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Cranberries Float Up in the Bog

1st grade nonfiction passage about cranberry harvest: 101 words, five questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

1st grade nonfiction cranberry harvest 101 words

Cranberries Float Up in the Bog

Cranberries grow on low vines. The vines grow in a field called a bog. The berries are red and round and a bit sour.

Each cranberry has little pockets of air inside. Air is light, so a cranberry can float on water.

At harvest time, farmers fill the bog with water. A machine shakes the berries off the vines. Up they pop! The berries float to the top, and the whole bog turns red.

Farmers pull the berries to one side and scoop them up. Then the berries go to a store, and some become juice or a sauce for dinner.

Questions

  1. What do cranberries grow on? in the text

  2. What is the field called? in the text

  3. What is inside each cranberry? in the text

  4. What do farmers fill the bog with at harvest time? in the text

  5. Why do the cranberries float? think about it

Words to know

vine
a long plant stem that grows low or climbs
bog
a soft, wet field
harvest
the time when farmers pick the crop
float
to stay on top of water
scoop
to lift something up with a tool
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One passage, three levels

The same topic and facts written three ways, so a mixed class can read and talk about one text. Each group’s sheet shows only a shape; the key says which is which.

● Easier · 63 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 1.1

Cranberries grow on low vines. The vines grow in a bog. The berries are red and round. They are a bit sour.

A cranberry has pockets of air inside. Air is light. So a cranberry floats.

At harvest time, farmers fill the bog with water. The berries come off the vines. They float up! The bog turns red.

Farmers scoop up the berries.

▲ This passage · 101 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.5

Cranberries grow on low vines. The vines grow in a field called a bog. The berries are red and round and a bit sour.

Each cranberry has little pockets of air inside. Air is light, so a cranberry can float on water.

At harvest time, farmers fill the bog with water. A machine shakes the berries off the vines. Up they pop! The berries float to the top, and the whole bog turns red.

Farmers pull the berries to one side and scoop them up. Then the berries go to a store, and some become juice or a sauce for dinner.

■ Harder · 104 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.3

Cranberries grow on low vines in a soft, wet field called a bog. The berries are round and red, and they taste a little bit sour.

Inside every cranberry there are tiny pockets of air. Because air is so light, a cranberry is able to float on top of water.

When harvest time comes, farmers flood the bog with water, and a machine gently shakes the berries loose from the vines. Up they pop! The berries float to the surface, and the whole bog turns bright red.

Then the farmers pull the berries to one side of the bog and scoop them all up.

Download as one PDF

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put vine, bog, harvest, float and scoop on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 1 minute to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 5 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Cranberries Float Up in the Bog"?

It was written for 1st grade. It has 101 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 2.5. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are five. 4 ask for something the text says directly and 1 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 1 minute read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

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