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The Mole Who Wanted a Telescope

3rd grade fiction passage about a mole who looks up at stars: 180 words, seven questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

3rd grade fiction a mole who looks up at stars 180 words

The Mole Who Wanted a Telescope

Mabel the mole lived under a clover field. She had a snug tunnel, a bed of dry leaves, and a pantry full of worms. But every night she heard the owls talk about the stars.

"They are like tiny lanterns," said one owl. "I wish you could see them."

Mabel could not see well. So she decided to build a telescope. She rolled a long, hollow reed out of the creek. She polished a drop of dew on a leaf to make a lens. Then she poked her nose out and pointed the reed at the sky.

She saw nothing but a gray blur.

Mabel sighed. Then a hedgehog named Hob rolled over. "I cannot see stars either," he said. "But the owls tell me what they look like, and I can imagine them."

So that night, Mabel sat with the owls and listened. They said one star was red and one was blue. Mabel pictured them glowing over her field.

She never saw a single star. But she learned that a friend's words can show you far-off things.

Questions

  1. Where did Mabel live? in the text

  2. What did the owls say stars were like? in the text

  3. What did Mabel use for her telescope? in the text

  4. What did Mabel see through her telescope? in the text

  5. How did Mabel finally learn about the stars? in the text

  6. Why did Mabel feel sad when she looked through the reed? think about it

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

Words to know

telescope
a tool that makes far-off things look closer
hollow
empty inside, like a tube
lens
a curved piece of glass or water that bends light
snug
small, warm and cozy
blur
something that looks smudged and not clear
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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 · 168 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.9

Mabel the mole lived under a clover field. She had a snug tunnel. She had a bed of dry leaves. She had a pantry of worms. At night she heard the owls talk about the stars.

"They are like tiny lanterns," said one owl. "I wish you could see them."

Mabel could not see well. So she made a telescope. She got a long, hollow reed from the creek. She put a drop of dew on a leaf for a lens. Then she poked her nose out and pointed the reed at the sky.

She saw only a gray blur.

Mabel sighed. A hedgehog named Hob rolled over. "I cannot see stars, too," he said. "But the owls tell me about them. I can imagine them."

That night, Mabel sat with the owls. They said one star was red. They said one was blue. Mabel pictured them over her field.

She never saw a star. But she learned that a friend's words can show you far-off things.

▲ This passage · 180 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.1

Mabel the mole lived under a clover field. She had a snug tunnel, a bed of dry leaves, and a pantry full of worms. But every night she heard the owls talk about the stars.

"They are like tiny lanterns," said one owl. "I wish you could see them."

Mabel could not see well. So she decided to build a telescope. She rolled a long, hollow reed out of the creek. She polished a drop of dew on a leaf to make a lens. Then she poked her nose out and pointed the reed at the sky.

She saw nothing but a gray blur.

Mabel sighed. Then a hedgehog named Hob rolled over. "I cannot see stars either," he said. "But the owls tell me what they look like, and I can imagine them."

So that night, Mabel sat with the owls and listened. They said one star was red and one was blue. Mabel pictured them glowing over her field.

She never saw a single star. But she learned that a friend's words can show you far-off things.

■ Harder · 192 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.9

Mabel the mole lived beneath a clover field, in a snug tunnel with a bed of dry leaves and a pantry full of worms. Every night she overheard the owls discussing the stars.

"They are like tiny lanterns hanging in the dark," said one owl. "I wish you could see them."

Mabel's eyesight was poor, so she decided to build a telescope. She dragged a long, hollow reed out of the creek and polished a drop of dew on a leaf to serve as a lens. Then she poked her nose out of the ground and aimed the reed at the sky.

She saw nothing but a gray blur.

Mabel sighed deeply. Just then, a hedgehog named Hob rolled over to her. "I cannot see the stars either," he admitted. "But the owls describe them to me, and I can imagine them quite well."

So that night, Mabel sat among the owls and listened closely. They explained that one star was red and another was blue. Mabel pictured them glowing high above her field.

She never saw a single star. But she discovered that a friend's words can show you faraway things.

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 telescope, hollow, lens, snug and blur 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 Mole Who Wanted a Telescope"?

It was written for 3rd grade. It has 180 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 2.1. 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.

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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