Reasons the Author Gives Worksheet

Finding the Reasons an Author Gives

When an author makes a point, a careful reader asks a second question: why should I believe it? The answer is in the reasons the author supplies, sentence by sentence, and learning to find them is one of the first real steps into informational reading. This Reasons the Author Gives Worksheet gives 2nd Grade students a short text that makes one clear point about bowling and then backs it up, so students can practice pulling the support away from the claim and naming it in their own words.

The passage on page one is an original 164-word text about why bowling is a good sport for kids. It states its point in the very first sentence and then offers reason after reason: you do not have to be big or fast, the lanes are indoors so weather never stops a game, adding up the score is real math practice, and you play alongside friends. A warm illustrated scene of a quiet bowling lane sits above the text so the setting is clear before the first sentence is read.

What Is Included

• A one-page informational passage written at a 2nd grade reading level
• An original illustrated scene of a bowling lane
• Four multiple choice questions, each about a point or a reason in the text
• One written response asking students to support their thinking with two details
• A complete answer key that quotes the text

Three Reasons This Helps Kids

• It separates the claim from the support. One question asks for the author’s point and the rest ask for the reasons behind it, so students feel the difference.
• It builds the habit of going back to the text. Every answer is sitting in a sentence students can find and reread.
• It practices explaining, not just choosing. The written response asks for two details, which is the step that turns a right answer into an argument.

Ways to Use It

Read the passage together first, then ask students to underline every sentence that tells why bowling is a good sport before they touch the questions. Use this 2nd grade reading comprehension worksheet in a small reading group, as an independent center, or as a quick check during a unit on informational text. Afterward, invite students to add one more reason of their own and say whether it would belong in the text. The same routine transfers to any article they read later: find the point, then count the reasons. A finished Reasons the Author Gives Worksheet is also a quick record of who can already tell a claim apart from its support.

Related Resources

• Author’s Purpose Worksheet
• Identifying Author’s Purpose Worksheet
• Author’s Purpose of Informational Text Worksheet
• Author’s Purpose Song