Reading a Thermometer Worksheet

Reading a thermometer is one of the first real measurement tools a second grader gets to use, and it pulls together three skills at once: reading a scale, counting by fives and tens, and connecting a number to something a child can actually feel. This reading a thermometer worksheet gives students four Fahrenheit thermometers to read and three everyday scenes to match to a temperature, so the number on the scale always means something real. Every thermometer on the page is drawn to a true linear scale with tick marks every five degrees and labels every ten, exactly like the classroom thermometer on the wall.

Students start at the bulb, follow the red line up to where it stops, and write that number on the line under each thermometer. Two of the readings land right on a labeled mark and two land on a smaller tick between labels, so children practice counting on from a known number instead of only reading the easy ones. In the second half of this 2nd grade measurement worksheet, students look at a picture of a snowy day, a sprinkler on the grass, and a child flying a kite, then fill in the bubble for the temperature that fits. Use it as morning work, as a science-and-math warm-up during a weather unit, or as a quick check before you move on to comparing temperatures.

What’s Included

• 1 print-ready PDF worksheet
• Answer key
• 4 thermometer-reading problems and 3 picture-matching questions

Three things make this reading a thermometer worksheet stick. First, the thermometers are accurate: the liquid column stops exactly at the value being read, so a student who counts carefully is always rewarded with the right answer. Second, the readings mix labeled marks with unlabeled ticks, which forces real scale reading instead of number recognition. Third, the picture questions build temperature sense — a child who can read twenty-five degrees off a scale but does not know that twenty-five degrees means a coat and mittens has only learned half the skill. Pairing the two on one page turns an abstract number into something a second grader can picture.

Hang a real thermometer outside a window and have students record the temperature at the same time every morning for two weeks, then graph it. Ask them which day was warmest and how many degrees warmer it was than the coldest day. Compare the temperature of tap water, ice water, and warm water with a kitchen thermometer and let students predict before they measure. At home, check the temperature before choosing what to wear, or read the oven thermometer while baking together. Sorting a stack of magazine pictures into hot, warm, and cold piles is another quick way to build the same sense of what a number on a scale really feels like.

Related Resources

• Temperature Fahrenheit Worksheet
• Temperature Celsius Worksheet
• Temperature Lesson Plan
• Weather Song by Have Fun Teaching (Video)