The Mini Read presents a short, high-interest nonfiction article that “warms up kids’ reading muscles” and also builds knowledge. Each Mini Read has a showstopping photo and nonfiction text features. Here we introduce our character Nosey, a dog who uses her long nose to sniff out facts. Nosey draws kids to an online activity where kids pull out key details from what they’ve learned.

Storyworks 2 offers original fiction in every issue. Stories introduce students to different genres of fiction, such as realistic fiction, fairy tales, folktales, fantasy, and even science fiction. Stories also address issues relevant to second-graders, such as friendships and school. Each story has “Pause and Think” questions right on the page for students to check their basic comprehension. 

This short nonfiction feature is written in chunks that are easy for kids to navigate and read. It provides background knowledge for the Big Read nonfiction or fiction piece. Research shows that having background knowledge about a subject increases comprehension and allows kids to read longer and more complex pieces about the topic.

Every issue of Storyworks 2 offers a fascinating piece of narrative nonfiction written just for second-graders. Each six-page article delves into an important and highly engaging topic that is connected to social studies and science standards. With these, reading nonfiction is like reading a story. Our Big Reads are packed with nonfiction text features like maps, headlines, and captions. Each article has “Pause and Think” questions right on the page for students to check basic comprehension. 

Our popular paired-text feature offers two texts united by topic or theme. This could be two parallel nonfiction articles that kids can compare and contrast, or a short fiction story paired with nonfiction about the same topic. This allows kids to make text-to-text connections. This feature helps prepare students for the comparing-two-texts sections on many standardized third-grade tests. 

This short nonfiction text tackles the social studies standard of how things change over time. Students read about the history of things that are familiar in their everyday lives such as erasers, ice cream, sneakers, or sunglasses. Each article includes a timeline of the item through the years. 

Every issue of Storyworks 2 includes a debate on a fun, age-appropriate topic for kids. The debate teaches students that there are two sides to every issue and you have to back up your argument. Each debate also comes with an online opinion writing page.

Each issue has a poem. The poems introduce students to poetry standards like rhyme, rhythm, and repetition. Many of the poems are also interactive, so that students write in missing rhymes or do movements for every line. The short, funny poems make for great texts for fluency reading practice.

This “mini graphic novel” meets kids where they are and is an especially motivating “way in” for struggling readers. It teaches conflict resolution and social and life skills in an irresistible, relatable way.

This is a short nonfiction text that directly pairs with a fiction story. It gives facts that help students gain a deeper understanding of the fiction. It’s a great way to compare and contrast fiction and nonfiction.

This feature allows students to meet the author of a fiction piece. We learn that authors are real people who work hard to create their work and even make mistakes, just like kids.