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Lighthouse Stairs That Would Not Add Up

4th grade fiction passage about a counting puzzle: 204 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

4th grade fiction a counting puzzle 204 words

Lighthouse Stairs That Would Not Add Up

On a school trip to Gull Point Lighthouse, Wren's class climbed the spiral stairs to the lamp room. The guide said there were exactly ninety-two steps. Wren liked counting, so she counted on the way up. She got ninety-three.

"You must have miscounted," whispered her friend Bo.

Wren did not think so. On the way down, she counted again and got ninety-three. The guide said ninety-two a second time and shrugged.

Back at school, Wren could not stop thinking about it. She drew a picture of the stairs in her notebook. She realized the guide had counted only the steps, but she had also counted the little stone ledge at the very top, where the stairs met the floor of the lamp room.

At the next visit, she asked the guide if she could check. The guide counted slowly with her, pointing at each step. When they reached the top, he laughed. "Ninety-two steps and one landing," he said. "You are right, and so am I."

Wren wrote both numbers on the back of her ticket. She had learned that two people can count the same thing and still be correct, if they agree on what to count first.

Questions

  1. How many steps did the guide say there were? in the text

  2. How many steps did Wren count? in the text

  3. What did Wren do back at school? in the text

  4. What was at the very top of the stairs? in the text

  5. Why did Wren and the guide get different numbers? think about it

  6. What did Wren learn from the puzzle? think about it

Words to know

spiral
winding around in a curve, like a coil
miscounted
counted wrongly
ledge
a narrow, flat shelf that sticks out
landing
a flat part at the top or bottom of stairs
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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 · 172 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2

On a school trip to Gull Point Lighthouse, Wren's class climbed the spiral stairs. The guide said there were ninety-two steps. Wren liked to count. She counted on the way up. She got ninety-three.

"You must have counted wrong," whispered her friend Bo.

Wren did not think so. On the way down, she counted again. She got ninety-three. The guide said ninety-two again and shrugged.

Back at school, Wren kept thinking about it. She drew the stairs in her notebook. She saw that the guide counted only the steps. She had also counted the little stone ledge at the top, where the stairs met the floor.

On the next visit, she asked the guide to check. They counted slowly together. At the top, he laughed. "Ninety-two steps and one landing," he said. "You are right, and so am I."

Wren wrote both numbers on her ticket. She learned that two people can count the same thing and both be right, if they agree on what to count.

▲ This passage · 204 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.2

On a school trip to Gull Point Lighthouse, Wren's class climbed the spiral stairs to the lamp room. The guide said there were exactly ninety-two steps. Wren liked counting, so she counted on the way up. She got ninety-three.

"You must have miscounted," whispered her friend Bo.

Wren did not think so. On the way down, she counted again and got ninety-three. The guide said ninety-two a second time and shrugged.

Back at school, Wren could not stop thinking about it. She drew a picture of the stairs in her notebook. She realized the guide had counted only the steps, but she had also counted the little stone ledge at the very top, where the stairs met the floor of the lamp room.

At the next visit, she asked the guide if she could check. The guide counted slowly with her, pointing at each step. When they reached the top, he laughed. "Ninety-two steps and one landing," he said. "You are right, and so am I."

Wren wrote both numbers on the back of her ticket. She had learned that two people can count the same thing and still be correct, if they agree on what to count first.

■ Harder · 206 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.6

During a school trip to Gull Point Lighthouse, Wren's class climbed the spiral staircase to the lamp room. The guide announced that there were exactly ninety-two steps. Wren, who enjoyed counting, tallied them as she climbed. She reached ninety-three.

"You must have miscounted," whispered her friend Bo.

Wren was not persuaded. On the way down, she counted a second time and arrived at ninety-three again. The guide repeated ninety-two and shrugged.

Back at school, Wren could not stop thinking about the mystery. She sketched the staircase in her notebook, and gradually she realized what had happened. The guide had counted only the steps, but she had also counted the narrow stone ledge at the very top, where the stairs met the floor of the lamp room.

During the next visit, she asked the guide whether she could check. They counted slowly together, pointing at each step. When they reached the top, he chuckled. "Ninety-two steps and one landing," he said. "You are right, and so am I."

Wren wrote both numbers on the back of her ticket. She had learned that two people can count the same thing and still both be correct, provided they agree on what to count first.

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 spiral, miscounted, ledge and landing 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 "Lighthouse Stairs That Would Not Add Up"?

It was written for 4th grade. It has 204 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 3.2. 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 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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