Recount What You Heard is a free printable Grade 2 English worksheet on retelling the key ideas of a text read aloud, aligned to Common Core standard SL.2.2. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions, 23 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 1 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.
23 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.
Recount What You Heard
SL.2.2
NameDate
Read the story, then answer the questions.
1.Read the text, then answer the questions.
The Lion and the Mouse
A lion lay sleeping in the sun. A mouse ran across his paw and woke him.
The lion caught the mouse in one hand. "Please let me go," said the mouse. "One day I may help you."
The lion laughed. How could a mouse help a lion? But he opened his hand.
Weeks later the lion walked into a hunter's net. He roared and pulled, and the ropes only tightened.
The mouse heard him. She came at once and gnawed the ropes, one strand at a time, until the lion could step free.
1. What happened between the lion letting the mouse go and the mouse gnawing the ropes?
2. Recount this fable and give its moral.
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.
The Kite in the Elm
Sami's kite caught in the top of the elm on the very first day.
He tried throwing a ball at it. He tried a long stick. He tried shaking the trunk with both arms. The kite stayed exactly where it was.
His sister Rana came out with a bucket and a length of washing line. She tied the line to the bucket handle, threw the bucket over the branch, and pulled.
The branch bent. The kite slid off and dropped into the grass.
"How did you know that would work?" said Sami. "I didn't," said Rana.
1. Recount this story with its key details.
2. What happened after Rana threw the bucket over the branch?
LessonPrint · SL.2.2 · Set 1 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — Recount What You Heard
Set 1. Prints on its own sheet.
1.1. Weeks passed and the lion walked into a hunter's net. 2. A lion spared a mouse, and later the mouse gnawed him free of a hunter's net — a small friend can do what strength cannot.
2.1. Sami's kite stuck in an elm, three of his attempts failed, and Rana got it down with a bucket on a washing line. 2. She pulled, the branch bent, and the kite slid off into the grass.
Questions about Recount What You Heard
What does the Recount What You Heard worksheet cover?
It practises retelling the key ideas of a text read aloud — 2 questions for Grade 2, all on Common Core SL.2.2: Retell the key ideas of something you listened to. The instruction to pupils is “Read the story, then answer the questions”, and the answer key follows on the next sheet.
Which Common Core standard does Recount What You Heard practise?
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.2 — SL.2.2, in the Speaking & Listening domain for Grade 2. The published standard reads: “Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.” The worksheet assesses that standard rather than a paraphrase of it.
What age or grade is this worksheet for?
Recount What You Heard is written for Grade 2, typically ages 7-8. It is one of the sheets on SL.2.2, so it suits any pupil working at that standard — including older pupils revisiting it and younger ones working ahead.
Does Recount What You Heard come with an answer key?
Yes. All 2 answers are generated from the same problems as the questions, so the key cannot drift out of step with the sheet. It starts on a fresh sheet of paper, after the questions, so it is not handed out with the class by accident.
How many different versions of Recount What You Heard can I print?
25 versions, of which 23 ask genuinely different questions — this skill does not have 25 distinct questions to give, so the rest reorder them and no two pupils still share a paper. Set 1 downloads all 25 as one PDF.
Is Recount What You Heard free to print and photocopy?
Yes. Recount What You Heard, its answer key and its 25 versions are free to print and photocopy for your own class, with no account, no email capture and no subscription at the download step. Please do not resell them or republish them as your own.
Is there a lesson plan to teach SL.2.2?
Yes — “Recounting What You Heard” is a 40-minute Grade 2 plan for SL.2.2, timed section by section, with the misconceptions to expect and an exit ticket. Recount What You Heard is the practice that follows it.
More practice for SL.2.2
Retell the key ideas of something you listened to.
Teaching this next? Recounting What You Heard is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.