Skip to content
LessonPrint

Reasons Behind the Point is a free printable Grade 2 English worksheet on matching a reason to the point it supports, aligned to Common Core standard RI.2.8. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions, 17 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 2 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. 17 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.

Reasons Behind the Point

RI.2.8

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.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. The author says magma rises. What reason is given?
2.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. The author says new buildings are made to sway. What reason is given?

LessonPrint · RI.2.8 · Set 2 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Reasons Behind the Point

Set 2. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Magma is lighter than the solid rock around it.
  2. 2.1. Because a few earthquakes are strong enough to bring buildings down.

More practice for RI.2.8

Match each reason the author gives to the point it supports.

Teaching this next? Reasons That Support a Point is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 2 worksheets

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