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Worksheet Grade 2 Social Studies & Civics

Blue Kettle Library's New Rain Garden: A Grade 2 Worksheet

A grade 2 worksheet about a fictional town library that flooded at its front door until neighbors built a rain garden, with key-detail and apply-it items.

Objectives

  1. Students will answer key-detail questions about a short text on a town rain garden.
  2. Students will explain how heavy rain changed how people used a town building.
  3. Students will name one place at their own school where a rain garden could go.

Vocabulary

Rain garden
A rain garden is a shallow planted dip in the ground that catches rain running off a roof or driveway and lets it soak slowly into the soil. Its deep-rooted plants help clean the water.

Also: soak up, runoff, creek, puddle

Teacher overview

The library in the fictional town of Blue Kettle sat at the bottom of a small slope, so every heavy rain sent water off the roof and the parking lot straight to the front door. Neighbors dug a low bed, filled it with soil and plants, and the puddle stopped forming. This worksheet uses that short story to practice key-detail questions and then asks students to apply the same idea to a wet spot at their own school.

Blue Kettle Library's New Rain Garden: A Grade 2 Worksheet — Grade 2 Social Studies & Civics
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Read aloud with your teacher.

The Puddle at the Library Door

Blue Kettle is a small town. Its library sits at the bottom of a little hill. The roof is wide. The parking lot is flat and hard.

When it rained hard, water ran off the roof. More water ran off the parking lot. All of it went down the walk. A big puddle sat at the front door.

People had to jump over the puddle. Some kids went home instead. The puddle was cold and gray. It carried oil and grit from the parking lot. When the puddle drained, that dirty water ran into Kettle Creek.

The town asked for help. Neighbors dug a low bed beside the walk. They filled it with soft soil. They put in grasses and small plants. They called it a rain garden.

Now the rain runs into the rain garden. The soil and the roots soak it up. The front door stays dry. Less dirty water reaches the creek.

Questions

  1. Where does the Blue Kettle library sit?
  2. What two places did the rain water run off before it reached the door?
  3. What sat at the front door when it rained hard?
  4. Who dug the rain garden?
  5. What did the neighbors put in the low bed?
  6. Where did the dirty water go when the puddle drained?
  7. Tell one way the puddle changed what people did at the library.
  8. Why is it better for Kettle Creek when the rain soaks into the garden?
  9. Your school has a wet spot after rain. Name one good place for a rain garden there.
  10. Write one sentence that tells why a town builds a rain garden.

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

Answer Key
  1. Answer: At the bottom of a little hill.
    The text says the library sits at the bottom of a little hill in Blue Kettle.
  2. Answer: The roof and the parking lot.
    The text says water ran off the wide roof and more ran off the flat, hard parking lot.
  3. Answer: A big puddle.
    The text says all the water went down the walk and a big puddle sat at the front door.
  4. Answer: Neighbors.
    The town asked for help, and neighbors dug the low bed beside the walk.
  5. Answer: Soft soil, grasses, and small plants.
    Accept any two of the three. The text names soil, grasses, and small plants.
  6. Answer: Into Kettle Creek.
    The text says the dirty water ran into Kettle Creek when the puddle drained.
  7. Answer: People had to jump over it, and some kids went home.
    Accept either detail. Both are stated in the third paragraph.
  8. Answer: The oil and grit stay out of the creek.
    The soil and roots soak up the water, so less dirty water reaches Kettle Creek.
  9. Answer: Answers will vary.
    Look for a real low spot the student can name, such as beside the blacktop, at the end of a downspout, or next to the bus loop, rather than a spot on a hill.
  10. Answer: Answers will vary.
    A strong sentence names both parts, that the garden soaks up rain and that it keeps dirty water out of a creek or off a walkway.

Differentiation

Support

Read the text one paragraph at a time and have these students point to the sentence that answers each question before writing anything. Give them a two-picture card, the door with a puddle and the door with a garden, to keep the before and after straight.

Extension

Ask these students to draw a labeled side view of the library walk showing where the water goes now, with arrows and the words roof, parking lot, and rain garden. They can also write one sentence saying what would happen if the rain garden were built at the top of the hill instead.

ELL supports

Pre-teach puddle, soak up, and soil by pouring a small cup of water onto a paper towel and onto a plastic lid so the difference is visible. Post the frame "The water ran off the ___." Accept short phrases for items 1 through 6.

Extensions

Walk the class outside the morning after a rain and mark every wet spot near the building with a cone or a chalk circle. Bring the list back inside, compare it to the library story, and pick one spot to describe in a short note to the office.