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What the Challenge Was is a free printable Grade 2 English worksheet on linking a character's action to the problem they faced, aligned to Common Core standard RL.2.3. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions, 24 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.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. 24 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.

What the Challenge Was

RL.2.3

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. 1. What does the mouse do that shows what she is like?
  2. 2. How does the lion respond when the mouse asks to be let go?
  3. 3. Why did the lion open his hand?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Fog Morning

The hill has gone. The wood has gone. The postbox stands in a cloud, alone. No sheep, no gate, no crooked tree — only the ten short steps I see. I walk. The ten steps walk with me. The gate appears. And then the tree. The hill comes back. The wood comes back. The fog rolls off along the track.

  1. 1. What is the speaker doing in this poem?
  2. 2. Is the speaker lost? How do you know?

LessonPrint · RL.2.3 · Set 2 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — What the Challenge Was

Set 2. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. She keeps her promise and comes at once to help. 2. He laughs at the idea, but he opens his hand anyway. 3. The story does not say, but he had laughed at the mouse and let her go anyway.
  2. 2.1. Walking along a track in thick fog. 2. No — they keep walking and the gate and tree appear where they should.

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RL.2.3 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.