Skip to the content
Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

Six Weeks in a Rock Tumbler

4th grade fiction passage about waiting for a hobby result: 225 words, seven questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

4th grade fiction waiting for a hobby result 225 words

Six Weeks in a Rock Tumbler

For his birthday, Caleb got a rock tumbler. It was a small barrel that spun slowly on a motor. The box said that if you put in rough stones, sand, and water, they would come out shiny after about six weeks.

Six weeks sounded like forever. Caleb loaded the barrel with gray, lumpy stones from the creek behind his house. He pushed the button. The tumbler began to rumble, and it rumbled day and night.

After one week, Caleb peeked inside. The stones were still dull, and they were covered in muddy gray paste. After two weeks, they were only a little smoother. He wanted to quit and put the tumbler in the garage.

His aunt, who liked to collect rocks, told him to be patient. "Rocks do not hurry," she said. "The tumbling wears down the rough spots slowly. Each stage needs more time, and finer sand."

So Caleb added the finer sand and waited. He crossed off the days on a calendar. He made a chart to remember which stage came next.

At the end of week six, he rinsed the stones in the sink. They gleamed like glass candy. One looked like honey, and one had a swirl of pink and white.

Caleb lined them up on his windowsill. The wait had been long, but he liked them more because of it.

Questions

  1. What did Caleb get for his birthday? in the text

  2. Where did Caleb find the stones he put in the barrel? in the text

  3. How did the stones look after one week? in the text

  4. What did Caleb want to do after two weeks? in the text

  5. What did his aunt mean by saying that rocks do not hurry? think about it

  6. What did Caleb add for the later stage? in the text

  7. Why did Caleb like the stones even more at the end? think about it

Words to know

tumbler
a machine that slowly turns things over and over
rumbled
made a low, rolling noise
patient
able to wait calmly
gleamed
shone brightly
Share

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 · 196 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 1.8

Caleb got a rock tumbler for his birthday. It was a small barrel that spun on a motor. The box said rough stones, sand, and water would turn shiny in about six weeks.

Six weeks sounded like forever. Caleb put gray, lumpy stones from the creek behind his house in the barrel. He pushed the button. The tumbler rumbled day and night.

After one week, Caleb peeked in. The stones were still dull. They had muddy gray paste on them. After two weeks, they were just a little smoother. He wanted to quit.

His aunt collects rocks. She told him to be patient. "Rocks do not hurry," she said. "The tumbling slowly wears down the rough spots. Each stage needs more time and finer sand."

So Caleb added finer sand and waited. He crossed off days on a calendar. He made a chart to remember each stage.

At the end of week six, he rinsed the stones in the sink. They shone like glass candy. One looked like honey. One had a pink and white swirl.

Caleb lined them up on his windowsill. The wait was long, but he liked the stones more because of it.

▲ This passage · 225 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.9

For his birthday, Caleb got a rock tumbler. It was a small barrel that spun slowly on a motor. The box said that if you put in rough stones, sand, and water, they would come out shiny after about six weeks.

Six weeks sounded like forever. Caleb loaded the barrel with gray, lumpy stones from the creek behind his house. He pushed the button. The tumbler began to rumble, and it rumbled day and night.

After one week, Caleb peeked inside. The stones were still dull, and they were covered in muddy gray paste. After two weeks, they were only a little smoother. He wanted to quit and put the tumbler in the garage.

His aunt, who liked to collect rocks, told him to be patient. "Rocks do not hurry," she said. "The tumbling wears down the rough spots slowly. Each stage needs more time, and finer sand."

So Caleb added the finer sand and waited. He crossed off the days on a calendar. He made a chart to remember which stage came next.

At the end of week six, he rinsed the stones in the sink. They gleamed like glass candy. One looked like honey, and one had a swirl of pink and white.

Caleb lined them up on his windowsill. The wait had been long, but he liked them more because of it.

■ Harder · 252 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.9

For his birthday, Caleb received a rock tumbler, a small barrel that turned slowly on an electric motor. According to the box, if you loaded in rough stones, coarse sand, and water, they would emerge gleaming after roughly six weeks.

Six weeks sounded like an eternity. Caleb filled the barrel with gray, lumpy stones he had collected from the creek behind his house and pressed the button. The tumbler began to rumble, and it continued rumbling day and night.

After one week, Caleb lifted the lid and peeked inside. The stones were still dull, and they were smeared with a muddy gray paste. After two weeks, they were only slightly smoother, and he was tempted to abandon the project and shove the machine into the garage.

His aunt, an enthusiastic rock collector, urged him to be patient. "Rocks do not hurry," she told him. "The tumbling wears away the rough spots very gradually, and every stage requires more time and finer sand."

So Caleb added the finer sand and waited. He crossed off each day on a calendar and drew a chart to remind himself which stage came next.

At the end of the sixth week, he rinsed the stones in the kitchen sink. They gleamed like glass candy. One was the color of honey, and another had a swirl of pink and white running through it.

Caleb arranged them in a neat row on his windowsill. The wait had been long, but he treasured the stones even more because of it.

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 tumbler, rumbled, patient and gleamed 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 "Six Weeks in a Rock Tumbler"?

It was written for 4th grade. It has 225 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 2.9. 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.

Nothing you do here is sent to us. No sign-in, no ads.