A shepherd boy watched his village's sheep on a quiet hillside. The days were long and boring. He had no one to talk to. One afternoon he decided to play a trick. He ran toward the village, shouting, "Wolf! Wolf! A wolf is attacking the sheep!"
Villagers dropped what they were doing and rushed up the hill to help. They found the sheep grazing calmly and no wolf in sight. The boy laughed at their faces. The villagers shook their heads and walked back down. A few days later, he played the same trick again. This time the villagers felt a little cross.
Again, the villagers hurried up the hill, and again they found only sheep. They were tired from climbing the hill twice.
Then a real wolf crept out of the trees. The sheep bleated in fear. The boy cried, "Wolf! Help me!" as loudly as he could. But the villagers thought it was another trick and stayed in the village. The wolf scattered the sheep, and several were lost from the flock.
1What lesson does this fable teach?
2Who is this fable mainly about?
3What did the shepherd boy want at the start of this fable?
4What did the shepherd boy do about it?
5Why did the shepherd boy act that way?
6What happened as a result?
7What is different by the end of this fable?
8Which sentence tells a detail from this fable?
9Which sentence is NOT part of this fable?
10What does the word "scattered" mean in this fable?
Fables use a short, simple story to teach a lesson about how to treat people or solve problems, and Common Core specifically asks second graders to find that lesson for themselves rather than have it explained. A child can often retell what happened in a fable, like a fox trying to reach some grapes, and still miss the point the story is making about pride or honesty. This worksheet prints one classic fable, retold in fresh, original words, and asks ten questions about it: the lesson it teaches, who it is about, what that character wanted, what they did, why they did it, what happened as a result, and what was different by the end.
A few questions also check a stated detail against an invented one and the meaning of a word from context. Ask your child to explain the lesson in their own words, then find the part of the fable that shows it. That habit of pointing to evidence is exactly what Common Core's RL. 2. 2 expects.
What your child will learn
Identify the central lesson or moral of a fable
Describe what a character wanted and what they did about it
Explain why a character acted the way they did
Tell a stated detail from an invented one
Use context to define a new word
Worked example
In The Lion and the Mouse, the mouse promises to help the lion after the lion spares him, and later he keeps that promise by freeing the lion from a hunter's net.
Common mistake
Retelling the events of the fable without saying what lesson those events actually teach.
Helpful hint
Ask yourself what the character learned, or should have learned, by the end.
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