What do the questions look like?

Mostly why questions: why did the cocoa spill, what happened because the gate was open. Each answer is right there in the passage, and the key states it plainly.

What makes the wrong answers wrong?

They are usually true details from the passage that are not the cause. That is on purpose: it separates children who read the chain from children who match words.

2nd grade cause and effect

2nd grade cause and effect worksheets

Cause and effect worksheets for second grade pair short passages with questions that ask why things happened. Every story and article turns on clear chains: a bumped jar spills, a spilled jar ruins a painting. Your child finds the why behind each what, with the answer key naming the cause the passage gives.

Free printable PDF worksheet, aligned to Common Core RI.3.3.

Each click picks one of the 13 passages written for this grade. Every sheet comes with its answer key. You don't need to sign up.

The kind of passages you'll get

Read the passage. Then circle the letter of the best answer for each question.

The Tipped-Over Water Jar

Jonah painted a green dragon with careful little scales. It was the best thing he had made all year. Then his elbow bumped the water jar. Gray paint water ran right across the dragon's tail and turned it into a smudge. Jonah stared at the…

Why did paint water run across the dragon? Jonah's elbow bumped the jar · the jar had a crack in the bottom · Mr. Okafor spilled it · the table was tilted
Answer: Jonah's elbow bumped the jar
What happened because of the gray smudge? Jonah got the idea to paint fire · Jonah crumpled up the whole painting · the art show was canceled · Mr. Okafor painted a new tail for him

Each print picks one of the 13 passages written for this grade, and its questions come with it. With 13 to pick from, a second print can land on one you've used, so check the title before you hand it out.

What's on a 2nd grade sheet

2nd grade sheets draw from 13 passages, 129 to 169 words long. None of these passages are on 1st grade sheets. On 1st grade sheets they run 76 to 99 words.

Some of the titles: The Gate Nobody Latched, Too Many Marshmallows, The Squeaky Wheel, Why the School Grew a Garden, Pop Goes the Kernel, The Five-Cent Sign.

Reading passage. Read the passage. Then circle the letter of the best answer for each question. One passage per sheet, with its own question set.

Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.

How to teach this

Read a passage, then play the why game: point at something that happened and ask why, until the passage runs out of answers. Signal words help: because, so, and since flag the links. When your child answers a question, ask them to point at the sentence that proves it.

Watch for: Kids pick the event that comes first in the SENTENCE as the cause, but writers often name the effect first: 'The game was canceled because of rain.' The word because points to the cause, wherever it sits. Two things happening near each other is not cause and effect. The dog barked and the mail came, but the barking did not deliver the mail. Ask whether one truly made the other happen.

Common questions about 2nd grade cause and effect

What do the questions look like?: Mostly why questions: why did the cocoa spill, what happened because the gate was open. Each answer is right there in the passage, and the key states it plainly.
What makes the wrong answers wrong?: They are usually true details from the passage that are not the cause. That is on purpose: it separates children who read the chain from children who match words.

Related worksheets

Ready to print one?

Want a different passage? Print again. Each print picks one of the 13.

Aligned to Common Core RI.3.3. Reviewed by the One more sheet team. Content version 241, updated October 2026.

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