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A Map Drawn on a Pizza Box Lid

6th grade fiction passage about moving away from a best friend: 236 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

6th grade fiction moving away from a best friend 236 words

A Map Drawn on a Pizza Box Lid

The week before Hana's family moved, her best friend Lucas appeared at the door holding a flat pizza box lid. He had covered the inside with marker. It was a map of their whole neighborhood, and he pointed out each place. There was the hill where they raced bikes, the mailbox that leaned to one side, and the bench behind the library where Hana had beaten him at checkers eleven times.

Hana laughed, although her throat felt tight. Then she noticed a blank corner at the edge of the lid. Lucas had written two words there: YOUR TURN. He asked her to fill it in with her new town and mail him a copy. He wanted to look for every place she found.

The first month in the new house was lonely. The streets looked unfamiliar, and nobody there knew her name. Still, Hana kept the pizza lid on her desk, and one Saturday she picked up a pencil and went for a long walk. She found a bakery with a sleepy orange cat in the window, a footbridge over a narrow stream, and a hardware store where kids could test every squeaky doorbell.

She drew each place in the blank corner, then photographed the page and mailed it. A week later a package arrived. Inside was a second pizza lid with a new corner labeled in careful capital letters: THE MAP OF BOTH OF US.

Questions

  1. What did Lucas give Hana before she moved? in the text

  2. What did the words YOUR TURN in the blank corner mean? in the text

  3. Which two places did Hana find in her new town? in the text

  4. How did Hana feel during her first month in the new house? in the text

  5. Why did Hana's throat feel tight when she laughed? think about it

  6. Why was the map made from the second pizza lid called the map of both of them? think about it

Words to know

neighborhood
the area around where you live
blank
empty, with nothing written or drawn on it
unfamiliar
new and not known to you
footbridge
a small bridge made only for people walking
labeled
put a name or words on 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 · 218 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.2

The week before Hana's family moved, her best friend Lucas came to her door. He held a flat pizza box lid. He had covered the inside with marker. It was a map of their neighborhood.

"That's the hill where we race bikes," he said. "That's the mailbox that leans. That's the bench behind the library where you beat me at checkers eleven times."

Hana laughed, but her throat felt tight. Then she saw a big blank corner. Lucas had written two words there: YOUR TURN.

"Fill it in with your new town," he said. "Mail me a copy. I will look for the places you find."

The first month in the new house was lonely. The streets looked strange. Nobody knew her name. But Hana kept the pizza lid on her desk. One Saturday she took a pencil and went for a walk. She found a bakery with a sleepy orange cat in the window. She found a footbridge over a stream. She found a hardware store where kids could test the squeaky doorbells.

She drew each place in the blank corner. She took a photo of the page and mailed it. A week later a box came. Inside was a second pizza lid. Lucas had put a new corner on it: THE MAP OF BOTH OF US.

▲ This passage · 236 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.8

The week before Hana's family moved, her best friend Lucas appeared at the door holding a flat pizza box lid. He had covered the inside with marker. It was a map of their whole neighborhood, and he pointed out each place. There was the hill where they raced bikes, the mailbox that leaned to one side, and the bench behind the library where Hana had beaten him at checkers eleven times.

Hana laughed, although her throat felt tight. Then she noticed a blank corner at the edge of the lid. Lucas had written two words there: YOUR TURN. He asked her to fill it in with her new town and mail him a copy. He wanted to look for every place she found.

The first month in the new house was lonely. The streets looked unfamiliar, and nobody there knew her name. Still, Hana kept the pizza lid on her desk, and one Saturday she picked up a pencil and went for a long walk. She found a bakery with a sleepy orange cat in the window, a footbridge over a narrow stream, and a hardware store where kids could test every squeaky doorbell.

She drew each place in the blank corner, then photographed the page and mailed it. A week later a package arrived. Inside was a second pizza lid with a new corner labeled in careful capital letters: THE MAP OF BOTH OF US.

■ Harder · 264 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 9.8

The week before Hana's family moved away, her best friend Lucas appeared at the front door holding a flat pizza box lid that he had covered with colorful marker on the inside. It was a remarkably detailed map of their entire neighborhood, and he explained each place as he pointed. There was the hill where they raced their bikes, the mailbox that leaned stubbornly to one side, and the bench behind the library where Hana had defeated him at checkers eleven separate times.

Hana laughed, although her throat felt unexpectedly tight. Then she noticed a large blank corner at the edge of the lid, where Lucas had written two words: YOUR TURN. He urged her to fill it in with her new town and mail him a copy, so that he could search for every place she discovered.

The first month in the new house was painfully lonely. The streets looked completely unfamiliar, and nobody there knew her name. Still, Hana kept the pizza lid on her desk, and one Saturday she picked up a pencil and set out on a long exploration. She discovered a bakery with a sleepy orange cat curled in the window, a footbridge arching over a narrow stream, and a hardware store where the friendly owner allowed children to test every squeaky doorbell.

She sketched each place in the blank corner, then photographed the page and mailed it to Lucas. A week later a package arrived, and inside was a second pizza lid with a brand new corner labeled in careful capital letters: THE MAP OF BOTH OF US.

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 neighborhood, blank, unfamiliar, footbridge and labeled 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 "A Map Drawn on a Pizza Box Lid"?

It was written for 6th grade. It has 236 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 5.8. 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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