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The Blue Tape Line Down the Middle

6th grade fiction passage about sharing a room with a stepbrother: 244 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

6th grade fiction sharing a room with a stepbrother 244 words

The Blue Tape Line Down the Middle

Marisol had one rule for the first night: nobody crosses the tape. She pressed a strip of blue painter's tape straight down the middle of the bedroom floor. Her new stepbrother, Teddy, watched from the doorway with a duffel bag on his shoulder.

"Left side is yours," she said. "Right side is mine."

That seemed fair until Tuesday. The closet was on Teddy's side, and the only outlet was on hers. Teddy needed the outlet to charge his headphones, and Marisol needed the closet for her shoes. Every morning one of them tiptoed across the line while the other one groaned.

On Friday, Marisol's jump-rope trophy tumbled off the shelf and landed in Teddy's territory. He picked it up, read the little plate, and handed it back without a word. That night she lay awake in the dark. The tape no longer felt like a fence. It felt like a very long, very quiet argument.

In the morning she peeled up a piece of tape beside the closet, leaving a gap as wide as a door. Then she wrote on an index card: OPEN FOR SHOES AND SUNSHINE. Teddy read it, grinned, and tore a gap near the outlet. His card said, OPEN FOR CHARGERS.

By Sunday the tape was mostly scraps. They kept one short strip in the middle of the room, because a little private space was fair too, and because some boundaries are worth keeping when everyone agrees on them.

Questions

  1. What did Marisol stick down the middle of the bedroom floor? in the text

  2. Why did the closet cause a problem? in the text

  3. What did Teddy need the outlet for? in the text

  4. What happened to Marisol's trophy on Friday? in the text

  5. Why did the tape feel like a long, quiet argument to Marisol? think about it

  6. Why did they keep one short strip of tape at the end? think about it

Words to know

stepbrother
the son of your parent's new husband or wife
outlet
a place on the wall where you plug in cords
territory
an area that someone says belongs to them
groaned
made a low sound because of being annoyed
boundaries
lines or limits that mark where something stops
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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 · 216 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.2

Marisol had one rule for the first night: nobody crosses the tape. She put a line of blue tape down the middle of the bedroom floor. Her new stepbrother, Teddy, stood in the doorway with his bag.

"Left side is yours," she said. "Right side is mine."

That seemed fair until Tuesday. The closet was on Teddy's side. The only outlet was on hers. Teddy needed the outlet for his headphones. Marisol needed the closet for her shoes. Each morning, one of them tiptoed over the line, and the other one groaned.

On Friday, Marisol's jump-rope trophy fell off the shelf. It landed on Teddy's side. He picked it up, read the little plate, and gave it back. He did not say a word. That night she lay awake. The tape did not feel like a fence now. It felt like a long, quiet fight.

In the morning she pulled up some tape by the closet. She left a gap as wide as a door. She wrote on a card: OPEN FOR SHOES AND SUNSHINE. Teddy read it and grinned. He tore a gap near the outlet. His card said, OPEN FOR CHARGERS.

By Sunday the tape was mostly scraps. They kept one short strip in the middle. A little private space was fair, too.

▲ This passage · 244 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.8

Marisol had one rule for the first night: nobody crosses the tape. She pressed a strip of blue painter's tape straight down the middle of the bedroom floor. Her new stepbrother, Teddy, watched from the doorway with a duffel bag on his shoulder.

"Left side is yours," she said. "Right side is mine."

That seemed fair until Tuesday. The closet was on Teddy's side, and the only outlet was on hers. Teddy needed the outlet to charge his headphones, and Marisol needed the closet for her shoes. Every morning one of them tiptoed across the line while the other one groaned.

On Friday, Marisol's jump-rope trophy tumbled off the shelf and landed in Teddy's territory. He picked it up, read the little plate, and handed it back without a word. That night she lay awake in the dark. The tape no longer felt like a fence. It felt like a very long, very quiet argument.

In the morning she peeled up a piece of tape beside the closet, leaving a gap as wide as a door. Then she wrote on an index card: OPEN FOR SHOES AND SUNSHINE. Teddy read it, grinned, and tore a gap near the outlet. His card said, OPEN FOR CHARGERS.

By Sunday the tape was mostly scraps. They kept one short strip in the middle of the room, because a little private space was fair too, and because some boundaries are worth keeping when everyone agrees on them.

■ Harder · 280 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.8

Marisol had established one firm rule for the first night: nobody crosses the tape. She pressed a long strip of blue painter's tape straight down the middle of the bedroom floor, smoothing it flat with her thumb. Her new stepbrother, Teddy, watched from the doorway with a heavy duffel bag hanging from his shoulder.

"Left side is yours," she announced. "Right side is mine."

That arrangement seemed perfectly fair until Tuesday. The closet happened to be on Teddy's side, while the only outlet in the room was on hers. Teddy needed the outlet to charge his headphones, and Marisol needed the closet for her shoes. Every morning, one of them tiptoed across the line while the other groaned loudly.

On Friday, Marisol's jump-rope trophy tumbled off the shelf and landed in Teddy's territory. He picked it up, studied the little plate, and handed it back without a single word. That night she lay awake in the dark, thinking. The tape no longer felt like a fence at all. It felt like a very long, very quiet argument that neither of them knew how to end.

In the morning she peeled up a piece of tape beside the closet, leaving a gap as wide as a doorway. Then she wrote on an index card: OPEN FOR SHOES AND SUNSHINE. Teddy read it, grinned, and tore a gap near the outlet. His card said, OPEN FOR CHARGERS.

By Sunday the tape had been reduced to scraps. They kept one short strip in the middle of the room, because a little private space was fair to both of them, and because some boundaries are worth keeping when everyone has agreed on them.

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 stepbrother, outlet, territory, groaned and boundaries 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 Blue Tape Line Down the Middle"?

It was written for 6th grade. It has 244 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 4.8. 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 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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