Worksheet Grade 2 English Language Arts

The New Sign at Teasel Pond: A Grade 2 Reading Worksheet

A grade 2 worksheet with a short read-aloud about a green pond and a new park sign, then key-detail questions, a helps-or-hurts sort, and two fact sentences.

Grade: Grade 2
Subject: English Language Arts
Material: Worksheet
Time: 20 min
Prep: No prep
Materials: None

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: Items one through six ask students to answer where, what, who, and why questions about key details in the short pond passage.

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 ten asks students to write two sentences that name one rule from the sign and use a fact from the passage to explain it, which practices the introduce and develop parts of the standard rather than a full informative piece.

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 answer key-detail questions about a short informational passage.
Students will sort two actions as helping or hurting a pond.
Students will write two sentences that explain one rule using a fact.

Vocabulary

Key words: pond, algae, trash, rule

Teacher overview

This worksheet builds key-detail comprehension on a water-pollution theme using a short passage about a fictional pond in Wrenford Park that turned green one spring. The passage is written for a grade 2 reader and can also be read aloud for students still building fluency. After reading, students answer who, what, where, and why questions, sort two actions as helping or hurting the pond, and write two sentences that explain one rule from the park's new sign. Many second graders believe that feeding bread to ducks is simply kind, so the passage names the chain from leftover bread to algae to green water directly rather than leaving students to infer it.

The New Sign at Teasel Pond: A Grade 2 Reading Worksheet — Grade 2 English Language Arts

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Read the passage, or listen as your teacher reads it.

Teasel Pond is in Wrenford Park. Ducks live at the pond. Frogs live there too. Last spring the water turned green. It smelled bad. Mr. Reyes works for the park. He walked around the pond to find out why. He found old bread on the bank. He found bags and cups in the grass. Rain washes bread and trash into the pond. Old bread feeds tiny green plants called algae. Too much algae turns the water green. Then the fish and frogs get less air. So the park put up a new sign. The sign has three rules. Feed the ducks corn from home, not bread. Put your trash in the can. Let the grass by the water grow long. Long grass slows the rain and holds the dirt. By fall the pond was clear again.

Where is Teasel Pond?
What color did the water turn last spring?
Who walked around the pond to find out why?
What did Mr. Reyes find on the bank?
Why does old bread hurt the pond?
What should people feed the ducks now?
Write the word from the passage that means tiny green plants.
Write H if it helps the pond, or W if it hurts the pond: throwing bread into the water.
Write H if it helps the pond, or W if it hurts the pond: putting your cup in the trash can.
Write two sentences for a friend. Name one rule from the new sign, and use a fact from the passage to tell why that rule helps.

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: In Wrenford Park. The first sentence of the passage places the pond there.
Answer: Green. The passage says the water turned green last spring and smelled bad.
Answer: Mr. Reyes. The passage says he works for the park and walked around the pond to find out why.
Answer: Old bread. The passage says he found old bread on the bank and bags and cups in the grass.
Answer: It feeds algae. The passage explains that old bread feeds tiny green plants called algae, and too much algae turns the water green so fish and frogs get less air.
Answer: Corn from home. The first rule on the sign says to feed the ducks corn from home instead of bread.
Answer: Algae. The passage defines algae in the same sentence as tiny green plants.
Answer: W. Bread in the water feeds algae, which is what turned the pond green.
Answer: H. Trash in the can cannot be washed into the pond by the rain.
Answer: Answers will vary. A full-credit answer names one of the three rules and uses a fact from the passage to explain it, such as saying that trash in the can stays out of the pond because rain washes loose trash in.

Differentiation

Support

Read the passage aloud twice and let students underline the sentence that answers each of items 1 through 4 before writing. For item 10, let them say both sentences aloud to a partner first and then copy them with help.

Extension

Ask students to write a fourth rule for the sign and one sentence of evidence from the passage that supports it. Challenge them to use the word because in that sentence.

ELL supports

Pre-teach pond, bread, trash, and rule with a quick sketch beside each word. Accept one-word or phrase answers for items 1 through 7, and let students draw the rule for item 10 and label the drawing while their English sentences develop.

Extensions

Have the class design the actual sign on chart paper, with one picture for each rule, and post it near the classroom sink or by a school door where families will see it at pickup.