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The Water Cycle

2nd grade nonfiction passage about weather and water: 116 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

2nd grade nonfiction weather and water 116 words

The Water Cycle

Water is always on the move. It goes around and around in a path called the water cycle.

First, the sun warms the water in seas, lakes, and puddles. Some of the water turns into a gas called water vapor. This is called evaporation. The vapor rises into the air.

High in the sky, the air is cold. The vapor cools and turns back into tiny drops of water. This is called condensation. The drops join to make a cloud.

When the drops get big and heavy, they fall as rain or snow. This is called precipitation.

The water runs into streams and rivers. Then it flows back to the sea, and the cycle starts again.

Questions

  1. What is the water cycle? in the text

  2. What warms the water so that it evaporates? in the text

  3. What is water vapor? in the text

  4. What happens to the vapor high in the sky? in the text

  5. What are two ways water falls from clouds? in the text

  6. Why is it called a cycle? think about it

Words to know

evaporation
when water turns into a gas and rises into the air
water vapor
water in the form of a gas that you cannot see
condensation
when a gas cools and turns back into drops of water
precipitation
water that falls from clouds, such as rain or snow
cycle
something that happens in the same order again and again

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 evaporation, water vapor, condensation, precipitation and cycle 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 6 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 Water Cycle"?

It was written for 2nd grade. It has 116 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 3.1. 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. 5 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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