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The Secretary Bird's Tall Grass Clock

4th grade fiction passage about patience, grassland birds: 189 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

4th grade fiction patience, grassland birds 189 words

The Secretary Bird's Tall Grass Clock

A secretary bird is a tall bird with long legs that hunts on foot across the grassland. A secretary bird named Sefu was always in a hurry. He marched through the grass at dawn, stomping and rushing, and he complained that he never caught anything.

A small warthog watched him one morning. "You are so loud," she said. "Every grasshopper in the field hears you coming."

"I cannot waste time," said Sefu. "The day is short."

"Then try something," said the warthog. "Stand still where you are until the sun touches that tall acacia tree. Do not move at all."

Sefu thought this was silly, but he stood. He felt itchy and restless. Slowly the grass quieted. A beetle crept out. A lizard stretched on a stone. Then a grasshopper hopped right by his foot. Sefu stepped, quick and quiet, and caught it.

"Why, it was easy," he said.

"Waiting was the work," said the warthog.

After that, Sefu used the acacia as his clock. He still walked a great deal each day, but he always paused to listen first. His meals grew bigger, and his mornings grew calm.

Questions

  1. How does a secretary bird hunt? in the text

  2. Why was Sefu not catching anything? in the text

  3. What did the warthog tell Sefu to do? in the text

  4. What happened after the grass grew quiet? in the text

  5. What did the warthog mean by "Waiting was the work"? think about it

  6. How did Sefu use the acacia tree afterward? think about it

Words to know

grassland
a wide, open place covered mostly with grass
restless
unable to stay calm or still
acacia
a tree with a flat top that grows in warm, dry places
complained
said that something was wrong or unfair
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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 2.3

A secretary bird is a tall bird with long legs. It hunts on foot in the grassland. A secretary bird named Sefu was always in a hurry. He stomped through the grass at dawn. He said he never caught anything.

A small warthog watched him one morning. "You are so loud," she said. "Every grasshopper hears you coming."

"I cannot waste time," said Sefu. "The day is short."

"Try this," said the warthog. "Stand still until the sun touches that tall acacia tree. Do not move."

Sefu thought this was silly, but he stood. He felt itchy. Slowly the grass got quiet. A beetle crept out. A lizard stretched on a stone. Then a grasshopper hopped by his foot. Sefu stepped quickly and caught it.

"That was easy," he said.

"Waiting was the work," said the warthog.

After that, Sefu used the acacia as his clock. He still walked a lot each day, but he stopped to listen first. His meals got bigger, and his mornings got calm.

▲ This passage · 189 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.1

A secretary bird is a tall bird with long legs that hunts on foot across the grassland. A secretary bird named Sefu was always in a hurry. He marched through the grass at dawn, stomping and rushing, and he complained that he never caught anything.

A small warthog watched him one morning. "You are so loud," she said. "Every grasshopper in the field hears you coming."

"I cannot waste time," said Sefu. "The day is short."

"Then try something," said the warthog. "Stand still where you are until the sun touches that tall acacia tree. Do not move at all."

Sefu thought this was silly, but he stood. He felt itchy and restless. Slowly the grass quieted. A beetle crept out. A lizard stretched on a stone. Then a grasshopper hopped right by his foot. Sefu stepped, quick and quiet, and caught it.

"Why, it was easy," he said.

"Waiting was the work," said the warthog.

After that, Sefu used the acacia as his clock. He still walked a great deal each day, but he always paused to listen first. His meals grew bigger, and his mornings grew calm.

■ Harder · 206 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.3

A secretary bird is a tall bird with remarkably long legs that hunts on foot across the open grassland. A secretary bird named Sefu was perpetually in a hurry. He marched through the grass at dawn, stomping and rushing, and he grumbled that he never managed to catch anything.

A small warthog watched him one morning. "You are so loud," she remarked. "Every grasshopper in the field hears you coming."

"I cannot afford to waste time," said Sefu. "The day is short."

"Then try something," said the warthog. "Stand perfectly still, right where you are, until the sun touches that tall acacia tree. Do not move at all."

Sefu thought this was ridiculous, but he stood there anyway. He felt itchy and restless. Gradually the grass grew quiet. A beetle crept into view, and a lizard stretched out on a warm stone. Then a grasshopper hopped right beside his foot. Sefu stepped forward, swift and silent, and caught it.

"Why, that was easy," he said.

"Waiting was the work," replied the warthog.

From then on, Sefu used the acacia as his clock. He still walked a great deal each day, but he always paused to listen first. His meals grew larger, and his mornings grew calm.

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 grassland, restless, acacia and complained 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 "The Secretary Bird's Tall Grass Clock"?

It was written for 4th grade. It has 189 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 3.1. 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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