Skip to the content
Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

How a Beaver Dam Makes a Pond

2nd grade nonfiction passage about beaver dams: 123 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

2nd grade nonfiction beaver dams 123 words

How a Beaver Dam Makes a Pond

A beaver likes to live near calm water. But a stream keeps moving. So the beaver builds a dam to slow it down.

First, the beaver cuts down small trees with its strong front teeth. Then it drags the sticks to the stream. It lays them across the water, side by side.

Next, the beaver packs mud and stones into the gaps. The dam gets thick and strong. The water cannot rush through, so it backs up behind the dam.

Soon the water spreads out and makes a pond. Now the beaver has a safe place to build a lodge. The lodge is a home made of sticks and mud. Fish, frogs, and ducks may come to live in the new pond too.

Questions

  1. What does a beaver use to cut down small trees? in the text

  2. What does the beaver pack into the gaps of the dam? in the text

  3. What forms behind the dam? in the text

  4. What is a lodge? in the text

  5. Why does the water back up behind the dam? think about it

  6. How might the new pond help other animals? think about it

Words to know

dam
a wall that holds back water
stream
a small, narrow river
pond
a small body of calm water
lodge
a beaver's home made of sticks and mud
Share

One passage, three levels

The same topic and facts written three ways, so a mixed class can read and talk about one text. Each group’s sheet shows only a shape; the key says which is which.

● Easier · 87 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.2

A beaver likes calm water. A stream is not calm. So the beaver builds a dam.

First, the beaver cuts small trees with its teeth. It drags the sticks to the stream. It lays them across the water.

Next, it packs mud and stones in the gaps. The dam gets strong. The water cannot get through.

The water backs up and makes a pond. Now the beaver can build a lodge. A lodge is a home of sticks and mud. Fish, frogs, and ducks may come too.

▲ This passage · 123 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 1.2

A beaver likes to live near calm water. But a stream keeps moving. So the beaver builds a dam to slow it down.

First, the beaver cuts down small trees with its strong front teeth. Then it drags the sticks to the stream. It lays them across the water, side by side.

Next, the beaver packs mud and stones into the gaps. The dam gets thick and strong. The water cannot rush through, so it backs up behind the dam.

Soon the water spreads out and makes a pond. Now the beaver has a safe place to build a lodge. The lodge is a home made of sticks and mud. Fish, frogs, and ducks may come to live in the new pond too.

■ Harder · 126 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.6

A beaver prefers to live beside calm water, but a stream never stays still. To slow the current down, the beaver constructs a dam.

To begin, the beaver gnaws through small trees with its powerful front teeth. Then it drags the branches to the stream and lays them across the water, side by side.

Afterward, the beaver packs mud and stones into every gap. The dam becomes thick and sturdy, and the water cannot rush through it, so the stream backs up behind the wall.

Before long, the water spreads out and forms a pond. The beaver now has a safe place to build its lodge, which is a home made of sticks and mud. Fish, frogs, and ducks may also move into the new pond.

Download as one PDF

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put dam, stream, pond and lodge on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 1 minute to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 5 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "How a Beaver Dam Makes a Pond"?

It was written for 2nd grade. It has 123 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 1.2. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are six. 4 ask for something the text says directly and 2 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 1 minute read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

Nothing you do here is sent to us. No sign-in, no ads.