What the Challenge Was is a free printable Grade 2 English worksheet on linking a character's action to the problem they faced, aligned to Common Core standard RL.2.3. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions, 24 of them with different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.
Set 1 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.
24 of these 25 sets ask different questions — this skill does not have 25 questions to give. The rest reorder them, so no two pupils have the same paper in front of them.
What the Challenge Was
RL.2.3
NameDate
Read the story, then answer the questions.
1.Read the text, then answer the questions.
The Crow and the Pitcher
A crow had flown for hours without finding water. At last she saw a pitcher standing in a garden.
She landed on the rim and looked in. There was water at the bottom, but the neck was narrow and her beak could not reach it. She pushed the pitcher. It was too heavy to tip.
Then the crow noticed the pebbles on the path. She picked one up and dropped it in. Then another. Then another. Each pebble pushed the water a little higher.
After forty pebbles, the water reached the top. The crow drank until she had had enough.
1. Why did each pebble make the water rise?
2. What does dropping forty pebbles tell you about the crow?
3. How does the crow respond to the problem of the narrow neck?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.
Rain on the Roof
Rain on the roof, rain on the road,
rain on the back of a slow brown toad.
Rain on the window, rain on the pane,
rain on the roses, rain, rain, rain.
Rain in the gutter, rain in the drain,
rain till the puddle is deep as a lane.
Rain on the roof, rain on the road —
and out comes the sun for the slow brown toad.
1. How long has it been raining, do you think? How can you tell?
2. What is the toad doing through the poem?
LessonPrint · RL.2.3 · Set 1 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — What the Challenge Was
Set 1. Prints on its own sheet.
1.1. The pebbles took up room at the bottom, pushing the water up the narrow neck. 2. She is patient — she kept dropping pebbles even though each one raised the water only a little. 3. She does not give up — she tries pushing it, then drops in pebbles one at a time.
2.1. A long time — the puddle has grown as deep as a lane. 2. Sitting out in the rain, slow and brown, until the sun comes out.
Questions about What the Challenge Was
What does the What the Challenge Was worksheet cover?
It practises linking a character's action to the problem they faced — 2 questions for Grade 2, all on Common Core RL.2.3: Say how a character reacted when something happened to them. The instruction to pupils is “Read the story, then answer the questions”, and the answer key follows on the next sheet.
Which Common Core standard does What the Challenge Was practise?
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3 — RL.2.3, in the Reading: Literature domain for Grade 2. The published standard reads: “Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.” The worksheet assesses that standard rather than a paraphrase of it.
What age or grade is this worksheet for?
What the Challenge Was is written for Grade 2, typically ages 7-8. It is one of the sheets on RL.2.3, so it suits any pupil working at that standard — including older pupils revisiting it and younger ones working ahead.
Does What the Challenge Was come with an answer key?
Yes. All 2 answers are generated from the same problems as the questions, so the key cannot drift out of step with the sheet. It starts on a fresh sheet of paper, after the questions, so it is not handed out with the class by accident.
How many different versions of What the Challenge Was can I print?
25 versions, of which 24 ask genuinely different questions — this skill does not have 25 distinct questions to give, so the rest reorder them and no two pupils still share a paper. Set 1 downloads all 25 as one PDF.
Is What the Challenge Was free to print and photocopy?
Yes. What the Challenge Was, its answer key and its 25 versions are free to print and photocopy for your own class, with no account, no email capture and no subscription at the download step. Please do not resell them or republish them as your own.
More practice for RL.2.3
Say how a character reacted when something happened to them.