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Tuesday's Profit Was Smaller Than It Looked

5th grade nonfiction passage about profit, income and costs: 214 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade nonfiction profit, income and costs 214 words

Tuesday's Profit Was Smaller Than It Looked

On Tuesday, twins Ravi and Dee set up a lemonade stand. They sold 30 cups at $1 each. Ravi counted the coins in the cash box and shouted, "We made $30!" Dee shook her head. "That is our income, not our profit," she said.

Income is all the money that comes in. Profit is what is left after you subtract your costs. Costs are the money you had to spend to make the lemonade. Dee had kept a list. The lemons cost $8, the sugar cost $3, and the paper cups cost $4. Together, the costs came to $15.

Dee wrote a simple rule on a napkin: profit equals income minus costs. For Tuesday, that was $30 minus $15, which is $15. The twins had earned a profit of $15, which is half of what Ravi first thought.

Understanding profit helps the twins make smart choices. If they had spent $35 on supplies and sold only $30 of lemonade, their costs would be bigger than their income. That would be a loss, not a profit. To make more, they could raise the price, find cheaper lemons, or sell more cups. The next Saturday, they bought a larger bag of sugar that cost less for each cup, and their profit grew. Businesses of every size, from a lemonade stand to a huge company, keep track of both numbers.

Questions

  1. How many cups of lemonade did the twins sell, and for how much each? in the text

  2. What is income? in the text

  3. What was the total cost of the lemons, sugar, and cups? in the text

  4. What is the rule for finding profit? in the text

  5. Why was Ravi wrong to say they made $30? think about it

  6. What would it mean if the costs were bigger than the income? think about it

Words to know

income
all the money that comes in
profit
the money left over after the costs are paid
costs
money spent to make or run something
supplies
things you need to do a job
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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 · 200 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.2

On Tuesday, twins Ravi and Dee set up a lemonade stand. They sold 30 cups at $1 each. Ravi counted the coins in the cash box. He shouted, "We made $30!" Dee shook her head. "That is our income, not our profit," she said.

Income is all the money that comes in. Profit is what is left after you take away your costs. Costs are the money you spent to make the lemonade. Dee had kept a list. The lemons cost $8. The sugar cost $3. The paper cups cost $4. Together the costs were $15.

Dee wrote a rule on a napkin. Profit equals income minus costs. On Tuesday that was $30 minus $15. That is $15. The twins made a profit of $15. That was half of what Ravi first thought.

Knowing about profit helps the twins make smart choices. Say they had spent $35 on supplies and sold only $30 of lemonade. Their costs would be more than their income. That would be a loss, not a profit. To make more, they could raise the price, find cheaper lemons, or sell more cups. The next Saturday, they bought a larger bag of sugar. It cost less for each cup, and their profit grew. Every business keeps track of both numbers.

▲ This passage · 214 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.9

On Tuesday, twins Ravi and Dee set up a lemonade stand. They sold 30 cups at $1 each. Ravi counted the coins in the cash box and shouted, "We made $30!" Dee shook her head. "That is our income, not our profit," she said.

Income is all the money that comes in. Profit is what is left after you subtract your costs. Costs are the money you had to spend to make the lemonade. Dee had kept a list. The lemons cost $8, the sugar cost $3, and the paper cups cost $4. Together, the costs came to $15.

Dee wrote a simple rule on a napkin: profit equals income minus costs. For Tuesday, that was $30 minus $15, which is $15. The twins had earned a profit of $15, which is half of what Ravi first thought.

Understanding profit helps the twins make smart choices. If they had spent $35 on supplies and sold only $30 of lemonade, their costs would be bigger than their income. That would be a loss, not a profit. To make more, they could raise the price, find cheaper lemons, or sell more cups. The next Saturday, they bought a larger bag of sugar that cost less for each cup, and their profit grew. Businesses of every size, from a lemonade stand to a huge company, keep track of both numbers.

■ Harder · 227 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 7.1

On Tuesday, the twins Ravi and Dee opened a lemonade stand, and they sold 30 cups at $1 apiece. Ravi tallied the coins in the cash box and exclaimed, "We made $30!" Dee shook her head and replied, "That is our income, not our profit."

Income is the entire amount of money that comes in. Profit is whatever remains after you subtract your costs, which are the expenses you paid in order to make the lemonade. Dee had kept a careful list. The lemons had cost $8, the sugar had cost $3, and the paper cups had cost $4, so the costs came to $15 altogether.

Dee scribbled a simple rule on a napkin, which said that profit equals income minus costs. For Tuesday, that meant $30 minus $15, which left $15. The twins had earned a profit of $15, exactly half of what Ravi had first imagined.

Understanding profit helps the twins make wise decisions. Had they spent $35 on supplies and sold only $30 worth of lemonade, their costs would have exceeded their income, and they would have suffered a loss instead of earning a profit. To earn more, they could raise the price, locate cheaper lemons, or sell additional cups. The following Saturday, they purchased a larger bag of sugar that cost less for each cup, and their profit increased. Businesses of every size, from a lemonade stand to an enormous company, keep track of both numbers.

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 income, profit, costs and supplies 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 "Tuesday's Profit Was Smaller Than It Looked"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 214 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 3.9. 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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