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Blustery Hollow Votes Tuesday Off the Calendar

7th grade fiction passage about a town cancels a weekday: 274 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

7th grade fiction a town cancels a weekday 274 words

Blustery Hollow Votes Tuesday Off the Calendar

At the town meeting in Blustery Hollow, Councilman Pip Dorsey stood on a chair and made an announcement. "Friends, nobody likes Tuesday. Monday has a bad reputation, Wednesday is the middle of the week, and Friday is a hero. But Tuesday is just a day on which things are due." The crowd murmured. Someone shouted, "Vote!" and, much to everyone's surprise, the motion passed forty to six.

The first problem arrived on Monday night. The school bus driver, Ms. Keating, checked her schedule and asked, "If tomorrow is Wednesday, then what happened to the day in between?" Nobody could answer, so the buses ran on Wednesday morning as usual, and half the children missed them because their parents thought it was still Tuesday.

By Thursday the confusion was serious. The bakery sold bread that had been baked on a day that no longer existed. The library's books were due on Tuesday, which meant they were due on no day at all, and a pile of overdue books began to hum with worry. Even the town clock seemed embarrassed. It chimed in the wrong places.

A girl named Wanda Pruitt, who was eleven and sensible, finally stood at the next meeting and said, "We did not cancel Tuesday. We just stopped counting it. The sun still comes up on that day, and we are all still here, only we are not sure what we are doing."

The council voted again. Tuesday returned by a vote of forty-six to nothing, and it came back with a new job. Every Tuesday in Blustery Hollow is now Free Pie Day, and nobody has complained about it since.

Questions

  1. Why did Councilman Dorsey say Tuesday should be removed? in the text

  2. How did the first vote turn out? in the text

  3. Why did some children miss the bus? think about it

  4. What problem did the library have? in the text

  5. What point did Wanda Pruitt make at the next meeting? in the text

  6. Why do you think nobody complained about Tuesday after the second vote? think about it

Words to know

councilman
a member of a group that runs a town
reputation
what people generally think or say about something
motion
a formal suggestion that a group votes on
overdue
late, not returned by the time it was due
sensible
having good, practical sense
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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 · 236 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.5

At the town meeting in Blustery Hollow, Councilman Pip Dorsey stood on a chair. "Friends, nobody likes Tuesday," he said. "Monday has a bad name, Wednesday is the middle, and Friday is a hero. But Tuesday is just a day when things are due." The crowd murmured. Someone shouted, "Vote!" To everyone's surprise, the motion passed forty to six.

The first problem came on Monday night. The bus driver, Ms. Keating, checked her list. "If tomorrow is Wednesday, what happened to the day between?" Nobody knew. The buses ran on Wednesday morning as usual. Half the children missed them because their parents still thought it was Tuesday.

By Thursday the mix-up was serious. The bakery sold bread baked on a day that no longer existed. The library books were due on Tuesday, which meant they were due on no day at all. The town clock seemed embarrassed. It chimed at the wrong times.

A girl named Wanda Pruitt was eleven and sensible. At the next meeting she stood up. "We did not cancel Tuesday," she said. "We just stopped counting it. The sun still comes up on that day. We are all still here. We just do not know what to do."

The council voted again. Tuesday came back by forty-six to nothing. It came back with a new job. Every Tuesday in Blustery Hollow is now Free Pie Day. Nobody has complained since.

▲ This passage · 274 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6.2

At the town meeting in Blustery Hollow, Councilman Pip Dorsey stood on a chair and made an announcement. "Friends, nobody likes Tuesday. Monday has a bad reputation, Wednesday is the middle of the week, and Friday is a hero. But Tuesday is just a day on which things are due." The crowd murmured. Someone shouted, "Vote!" and, much to everyone's surprise, the motion passed forty to six.

The first problem arrived on Monday night. The school bus driver, Ms. Keating, checked her schedule and asked, "If tomorrow is Wednesday, then what happened to the day in between?" Nobody could answer, so the buses ran on Wednesday morning as usual, and half the children missed them because their parents thought it was still Tuesday.

By Thursday the confusion was serious. The bakery sold bread that had been baked on a day that no longer existed. The library's books were due on Tuesday, which meant they were due on no day at all, and a pile of overdue books began to hum with worry. Even the town clock seemed embarrassed. It chimed in the wrong places.

A girl named Wanda Pruitt, who was eleven and sensible, finally stood at the next meeting and said, "We did not cancel Tuesday. We just stopped counting it. The sun still comes up on that day, and we are all still here, only we are not sure what we are doing."

The council voted again. Tuesday returned by a vote of forty-six to nothing, and it came back with a new job. Every Tuesday in Blustery Hollow is now Free Pie Day, and nobody has complained about it since.

■ Harder · 285 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 8.1

At the town meeting in Blustery Hollow, Councilman Pip Dorsey climbed onto a chair and delivered an announcement. "Friends, nobody likes Tuesday. Monday has an unfortunate reputation, Wednesday occupies the middle of the week, and Friday is a hero. But Tuesday is merely a day on which things happen to be due." The crowd murmured. Someone shouted, "Vote!" and, much to everyone's astonishment, the motion passed forty to six.

The first difficulty arrived on Monday night. The school bus driver, Ms. Keating, examined her schedule and asked, "If tomorrow is Wednesday, then what became of the day in between?" Nobody could answer her, so the buses ran on Wednesday morning as usual, and half the children missed them because their parents still believed it was Tuesday.

By Thursday the confusion had become serious. The bakery sold bread that had been baked on a day that no longer existed. The library's books were due on Tuesday, which meant they were due on no day at all, and a pile of overdue volumes began to hum with anxiety. Even the town clock seemed embarrassed, chiming at all the wrong moments.

A girl named Wanda Pruitt, who was eleven and remarkably sensible, finally rose at the next meeting and declared, "We did not cancel Tuesday. We merely stopped counting it. The sun still comes up on that day, and we are all still here, only we are not certain what we are supposed to be doing."

The council voted a second time. Tuesday was restored by a tally of forty-six to nothing, and it returned with a brand new responsibility. Every Tuesday in Blustery Hollow is now Free Pie Day, and nobody has complained about it 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 councilman, reputation, motion, overdue and sensible 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 3 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 "Blustery Hollow Votes Tuesday Off the Calendar"?

It was written for 7th grade. It has 274 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 6.2. 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 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.

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