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The Garden Robot and the Wild Corner

5th grade fiction passage about a robot that will not pull weeds: 243 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade fiction a robot that will not pull weeds 243 words

The Garden Robot and the Wild Corner

The Maple Lane Garden Club owned precisely one helpful robot, whose name was Dandy, and whose job was easy to state: pull the weeds.

Dandy was remarkably good at it. It rolled down the rows on small rubber treads and plucked out every unwanted plant it encountered. It never overlooked a thistle or a single blade of crabgrass.

One spring morning, Dandy reached a patch of yellow dandelions at the back fence, and it stopped abruptly. A bumblebee was resting on one of the flowers, its wings trembling in the morning chill.

"My orders say these are weeds," Dandy told the bee. "But you are plainly using them."

The bee only buzzed. Dandy's gears hummed as it checked the club's rule list again and again. Pull the weeds. Keep the beds tidy. It could not find a single rule that mentioned bees.

When the club met that afternoon, Dandy rolled to the middle of the room. "I have a question," it announced. "Which plants are weeds?"

Mr. Okafor scratched his head thoughtfully. "I suppose a weed is any plant growing where we do not want it."

"Then I would like a place where we do want them," said Dandy.

The club chuckled, but they agreed. They set aside the back corner and added a small sign that read WILD CORNER. Dandy never pulled another plant there. By midsummer the corner buzzed from dawn until dusk, and the tomatoes nearby grew twice as heavy.

Questions

  1. What was Dandy's job in the garden club? in the text

  2. Why did Dandy stop abruptly at the dandelions? in the text

  3. How did Mr. Okafor define a weed? in the text

  4. What did the club do after Dandy asked for a place for wild plants? in the text

  5. Why did the tomatoes nearby grow so heavy? think about it

  6. What does the story suggest about following rules? think about it

Words to know

weeds
wild plants that grow where people do not want them
treads
the bands that roll around the wheels of some machines
thistle
a wild plant with prickly leaves and purple flowers
trembling
shaking a little
tidy
neat and in good order
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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 · 228 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.9

The Maple Lane Garden Club owned one helpful robot. Its name was Dandy, and its job was easy to say: pull the weeds.

Dandy was very good at it. It rolled down the rows on small treads and plucked out every unwanted plant. It never missed a thistle or a bit of crabgrass.

One spring morning, Dandy reached a patch of yellow dandelions at the back fence. It stopped. A bumblebee was resting on one flower, wings trembling in the cold.

"My orders say these are weeds," Dandy told the bee. "But you are using them."

The bee only buzzed. Dandy's gears hummed. It checked the club's rule list again and again. Pull the weeds. Keep the beds tidy. It could not find a rule that said anything about bees.

When the club met that afternoon, Dandy rolled to the middle of the room. "I have a question," it said. "Which plants are weeds?"

Mr. Okafor scratched his head. "I suppose a weed is any plant growing where we do not want it."

"Then I would like a place where we want them," said Dandy.

The club laughed, but they agreed. They set aside the back corner and added a small sign that read WILD CORNER. Dandy never pulled a plant there again. By midsummer the corner buzzed all day, and the tomatoes nearby grew twice as heavy.

▲ This passage · 243 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.4

The Maple Lane Garden Club owned precisely one helpful robot, whose name was Dandy, and whose job was easy to state: pull the weeds.

Dandy was remarkably good at it. It rolled down the rows on small rubber treads and plucked out every unwanted plant it encountered. It never overlooked a thistle or a single blade of crabgrass.

One spring morning, Dandy reached a patch of yellow dandelions at the back fence, and it stopped abruptly. A bumblebee was resting on one of the flowers, its wings trembling in the morning chill.

"My orders say these are weeds," Dandy told the bee. "But you are plainly using them."

The bee only buzzed. Dandy's gears hummed as it checked the club's rule list again and again. Pull the weeds. Keep the beds tidy. It could not find a single rule that mentioned bees.

When the club met that afternoon, Dandy rolled to the middle of the room. "I have a question," it announced. "Which plants are weeds?"

Mr. Okafor scratched his head thoughtfully. "I suppose a weed is any plant growing where we do not want it."

"Then I would like a place where we do want them," said Dandy.

The club chuckled, but they agreed. They set aside the back corner and added a small sign that read WILD CORNER. Dandy never pulled another plant there. By midsummer the corner buzzed from dawn until dusk, and the tomatoes nearby grew twice as heavy.

■ Harder · 247 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.2

The Maple Lane Garden Club owned precisely one helpful robot, whose name was Dandy, and whose responsibility was simple to state: pull the weeds.

Dandy performed this task remarkably well. It rolled along the rows on small rubber treads and plucked out every unwanted plant that it encountered, and it never overlooked a thistle or a single blade of crabgrass.

One spring morning, Dandy reached a patch of yellow dandelions beside the back fence, and it stopped abruptly. A bumblebee was resting on one of the flowers, its wings trembling in the morning chill.

"My orders say these are weeds," Dandy told the bee. "But you are plainly using them."

The bee merely buzzed. Dandy's gears hummed as it consulted the club's list of rules again and again. Pull the weeds. Keep the beds tidy. It could not locate a single rule that mentioned bees.

When the club assembled that afternoon, Dandy rolled to the middle of the room. "I have a question," it announced. "Which plants are weeds?"

Mr. Okafor scratched his head thoughtfully. "I suppose a weed is any plant that grows where we do not want it."

"Then I would like a place where we do want them," said Dandy.

The members chuckled, but they agreed. They set aside the back corner and added a small sign that read WILD CORNER. Dandy never pulled another plant there. By midsummer the corner buzzed from dawn until dusk, and the tomatoes nearby grew twice as heavy.

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 weeds, treads, thistle, trembling and tidy 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 Garden Robot and the Wild Corner"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 243 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 4.4. 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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