Reading nonfiction: main topic, paragraphs, and connections (grade 2) · lesson

Main topic and paragraphs

💡 A text has one main topic, and each paragraph tells one part of it.

From Wheat to Bread is about the steps to make bread.

One paragraph is about the mill. That is its focus.

🧠 How to think about it

For the whole text, check the title. For one paragraph, ask what most of its lines tell about.

🏡 Try it at home

Read a short news story or recipe. Tell what each part is about.

💡 Answer who, what, where, when, why, and how with words from the text.

What makes the balloon go up? Hot air inside the bag.

How does it come down? The pilot turns the burner off.

🧠 How to think about it

Find the key words in the question. Find the same words in the text.

🏡 Try it at home

Read a page from a fact book. Each of you asks one question to answer.

💡 Ideas in nonfiction connect as steps in order or as causes and effects.

Wheat becomes flour. Flour becomes dough. Dough becomes bread.

Yeast makes gas bubbles, so the dough rises.

🧠 How to think about it

Look for words like first, next, then, last, so, and because.

🏡 Try it at home

Bake or mix something. Say each step and why it matters.

💡 A diagram is a picture with parts or steps that teaches a fact.

Read the caption first. It tells what the diagram shows.

Then follow it from left to right.

🧠 How to think about it

The diagram shows an acorn, then a sprout, then a tree. So a sprout comes right after the acorn.

🏡 Try it at home

Draw a diagram of how you get ready for bed. Put the steps in order.