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The Beaver Whose Dam Was Too Tall

3rd grade fiction passage about a beaver builds too much dam: 166 words, seven questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

3rd grade fiction a beaver builds too much dam 166 words

The Beaver Whose Dam Was Too Tall

Bram the beaver wanted to build the best dam on the river. Every day he chewed down sticks and stacked them high. He packed mud between them. His dam grew and grew.

"Bigger is better," Bram said.

An otter swam by. "Bram, the water is getting very deep up here," she said. "It is flowing over the bank."

"Good!" said Bram. "Then I have a big pond!"

But the water kept rising. It crept into the burrow of a family of voles. It covered the path where the rabbits ate clover. Soon the little animals stood by the bank with worried faces.

Bram saw them and felt a lump in his throat. His dam was tall, but it was hurting his neighbors.

That evening he pulled out the top row of sticks. The water slowly went down. The burrows were dry again. Bram built a new top that was lower and just right.

"A dam should help the whole river," he said, "not just the beaver."

Questions

  1. What did Bram want to build? in the text

  2. What did Bram pack between the sticks? in the text

  3. Whose burrow did the water creep into? in the text

  4. Where did the rabbits usually eat clover? in the text

  5. What did Bram do to fix the problem? in the text

  6. Why did Bram feel a lump in his throat? think about it

  7. What lesson does the story teach? think about it

Words to know

dam
a wall built across a river to hold back water
burrow
a hole in the ground where a small animal lives
voles
small furry animals that look like mice
bank
the land along the edge of a river
crept
moved slowly and quietly
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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 · 157 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 1.1

Bram the beaver wanted the best dam on the river. Each day he chewed sticks and stacked them high. He packed mud between them. His dam grew and grew.

"Bigger is better," Bram said.

An otter swam by. "Bram, the water is deep up here," she said. "It is flowing over the bank."

"Good!" said Bram. "I have a big pond!"

But the water kept rising. It crept into the burrow of a vole family. It covered the path where rabbits ate clover. The little animals stood by the bank. They looked worried.

Bram saw them. He felt a lump in his throat. His dam was tall, but it hurt his neighbors.

That night he pulled out the top sticks. The water went down slowly. The burrows were dry again. Bram built a new top. It was lower and just right.

"A dam should help the whole river," he said. "It should not help just the beaver."

▲ This passage · 166 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.2

Bram the beaver wanted to build the best dam on the river. Every day he chewed down sticks and stacked them high. He packed mud between them. His dam grew and grew.

"Bigger is better," Bram said.

An otter swam by. "Bram, the water is getting very deep up here," she said. "It is flowing over the bank."

"Good!" said Bram. "Then I have a big pond!"

But the water kept rising. It crept into the burrow of a family of voles. It covered the path where the rabbits ate clover. Soon the little animals stood by the bank with worried faces.

Bram saw them and felt a lump in his throat. His dam was tall, but it was hurting his neighbors.

That evening he pulled out the top row of sticks. The water slowly went down. The burrows were dry again. Bram built a new top that was lower and just right.

"A dam should help the whole river," he said, "not just the beaver."

■ Harder · 185 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.6

Bram the beaver was determined to build the finest dam on the entire river. Every day he gnawed down sticks and stacked them higher and higher, packing mud into every gap between them. His dam grew taller and taller.

"Bigger is always better," Bram declared.

An otter swam past and called out, "Bram, the water is getting very deep up here. It is already flowing over the bank."

"Wonderful!" said Bram. "Then I have a huge pond!"

But the water kept on rising. It crept into the burrow of a family of voles, and it covered the path where the rabbits nibbled their clover. Soon the little animals stood along the bank with worried faces.

When Bram noticed them, he felt a lump rise in his throat. His dam was tall indeed, but it was harming his neighbors.

That evening he pulled out the top row of sticks, and the water slowly drained away. The burrows became dry again. Bram built a new top that was lower and just right.

"A dam ought to help the whole river," he said, "and not merely the beaver."

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 dam, burrow, voles, bank and crept 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 "The Beaver Whose Dam Was Too Tall"?

It was written for 3rd grade. It has 166 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 2.2. 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 seven. 5 ask for something the text says directly and 2 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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