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2nd grade · English Language Arts · Unit 11 of 12

Asking Questions and Finding Facts

Ask good questions, choose texts and learn topic words.

What your child practices

Using what you know, asking basic questions, choosing texts and facts for a purpose, and using topic words.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 2.2.7.1; 2.1.9.1 · asking research questions and collecting information from sources

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Start with a question, like “What do owls eat?”
  2. Choose a text about your topic, like an information book.
  3. Topic words belong together: planet and star go with space.

Example: Your question is “What do owls eat?” Which fact is most useful? “Owls eat mice.” or “Owls have feathers.” Your question is about food. Only one fact tells what owls eat. Answer: Owls eat mice.

Asking Questions and Finding Facts in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 11 of 12 in 2nd grade English Language Arts, after Text Features and before Media Detectives.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which is a question word?

    • why
    • blue
    • the

  2. Question 2

    You want to learn about snowshoe hares. Which text should you pick?

    • a book about northern animals
    • a book about cars
    • a cookbook

  3. Question 3

    What is a topic word for a text about weather?

    • pickle
    • ladder
    • temperature

  4. Question 4

    You find ten facts about owls. You must share only three. What should you do?

    • read all ten at once
    • pick facts at random
    • choose the facts that answer your question

  5. Question 5

    Which word belongs with the topic “water”?

    • engine
    • button
    • stream

  6. Question 6

    Some people know a lot about a topic and can answer questions. They are…

    • pretenders
    • experts
    • strangers

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