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How a Puppet Maker Gives a Sock a Face

2nd grade nonfiction passage about puppet maker: 145 words, five questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

2nd grade nonfiction puppet maker 145 words

How a Puppet Maker Gives a Sock a Face

A puppet maker can turn a plain sock into a friend. Here is how she does it.

First, she thinks about who the puppet will be. Is it silly, shy, or brave? The answer helps her choose colors and shapes.

Next, she pulls the sock over her hand. Her thumb is the bottom jaw, and her fingers make the top. She pushes a bit of cardboard inside the mouth, so it opens and closes with a clear snap.

Then she adds the face. Buttons make good eyes. Yarn makes hair, and felt can be cut into a nose or ears. She glues each part on and lets it dry.

Last, she tests her puppet. She makes it talk and move. If the puppet looks the way she dreamed, she is done. If not, she changes it.

Puppet makers work for theaters, schools, and television shows.

Questions

  1. What does the puppet maker think about first? in the text

  2. What part of her hand makes the bottom jaw? in the text

  3. What can she use to make hair? in the text

  4. Why does she test the puppet at the end? think about it

  5. Where do puppet makers work? in the text

Words to know

puppet
a toy figure that a person moves to act out a story
jaw
the bone and skin that make the bottom of a mouth
felt
a soft cloth that is easy to cut
theaters
places where people watch plays
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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 · 116 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.6

A puppet maker can turn a sock into a friend. Here is how.

First, she thinks about who the puppet is. Is it silly, shy, or brave? That helps her pick colors.

Next, she puts the sock on her hand. Her thumb is the bottom jaw. Her fingers are the top. She puts cardboard in the mouth. Now it snaps open and shut.

Then she adds the face. Buttons make eyes. Yarn makes hair. Felt can be a nose or ears. She glues each part. She lets it dry.

Last, she tests the puppet. She makes it talk and move. If it is not right, she fixes it.

Puppet makers work for theaters, schools, and television.

▲ This passage · 145 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 1.8

A puppet maker can turn a plain sock into a friend. Here is how she does it.

First, she thinks about who the puppet will be. Is it silly, shy, or brave? The answer helps her choose colors and shapes.

Next, she pulls the sock over her hand. Her thumb is the bottom jaw, and her fingers make the top. She pushes a bit of cardboard inside the mouth, so it opens and closes with a clear snap.

Then she adds the face. Buttons make good eyes. Yarn makes hair, and felt can be cut into a nose or ears. She glues each part on and lets it dry.

Last, she tests her puppet. She makes it talk and move. If the puppet looks the way she dreamed, she is done. If not, she changes it.

Puppet makers work for theaters, schools, and television shows.

■ Harder · 157 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.5

A puppet maker can transform an ordinary sock into a friend, and the process follows several steps.

To start, she decides what kind of character the puppet will be. Will it be silly, shy, or brave? Her answer helps her choose the colors and shapes.

Then she slides the sock over her hand, so that her thumb becomes the bottom jaw and her fingers form the top. She presses a piece of cardboard into the mouth, which lets it open and close with a clear snap.

After that, she adds the face. Buttons make excellent eyes, yarn makes hair, and felt can be cut into a nose or a pair of ears. She glues on each part and waits for it to dry.

Finally, she tests the puppet by making it talk and move. If it looks the way she imagined, she is finished. Otherwise, she changes it.

Puppet makers work for theaters, schools, and television shows.

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 puppet, jaw, felt and theaters 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 4 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 "How a Puppet Maker Gives a Sock a Face"?

It was written for 2nd grade. It has 145 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 1.8. 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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