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Mabel's Eleven-Mile Sandwich

6th grade fiction passage about a tall tale about a giant sandwich: 245 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

6th grade fiction a tall tale about a giant sandwich 245 words

Mabel's Eleven-Mile Sandwich

Mabel Fitch ran the only bakery in the town of Crumb Creek, and she was extremely proud of it. When the town announced a Founders' Day picnic, she promised to bring a sandwich big enough for everyone to share. Folks smiled politely, but Mabel meant every word.

She started baking on Monday. By Wednesday her loaf stretched out of the bakery, down Main Street, and over the old stone bridge, and by Friday it ran past the school and the feed store, where a family of ducks had moved in to nap on the crust. Mabel kept baking until the bread was eleven miles long.

The trouble came with the filling. She sliced tomatoes by the wagonload, spread mustard with a paint roller, and stacked a mountain of cheese on top. Then she stopped, because she realized that a sandwich this long could not be flipped, folded, or carried, and nobody could possibly reach the middle.

Mabel sat down on a fence and thought hard. Then she smiled. She sent a note to every house along the route, and on Saturday morning the whole town showed up with plates and napkins.

Everyone chose a spot and began to eat. The people at the north end got the pickles, while the people at the south end got the peaches, which Mabel had added by mistake, and nobody complained. By sundown, only a few crumbs were left, and the ducks had the best seats in the house.

Questions

  1. What did Mabel promise to bring to the picnic? in the text

  2. How long did Mabel's loaf of bread become? in the text

  3. What problem did Mabel face with the huge sandwich? in the text

  4. How did Mabel solve her problem? in the text

  5. Why did the people smile politely at first? think about it

  6. What clues show this story is a tall tale? think about it

Words to know

founders
the people who started a town or group
crust
the hard outer part of bread
filling
the food that goes inside a sandwich or pie
route
the path that someone follows from one place to another
complained
said that something was wrong or not good
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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 · 219 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.1

Mabel Fitch ran the only bakery in the town of Crumb Creek. She was very proud of it. The town planned a Founders' Day picnic. Mabel promised a sandwich big enough for everyone. Folks smiled politely. Mabel meant it.

She began baking on Monday. By Wednesday her loaf went out of the bakery, down Main Street, and over the old stone bridge. By Friday it passed the school and the feed store. A family of ducks moved in to nap on the crust. Mabel kept going until the bread was eleven miles long.

The trouble was the filling. She sliced tomatoes by the wagonload. She spread mustard with a paint roller. She stacked a mountain of cheese on top. Then she stopped. A sandwich this long could not be flipped or folded or carried. Nobody could reach the middle.

Mabel sat on a fence and thought. Then she smiled. She sent a note to every house along the route. On Saturday morning the whole town came with plates and napkins.

Everyone picked a spot and ate. The people at the north end got the pickles. The people at the south end got the peaches. Mabel had added them by mistake. Nobody complained.

By sundown only a few crumbs were left. The ducks had the best seats in the house.

▲ This passage · 245 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6.6

Mabel Fitch ran the only bakery in the town of Crumb Creek, and she was extremely proud of it. When the town announced a Founders' Day picnic, she promised to bring a sandwich big enough for everyone to share. Folks smiled politely, but Mabel meant every word.

She started baking on Monday. By Wednesday her loaf stretched out of the bakery, down Main Street, and over the old stone bridge, and by Friday it ran past the school and the feed store, where a family of ducks had moved in to nap on the crust. Mabel kept baking until the bread was eleven miles long.

The trouble came with the filling. She sliced tomatoes by the wagonload, spread mustard with a paint roller, and stacked a mountain of cheese on top. Then she stopped, because she realized that a sandwich this long could not be flipped, folded, or carried, and nobody could possibly reach the middle.

Mabel sat down on a fence and thought hard. Then she smiled. She sent a note to every house along the route, and on Saturday morning the whole town showed up with plates and napkins.

Everyone chose a spot and began to eat. The people at the north end got the pickles, while the people at the south end got the peaches, which Mabel had added by mistake, and nobody complained. By sundown, only a few crumbs were left, and the ducks had the best seats in the house.

■ Harder · 249 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 7.4

Mabel Fitch ran the only bakery in the town of Crumb Creek, and she was exceedingly proud of it. When the town announced a Founders' Day picnic, she promised to bring a sandwich large enough for every single person to share. Folks smiled politely, but Mabel meant every word.

She began baking on Monday. By Wednesday her loaf stretched out of the bakery, down Main Street, and across the old stone bridge, and by Friday it extended past the school and the feed store, where a family of ducks had moved in to nap on the crust. Mabel kept baking until the bread measured eleven miles in length.

The real difficulty came with the filling. She sliced tomatoes by the wagonload, spread mustard with a paint roller, and stacked a mountain of cheese on top. Then she paused, because she realized that a sandwich of this size could never be flipped, folded, or carried, and nobody could possibly reach the middle.

Mabel sat down on a fence and thought very hard. Then she smiled. She sent a note to every house along the route, and on Saturday morning the entire town arrived with plates and napkins.

Everyone selected a spot and began to eat. The people at the north end received the pickles, while the people at the south end received the peaches, which Mabel had added by mistake, and nobody complained. By sundown, only a few crumbs remained, and the ducks enjoyed the best seats in the house.

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 founders, crust, filling, route and complained 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 "Mabel's Eleven-Mile Sandwich"?

It was written for 6th grade. It has 245 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 6.6. 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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