Skip to the content
Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

The Stair Relay for Mrs. Abara

4th grade fiction passage about kids helping a neighbor: 204 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

4th grade fiction kids helping a neighbor 204 words

The Stair Relay for Mrs. Abara

The elevator in Hollis Court broke on a Monday. A sign said it would be fixed in a week. Most people grumbled and climbed the stairs. But Mrs. Abara lived on the sixth floor, and her knees did not like stairs at all.

On Tuesday, Mateo found her sitting on the first landing with a heavy bag of groceries at her feet. She was breathing hard.

"May I carry that up one flight?" asked Mateo. He took the bag to the second floor and knocked on the door of his friend Lena. Lena understood right away. She carried the bag up to the third floor, where a boy named Oskar was waiting. Oskar took it to the fourth. Two more kids took it to the fifth and the sixth.

Mrs. Abara climbed slowly behind her groceries, resting when she needed to. When she finally reached her door, the bag was waiting on the mat. Every egg was whole.

All week, the kids stood on their landings each afternoon like runners in a race, ready to pass the bag along. On Monday, the elevator hummed again. That evening, a tray of warm cookies sat on the first floor with a note: "For the relay team."

Questions

  1. Why was the stairs hard for Mrs. Abara? in the text

  2. How long would the sign say the elevator needed to be fixed? in the text

  3. How did the groceries get all the way to the sixth floor? in the text

  4. What did Mrs. Abara leave for the kids at the end? in the text

  5. Why does the story compare the kids to runners in a race? think about it

  6. How do you think Mrs. Abara felt about the kids' help? think about it

Words to know

grumbled
complained in a low, unhappy voice
landing
the flat place at the top or bottom of a set of stairs
groceries
food and other things bought at a store
flight
one set of stairs between two floors
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 · 192 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.5

The elevator in Hollis Court broke on a Monday. A sign said it would be fixed in a week. Most people grumbled and used the stairs. But Mrs. Abara lived on the sixth floor. Her knees did not like stairs.

On Tuesday, Mateo found her sitting on the first landing. A heavy bag of groceries was at her feet. She was breathing hard.

"May I carry that up one flight?" asked Mateo. He took the bag to the second floor. He knocked on his friend Lena's door. Lena understood right away. She took the bag to the third floor. A boy named Oskar was waiting. He took it to the fourth. Two more kids took it to the fifth and the sixth.

Mrs. Abara climbed slowly behind her groceries. She rested when she needed to. At last she reached her door. The bag was waiting on the mat. Every egg was whole.

All week, the kids stood on their landings each afternoon like runners in a race. On Monday, the elevator hummed again. That evening, a tray of warm cookies sat on the first floor. A note said, "For the relay team."

▲ This passage · 204 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.1

The elevator in Hollis Court broke on a Monday. A sign said it would be fixed in a week. Most people grumbled and climbed the stairs. But Mrs. Abara lived on the sixth floor, and her knees did not like stairs at all.

On Tuesday, Mateo found her sitting on the first landing with a heavy bag of groceries at her feet. She was breathing hard.

"May I carry that up one flight?" asked Mateo. He took the bag to the second floor and knocked on the door of his friend Lena. Lena understood right away. She carried the bag up to the third floor, where a boy named Oskar was waiting. Oskar took it to the fourth. Two more kids took it to the fifth and the sixth.

Mrs. Abara climbed slowly behind her groceries, resting when she needed to. When she finally reached her door, the bag was waiting on the mat. Every egg was whole.

All week, the kids stood on their landings each afternoon like runners in a race, ready to pass the bag along. On Monday, the elevator hummed again. That evening, a tray of warm cookies sat on the first floor with a note: "For the relay team."

■ Harder · 220 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6.5

The elevator in Hollis Court broke down on a Monday, and a sign on the wall promised that it would be repaired within a week. Most residents grumbled and trudged up the stairs. But Mrs. Abara lived on the sixth floor, and her knees did not tolerate stairs at all.

On Tuesday, Mateo discovered her sitting on the first landing with a heavy bag of groceries at her feet, breathing hard.

"May I carry that up one flight?" asked Mateo. He hauled the bag to the second floor and knocked on the door of his friend Lena. Lena understood immediately. She carried the bag up to the third floor, where a boy named Oskar was waiting, and Oskar took it to the fourth. Two more kids carried it to the fifth and the sixth.

Mrs. Abara climbed slowly behind her groceries, pausing to rest whenever she needed to. When she finally arrived at her door, the bag was waiting on the mat, and every egg was still whole.

All week, the kids stood on their landings each afternoon like runners in a race, ready to pass the bag along. On the following Monday, the elevator hummed to life again. That evening, a tray of warm cookies appeared on the first floor with a note that read, "For the relay team."

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 grumbled, landing, groceries and flight 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 Stair Relay for Mrs. Abara"?

It was written for 4th grade. It has 204 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 4.1. 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.

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