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The Cliffhanger Notebook

4th grade fiction passage about keeping a friend after a move: 194 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

4th grade fiction keeping a friend after a move 194 words

The Cliffhanger Notebook

Theo and Ravi had been best friends since kindergarten. They lived next door to each other, and they planned something new every day.

Then Ravi's family bought a house across town. On moving day, Theo carried the last lamp to the truck and tried hard not to cry.

That night, the house next door was dark. Theo felt like a sock that had lost its match.

The next week, a thick package came in the mail. Inside was a green notebook. On the first page, Ravi had written, "Chapter One: The robot butler woke up in the wrong house. He saw a huge shadow in the doorway, and then..." The page stopped in the middle of the sentence.

Theo grinned. He grabbed a pencil and wrote Chapter Two. He made the shadow turn out to be a very tall cat. Then he stopped in the middle of an exciting sentence, too, and mailed the notebook back.

Now the notebook travels back and forth every week. Neither boy can stand waiting to find out what happens next. Being far apart has made the story better, because each boy has to wait, and wonder, and write.

Questions

  1. How long had Theo and Ravi been best friends? in the text

  2. What came in the mail the next week? in the text

  3. Where did Ravi stop writing on the first page? in the text

  4. What did Theo make the shadow turn out to be? in the text

  5. Why did Theo feel like a sock that had lost its match? think about it

  6. Why do both boys stop in the middle of an exciting sentence? think about it

Words to know

package
a box or parcel that is mailed to someone
chapter
one part of a book or story
grinned
smiled with a big, wide smile
wonder
to think about something and want to know more
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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 · 183 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.5

Theo and Ravi were best friends. They had been friends since kindergarten. They lived next door to each other. They planned something new every day.

Then Ravi's family bought a house across town. On moving day, Theo carried the last lamp to the truck. He tried hard not to cry.

That night, the house next door was dark. Theo felt like a sock that lost its match.

The next week, a thick package came in the mail. Inside was a green notebook. On the first page, Ravi had written, "Chapter One: The robot butler woke up in the wrong house. He saw a huge shadow in the door, and then..." The page stopped in the middle of the sentence.

Theo grinned. He grabbed a pencil and wrote Chapter Two. The shadow was a very tall cat. Then he stopped in the middle of an exciting sentence, too. He mailed the notebook back.

Now the notebook goes back and forth every week. Neither boy likes to wait. But being far apart made the story better. Each boy has to wait, and wonder, and write.

▲ This passage · 194 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.8

Theo and Ravi had been best friends since kindergarten. They lived next door to each other, and they planned something new every day.

Then Ravi's family bought a house across town. On moving day, Theo carried the last lamp to the truck and tried hard not to cry.

That night, the house next door was dark. Theo felt like a sock that had lost its match.

The next week, a thick package came in the mail. Inside was a green notebook. On the first page, Ravi had written, "Chapter One: The robot butler woke up in the wrong house. He saw a huge shadow in the doorway, and then..." The page stopped in the middle of the sentence.

Theo grinned. He grabbed a pencil and wrote Chapter Two. He made the shadow turn out to be a very tall cat. Then he stopped in the middle of an exciting sentence, too, and mailed the notebook back.

Now the notebook travels back and forth every week. Neither boy can stand waiting to find out what happens next. Being far apart has made the story better, because each boy has to wait, and wonder, and write.

■ Harder · 214 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.5

Theo and Ravi had been inseparable since kindergarten. They lived in neighboring houses, and every single day they came up with some new scheme to carry out together.

Then Ravi's family bought a house on the far side of town. On moving day, Theo carried the very last lamp out to the truck and tried with all his might not to cry.

That night, the house next door sat dark and silent. Theo felt like a sock that had lost its match.

The following week, a thick package arrived in the mail. Inside was a green notebook. On the first page, Ravi had written, "Chapter One: The robot butler woke up in the wrong house. He saw a huge shadow looming in the doorway, and then..." The page stopped right in the middle of the sentence.

Theo grinned. He grabbed a pencil and wrote Chapter Two, and he made the shadow turn out to be a very tall cat. Then he, too, stopped in the middle of an exciting sentence before mailing the notebook back.

Now the notebook travels back and forth every week, and neither boy can bear waiting to learn what happens next. Being far apart has actually made the story better, because each boy has to wait, and wonder, and write.

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 package, chapter, grinned and wonder 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 Cliffhanger Notebook"?

It was written for 4th grade. It has 194 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 3.8. 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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