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The Dragon at the Lost Mitten Desk

4th grade fiction passage about a dragon who runs a lost-and-found: 178 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

4th grade fiction a dragon who runs a lost-and-found 178 words

The Dragon at the Lost Mitten Desk

At the edge of Pinewick Village sat a stone hut with a sign that read LOST MITTENS. Inside lived a small green dragon named Orrin. Every winter, children dropped mittens in the snow, and every evening Orrin sniffed them out and carried them home in his claws.

Orrin took the job seriously. He hung each mitten on a string, sorted by color, and kept a notebook. But he had one trouble. Mittens come in pairs, and he often found only one.

One snowy morning a girl named Priya came in. "I lost my left mitten," she said. "It has a yellow stripe."

Orrin checked his strings. He had a yellow-striped mitten, but it was for the right hand. He felt terrible.

Then he had an idea. He puffed a gentle breath of warm air onto the mitten, and the wool grew softly, stitch by stitch, into a matching left one. Priya laughed and pulled on both.

After that, Orrin always kept his fire small. Too much would burn the wool, but just enough made a perfect pair.

Questions

  1. What was written on the sign outside Orrin's hut? in the text

  2. How did Orrin keep the mittens organized? in the text

  3. What was Orrin's trouble? in the text

  4. What did Priya say she had lost? in the text

  5. How did Orrin fix the problem for Priya? in the text

  6. Why did Orrin keep his fire small afterward? think about it

Words to know

sorted
put into groups that go together
stitch
one loop of thread in knitted cloth
seriously
with care, not as a joke
matching
the same as another one
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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 · 151 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.2

A small green dragon named Orrin lived in a stone hut at the edge of Pinewick Village. A sign outside read LOST MITTENS. Every winter, children dropped mittens in the snow. Every evening Orrin sniffed them out and took them home.

He hung each mitten on a string, sorted by color. He kept a notebook too. But he had one trouble. Mittens come in pairs, and he often found only one.

One snowy morning a girl named Priya came in. "I lost my left mitten," she said. "It has a yellow stripe."

Orrin had a mitten with a yellow stripe. But it was for the right hand. He felt bad.

Then he had an idea. He puffed warm air on the mitten. The wool grew, stitch by stitch, into a left mitten. Priya laughed and put on both.

Orrin always kept his fire small. A big fire would burn the wool.

▲ This passage · 178 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.5

At the edge of Pinewick Village sat a stone hut with a sign that read LOST MITTENS. Inside lived a small green dragon named Orrin. Every winter, children dropped mittens in the snow, and every evening Orrin sniffed them out and carried them home in his claws.

Orrin took the job seriously. He hung each mitten on a string, sorted by color, and kept a notebook. But he had one trouble. Mittens come in pairs, and he often found only one.

One snowy morning a girl named Priya came in. "I lost my left mitten," she said. "It has a yellow stripe."

Orrin checked his strings. He had a yellow-striped mitten, but it was for the right hand. He felt terrible.

Then he had an idea. He puffed a gentle breath of warm air onto the mitten, and the wool grew softly, stitch by stitch, into a matching left one. Priya laughed and pulled on both.

After that, Orrin always kept his fire small. Too much would burn the wool, but just enough made a perfect pair.

■ Harder · 196 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.9

At the edge of Pinewick Village stood a stone hut with a weathered sign that read LOST MITTENS. Inside lived a small green dragon named Orrin. Every winter, children dropped their mittens in the snow, and every evening Orrin sniffed them out and carried them home in his claws.

Orrin took the job very seriously. He hung each mitten on a string, sorted carefully by color, and recorded every one in a notebook. Yet he faced one stubborn difficulty. Mittens come in pairs, and he often discovered only one of them.

One snowy morning a girl named Priya hurried in. "I lost my left mitten," she explained. "It has a yellow stripe."

Orrin searched his strings. He did have a mitten with a yellow stripe, but it was made for the right hand, and he felt terrible.

Then an idea struck him. He puffed a gentle breath of warm air onto the mitten, and the wool grew, stitch by stitch, into a matching left one. Priya laughed with delight and pulled on both.

After that, Orrin always kept his fire small. A roaring flame would scorch the wool, but just enough warmth produced a perfect pair.

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 sorted, stitch, seriously and matching 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 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 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 Dragon at the Lost Mitten Desk"?

It was written for 4th grade. It has 178 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 3.5. 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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