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Beacon the Lighthouse Robot

3rd grade fiction passage about a robot keeping a lighthouse: 157 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

3rd grade fiction a robot keeping a lighthouse 157 words

Beacon the Lighthouse Robot

On a rocky point by the sea stood a tall lighthouse. Inside it lived a round robot named Beacon, who had a lamp for a head.

Each evening Beacon climbed the spiral stairs. He counted every step, because he liked numbers. There were ninety stairs, and he never lost count.

One foggy night, a little fishing boat was lost. The fisher, a woman named Odalys, could not see the rocks. She blew her horn, but the fog swallowed the sound.

Beacon looked at his lamp. It was bright, but fog made light scatter like spilled milk. He thought hard. Then he began to flash it in a pattern: one long, two short, one long.

Odalys saw the pattern between the clouds. She knew it was a message from land. She steered toward the flashes and slid safely into the harbor.

Each foggy night after that, Beacon flashed his pattern, so any boat could find its way home.

Questions

  1. Who was Beacon? in the text

  2. How many stairs did Beacon climb each evening? in the text

  3. Why could Odalys not see the rocks? in the text

  4. Why did the fog make the plain light hard to use? in the text

  5. What did Beacon do to help the boat? in the text

  6. Why did Odalys know the flashes were a message from land? think about it

Words to know

lighthouse
a tall tower with a bright light to guide ships
spiral
winding around in a curve, like a spring
scatter
to spread out in many directions
harbor
a safe place by the shore for boats
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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 · 153 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2

A tall lighthouse stood on a rocky point by the sea. A round robot named Beacon lived inside. He had a lamp for a head.

Each evening Beacon climbed the stairs. He counted every step. He liked numbers. There were ninety stairs, and he never lost count.

One foggy night, a little fishing boat was lost. The fisher was a woman named Odalys. She could not see the rocks. She blew her horn. But the fog swallowed the sound.

Beacon looked at his lamp. It was bright, but fog made the light spread out like spilled milk. He thought hard. Then he flashed his lamp in a pattern: one long, two short, one long.

Odalys saw the pattern in the fog. She knew it was a message from land. She steered to the flashes and sailed into the harbor.

Each foggy night after that, Beacon flashed his pattern so boats could find home.

▲ This passage · 157 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.3

On a rocky point by the sea stood a tall lighthouse. Inside it lived a round robot named Beacon, who had a lamp for a head.

Each evening Beacon climbed the spiral stairs. He counted every step, because he liked numbers. There were ninety stairs, and he never lost count.

One foggy night, a little fishing boat was lost. The fisher, a woman named Odalys, could not see the rocks. She blew her horn, but the fog swallowed the sound.

Beacon looked at his lamp. It was bright, but fog made light scatter like spilled milk. He thought hard. Then he began to flash it in a pattern: one long, two short, one long.

Odalys saw the pattern between the clouds. She knew it was a message from land. She steered toward the flashes and slid safely into the harbor.

Each foggy night after that, Beacon flashed his pattern, so any boat could find its way home.

■ Harder · 176 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.9

On a rocky point jutting out into the sea stood a tall lighthouse, and inside it lived a round robot named Beacon, who had a glowing lamp for a head.

Every evening Beacon climbed the spiral staircase, counting each step, because he adored numbers. There were exactly ninety stairs, and he had never once lost count.

One foggy night, a small fishing boat lost its way. The fisher, a woman named Odalys, could not see the dangerous rocks ahead. She blew her horn, but the thick fog swallowed the sound.

Beacon studied his lamp. It was bright, yet the fog made its light scatter in every direction, like spilled milk. He thought carefully, and then he began to flash the lamp in a pattern: one long, two short, one long.

Between the drifting clouds, Odalys noticed the pattern. She realized it was a message from land. She steered toward the flashes and slid safely into the harbor.

On every foggy night after that, Beacon flashed his pattern so that any boat could find its way home.

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 lighthouse, spiral, scatter and harbor on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the story 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 2 minutes 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 6 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to retell the story in three sentences: how it began, what the problem was, and how it ended.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Beacon the Lighthouse Robot"?

It was written for 3rd grade. It has 157 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 3.3. 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 six. 5 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 2 minutes 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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