drawing of a grate with leaves piled on it. Let partners rehearse each question orally twice before the round begins, and accept a labeled drawing plus one sentence for item 7 while English sentences are still developing.

Extensions

Send one pair, with an adult, to photograph or sketch the nearest grate on school grounds, then post the sketch with the class news lines on a hallway board titled with the street name and the creek it drains to.