1st grade nonfiction passage about why plants wilt: 93 words, five questions, an answer key and vocabulary.
Sam looked at the plant on the shelf. Its leaves were soft and bent down. It looked sad.
Why did it droop? A plant needs water. Water moves up from the roots to the stems and leaves. It helps hold them up. When the soil is dry, the plant has no water to lift its leaves.
Sam gave the plant a drink. In a few hours, the leaves began to lift. The next day, the plant stood up tall again. Sam learned to check the soil each day, and the plant stayed happy.
What did the plant's leaves look like? in the text
What does a plant need to hold up its leaves? in the text
What did Sam give the plant? in the text
What did Sam learn to do? in the text
Why did the plant droop? think about it
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.
Sam looked at the plant on the shelf. Its leaves were soft and bent down. It looked sad.
Why did it droop? A plant needs water. Water goes up from the roots to the leaves. It holds them up. The soil was dry, so the leaves fell down.
Sam gave the plant a drink. Soon the leaves lifted. Sam will check the soil each day.
Sam looked at the plant on the shelf. Its leaves were soft and bent down. It looked sad.
Why did it droop? A plant needs water. Water moves up from the roots to the stems and leaves. It helps hold them up. When the soil is dry, the plant has no water to lift its leaves.
Sam gave the plant a drink. In a few hours, the leaves began to lift. The next day, the plant stood up tall again. Sam learned to check the soil each day, and the plant stayed happy.
Sam stopped to look at the plant on the shelf. Its leaves were soft and bent downward, and the whole plant looked rather sad.
Why had it started to droop? A plant needs water. Water travels up from the roots into the stems and leaves, and it helps hold them up. When the soil is dry, the plant has no water to lift its leaves.
Sam gave the plant a good drink. Within a few hours, the leaves began to rise, and by the next day the plant stood up tall again. From then on, Sam remembered to check the soil each day.
It was written for 1st grade. It has 93 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about below 1. 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.
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.
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.
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.
No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.
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