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Kintsugi: Mending a Bowl with Gold

5th grade nonfiction passage about kintsugi pottery repair: 194 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade nonfiction kintsugi pottery repair 194 words

Kintsugi: Mending a Bowl with Gold

When a favorite bowl cracks, most people want to hide the damage or throw the bowl away. In Japan, potters developed a different idea called kintsugi. The word means "golden joinery." Instead of hiding the break, the repair makes it shine.

The work begins when a broken bowl is gathered into its pieces. A craftsperson cleans the edges of each piece. Then a sticky natural lacquer is brushed along the edges, and the pieces are pressed together. The glue is left to cure, and it can take many days to harden fully.

Next, the artist covers the seams with more lacquer and sprinkles fine gold powder over it while it is still tacky. After it dries, the gold is polished until it glows. What was once a crack becomes a bright line that follows the exact path where the bowl broke.

No two repaired bowls look alike, because no two breaks are alike. A mended cup may be more interesting than the plain one it was before. Kintsugi reminds people that an object can keep its history and still be useful. The golden lines tell the story of the bowl, rather than hiding it.

Questions

  1. What does the word kintsugi mean? in the text

  2. What is brushed on the edges of the broken pieces? in the text

  3. What is sprinkled over the seams while the lacquer is still tacky? in the text

  4. Why does no two repaired bowls look alike? in the text

  5. How is kintsugi different from hiding a crack? think about it

  6. What idea does kintsugi remind people of? in the text

Words to know

kintsugi
a way of mending pottery with gold
lacquer
a sticky coating that hardens into a smooth shell
seams
the lines where two pieces join
tacky
a little sticky to the touch
polished
rubbed until smooth and shiny
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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 · 187 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.9

When a favorite bowl cracks, many people hide the damage. Some throw the bowl away. In Japan, potters came up with a different idea. It is called kintsugi. The word means "golden joinery." The repair does not hide the break. It makes the break shine.

The work starts with a broken bowl in pieces. A craftsperson cleans the edges of each piece. Then a sticky natural lacquer is brushed on the edges. The pieces are pressed together. The glue is left to cure. It can take many days to get hard.

Next, the artist adds more lacquer over the seams. While it is still tacky, fine gold powder is sprinkled on top. When it dries, the gold is polished until it glows. A crack becomes a bright line. The line follows the path where the bowl broke.

No two mended bowls look the same, since no two breaks are the same. A mended cup can be more interesting than the plain one it was before. Kintsugi shows that an object can keep its history and still be used. The gold lines tell the story of the bowl.

▲ This passage · 194 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6

When a favorite bowl cracks, most people want to hide the damage or throw the bowl away. In Japan, potters developed a different idea called kintsugi. The word means "golden joinery." Instead of hiding the break, the repair makes it shine.

The work begins when a broken bowl is gathered into its pieces. A craftsperson cleans the edges of each piece. Then a sticky natural lacquer is brushed along the edges, and the pieces are pressed together. The glue is left to cure, and it can take many days to harden fully.

Next, the artist covers the seams with more lacquer and sprinkles fine gold powder over it while it is still tacky. After it dries, the gold is polished until it glows. What was once a crack becomes a bright line that follows the exact path where the bowl broke.

No two repaired bowls look alike, because no two breaks are alike. A mended cup may be more interesting than the plain one it was before. Kintsugi reminds people that an object can keep its history and still be useful. The golden lines tell the story of the bowl, rather than hiding it.

■ Harder · 204 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 10

When a cherished bowl cracks, most people are tempted either to conceal the damage or to discard the bowl altogether. In Japan, however, potters developed a very different philosophy called kintsugi, a word meaning "golden joinery." Rather than disguising the break, the repair makes it glow.

The process begins once the broken bowl has been gathered into its separate pieces. A craftsperson carefully cleans the edges of each fragment, then brushes a sticky natural lacquer along them and presses the pieces together. The adhesive is left to cure, and it can require many days to harden completely.

Afterward, the artist coats the seams with additional lacquer and sprinkles fine gold powder over it while it remains tacky. Once it has dried, the gold is polished until it gleams. What was once a crack becomes a brilliant line that traces the exact path along which the bowl broke.

No two mended bowls look alike, because no two breaks are alike, and a repaired cup may be considerably more interesting than the plain one it used to be. Kintsugi reminds people that an object can keep its history and still be useful, since the golden lines tell the story of the bowl instead of hiding 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 kintsugi, lacquer, seams, tacky and polished on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text 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 write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Kintsugi: Mending a Bowl with Gold"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 194 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 6.0. 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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