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2nd grade · English Language Arts · Unit 9 of 14

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.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 2.8(B); 2.10(E) · comparing characters and noticing who tells the 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 Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 9 of 14 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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    Who is telling this story?

    The Lost Mitten

    Priya found a small red mitten in the snow. It was wet and cold.

    She hung it on the fence so its owner could see it.

    The next day, a boy ran up and shouted, “That's mine!”

    • the boy
    • someone outside the story
    • Priya

  2. Question 2

    How do we know the boy was happy to see the mitten?

    The Lost Mitten

    Priya found a small red mitten in the snow. It was wet and cold.

    She hung it on the fence so its owner could see it.

    The next day, a boy ran up and shouted, “That's mine!”

    • He was wearing a hat.
    • He shouted, “That's mine!”
    • He walked away.

  3. Question 3

    Why did Priya hang the mitten on the fence?

    The Lost Mitten

    Priya found a small red mitten in the snow. It was wet and cold.

    She hung it on the fence so its owner could see it.

    The next day, a boy ran up and shouted, “That's mine!”

    • Because she did not like it.
    • So it could dry for her.
    • So its owner could find it.

  4. Question 4

    How did the child feel at the start?

    Thunder Night

    I pulled the blanket up to my nose. Thunder rumbled outside my window.

    Then I heard a soft scratch. My cat Pip jumped onto the bed and curled up beside me.

    Soon, my heart felt calm and my eyes grew heavy.

    • excited
    • scared
    • bored

  5. Question 5

    Who is telling the story?

    Thunder Night

    I pulled the blanket up to my nose. Thunder rumbled outside my window.

    Then I heard a soft scratch. My cat Pip jumped onto the bed and curled up beside me.

    Soon, my heart felt calm and my eyes grew heavy.

    • Pip the cat
    • an outside narrator
    • the child, using I

  6. Question 6

    What will the child most likely do next?

    Thunder Night

    I pulled the blanket up to my nose. Thunder rumbled outside my window.

    Then I heard a soft scratch. My cat Pip jumped onto the bed and curled up beside me.

    Soon, my heart felt calm and my eyes grew heavy.

    • go outside
    • start a game
    • fall asleep

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