Skip to content
LessonPrint

Answer from the Sources is a free printable Grade 2 English worksheet on using a given text to answer a question, aligned to Common Core standard W.2.8. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask 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 17 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

Next setLesson plan

One paper per pupil

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Answer from the Sources

W.2.8

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Earthquakes

The Earth's crust is not one piece. It is broken into huge slabs called plates, and the plates are always moving — about as fast as your fingernails grow. Where two plates meet, they can catch on each other. Pressure builds up for years while they are stuck. When they finally slip, all that stored energy is released at once. The ground shakes. That shaking is an earthquake. Most earthquakes are too small to feel. A few are strong enough to bring down buildings, which is why new buildings in some places are made to sway.

  1. 1. What makes the ground shake?
  2. 2. How fast do the plates move?
  3. 3. The author says new buildings are made to sway. What reason is given?
  4. 4. How would a heading over the last paragraph help a reader?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Launching a Lifeboat

When a boat is in trouble, a call goes out to the lifeboat station. Pagers sound. The crew are volunteers, so they stop whatever they are doing and drive to the station. Most arrive within six minutes. They pull on drysuits and lifejackets and climb aboard. The boat slides down a ramp into the sea and the engines start. At sea, the crew look for a flare, a light, or a shape in the water. Once they find the boat, they take the people off first and the boat second. A lifeboat can right itself if a wave rolls it over.

  1. 1. Why do the crew take the people off first?
  2. 2. What do the crew take off the boat first?
  3. 3. How would numbered steps help this text?
  4. 4. How long do most of the crew take to reach the station?

LessonPrint · W.2.8 · Set 17 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Answer from the Sources

Set 17. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Stored energy released when two stuck plates finally slip. 2. About as fast as your fingernails grow. 3. Because a few earthquakes are strong enough to bring buildings down. 4. It would say that part is about how strong earthquakes are, so a reader could find it.
  2. 2.1. Because saving people matters more than saving the boat. 2. The people. 3. The whole text is a sequence, and numbers would show the order at a glance. 4. Within six minutes.

More practice for W.2.8

Answer a question from what you remember or from sources you are given.

Teaching this next? Recalling and Gathering to Answer is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 2 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to W.2.8 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.