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The Mayor Who Hired a Rain Cloud

2nd grade fiction passage about a cloud that follows a mayor: 134 words, five questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

2nd grade fiction a cloud that follows a mayor 134 words

The Mayor Who Hired a Rain Cloud

The town of Dry Creek had no rain for a whole summer. The grass was brown. The flowers hung their heads.

Mayor Bell had a plan. She put a sign on a tall hill. It said, "Wanted: one rain cloud. Free lunch."

That night, a small gray cloud floated down. "I will take the job," it said in a soft rumble.

The next day, the cloud followed Mayor Bell everywhere. It rained on her hat. It rained on her shoes. It even rained on her sandwich!

"You must water the flowers, not me," said the mayor, laughing.

So she walked a big loop around the town. The cloud followed her, and the rain fell on every garden. By dinner, the flowers stood up tall again, and the mayor had a dry sandwich at last.

Questions

  1. What did the sign on the hill say the town wanted? in the text

  2. What did the cloud follow Mayor Bell to do? in the text

  3. What did the cloud rain on besides her hat and shoes? in the text

  4. How did the mayor get the rain to fall on the gardens? in the text

  5. Why did the mayor walk around the whole town? think about it

Words to know

mayor
the leader of a town
rumble
a low, deep sound like far away thunder
garden
a place where people grow flowers or food
loop
a path that goes around in a circle
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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 · 116 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade -0.1

Dry Creek had no rain all summer. The grass was brown. The flowers were sad.

Mayor Bell had a plan. She put a sign on a hill. It said, "Wanted: one rain cloud. Free lunch."

That night, a small gray cloud came down. "I will take the job," it said.

The next day, the cloud went where the mayor went. It rained on her hat. It rained on her shoes. It rained on her sandwich!

"Rain on the flowers, not me," said the mayor, laughing.

So she walked a big loop around town. The cloud went too. Rain fell on every garden. The flowers stood up tall, and the mayor had a dry sandwich at last.

▲ This passage · 134 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 1.4

The town of Dry Creek had no rain for a whole summer. The grass was brown. The flowers hung their heads.

Mayor Bell had a plan. She put a sign on a tall hill. It said, "Wanted: one rain cloud. Free lunch."

That night, a small gray cloud floated down. "I will take the job," it said in a soft rumble.

The next day, the cloud followed Mayor Bell everywhere. It rained on her hat. It rained on her shoes. It even rained on her sandwich!

"You must water the flowers, not me," said the mayor, laughing.

So she walked a big loop around the town. The cloud followed her, and the rain fell on every garden. By dinner, the flowers stood up tall again, and the mayor had a dry sandwich at last.

■ Harder · 159 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.2

The town of Dry Creek had not seen a single drop of rain for an entire summer. The grass had turned brown, and the flowers drooped sadly in their beds.

Mayor Bell came up with a clever plan. She nailed a sign to a tall hill that read, "Wanted: one rain cloud. Free lunch included."

That very night, a small gray cloud drifted down from the sky. "I would be glad to take the job," it said in a soft, grumbly rumble.

The next day, the cloud followed Mayor Bell wherever she went. It drizzled on her hat and splashed her shoes. It even soaked her sandwich!

"You are supposed to water the flowers, not me," said the mayor, laughing.

So she marched in a big loop around the whole town, and the cloud trailed along behind her. Rain fell on every garden. By dinner, the flowers stood tall once again, and the mayor finally ate a dry sandwich.

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 mayor, rumble, garden and loop on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the story 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 retell the story in three sentences: how it began, what the problem was, and how it ended.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "The Mayor Who Hired a Rain Cloud"?

It was written for 2nd grade. It has 134 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 1.4. 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 five. 4 ask for something the text says directly and 1 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.

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