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Room 12 and the Snail Derby

4th grade fiction passage about a classroom pet race: 209 words, seven questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

4th grade fiction a classroom pet race 209 words

Room 12 and the Snail Derby

Room 12 had one class pet, a garden snail named Biscuit. On the last Friday of May, Ms. Alvarez announced a surprise. "We will hold a Snail Derby," she said.

Each team got a paper track with a start line and a finish line, one hand's length apart. The rules were simple. You could not touch the snail's body or blow on it. You could only decide what to put at the finish line.

Tanvir's team put a piece of lettuce at the end. Biscuit just sat in his shell. Another team put a drop of water. Biscuit crept sideways. Everyone groaned.

Lila noticed that Biscuit moved a little when the room got quiet. "Maybe he does not like all our noise," she whispered. She asked her team to sit very still.

She also noticed that the paper track was dry and rough. Snails like damp surfaces. So with Ms. Alvarez's permission, Lila dampened the track with a wet sponge.

Biscuit stretched out his head. Slowly, his body slid forward. The whole class held its breath for almost ten minutes.

When Biscuit touched the lettuce, Room 12 clapped softly, because they did not want to scare him. Lila's team won, and the prize was extra time to feed their small champion.

Questions

  1. What was the class pet named? in the text

  2. What could teams not do during the Snail Derby? in the text

  3. What did Tanvir's team put at the finish line? in the text

  4. What did Lila notice about when Biscuit moved? in the text

  5. Why did Lila wet the paper track? think about it

  6. Why did the class clap softly at the end? in the text

  7. What did Lila's team do differently from the other teams? think about it

Words to know

derby
a race, often held just for fun
announced
told everyone something important
dampened
made a little bit wet
champion
the winner
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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 · 192 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 1.8

Room 12 had one class pet. It was a garden snail named Biscuit. On the last Friday of May, Ms. Alvarez had a surprise. "We will have a Snail Derby," she said.

Each team got a paper track. It had a start line and a finish line. The rules were easy. You could not touch the snail or blow on it. You could only choose what to put at the finish line.

Tanvir's team put lettuce at the end. Biscuit just sat in his shell. Another team used a drop of water. Biscuit crept sideways. Everyone groaned.

Lila saw that Biscuit moved a bit when the room was quiet. "Maybe he does not like noise," she whispered. Her team sat very still.

She also saw that the paper was dry and rough. Snails like damp things. Ms. Alvarez said yes, and Lila wet the track with a sponge.

Biscuit stretched out his head. His body slid forward. The class held its breath for almost ten minutes.

When Biscuit reached the lettuce, the class clapped softly. They did not want to scare him. Lila's team won. Their prize was extra time to feed Biscuit.

▲ This passage · 209 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.2

Room 12 had one class pet, a garden snail named Biscuit. On the last Friday of May, Ms. Alvarez announced a surprise. "We will hold a Snail Derby," she said.

Each team got a paper track with a start line and a finish line, one hand's length apart. The rules were simple. You could not touch the snail's body or blow on it. You could only decide what to put at the finish line.

Tanvir's team put a piece of lettuce at the end. Biscuit just sat in his shell. Another team put a drop of water. Biscuit crept sideways. Everyone groaned.

Lila noticed that Biscuit moved a little when the room got quiet. "Maybe he does not like all our noise," she whispered. She asked her team to sit very still.

She also noticed that the paper track was dry and rough. Snails like damp surfaces. So with Ms. Alvarez's permission, Lila dampened the track with a wet sponge.

Biscuit stretched out his head. Slowly, his body slid forward. The whole class held its breath for almost ten minutes.

When Biscuit touched the lettuce, Room 12 clapped softly, because they did not want to scare him. Lila's team won, and the prize was extra time to feed their small champion.

■ Harder · 221 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6.2

Room 12 had exactly one class pet, a garden snail named Biscuit. On the last Friday of May, Ms. Alvarez unveiled a surprise. "Today," she announced, "we are going to hold a Snail Derby."

Every team received a paper track with a start line and a finish line drawn a hand's length apart. The rules were simple. Students were forbidden to touch the snail's body or to blow on it, and they could only decide what to place at the finish line.

Tanvir's team chose a leaf of lettuce, but Biscuit simply sat motionless inside his shell. Another team tried a drop of water, and Biscuit crept sideways instead of forward. The whole class groaned.

Lila observed that Biscuit moved slightly whenever the room fell quiet. "Perhaps he dislikes all our noise," she whispered, and she asked her teammates to sit perfectly still.

She also noticed that the paper track was dry and rough, and snails prefer damp surfaces. With Ms. Alvarez's permission, Lila moistened the track with a wet sponge.

Biscuit stretched out his head, and his body slowly slid forward. The entire class held its breath for nearly ten minutes.

When Biscuit finally touched the lettuce, Room 12 applauded very softly, since nobody wished to frighten him. Lila's team had won, and their prize was extra time feeding their tiny champion.

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 derby, announced, dampened and champion 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 "Room 12 and the Snail Derby"?

It was written for 4th grade. It has 209 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 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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