Building Boxburg


October 14
Dear Aunt Clara,
How are you doing? In second grade this week, my class is building a cardboard town called Boxburg. Every student gets to make one building for our community.
My job was to build the town library. I used a large cereal box for the main room and two paper towel tubes for the front pillars. I painted the outside bright blue. For the front doors, I cut small cardboard flaps and glued on two red buttons for handles. I even folded tiny squares of white paper to make miniature books on the shelves!
We had one tricky problem yesterday. My roof kept sliding off the top of the box. The wet glue was too slippery, and the cardboard sagged. My classmate Mia held the roof steady while I pressed four pieces of masking tape along the edges. The tape held the roof in place until the glue dried overnight. Now the library is sturdy and stands tall next to the fire station.
Tomorrow, we will connect all the buildings with black paper roads and draw yellow lines down the middle.
Did you ever make a model town when you were in second grade? I hope you can visit soon and see Boxburg on our classroom tables!
Love,
Sam
- community:
- A group of people living or working together in the same area.
- pillars:
- Tall, upright posts that support a roof or decorate a building.
- miniature:
- Much smaller than the normal, full size.
- sagged:
- Bent or drooped downward in the middle.
- sturdy:
- Strong, solid, and not easily broken or knocked down.
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Main Idea
Identify the central idea and explain how important details develop it.
Context Clues
Use clues in the passage to work out what words mean. A separate printable Vocabulary worksheet is also available.
Summarize
Select, organize, and restate the most important information without adding opinion.
Purpose
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Structure
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1Who is Sam writing this letter to?
- 2What is the name of the cardboard town Sam's class is building?
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About this letter / email passage for 2nd Grade
“Building Boxburg” is a letter / email reading passage about cardboard town project, written for 2nd Grade. It takes about 1 minute to read (213 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.
