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Following a Long Explanation is a free printable Grade 2 English worksheet on holding a multi-stage explanation together, aligned to Common Core standard RI.2.10. 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 12 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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

Following a Long Explanation

RI.2.10

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.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. Put these in order: the boat slides down the ramp, pagers sound, the crew pull on drysuits.
  2. 2. Summarise this text in one sentence.
  3. 3. How are the pagers connected to the launch?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

How Paper Is Recycled

Used paper does not become new paper by magic. It goes through five stages. First it is sorted. Card, newspaper and office paper are separated, because each makes a different grade of new paper. Second it is pulped. The paper is mixed with water and churned until the fibres come apart. Third it is cleaned. Staples, glue and ink are removed. Ink is lifted out with air bubbles. Fourth the pulp is pressed flat between rollers and dried. Fifth it is cut into sheets. Paper can be recycled about five to seven times before its fibres get too short to hold together.

  1. 1. Summarise this text in one sentence.
  2. 2. How is sorting connected to the grade of new paper?
  3. 3. What happens right after the paper is pulped?

LessonPrint · RI.2.10 · Set 12 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Following a Long Explanation

Set 12. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Pagers sound, the crew pull on drysuits, the boat slides down the ramp. 2. A pager call brings volunteers to the station, they suit up, launch down a ramp and take the people off a boat in trouble. 3. The pagers tell the volunteer crew to come, so the boat can be launched.
  2. 2.1. Used paper is sorted, pulped, cleaned, pressed and cut into new sheets, and can be recycled five to seven times. 2. Each kind of used paper makes a different grade, so they are separated first. 3. It is cleaned — staples, glue and ink are removed.

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.2.10 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.