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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 13 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.

How a Polar Bear Stays Warm

A polar bear lives where the sea freezes. It has three ways of keeping its heat in. Under its skin is a layer of fat up to eleven centimetres thick. Fat is a poor conductor, so heat does not pass through it easily. Above that is dense underfur, packed tight so cold water cannot reach the skin. On top are long guard hairs. Each one is hollow and clear, not white. They look white because they scatter the light, the way snow does. A polar bear is so well insulated that it can overheat if it runs too far.

  1. 1. Name the three layers from the skin outwards.
  2. 2. How are the guard hairs connected to the bear looking white?
  3. 3. Summarise this text in one sentence.
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Volcanoes

A volcano is an opening in the Earth's crust where hot rock reaches the surface. Deep underground, rock is so hot that it melts. Melted rock is called magma. Magma is lighter than the solid rock around it, so it rises. When magma reaches the surface it is called lava. Lava can pour out slowly in rivers, or it can burst out in an explosion, depending on how thick it is. As lava cools it hardens into new rock. Layer after layer, this new rock builds the mountain we call a volcano.

  1. 1. Summarise this text in one sentence.
  2. 2. How are magma and lava connected?
  3. 3. Put these in order: lava hardens, rock melts, magma rises.

LessonPrint · RI.2.10 · Set 13 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Following a Long Explanation

Set 13. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Fat, then dense underfur, then long guard hairs. 2. The hairs are clear but scatter light, which makes the bear look white. 3. A polar bear keeps warm with thick fat, dense underfur and hollow guard hairs, and is so well insulated it can overheat.
  2. 2.1. Melted rock rises through the Earth's crust as magma, pours out as lava, and hardens layer by layer into a volcano. 2. They are the same melted rock — magma underground becomes lava at the surface. 3. Rock melts, magma rises, lava hardens.

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