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Glass Slides Numbered Out of Order

5th grade fiction passage about old picture slides and a lost projector: 224 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade fiction old picture slides and a lost projector 224 words

Glass Slides Numbered Out of Order

Marcus was helping his aunt clear the attic of the old Bellweather Inn when he found a flat wooden box under a pile of curtains. Inside, packed in straw, lay a stack of thin glass squares. He held one up to the window. It showed a faded picture of a lighthouse.

"Magic lantern slides," said Aunt Dee. "Long ago, people shone a bright lamp through glass pictures to show them on a wall. There should be a projector somewhere, but I have never seen one." They searched until dinner and found nothing.

Marcus kept thinking about the slides. Each one had a small number scratched into a corner, but the numbers were all mixed up. The lighthouse was number nine. A rowboat was number two. A red door was number thirty.

Maybe the numbers were not a count. Maybe they were directions. That night he lined the slides up along the windowsill in number order and let the moonlight shine through them. The first showed the harbor. The next showed a boat, then a stone path, then a staircase, and the last showed a closet door with a brass handle.

"I know that door," Aunt Dee said in the morning. "It is in the old ballroom."

Behind it, under a dusty sheet, stood the lantern projector. That evening, the lighthouse glowed on the wall.

Questions

  1. Where did Marcus find the wooden box? in the text

  2. What are magic lantern slides? in the text

  3. What was odd about the numbers scratched on the slides? in the text

  4. What did Marcus do with the slides that night? in the text

  5. Why did Marcus think the numbers might be directions? think about it

  6. What did the slides turn out to be? think about it

Words to know

attic
the room under the roof of a building
slides
small pictures on glass that can be shown on a wall
projector
a machine that shines a picture onto a wall
scratched
marked by rubbing something sharp on a surface
brass
a yellow metal often used for handles and bells
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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 · 205 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.6

Marcus helped his aunt clean the attic of the old Bellweather Inn. Under a pile of curtains he found a flat wooden box. Inside, in straw, were thin squares of glass. He held one up to the window. It showed a faded picture of a lighthouse.

"Magic lantern slides," said Aunt Dee. "Long ago, people shone a bright lamp through glass pictures to show them on a wall. There must be a projector, but I have never seen one." They looked until dinner. They found nothing.

Marcus kept thinking about the slides. Each one had a small number scratched in a corner. But the numbers were mixed up. The lighthouse was number nine. A rowboat was number two. A red door was number thirty.

Maybe the numbers were not a count. Maybe they were directions. That night he put the slides on the windowsill in number order. The first showed the harbor. Then came a boat, a stone path, and a staircase. The last showed a closet door with a brass handle.

"I know that door," Aunt Dee said in the morning. "It is in the old ballroom."

Behind it, under a dusty sheet, was the projector. That evening, the lighthouse glowed on the wall.

▲ This passage · 224 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.6

Marcus was helping his aunt clear the attic of the old Bellweather Inn when he found a flat wooden box under a pile of curtains. Inside, packed in straw, lay a stack of thin glass squares. He held one up to the window. It showed a faded picture of a lighthouse.

"Magic lantern slides," said Aunt Dee. "Long ago, people shone a bright lamp through glass pictures to show them on a wall. There should be a projector somewhere, but I have never seen one." They searched until dinner and found nothing.

Marcus kept thinking about the slides. Each one had a small number scratched into a corner, but the numbers were all mixed up. The lighthouse was number nine. A rowboat was number two. A red door was number thirty.

Maybe the numbers were not a count. Maybe they were directions. That night he lined the slides up along the windowsill in number order and let the moonlight shine through them. The first showed the harbor. The next showed a boat, then a stone path, then a staircase, and the last showed a closet door with a brass handle.

"I know that door," Aunt Dee said in the morning. "It is in the old ballroom."

Behind it, under a dusty sheet, stood the lantern projector. That evening, the lighthouse glowed on the wall.

■ Harder · 240 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.7

Marcus was helping his aunt empty the cluttered attic of the old Bellweather Inn when he discovered a flat wooden box beneath a heap of moth-eaten curtains. Packed in straw inside it lay a stack of thin glass squares. He held one up to the window, and a faded picture of a lighthouse appeared.

"Magic lantern slides," said Aunt Dee. "A century ago, people shone a bright lamp through glass pictures to display them on a wall. There ought to be a projector somewhere, but I have never laid eyes on one." They searched the whole house until dinnertime and found nothing at all.

Marcus could not stop thinking about the slides. Each one had a small number scratched into a corner, yet the numbers were hopelessly jumbled. The lighthouse was number nine. A rowboat was number two. A red door was number thirty.

Perhaps the numbers were not meant as a count. Perhaps they were directions. That night he arranged the slides along the windowsill in number order and let the moonlight glow through them. The first showed the harbor. The next showed a boat, then a stone path, then a staircase, and the very last showed a closet door with a brass handle.

"I know that door," Aunt Dee said the next morning. "It is in the old ballroom."

Behind it, beneath a dusty sheet, stood the lantern projector. That evening, the lighthouse glowed on the wall.

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 attic, slides, projector, scratched and brass 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 "Glass Slides Numbered Out of Order"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 224 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 3.6. 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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