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The Quilt Square With Red Thread

5th grade fiction passage about a map stitched into a quilt: 231 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade fiction a map stitched into a quilt 231 words

The Quilt Square With Red Thread

Every square of Grandma Nell's old quilt showed a leaf, except for one. In the third row, a gray square had no leaf at all, and it held only a wandering line of tiny stitches and a single red knot in the corner.

Tavia had spent the whole rainy afternoon on the sofa under that quilt, and she traced the line with her finger. It bent left, then right, and then curled like a hook. "Gran," she said, "I think this square is a drawing of something."

Grandma Nell said that her own grandmother, Aunt Bess, had sewn the quilt long ago. "She never wasted a stitch," she said. "If it is odd, it is on purpose."

Tavia fetched a pencil and paper and copied the line. The long wavy part had to be the creek behind the house, and the hook was the bend where the creek turned past the willow tree. The red knot sat just beyond the bend, close to the old stone wall.

When the rain stopped, they went out with a trowel. Under a flat stone by the wall, wrapped in oilcloth, lay a small tin. Inside were seed packets, each one labeled in faded ink with the name of a flower.

"Aunt Bess's garden," said Grandma Nell softly. "She saved it for us."

In spring, Tavia planted a row of the flowers by the creek.

Questions

  1. What was different about the gray square in the third row? in the text

  2. Who sewed the quilt? in the text

  3. What did the long wavy line in the stitching stand for? in the text

  4. What did Tavia and her grandmother find under the flat stone? in the text

  5. Why did Grandma Nell say that if the square was odd, it was on purpose? think about it

  6. What did the red knot mark? think about it

Words to know

quilt
a bed cover made of many pieces of cloth sewn together
stitches
small loops of thread sewn through cloth
knot
a tight tangle of thread or rope
trowel
a small hand shovel for digging
oilcloth
a cloth coated so that water cannot soak through
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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 · 211 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.8

Every square of Grandma Nell's old quilt had a leaf on it, but one. In the third row, a gray square had no leaf. It had a wandering line of tiny stitches and one red knot in the corner.

Tavia sat on the sofa under that quilt all rainy afternoon. She traced the line with her finger. It bent left, then right, and then curled like a hook. "Gran," she said, "I think this square is a drawing."

Grandma Nell said her grandmother, Aunt Bess, had sewn the quilt long ago. "She never wasted a stitch," she said. "If it is odd, it is on purpose."

Tavia got a pencil and paper and copied the line. The long wavy part was the creek behind the house. The hook was the bend by the willow tree. The red knot was just past the bend, near the old stone wall.

When the rain stopped, they went out with a trowel. Under a flat stone by the wall was a small tin wrapped in oilcloth. Inside were seed packets. Each one had the name of a flower in faded ink.

"Aunt Bess's garden," said Grandma Nell softly. "She saved it for us."

In spring, Tavia planted a row of the flowers by the creek.

▲ This passage · 231 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.3

Every square of Grandma Nell's old quilt showed a leaf, except for one. In the third row, a gray square had no leaf at all, and it held only a wandering line of tiny stitches and a single red knot in the corner.

Tavia had spent the whole rainy afternoon on the sofa under that quilt, and she traced the line with her finger. It bent left, then right, and then curled like a hook. "Gran," she said, "I think this square is a drawing of something."

Grandma Nell said that her own grandmother, Aunt Bess, had sewn the quilt long ago. "She never wasted a stitch," she said. "If it is odd, it is on purpose."

Tavia fetched a pencil and paper and copied the line. The long wavy part had to be the creek behind the house, and the hook was the bend where the creek turned past the willow tree. The red knot sat just beyond the bend, close to the old stone wall.

When the rain stopped, they went out with a trowel. Under a flat stone by the wall, wrapped in oilcloth, lay a small tin. Inside were seed packets, each one labeled in faded ink with the name of a flower.

"Aunt Bess's garden," said Grandma Nell softly. "She saved it for us."

In spring, Tavia planted a row of the flowers by the creek.

■ Harder · 239 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.8

Every square of Grandma Nell's venerable old quilt displayed a leaf, with one exception. In the third row, a gray square had no leaf whatsoever. It held only a meandering line of tiny stitches and a single red knot tucked into one corner.

Tavia had spent the entire rainy afternoon on the sofa beneath that quilt. She traced the winding line with her finger. It bent left, then right, and finally curled around like a hook. "Gran," she said, "I think this square is a drawing of something."

Grandma Nell explained that her own grandmother, Aunt Bess, had sewn the quilt many years earlier. "She never wasted a single stitch," she said. "If something is odd, it is odd on purpose."

Tavia fetched a pencil and some paper and carefully copied the line. The long wavy stretch had to be the creek behind the house. The hook was the bend where the creek curved past the willow tree. The red knot sat just beyond the bend, close to the crumbling stone wall.

As soon as the rain stopped, they went outside with a trowel. Beneath a flat stone by the wall, wrapped in oilcloth, lay a small tin. Inside were seed packets, each one labeled in faded ink with the name of a flower.

"Aunt Bess's garden," said Grandma Nell softly. "She saved it for us."

When spring arrived, Tavia planted a row of those flowers along the creek.

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 quilt, stitches, knot, trowel and oilcloth 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 Quilt Square With Red Thread"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 231 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 4.3. 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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