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The Deli Where Every Order Had to Be a Pun

7th grade fiction passage about a sandwich shop with a pun rule: 257 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

7th grade fiction a sandwich shop with a pun rule 257 words

The Deli Where Every Order Had to Be a Pun

Pearl Okafor ran a sandwich shop called The Daily Loaf, and she had one rule, which was painted in cheerful yellow letters above the register: NO PUN, NO SANDWICH.

Her regular customers loved it. A man in a raincoat stepped up and said, "I would like a turkey on rye, and I relish the thought." A woman asked for extra pickles because she was in a "dill emma." The mailman, who was very proud of his best line, ordered a hot sandwich and added, "I have a lot of bread-iculous ideas." Pearl rang them up and handed each sandwich across the counter with a satisfied nod.

Then a new boy named Teodor started working the lunch rush. He was fourteen, serious, and absolutely hopeless at puns. The first time a customer teased him, he panicked, forgot the rule, and asked, "What would you like?" The customer gasped. "That is not even a joke!"

For three days Teodor studied pun books at night. He memorized "lettuce begin" and "I am feeling a little crumby." But on Friday, the line stretched out the door and the slicing machine jammed in the middle of a rush. Teodor leaned over the machine and muttered, "Well, this is a pickle."

The whole room fell silent. Then Pearl began to clap. "That," she said, "was a perfectly natural pun. The best ones always slip out when you are not trying." The customers cheered, and Teodor turned as red as a tomato, which a man by the window said was an accurate description.

Questions

  1. What was the rule at The Daily Loaf? in the text

  2. What pun did the woman use when asking for extra pickles? in the text

  3. Why did Teodor have trouble at the deli? in the text

  4. What did Teodor do to prepare for the rush? in the text

  5. Why did Pearl begin to clap on Friday? think about it

  6. What does Pearl mean when she says the best puns slip out when you are not trying? think about it

Words to know

pun
a joke that plays with words that sound alike or have two meanings
cheerful
bright and happy
register
a machine at a shop where people pay
memorized
learned so well that you can say it without looking
jammed
got stuck and could not move
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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 · 245 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.8

Pearl Okafor ran a sandwich shop called The Daily Loaf. She had one rule. It was painted in cheerful yellow letters above the register: NO PUN, NO SANDWICH.

Her regular customers loved it. A man in a raincoat said, "I would like a turkey on rye, and I relish the thought." A woman asked for extra pickles because she was in a "dill emma." The mailman was proud of his best line. He ordered a hot sandwich and said, "I have a lot of bread-iculous ideas." Pearl rang them up and handed over each sandwich with a happy nod.

Then a new boy named Teodor started working the lunch rush. He was fourteen and serious, and he was hopeless at puns. The first time a customer teased him, he forgot the rule and asked, "What would you like?" The customer gasped. "That is not even a joke!"

For three days Teodor read pun books at night. He learned "lettuce begin" and "I am feeling a little crumby." But on Friday, the line stretched out the door. The slicing machine jammed in the middle of the rush. Teodor leaned over it and muttered, "Well, this is a pickle."

The room went silent. Then Pearl began to clap. "That," she said, "was a perfect pun. The best ones slip out when you are not trying." The customers cheered. Teodor turned as red as a tomato, which a man by the window said was a good description.

▲ This passage · 257 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.7

Pearl Okafor ran a sandwich shop called The Daily Loaf, and she had one rule, which was painted in cheerful yellow letters above the register: NO PUN, NO SANDWICH.

Her regular customers loved it. A man in a raincoat stepped up and said, "I would like a turkey on rye, and I relish the thought." A woman asked for extra pickles because she was in a "dill emma." The mailman, who was very proud of his best line, ordered a hot sandwich and added, "I have a lot of bread-iculous ideas." Pearl rang them up and handed each sandwich across the counter with a satisfied nod.

Then a new boy named Teodor started working the lunch rush. He was fourteen, serious, and absolutely hopeless at puns. The first time a customer teased him, he panicked, forgot the rule, and asked, "What would you like?" The customer gasped. "That is not even a joke!"

For three days Teodor studied pun books at night. He memorized "lettuce begin" and "I am feeling a little crumby." But on Friday, the line stretched out the door and the slicing machine jammed in the middle of a rush. Teodor leaned over the machine and muttered, "Well, this is a pickle."

The whole room fell silent. Then Pearl began to clap. "That," she said, "was a perfectly natural pun. The best ones always slip out when you are not trying." The customers cheered, and Teodor turned as red as a tomato, which a man by the window said was an accurate description.

■ Harder · 258 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6.8

Pearl Okafor ran a sandwich shop called The Daily Loaf, and she enforced exactly one rule, which was painted in cheerful yellow letters above the register: NO PUN, NO SANDWICH.

Her regular customers adored the policy. A man in a raincoat stepped up and announced, "I would like a turkey on rye, and I relish the thought." A woman requested extra pickles because she was in a "dill emma." The mailman, who was enormously proud of his best line, ordered a hot sandwich and added, "I have a lot of bread-iculous ideas." Pearl rang up each order and passed every sandwich across the counter with a satisfied nod.

Then a new employee named Teodor started working the lunch rush. He was fourteen, deeply serious, and absolutely hopeless at puns. The first time a customer teased him, he panicked, forgot the rule entirely, and asked, "What would you like?" The customer gasped. "That is not even a joke!"

For three evenings Teodor studied books of puns. He memorized "lettuce begin" and "I am feeling a little crumby." But on Friday, the line stretched out the door, and in the middle of the rush the slicing machine jammed. Teodor leaned over it and muttered, "Well, this is a pickle."

The entire room fell silent. Then Pearl began to applaud. "That," she declared, "was a perfectly natural pun. The finest ones always slip out when you are not trying." The customers cheered, and Teodor turned as red as a tomato, which a man by the window pronounced an accurate description.

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 pun, cheerful, register, memorized and jammed 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 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 Deli Where Every Order Had to Be a Pun"?

It was written for 7th grade. It has 257 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 5.7. 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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