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The Mail Carrier

2nd grade nonfiction passage about community helpers: 129 words, five questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

2nd grade nonfiction community helpers 129 words

The Mail Carrier

Every day, a mail carrier brings letters and packages to homes and shops. Rain or shine, the mail has to get through.

The day starts early at the post office. The mail carrier puts the mail in order, so the letters for each street are together. Then the mail goes into a truck or a bag.

On the route, the mail carrier stops at each house. Some people get a card from a friend. Some get a box from far away. Some get bills or a new library book.

Mail carriers walk many miles in a day. They need to know the streets well. They also know the neighbors, and they say hello to everyone. Many people think of the mail carrier as a friendly part of the neighborhood.

Questions

  1. What does a mail carrier bring to homes and shops? in the text

  2. What does the mail carrier do at the post office before the route begins? in the text

  3. What are two things people might get in the mail? in the text

  4. Why does a mail carrier need to know the streets well? think about it

  5. Why do many people think of the mail carrier as a friendly part of the neighborhood? think about it

Words to know

route
the path someone follows to get to many places
package
something wrapped up to be sent in the mail
neighbor
a person who lives near you
post office
a place where mail is sorted and sent

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 route, package, neighbor and post office 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 4 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 "The Mail Carrier"?

It was written for 2nd grade. It has 129 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 3.3. 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. 3 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.

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