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Rain's Long Trip: reading passage and questions

A free printable nonfiction reading passage, written at a grade 2 reading level (Peabody level 7, where 3rd grade readers start; 193 words) with 5 comprehension questions and an answer key. No sign-up.

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Rain's Long Trip

This drop of water has a secret. Here is its trip, from the sea.

The sun shines down on the ocean. The warm drop turns into vapor. Vapor is water you cannot see.

The air around you has some right now. Our drop floats up into the sky.

Up high, the vapor turns back into tiny drops. So many tiny drops make a cloud. Our drop is in the cloud now.

The cloud drifts over a little hill. Then the drops fall, plip, plop, as rain.

Our drop lands on a hill and runs down. It joins a little stream.

The stream runs into a river. The river runs to the sea. That is where our drop began.

Did you know? The ocean holds almost all the water on Earth. That is 96 cups out of every 100.

The sun shines down again. The warm drop rises. The long trip starts over.

The water on Earth goes round and round. It has done that for a very long time. Almost all of it is old.

So the water in your glass has been rain before. It may even have been a dinosaur's drink.

Questions

1. What turns the water into vapor?
  1. The moon
  2. The sun's heat
  3. The wind
2. What is a cloud made of?
  1. Smoke
  2. Cotton
  3. Tiny drops
3. Where does the stream's water go in the end?
  1. Under the hill for good
  2. Back to the sea
  3. Into the sky for good
4. What does vapor mean in this book?
  1. Water you cannot see
  2. A loud noise
  3. A cold rock
5. Why could your water have been a dinosaur's drink?
  1. Dinosaurs lived in cups
  2. The rain is very new
  3. The same water keeps going round

Words to know

  • vapor: hidden water
  • cloud: tiny drops
  • stream: small river
  • rain: falling water

Answer key: Rain's Long Trip

  1. B. The sun's heat
  2. C. Tiny drops
  3. B. Back to the sea
  4. A. Water you cannot see
  5. C. The same water keeps going round

The story in pictures

  1. Part One · Up
  2. Part Two · Down
For teachers: standards and questions with an answer key

Common Core standards

  • RI.2.2 · Grade 2 · Main idea, retelling and summary. Asks for the main topic, the water’s trip, and the key details in order.
  • RI.2.3 · Grade 2 · Connections between people, events, ideas or steps. Asks how the steps of the water cycle connect: sun, vapor, cloud, rain, stream, river, sea.

All the Common Core reading standards, and the pages that work toward each

Right there (The answer is stated in the book.)

  1. What does the warm drop turn into when the sun shines on the ocean?
    Show answerVapor, which is water you cannot see. The book says: “The warm drop turns into vapor. Vapor is water you cannot see.”
  2. How much of the water on Earth does the ocean hold?
    Show answerAlmost all of it: 96 cups out of every 100. The book says: “That is 96 cups out of every 100.”

Think and search (Put clues from the book together.)

  1. What happens to the vapor high in the sky?
    Show answerIt turns back into tiny drops, and so many tiny drops make a cloud. The book says: “Up high, the vapor turns back into tiny drops.”
  2. Where does the drop go after it falls as rain?
    Show answerIt runs down the hill into a stream, the stream runs into a river, and the river runs to the sea. The book says: “The stream runs into a river. The river runs to the sea.”

On my own (Use the book to think further.)

  1. The book says the water in your glass has been rain before. Why can it say that?
    Show answerThe water on Earth goes round and round in the same trip, so the water we drink is old water that has been rain before. The book says: “So the water in your glass has been rain before.”

Written and checked by hand against the book. Standards codes are the Common Core’s own; the lines are ours.

For the teacher: how this passage is levelled

“Rain's Long Trip” is a reading level 7 story. Every Peabody story at this level is written and checked to keep sentences to 10 words or fewer, to aim at an average of 6 words a sentence, and to show 12 to 30 words on a screen. At most 8% of its words may be off the familiar-word list. Children in 3rd grade start at this level.

This passage193 words, 11 screens, 5 multiple-choice questions with an answer key, and 4 vocabulary words with kid-sized meanings
Longest sentence at this level10 words
Words on a screen12 to 30
Skills practised at this levelphonics (sounding words out), sight words, spelling

Reading level 7: the limits, a real sample and the free games. Peabody is a learning app, not an assessment: use the questions to talk about the story, not to grade a child.

Play a word game from this story

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