Skip to the content
Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

The Village That Lost Its Wednesdays

6th grade fiction passage about a day of the week that goes missing: 229 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

6th grade fiction a day of the week that goes missing 229 words

The Village That Lost Its Wednesdays

In the village of Thistledown, Tuesday ended and Thursday began. Wednesday simply did not come. People did not notice at first, because the sun still rose and the roosters still crowed. But the bakers ran out of bread, since Wednesday was the day they baked. The school bell stayed silent, and the library doors stayed shut.

Tamsin, who was twelve, decided to find out where Wednesday had gone. She asked the old clockmaker, who sniffed and said, "Days have feelings, you know. Wednesday is stuck in the middle, and nobody ever throws a party for it."

That night Tamsin searched the village and found a small, gray shimmer curled up inside the cold bakery oven. It looked like a day that had worn itself out. "Everybody loves the start of the week and the end of the week," whispered Wednesday. "I am just the part in between."

Tamsin thought hard. The next morning she hung a banner across the square that said MIDDLE DAY MARKET. The baker brought warm loaves, the farmers brought apples, and the children played music on pots and spoons. All day long the villagers cheered for the middle of the week.

When the sun set, the gray shimmer in the oven glowed a bright, buttery gold. The following week Wednesday arrived right on time, and Thistledown has held a market on that day ever since.

Questions

  1. What happened in Thistledown each week? in the text

  2. Which two places stopped working because Wednesday was missing? in the text

  3. Where did Tamsin find Wednesday? in the text

  4. What did Tamsin hang across the square? in the text

  5. Why had Wednesday run away? think about it

  6. Why did the gray shimmer turn golden at sunset? think about it

Words to know

shimmer
a soft, shaky glow of light
clockmaker
a person who builds and repairs clocks
banner
a long sign hung up for everyone to see
village
a very small town
worn
tired out from use
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 · 207 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.9

In the village of Thistledown, Tuesday ended and Thursday began. Wednesday did not come. At first no one noticed. The sun still rose. The roosters still crowed. But the bakers ran out of bread, since Wednesday was baking day. The school bell stayed silent. The library doors stayed shut.

Tamsin was twelve. She wanted to find out where Wednesday went. She asked the old clockmaker. He sniffed and said, "Days have feelings. Wednesday is stuck in the middle. Nobody ever has a party for it."

That night Tamsin looked all over the village. She found a small gray shimmer in the cold bakery oven. It looked like a day that was worn out. "Everyone loves the start of the week and the end," whispered Wednesday. "I am just the part in between."

Tamsin thought hard. The next morning she hung a banner across the square. It said MIDDLE DAY MARKET. The baker brought warm loaves. The farmers brought apples. The children played music on pots and spoons. All day the villagers cheered for the middle of the week.

At sunset the gray shimmer in the oven glowed bright gold. The next week Wednesday came right on time. Thistledown has held a market on that day ever since.

▲ This passage · 229 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.3

In the village of Thistledown, Tuesday ended and Thursday began. Wednesday simply did not come. People did not notice at first, because the sun still rose and the roosters still crowed. But the bakers ran out of bread, since Wednesday was the day they baked. The school bell stayed silent, and the library doors stayed shut.

Tamsin, who was twelve, decided to find out where Wednesday had gone. She asked the old clockmaker, who sniffed and said, "Days have feelings, you know. Wednesday is stuck in the middle, and nobody ever throws a party for it."

That night Tamsin searched the village and found a small, gray shimmer curled up inside the cold bakery oven. It looked like a day that had worn itself out. "Everybody loves the start of the week and the end of the week," whispered Wednesday. "I am just the part in between."

Tamsin thought hard. The next morning she hung a banner across the square that said MIDDLE DAY MARKET. The baker brought warm loaves, the farmers brought apples, and the children played music on pots and spoons. All day long the villagers cheered for the middle of the week.

When the sun set, the gray shimmer in the oven glowed a bright, buttery gold. The following week Wednesday arrived right on time, and Thistledown has held a market on that day ever since.

■ Harder · 248 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6.9

In the village of Thistledown, Tuesday would end and Thursday would simply begin, because Wednesday never arrived. The villagers did not notice at first, since the sun still rose and the roosters still crowed. But the bakers soon ran out of bread, since Wednesday was the day they did their baking. The school bell remained silent, and the library doors stayed firmly shut.

Tamsin, who was twelve, resolved to find out where Wednesday had gone. She questioned the old clockmaker, who sniffed and explained, "Days have feelings, you know. Wednesday is stuck in the middle of the week, and nobody ever throws a party for it."

That night Tamsin searched every corner of the village and discovered a small, gray shimmer curled up inside the cold bakery oven. It looked like a day that had worn itself out. "Everybody adores the beginning of the week and the end of the week," whispered Wednesday. "I am merely the part in between."

Tamsin thought long and hard. The next morning she hung an enormous banner across the square that read MIDDLE DAY MARKET. The baker arrived with warm loaves, the farmers brought baskets of apples, and the children played cheerful music on pots and spoons. All day long the villagers celebrated the middle of the week.

When the sun set, the gray shimmer in the oven glowed a bright, buttery gold. The following week Wednesday arrived right on schedule, and Thistledown has held a market on that day ever since.

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 shimmer, clockmaker, banner, village and worn 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 Village That Lost Its Wednesdays"?

It was written for 6th grade. It has 229 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 5.3. 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.

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