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 18 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. 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 Crow and the Pitcher

A crow had flown for hours without finding water. At last she saw a pitcher standing in a garden. She landed on the rim and looked in. There was water at the bottom, but the neck was narrow and her beak could not reach it. She pushed the pitcher. It was too heavy to tip. Then the crow noticed the pebbles on the path. She picked one up and dropped it in. Then another. Then another. Each pebble pushed the water a little higher. After forty pebbles, the water reached the top. The crow drank until she had had enough.

1. What did the crow do after pushing the pitcher failed?
2. Recount this fable and give its moral.

2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

The Bread That Would Not Rise

Nana let Ada make the bread on her own for the first time. Ada measured the flour, the salt and the water. She kneaded the dough until her arms ached. Then she covered the bowl and waited. An hour later the dough sat in the bowl exactly as she had left it. It had not risen at all. Nana looked at the packet on the shelf. "You used the salt twice," she said. "There is no yeast in it." Ada wanted to throw the bowl across the kitchen. Instead she washed it out and started again.

1. What happened after Ada covered the bowl?
2. Recount this story with its key details.

LessonPrint · SL.2.2 · Set 18 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Recount What You Heard

Set 18. Prints on its own sheet.

1.1. She noticed the pebbles on the path and began dropping them in. 2. A thirsty crow could not reach the water in a pitcher, so she dropped in pebbles until the water rose — little by little does the job.
2.1. She waited an hour, and the dough had not risen at all. 2. Ada made bread alone, used salt twice instead of yeast, the dough did not rise, and she started again.

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.

All Grade 2 worksheets

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