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2nd grade · English Language Arts · Unit 9 of 12

Reading Detectives

Clues, feelings and who is telling it

What your child practices

Reading short texts to work out who is telling the story, what will happen next, how characters feel, and how things are the same and different.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 2.1.4.1; 2.1.6.1 · asking and answering who, what, where, when, why and how questions, and who tells a story

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Use clues in the text to figure out why characters do things.
  2. If the story says “I”, a character is telling it. If it says “he” or “she”, someone outside the story is.
  3. Steps to follow use order words like first, next and last.

Example: Lena put bread down, added jam, then put the other slice on top. What did Lena do last? “then” shows what came last. The last step was the other slice. Answer: put the other slice on top

Reading Detectives in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 9 of 12 in 2nd grade English Language Arts, after Word Pictures and before Text Features.

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

    How are Mochi and Biscuit the same?

    Cat and Dog Day

    Jay has a cat named Mochi. Mochi likes to sit by the window and watch birds.

    Ana has a dog named Biscuit. Biscuit likes to dig in the garden.

    Both animals love treats.

    • Both love treats.
    • Both dig in the garden.
    • Both watch birds.

  2. Question 2

    Which animal is more likely to get muddy paws?

    Cat and Dog Day

    Jay has a cat named Mochi. Mochi likes to sit by the window and watch birds.

    Ana has a dog named Biscuit. Biscuit likes to dig in the garden.

    Both animals love treats.

    • Mochi
    • Biscuit
    • neither

  3. Question 3

    How are Mochi and Biscuit different?

    Cat and Dog Day

    Jay has a cat named Mochi. Mochi likes to sit by the window and watch birds.

    Ana has a dog named Biscuit. Biscuit likes to dig in the garden.

    Both animals love treats.

    • Mochi watches birds. Biscuit digs.
    • Mochi digs. Biscuit watches birds.
    • They do the same things.

  4. Question 4

    What kind of text is this?

    Planting Day

    First, Kenji dug a small hole. Next, he put the seed inside.

    Then he covered it with soil and gave it water.

    Finally, he put a sign in the ground.

    • a poem
    • steps to follow in order
    • a made-up fairy tale

  5. Question 5

    What did Kenji do last?

    Planting Day

    First, Kenji dug a small hole. Next, he put the seed inside.

    Then he covered it with soil and gave it water.

    Finally, he put a sign in the ground.

    • put a sign in the ground
    • covered the seed
    • dug a hole

  6. Question 6

    What did Kenji do right after he dug the hole?

    Planting Day

    First, Kenji dug a small hole. Next, he put the seed inside.

    Then he covered it with soil and gave it water.

    Finally, he put a sign in the ground.

    • put in the seed
    • watered it
    • made a sign

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