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The Last Lap

5th grade fiction passage about sports and friendship: 241 words, five questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade fiction sports and friendship 241 words

The Last Lap

The whistle blew, and the eight runners shot off the starting line. Jonah ran with his teeth clenched, because he was the best runner on the Hillside team and he had never lost the mile.

Halfway through the third lap, a new boy named Eli moved up beside him. Eli had joined the team only a week ago, and he ran with an easy stride, as if the race were a walk in the park.

Jonah dug in and pulled ahead while the crowd cheered his name. But on the last lap, he heard footsteps getting closer again. His legs burned and his breath came in gasps. At the final curve, Eli passed him on the outside and crossed the finish line first.

Jonah slowed to a walk and stared at the ground. His eyes stung. He did not want to be a sore loser, but he did not feel like smiling either.

Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. "That was the hardest race I have ever run," Eli said, still panting. "I only caught up because I was chasing you the whole way, and I never ran this fast before."

Jonah looked up. He had been so angry about losing that he had not thought about what his running had done for someone else. A small smile crept across his face.

"Next time, I will have to run even faster," he said, and the two boys shook hands.

Questions

  1. How long had Eli been on the team? in the text

  2. What happened at the last curve? in the text

  3. How did Jonah feel right after he lost, and what detail in the story shows it? think about it

  4. What did Eli mean when he said, "I was chasing you the whole way"? think about it

  5. What does the story suggest about winning and losing? think about it

Words to know

stride
the length and rhythm of a person's steps when running
clenched
pressed tightly together
pant
to breathe hard and fast after hard work
rival
a person you compete against
sore loser
someone who gets angry or rude after losing

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 stride, clenched, pant, rival and sore loser 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 3 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 Last Lap"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 241 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 3.8. 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 five. 2 ask for something the text says directly and 3 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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