Skip to the content
Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

Grandma's Soup Card

6th grade fiction passage about a family recipe: 259 words, five questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

6th grade fiction a family recipe 259 words

Grandma's Soup Card

Every winter, Dev's grandmother made lentil soup, and every winter the whole house smelled of cumin and warm bread. This year she had a sore knee, so she asked Dev to cook it for the family dinner. "The recipe is on my card in the kitchen drawer," she told him, "and I am sure you will manage."

Dev found the card and groaned. Someone had spilled water on it long ago, and the ink had run into blue smudges. He could still read the words "lentils" and "onion," but the amounts had disappeared completely, and the last line said only "add the secret last."

He glanced at the clock, since dinner was only two hours away. Dev took a deep breath and decided that panicking would not help. He called his aunt, who remembered that Grandma used two carrots and one big onion. His little brother, who had watched her every year, remembered that she crushed the garlic with the flat of a knife, and his dad remembered the bay leaf.

Dev began simmering the lentils and tasted the soup after each step. It was too bland, so he added salt a pinch at a time. It still tasted flat, so he squeezed in some lemon juice, and suddenly the flavors woke up. "That must be the secret," he whispered.

At dinner, Grandma took one spoonful and smiled. "That is the secret," she said. After dessert, Dev copied the recipe onto a fresh card, and Grandma slipped it into a plastic sleeve so it would never be smudged again.

Questions

  1. Why did Dev cook the soup this year? in the text

  2. What was wrong with the recipe card? in the text

  3. What did Dev's aunt remember about the recipe? in the text

  4. What was the secret ingredient Dev discovered? think about it

  5. Why did Grandma put the new card in a plastic sleeve? think about it

Words to know

lentil
a small round seed cooked as food
cumin
a spice with a warm, earthy smell
smudges
dirty or blurred marks
simmering
cooking gently just below boiling
bland
having very little flavor
Share

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 · 227 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.1

Every winter, Dev's grandmother made lentil soup. The whole house smelled of cumin and warm bread. This year she had a sore knee. She asked Dev to cook the soup for dinner. "The recipe is on my card in the kitchen drawer," she said. "You will do fine."

Dev found the card and groaned. Water had spilled on it long ago. The ink had run into blue smudges. He could read "lentils" and "onion." The amounts were gone. The last line said only "add the secret last."

Dev looked at the clock. Dinner was in two hours. He took a deep breath. Panic would not help. He called his aunt. She remembered two carrots and one big onion. His little brother had watched Grandma every year. He remembered she crushed the garlic with the flat of a knife. His dad remembered the bay leaf.

Dev simmered the lentils. He tasted the soup after each step. It was bland, so he added salt a pinch at a time. It still tasted flat. So he squeezed in some lemon juice. The flavors woke up. "That must be the secret," he whispered.

At dinner, Grandma took one spoonful and smiled. "That is the secret," she said. After dessert, Dev copied the recipe onto a new card. Grandma put it in a plastic sleeve. Now it would never be smudged again.

▲ This passage · 259 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6

Every winter, Dev's grandmother made lentil soup, and every winter the whole house smelled of cumin and warm bread. This year she had a sore knee, so she asked Dev to cook it for the family dinner. "The recipe is on my card in the kitchen drawer," she told him, "and I am sure you will manage."

Dev found the card and groaned. Someone had spilled water on it long ago, and the ink had run into blue smudges. He could still read the words "lentils" and "onion," but the amounts had disappeared completely, and the last line said only "add the secret last."

He glanced at the clock, since dinner was only two hours away. Dev took a deep breath and decided that panicking would not help. He called his aunt, who remembered that Grandma used two carrots and one big onion. His little brother, who had watched her every year, remembered that she crushed the garlic with the flat of a knife, and his dad remembered the bay leaf.

Dev began simmering the lentils and tasted the soup after each step. It was too bland, so he added salt a pinch at a time. It still tasted flat, so he squeezed in some lemon juice, and suddenly the flavors woke up. "That must be the secret," he whispered.

At dinner, Grandma took one spoonful and smiled. "That is the secret," she said. After dessert, Dev copied the recipe onto a fresh card, and Grandma slipped it into a plastic sleeve so it would never be smudged again.

■ Harder · 282 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 7.4

Every winter, Dev's grandmother prepared her famous lentil soup, and every winter the entire house filled with the comforting smell of cumin and warm bread. This year, however, she had a sore knee, so she asked Dev to cook the soup for the family dinner. "The recipe is on my card in the kitchen drawer," she told him, "and I am confident that you will manage beautifully."

Dev found the card and groaned out loud. Someone had spilled water on it years earlier, and the ink had dissolved into blurry blue smudges. He could still make out the words "lentils" and "onion," but the amounts had vanished completely, and the final line said only "add the secret last."

He glanced anxiously at the clock, since dinner was only two hours away. Dev took a deep breath and decided that panicking would accomplish nothing. He telephoned his aunt, who remembered that Grandma always used two carrots and one big onion. His little brother, who had faithfully watched her cook every year, remembered that she crushed the garlic with the flat side of a knife, and his dad remembered the bay leaf.

Dev began simmering the lentils and tasted the soup after every step. It seemed too bland, so he added salt a pinch at a time. It still tasted flat, so he squeezed in some fresh lemon juice, and suddenly the flavors woke up. "That must be the secret," he whispered.

At dinner, Grandma took a single spoonful and smiled warmly. "That is the secret," she said. After dessert, Dev copied the recipe onto a fresh card, and Grandma slipped it into a plastic sleeve so that it would never be smudged again.

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 lentil, cumin, smudges, simmering and bland 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 3 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 4 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 "Grandma's Soup Card"?

It was written for 6th grade. It has 259 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 6.0. 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. 3 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 3 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.

Nothing you do here is sent to us. No sign-in, no ads.