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Pipes Tall as Trees: How an Organ Breathes

4th grade nonfiction passage about pipe organ: 206 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

4th grade nonfiction pipe organ 206 words

Pipes Tall as Trees: How an Organ Breathes

A pipe organ may be the largest instrument in the world. In a big church or hall, its pipes can climb the wall like a forest of metal trees. Some are as thin as a pencil, while others are taller than a house. Yet the whole giant is played by one person sitting at keys.

An organ does not have strings to pluck or drums to hit. It uses air. A blower pushes wind into a large box. When the player presses a key, a small door opens, and wind rushes into one pipe. The air makes the pipe hum with sound, much like blowing across the top of a bottle.

The size of a pipe decides the note. Short pipes make high, light notes. Long pipes make deep, rumbling ones. Because each key opens its own pipe, a player can make a huge range of sounds.

An organ also has knobs called stops. Pulling a stop selects a whole row of pipes that share a special tone. One row may sound like a flute, and another may sound like a trumpet. By choosing different stops, the player can make the organ sound like many instruments, even though only one set of keys is being played.

Questions

  1. What does an organ use to make sound? in the text

  2. What pushes wind into the large box? in the text

  3. What happens when the player presses a key? in the text

  4. Which pipes make deep, rumbling notes? in the text

  5. What is a stop on an organ? in the text

  6. Why can one player make the organ sound like many instruments? think about it

Words to know

pipe organ
a huge instrument that makes sound with air in pipes
blower
a machine that pushes air
rumbling
making a low, rolling sound
stops
knobs on an organ that choose which pipes play
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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 · 158 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 1.1

A pipe organ may be the biggest instrument in the world. In a big church or hall, its pipes climb the wall like metal trees. Some are thin as a pencil. Some are taller than a house. One person plays it all from the keys.

An organ has no strings to pluck. It has no drums to hit. It uses air. A blower pushes wind into a big box. The player presses a key. A small door opens. Wind rushes into one pipe. The pipe hums, like when you blow across a bottle.

The size of the pipe sets the note. Short pipes make high, light notes. Long pipes make deep, rumbling notes. Each key opens its own pipe.

An organ also has knobs called stops. A stop picks a row of pipes with one tone. One row sounds like a flute. One sounds like a trumpet. So one player can make the organ sound like many instruments.

▲ This passage · 206 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.7

A pipe organ may be the largest instrument in the world. In a big church or hall, its pipes can climb the wall like a forest of metal trees. Some are as thin as a pencil, while others are taller than a house. Yet the whole giant is played by one person sitting at keys.

An organ does not have strings to pluck or drums to hit. It uses air. A blower pushes wind into a large box. When the player presses a key, a small door opens, and wind rushes into one pipe. The air makes the pipe hum with sound, much like blowing across the top of a bottle.

The size of a pipe decides the note. Short pipes make high, light notes. Long pipes make deep, rumbling ones. Because each key opens its own pipe, a player can make a huge range of sounds.

An organ also has knobs called stops. Pulling a stop selects a whole row of pipes that share a special tone. One row may sound like a flute, and another may sound like a trumpet. By choosing different stops, the player can make the organ sound like many instruments, even though only one set of keys is being played.

■ Harder · 216 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.4

A pipe organ may well be the largest instrument in the world. Inside a grand church or concert hall, its pipes can climb the wall like a forest of metal trees. Some are as slender as a pencil, while others tower above a house. Remarkably, this whole giant is played by a single person seated at the keys.

An organ has no strings to pluck and no drums to strike. Instead, it relies on air. A blower forces wind into a large box. When the player presses a key, a small door opens, and wind rushes into a single pipe. The air makes the pipe hum with sound, much as it does when you blow across the top of a bottle.

The size of a pipe determines its note. Short pipes produce high, light notes, whereas long pipes produce deep, rumbling ones. Since each key opens its own pipe, a player can create an enormous range of sounds.

An organ is also equipped with knobs called stops. Pulling a stop selects an entire row of pipes that share a distinctive tone. One row may resemble a flute, and another may resemble a trumpet. By choosing different stops, the player can make the organ imitate many instruments, even though only one set of keys is being played.

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 pipe organ, blower, rumbling and stops on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text 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 write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Pipes Tall as Trees: How an Organ Breathes"?

It was written for 4th grade. It has 206 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 3.7. 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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