Reading passage Grade 2 Health & Consumer Science

The Water Letter That Comes to Winslow Lane Each Year

A grade 2 read-aloud about the yearly water quality letter that arrives at one family's home, with six questions on who checks the town's water and why.

Grade: Grade 2
Subject: Health & Consumer Science
Material: Reading passage
Time: 25 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: Questions 1 through 5 ask what, where, who, and why about key details stated directly in the Winslow Lane read-aloud 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: Question 6 asks students to write two explanatory sentences that introduce the yearly water letter and tell a friend what it is for.

All materials for W.2.2 →

Download Word file

This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-07-23.

Objectives

Students will answer who, what, where, and why questions about a short informational text.
Students will explain why a town checks its drinking water on the way to the tap.
Students will write two sentences telling a friend what the yearly water letter is for.

Vocabulary

Key words: letter, check, pipes, safe

Teacher overview

Community water systems send their customers a water quality report at least once a year, yet many children never learn what that notice is for. This read-aloud follows one family on Winslow Lane as they open the letter at the kitchen table, which gives second graders a first look at a consumer document they will meet again as adults. The passage stays with what the letter does rather than with any specific measurement, so it works in any district, and the questions move from stated details to the reason behind the testing.

Read the passage aloud twice, once for the story and once with students following along, then work the questions as a class or in pairs.

The Water Letter That Comes to Winslow Lane Each Year — Grade 2 Health & Consumer Science

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Passage

Read aloud to the class.

The Letter That Comes Each Year

Every spring, a letter comes to the homes on Winslow Lane. It is not a bill. It is a letter about the town's drinking water.

Dev's family reads it at the kitchen table. The letter tells what is in the water. It tells who checked the water. It tells how many times they checked it.

Dev asked his mom why the town checks the water so much. She said the water has a long way to go. It starts at the water plant. Then it moves through pipes under the street. Workers check it along the way. They want it to be safe when it reaches the tap.

The letter has a phone number at the end. A family can call and ask a question. Dev's mom said that is the best part of the letter. You do not have to guess about your water. You can ask.

Dev put the letter on the fridge with a magnet. Now he knows what it is. It is the town telling his family how the water is checked on the way to the tap.

Questions

What comes to the homes on Winslow Lane each spring?
Where does Dev's family read the letter?
Name two things the letter tells the family.
Why does the town check the water so much? Use the text to tell why.
What can a family do with the phone number at the end of the letter?
Write two sentences. Tell a friend what the yearly water letter is for.

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: A letter about the town's drinking water. The passage says it comes every spring and that it is not a bill.
Answer: At the kitchen table. The second paragraph places the family at the kitchen table when they read it.
Answer: What is in the water and who checked it. The passage also lists how many times the water was checked, so any two of those three earn full credit.
Answer: Because the water travels a long way. The passage explains that water starts at the plant and moves through pipes under the street, so workers check it along the way to keep it safe at the tap.
Answer: Call and ask a question. Dev's mom calls that the best part, because a family can ask instead of guessing.
Answer: Answers will vary. A full-credit response has two sentences that name the letter and what it does, for example: "The water letter comes once a year. It tells your family what is in the water and who checked it."

Differentiation

Support (below grade level)

Read one paragraph at a time and ask the question that goes with it before moving on. Give these students a copy with the answers to questions 1 and 2 underlined. For question 3, offer three picture cards showing a drop of water, a worker with a test tube, and a calendar, and let students choose two and say why.

Extension (above grade level)

Ask these students to write the three questions they would call and ask if their family got this letter, then decide which one they would ask first and why. A second challenge is to explain what Dev's family would still not know if the letter never came.

ELL supports

Pre-teach letter, check, pipe, and safe using a real envelope, a length of plastic pipe or a paper tube, and a gesture for checking. Pause after each paragraph and ask the class to retell it in one sentence. Provide the frames "The letter tells ___" and "Workers check the water because ___" for questions 3 and 4.

Extensions

Bring in a real notice from your own water system, if one is available, and let students find the phone number on it without reading the rest. Some classes write a class question, send it, and share the answer, which shows students that the number at the bottom of the page belongs to a person who answers.