Main Topic of the Whole Text is a free printable Grade 2 English worksheet on naming what a multi-paragraph text is about, aligned to Common Core standard RI.2.2. 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.

One paper per pupil

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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

Main Topic of the Whole Text

RI.2.2

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

How a Camel Survives

A camel can cross a desert that would kill most animals. Almost every part of it helps. Its hump is not full of water. It is full of fat. The camel uses the fat for energy when there is no food, which is why the hump sags on a hungry camel. A camel has two rows of long eyelashes and can close its nostrils. Both keep sand out during a storm. Its feet are wide and flat. They spread the camel's weight so it does not sink into soft sand. A thirsty camel can drink a hundred litres in ten minutes.

1. Summarise this text in one sentence.
2. What is the main topic of this text?

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. Summarise this text in one sentence.
2. What is the main topic of this text?

LessonPrint · RI.2.2 · Set 12 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Main Topic of the Whole Text

Set 12. Prints on its own sheet.

1.1. A camel's fat-filled hump, long eyelashes, closable nostrils and wide feet let it survive a desert. 2. How a camel's body lets it survive in a desert.
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. Volcanoes, and how melted rock builds them.

More practice for RI.2.2

Say what the whole text is about and what each paragraph is about.

Teaching this next? The Main Topic of Each Paragraph is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 2 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.2.2 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.