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Big Bertha and the Runaway Laundry

4th grade fiction passage about a tall tale about a sneeze: 206 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

4th grade fiction a tall tale about a sneeze 206 words

Big Bertha and the Runaway Laundry

Everyone in Dustpan Flats agreed that Bertha Plunk had the biggest sneeze in the whole county. It always started with a tickle, then a wobble, then a long breath that pulled the curtains right off the windows.

One Monday, Bertha hung her laundry on a line that stretched from the barn to the windmill. Forty shirts, thirty socks, and one very long pair of striped pajamas flapped in the sun. Then a puff of dandelion fluff floated up her nose.

"Ah," she said. "Ahhh. AH-CHOOOO!"

The sneeze blew every sock off the line. It sent the shirts sailing over the hills. The striped pajamas flew so far that they landed on a clock tower in the next county, where they hung like a flag.

Bertha felt terrible. She marched all the way to the next county with an empty basket. But the people there had already been clever. They had collected her laundry, washed it, folded it, and stacked it on a table with a sign that said, "Found: one windy morning."

"Leave the pajamas up there," the mayor said. "They show us which way the wind blows."

Bertha laughed so hard she almost sneezed again. Now she hangs her laundry indoors on dandelion days.

Questions

  1. What made Bertha sneeze? in the text

  2. Where did Bertha hang her laundry? in the text

  3. Where did the striped pajamas land? in the text

  4. What had the people in the next county done with the laundry? in the text

  5. Why did the mayor want to keep the pajamas on the tower? think about it

  6. Why does Bertha hang her laundry indoors on dandelion days? think about it

Words to know

county
a part of a state with its own local government
windmill
a tall building with big blades that turn in the wind
dandelion
a yellow flower that turns into a ball of white fluff
clever
quick and smart at solving a problem
stretched
reached out across a long distance
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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 · 186 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 1.7

Everyone in Dustpan Flats knew that Bertha Plunk had the biggest sneeze in the county. First came a tickle. Then she took a long breath. The breath pulled the curtains right off the windows.

One Monday, Bertha hung her laundry on a line. The line went from the barn to the windmill. Shirts, socks, and long striped pajamas flapped in the sun. Then some dandelion fluff floated up her nose.

"Ah," she said. "Ahhh. AH-CHOOOO!"

The sneeze blew the socks off the line. It sent the shirts over the hills. The pajamas flew far away. They landed on a clock tower in the next county. They hung there like a flag.

Bertha felt bad. She walked to the next county with a basket. But the people there had been kind. They had found her laundry. They had washed it and folded it. They put it on a table with a sign. The sign said, "Found: one windy morning."

"Leave the pajamas up there," the mayor said. "They show us which way the wind blows."

Bertha laughed. Now she hangs her laundry indoors on dandelion days.

▲ This passage · 206 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.1

Everyone in Dustpan Flats agreed that Bertha Plunk had the biggest sneeze in the whole county. It always started with a tickle, then a wobble, then a long breath that pulled the curtains right off the windows.

One Monday, Bertha hung her laundry on a line that stretched from the barn to the windmill. Forty shirts, thirty socks, and one very long pair of striped pajamas flapped in the sun. Then a puff of dandelion fluff floated up her nose.

"Ah," she said. "Ahhh. AH-CHOOOO!"

The sneeze blew every sock off the line. It sent the shirts sailing over the hills. The striped pajamas flew so far that they landed on a clock tower in the next county, where they hung like a flag.

Bertha felt terrible. She marched all the way to the next county with an empty basket. But the people there had already been clever. They had collected her laundry, washed it, folded it, and stacked it on a table with a sign that said, "Found: one windy morning."

"Leave the pajamas up there," the mayor said. "They show us which way the wind blows."

Bertha laughed so hard she almost sneezed again. Now she hangs her laundry indoors on dandelion days.

■ Harder · 229 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6

Everyone in Dustpan Flats agreed that Bertha Plunk possessed the most tremendous sneeze in the entire county. It always began with a tickle, followed by a wobble, and then a long, dramatic breath that tugged the curtains right off the windows.

One Monday morning, Bertha pinned her laundry to a line that stretched from the barn all the way to the windmill. Forty shirts, thirty socks, and one extraordinarily long pair of striped pajamas flapped cheerfully in the sunshine. Just then, a puff of dandelion fluff drifted up her nose.

"Ah," she said. "Ahhh. AH-CHOOOO!"

The sneeze blasted every sock off the line and sent the shirts sailing over the distant hills. The striped pajamas traveled so far that they landed on a clock tower in the next county, where they dangled like a flag.

Bertha was mortified. She marched all the way to the neighboring county carrying an empty basket. However, the people there had already been wonderfully clever. They had gathered up her laundry, washed it, folded it, and stacked it neatly on a table beside a sign that read, "Found: one windy morning."

"Leave the pajamas up there," the mayor suggested. "They show us which way the wind is blowing."

Bertha laughed so hard that she nearly sneezed again. From that day on, she has hung her laundry indoors whenever the dandelions are in bloom.

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 county, windmill, dandelion, clever and stretched 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 5 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 "Big Bertha and the Runaway Laundry"?

It was written for 4th grade. It has 206 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 4.1. 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 six. 4 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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