2nd Grade ELA Screener

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa, by Erica Silverman Cowgirl Kate rode her horse, Cocoa, out to the pasture.“It’s time to herd cows,” said Cowgirl Kate.“I am thirsty,” said Cocoa.He stopped at the creek and took a drink.“Are you ready now?” asked Cowgirl Kate.“No,” said Cocoa. “Now I am hungry.”Cowgirl Kate gave him an apple. He ate it in one bite. Then he sniffed the saddlebag.Cowgirl Kate gave him another apple. He ate that in one bite, too. He sniffed the saddlebag again.“You are a pig,” said Cowgirl Kate.“No,” said Cocoa. “I am a horse.”“A cowhorse?” she asked.“Of course,” he said.“But a cowhorse herds cows,” she said. Cowgirl Kate smiled.  “Then I will tell you a story.”“Once there was a cowgirl who needed a cowhorse.  She went to a ranch and saw lots and lots of horses. Then she saw a horse whose coat was the color of chocolate.  His tail and mane were the color of caramel. ‘Yum,’ said the cowgirl, ‘You are the colors of my favorite candy.’  The horse looked at her. He sniffed her.”“’Are you a real cowgirl?’ he asked.  ‘I am a cowgirl from the boots up,’ she said.   ‘Well, I am a cowhorse from the mane down,’ he said. ‘Will you work hard every day?’ The cowgirl asked.  The horse raised his head high. ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘A cowhorse always does his job.’  ‘At last,’ said the cowgirl, ‘I have found my horse.’” “That was a good story,” said Cocoa. He raised his head high. “And now I am ready to herd cows.”1. What did Kate mean when she called Cocoa a pig?

In the phrase: "It's time to herd cows," what does the word 'herd' mean?

What event caused Cocoa to change?

Cowboys, by Lucille Recht Penner 1-If you were out west about a hundred years ago, you might have heard a cowboy yelling – ti yi yippy yay! - as he rode across the plains. What was it like to be a cowboy way back then? Cowboys lived on cattle ranches. A ranch had a house for the rancher and his family, barns for animals, and a bunkhouse where the cowboys slept. The rancher owned thousands of cattle. They wandered for miles looking for grass and water. 2-Twice a year, the cowboys drove all the cattle together. This was called a roundup. The cowboys counted the baby calves that had been born since the last roundup. The biggest cattle were chosen to sell at market. 3-A roundup was hard work. The cattle were wild and fast. They had long, sharp, dangerous horns. Cowboys called them Longhorns. If you made a Longhorn mad, it would charge at you. A cowboy didn’t want to get close to an angry Longhorn. So he made a loop in the end of his rope. Then he twirled it over his head and let it fly. When he caught the Longhorn, he could tell that it belonged to his ranch. 4-How could he tell? It was easy. Each rancher put a special mark called a brand on his cows. Baby calves didn’t have brands yet. They didn’t need them. A baby calf always followed its mother. Every ranch had its own name and own brand. The Rocking Chair Ranch brand looked like a rocking chair. 5-After the roundup was over, it was time to sell the Longhorns. That meant taking them to big market towns. Back then, there were no roads across the wide plains – only dusty trails that cattle had made with their hooves as they tramped along. Some trails were a thousand miles long! Since cattle could walk only fifteen miles a day, the long, hard trip often lasted months. It was called a trail drive.  5.    What does brand mean in paragraph 4? 

Which of these sentences tells you what this passage is mostly about?

Which sentence below is a detail that supports your answer to question number 6?