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Hester Pruitt's Cloud Farm

6th grade fiction passage about a tall tale about growing clouds: 249 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

6th grade fiction a tall tale about growing clouds 249 words

Hester Pruitt's Cloud Farm

They say that in the dry valley of Parch Hollow, Hester Pruitt grew clouds the way other farmers grow corn. Every spring she planted a handful of fog seeds in a long straight row, and by June the sky above her fence was crowded with fat, fluffy clouds. Some were so thick that she sheared them like sheep and stuffed the wool into pillows.

Her neighbors thought she was out of her mind until the summer of the long drought. Every field in the valley turned brown, and every well went low. Hester walked out to her pasture, whistled twice, and the whole herd of clouds came drifting over the fence.

That was when the trouble started. Hester had never fed them anything but morning mist, and a hungry cloud is a grumpy cloud. They all rained at once on the Hendersons' tomato patch, and the tomatoes floated away down the road. Meanwhile, the next farm over stayed as dry as a cracker.

Hester scratched her chin. Then she got out a long stick and a loud bell and went to work like a shepherd. She herded one cloud over each farm, and she gave every cloud a small ration of mist so it would drizzle gently instead of pouring.

By September, the valley was green again. Folks still tell the story, and they still say that if you hear a bell ringing in the sky on a summer evening, it is only Hester, keeping her herd in line.

Questions

  1. What did Hester Pruitt grow on her farm? in the text

  2. What did she do with the thick clouds that she sheared? in the text

  3. What went wrong when the clouds all rained at once? in the text

  4. How did Hester fix the problem? in the text

  5. Why did the clouds pour all at once? think about it

  6. How can you tell this story is a tall tale? think about it

Words to know

drought
a long time with very little rain
shearing
cutting the wool off a sheep
pasture
a grassy field where animals feed
herd
a group of animals that stay together
ration
a small, fixed amount of something
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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 · 206 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.2

People say that in a dry valley called Parch Hollow, Hester Pruitt grew clouds. She grew them like corn. Each spring she planted fog seeds in a long row. By June the sky over her fence was full of fat, fluffy clouds. Some were so thick that she sheared them like sheep. She put the wool in pillows.

Her neighbors thought she was silly. Then came the summer of the long drought. Every field turned brown. Every well ran low. Hester went out to her pasture and whistled twice. The whole herd of clouds floated over the fence.

Then trouble began. Hester had only fed them morning mist. A hungry cloud is a grumpy cloud. They all rained at once on the Hendersons' tomato patch. The tomatoes floated down the road. The next farm stayed as dry as a cracker.

Hester scratched her chin. She got a long stick and a loud bell. She worked like a shepherd. She put one cloud over each farm. She gave each cloud a little mist so it would drizzle softly.

By September the valley was green. People still tell the story. If you hear a bell in the sky on a summer night, it is Hester with her herd.

▲ This passage · 249 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6.1

They say that in the dry valley of Parch Hollow, Hester Pruitt grew clouds the way other farmers grow corn. Every spring she planted a handful of fog seeds in a long straight row, and by June the sky above her fence was crowded with fat, fluffy clouds. Some were so thick that she sheared them like sheep and stuffed the wool into pillows.

Her neighbors thought she was out of her mind until the summer of the long drought. Every field in the valley turned brown, and every well went low. Hester walked out to her pasture, whistled twice, and the whole herd of clouds came drifting over the fence.

That was when the trouble started. Hester had never fed them anything but morning mist, and a hungry cloud is a grumpy cloud. They all rained at once on the Hendersons' tomato patch, and the tomatoes floated away down the road. Meanwhile, the next farm over stayed as dry as a cracker.

Hester scratched her chin. Then she got out a long stick and a loud bell and went to work like a shepherd. She herded one cloud over each farm, and she gave every cloud a small ration of mist so it would drizzle gently instead of pouring.

By September, the valley was green again. Folks still tell the story, and they still say that if you hear a bell ringing in the sky on a summer evening, it is only Hester, keeping her herd in line.

■ Harder · 255 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 7.6

They say that in the parched valley of Parch Hollow, Hester Pruitt cultivated clouds the way other farmers cultivate corn. Every spring she planted a handful of fog seeds in a long, straight row, and by June the sky above her fence was crowded with enormous, fluffy clouds. Some grew so thick that she sheared them like sheep and stuffed the soft wool into pillows.

Her neighbors suspected she had lost her mind until the summer of the terrible drought. Every field in the valley turned brown, and every well sank dangerously low. Hester marched out to her pasture, whistled twice, and the entire herd of clouds came drifting obediently over the fence.

That was when the real trouble began. Hester had never fed them anything except morning mist, and a hungry cloud is a grumpy cloud. All of them rained at once on the Hendersons' tomato patch, and the tomatoes floated away down the road, while the farm next door remained as dry as a cracker.

Hester scratched her chin thoughtfully. Then she fetched a long stick and a loud bell and set to work like a shepherd. She guided one cloud over each farm, and she gave every cloud a small ration of mist so that it would drizzle gently instead of pouring.

By September the whole valley was green again. Folks still tell the story, and they insist that if you hear a bell ringing high in the sky on a summer evening, it is only Hester, keeping her herd in line.

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 drought, shearing, pasture, herd and ration 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 "Hester Pruitt's Cloud Farm"?

It was written for 6th grade. It has 249 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 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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