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Luggage Tag 52 at Alder Junction

5th grade fiction passage about finding the owner of a lost case: 226 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade fiction finding the owner of a lost case 226 words

Luggage Tag 52 at Alder Junction

At Alder Junction station, a brown leather case had sat on the lost-and-found shelf for six days. Tamsin, who helped her mother at the ticket desk after school, decided to find its owner. The only label was a paper tag with the number 52 and nothing else.

Station rules said a lost case could be opened to look for a name. With her mother watching, Tamsin lifted the lid. Inside lay a folded blue sweater, a thick book about knots, and a pinch of gritty sand in one corner. A ferry ticket stub was tucked in the book as a bookmark.

"Sand," said Tamsin. "So the owner has been to a beach." She turned over the stub. It showed a picture of a ship and the words Pebble Harbor.

Her mother tapped the book. "People who work on boats need to know their knots," she said.

Tamsin looked up the number of the Pebble Harbor ferry office and called. A friendly voice answered. "Tag 52?" it said. "Mr. Oyelaran has asked about that case every day. He works on the ferry, and he left it on the afternoon train."

The next morning, Mr. Oyelaran came to the desk and thanked her. "Sand, a stub, and a book of knots," he said when she told him how she had worked it out. "You should be a detective."

Questions

  1. How long had the case been on the lost-and-found shelf? in the text

  2. What was the only label on the case? in the text

  3. What three clues did Tamsin find inside the case? in the text

  4. Why did the sand make Tamsin think the owner had been to a beach? think about it

  5. Why did the book about knots help Tamsin's mother guess the owner's kind of work? think about it

  6. Who owned the case, and where did he work? in the text

Words to know

station
a place where trains stop for people to get on and off
ferry
a boat that carries people and cars across water
stub
the small part of a ticket left after it is torn
gritty
rough and sandy to the touch
tag
a small label attached to something
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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 · 212 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.1

At Alder Junction station, a brown leather case had sat on the lost-and-found shelf for six days. Tamsin helped her mother at the ticket desk after school. She wanted to find the owner. The only label was a paper tag with the number 52.

The station rules said a lost case could be opened to look for a name. With her mother watching, Tamsin lifted the lid. Inside were a blue sweater, a thick book about knots, and a pinch of sand in one corner. A ferry ticket stub was tucked in the book.

"Sand," said Tamsin. "So the owner has been to a beach." She turned over the stub. It had a picture of a ship and the words Pebble Harbor.

Her mother tapped the book. "People who work on boats need to know their knots," she said.

Tamsin found the number for the Pebble Harbor ferry office and called. A friendly voice said, "Tag 52? Mr. Oyelaran asks about that case every day. He works on the ferry. He left it on the afternoon train."

The next morning, Mr. Oyelaran came to the desk and thanked her. "Sand, a stub, and a book of knots," he said when she told him how she did it. "You should be a detective."

▲ This passage · 226 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.7

At Alder Junction station, a brown leather case had sat on the lost-and-found shelf for six days. Tamsin, who helped her mother at the ticket desk after school, decided to find its owner. The only label was a paper tag with the number 52 and nothing else.

Station rules said a lost case could be opened to look for a name. With her mother watching, Tamsin lifted the lid. Inside lay a folded blue sweater, a thick book about knots, and a pinch of gritty sand in one corner. A ferry ticket stub was tucked in the book as a bookmark.

"Sand," said Tamsin. "So the owner has been to a beach." She turned over the stub. It showed a picture of a ship and the words Pebble Harbor.

Her mother tapped the book. "People who work on boats need to know their knots," she said.

Tamsin looked up the number of the Pebble Harbor ferry office and called. A friendly voice answered. "Tag 52?" it said. "Mr. Oyelaran has asked about that case every day. He works on the ferry, and he left it on the afternoon train."

The next morning, Mr. Oyelaran came to the desk and thanked her. "Sand, a stub, and a book of knots," he said when she told him how she had worked it out. "You should be a detective."

■ Harder · 235 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.2

At Alder Junction station, a brown leather case had been sitting on the lost-and-found shelf for six days. Tamsin, who helped her mother at the ticket desk after school, resolved to track down its owner. The only label was a paper tag bearing the number 52 and nothing else.

Station rules allowed a lost case to be opened in search of a name. With her mother looking on, Tamsin lifted the lid. Inside lay a folded blue sweater, a thick book about knots, and a pinch of gritty sand in one corner. A ferry ticket stub had been tucked into the book as a bookmark.

"Sand," said Tamsin. "So the owner has been to a beach." She turned over the stub, which showed a picture of a ship and the words Pebble Harbor.

Her mother tapped the book. "People who work on boats need to know their knots," she observed.

Tamsin looked up the number of the Pebble Harbor ferry office and placed a call. A friendly voice answered. "Tag 52?" it said. "Mr. Oyelaran has been asking about that case every single day. He works on the ferry, and he left it on the afternoon train."

The following morning, Mr. Oyelaran arrived at the desk to thank her. When she explained how she had worked it out, he grinned. "Sand, a stub, and a book of knots," he said. "You should be a detective."

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 station, ferry, stub, gritty and tag 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 4 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 "Luggage Tag 52 at Alder Junction"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 226 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 3.7. 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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