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Nine Hundred Photographs of a Walking Squirrel

8th grade fiction passage about stop-motion animation: 274 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

8th grade fiction stop-motion animation 274 words

Nine Hundred Photographs of a Walking Squirrel

Lucio wanted to make a ten-second film starring a clay squirrel. The plan sounded simple: move the squirrel a tiny bit, take a photograph, move it again, and repeat until the pictures, played quickly together, made it look as if the animal were walking across a log.

The trouble began on the very first evening. After two hundred photographs, Lucio played the sequence back and groaned. The squirrel jittered across the screen like a startled toy, and the background flickered between bright and dim. He realized he had worked beside a window, and the afternoon light had been changing the whole time.

He deleted everything and started again. This time he drew the curtains and used a single desk lamp. The flicker disappeared, but a new problem emerged: the squirrel's tail, made of a wire wrapped in clay, kept drooping between frames. Lucio fixed it with a paper clip hidden underneath, and then discovered that he had been moving the legs too far each time. The walk looked less like walking and more like hopping.

Over two weeks, he took nine hundred photographs, deleted about half, and learned to nudge each limb by only the width of a grain of rice. His sister, Marisol, often watched from the bed and offered unhelpful commentary. "He looks like he's stepping on hot sand," she said once, and Lucio nearly threw a pencil at her.

On a Sunday morning, he pressed play on the final version. The squirrel padded smoothly along the log, paused, flicked its tail, and vanished behind a paper tree. Marisol was quiet for a moment.

"Do it again," she said. "But longer."

Questions

  1. What was Lucio's film supposed to show? in the text

  2. What caused the background to flicker in his first attempt? in the text

  3. How did Lucio fix the drooping tail? in the text

  4. How far did Lucio learn to move each limb? in the text

  5. Why did he delete about half of his photographs? think about it

  6. What does Marisol's last comment suggest about her opinion? think about it

Words to know

sequence
a set of things that follow one another in order
jitter
to move in small, quick, shaky jerks
flicker
to shine unsteadily, going bright and dim
droop
to hang or sag downward
nudge
to push very gently
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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 · 254 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.1

Lucio wanted to make a ten-second film about a clay squirrel. The plan sounded simple. Move the squirrel a tiny bit. Take a photo. Move it again. Do this over and over. Played fast, the photos would make the squirrel look as if it walked across a log.

The trouble began the first evening. After two hundred photos, Lucio played them back and groaned. The squirrel shook across the screen like a startled toy. The background went bright, then dim. He had worked beside a window, and the daylight had kept changing.

He deleted everything and started over. This time he closed the curtains and used one desk lamp. The flicker was gone. But the squirrel's tail kept drooping between photos. It was made of wire wrapped in clay. Lucio fixed it with a paper clip hidden underneath. Then he saw that he moved the legs too far each time. The walk looked like hopping.

Over two weeks, he took nine hundred photos and deleted about half. He learned to nudge each leg by only the width of a grain of rice. His sister, Marisol, watched from the bed and made unhelpful jokes. "He looks like he's stepping on hot sand," she said once. Lucio nearly threw a pencil at her.

On a Sunday morning, he pressed play on the final film. The squirrel walked smoothly along the log. It paused, flicked its tail, and vanished behind a paper tree. Marisol was quiet for a moment.

"Do it again," she said. "But longer."

▲ This passage · 274 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6.6

Lucio wanted to make a ten-second film starring a clay squirrel. The plan sounded simple: move the squirrel a tiny bit, take a photograph, move it again, and repeat until the pictures, played quickly together, made it look as if the animal were walking across a log.

The trouble began on the very first evening. After two hundred photographs, Lucio played the sequence back and groaned. The squirrel jittered across the screen like a startled toy, and the background flickered between bright and dim. He realized he had worked beside a window, and the afternoon light had been changing the whole time.

He deleted everything and started again. This time he drew the curtains and used a single desk lamp. The flicker disappeared, but a new problem emerged: the squirrel's tail, made of a wire wrapped in clay, kept drooping between frames. Lucio fixed it with a paper clip hidden underneath, and then discovered that he had been moving the legs too far each time. The walk looked less like walking and more like hopping.

Over two weeks, he took nine hundred photographs, deleted about half, and learned to nudge each limb by only the width of a grain of rice. His sister, Marisol, often watched from the bed and offered unhelpful commentary. "He looks like he's stepping on hot sand," she said once, and Lucio nearly threw a pencil at her.

On a Sunday morning, he pressed play on the final version. The squirrel padded smoothly along the log, paused, flicked its tail, and vanished behind a paper tree. Marisol was quiet for a moment.

"Do it again," she said. "But longer."

■ Harder · 282 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 7.9

Lucio wanted to produce a ten-second film starring a clay squirrel. The plan sounded deceptively simple: shift the squirrel a tiny distance, photograph it, shift it again, and repeat until the images, played rapidly in succession, created the illusion that the animal was walking across a log.

The trouble began on the very first evening. After two hundred photographs, Lucio played the sequence back and groaned. The squirrel jittered across the screen like a startled toy, and the background flickered erratically between bright and dim. He realized that he had been working beside a window, and the afternoon light had been changing the entire time.

He deleted everything and began afresh. This time he drew the curtains and relied on a single desk lamp. The flicker vanished, but a new difficulty emerged: the squirrel's tail, constructed from wire wrapped in clay, kept drooping between frames. Lucio repaired it with a paper clip concealed underneath, and then discovered that he had been moving the legs too far on each frame. The walk resembled hopping far more than walking.

Over the course of two weeks, he took nine hundred photographs, deleted roughly half of them, and trained himself to nudge each limb by only the width of a grain of rice. His sister, Marisol, frequently observed from the bed and contributed unhelpful commentary. "He looks like he's stepping on hot sand," she remarked once, and Lucio nearly hurled a pencil at her.

On a Sunday morning, he pressed play on the finished version. The squirrel padded smoothly along the log, paused, flicked its tail, and disappeared behind a paper tree. Marisol was silent for a moment.

"Do it again," she said. "But longer."

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 sequence, jitter, flicker, droop and nudge 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 "Nine Hundred Photographs of a Walking Squirrel"?

It was written for 8th grade. It has 274 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 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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