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The Seed Packet Labeled in Two Handwritings

8th grade fiction passage about a mislabeled community seed library: 259 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

8th grade fiction a mislabeled community seed library 259 words

The Seed Packet Labeled in Two Handwritings

The community seed library kept its envelopes in a wooden cabinet with tiny drawers, and Hana loved sorting them every Saturday. Each envelope held seeds donated by a gardener, along with a label that gave the name of the plant and the year it was saved. On this particular Saturday she noticed an envelope that looked wrong.

The label said "Purple Pole Beans," but the top line was written in a slanting, careful script, while the second line, which gave the year, was written in blocky capital letters. "Two people wrote this," she told the librarian, Mr. Bellamy.

He turned it over under the lamp. "Then one of them may have changed the label," he said, "and that could matter. If the plant name is wrong, a gardener could grow something unexpected."

Hana opened the envelope onto a white saucer. The seeds were small, round, and speckled with brown. Real bean seeds are shaped like little kidneys, and these looked nothing like that.

She compared them to a poster on the wall, and the speckled seeds matched a picture of tomatillos. "Somebody labeled these beans by mistake," she said.

They found the original donor's name on the record cards. A woman named Mrs. Quill had saved tomatillo seeds, and a volunteer had later copied her label onto a fresh envelope in a hurry and written the wrong plant on the top line.

Hana fixed the label in her own neat printing, added a note about the correction, and tucked the envelope into the drawer for tomatillos, where it belonged.

Questions

  1. What did each seed envelope contain besides seeds? in the text

  2. How could Hana tell that two people had written the label? in the text

  3. What shape are real bean seeds? in the text

  4. How did Hana learn what the speckled seeds really were? in the text

  5. Why did Mr. Bellamy say a wrong label could matter? think about it

  6. How did the mistake probably happen? think about it

Words to know

donated
given freely to help others
script
handwriting with joined, flowing letters
speckled
marked with many tiny spots
volunteer
a person who helps without being paid
correction
a change that fixes a mistake
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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 · 206 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.2

The town seed library kept its envelopes in a wooden cabinet with tiny drawers. Hana loved to sort them each Saturday. Every envelope had seeds from a gardener. It also had a label with the plant name and the year the seeds were saved. One Saturday, Hana saw an envelope that looked wrong.

The label said "Purple Pole Beans." The top line was in slanting, careful writing. The year was in blocky capitals. "Two people wrote this," she told the librarian, Mr. Bellamy.

He held it under the lamp. "Then one person may have changed it," he said. "If the name is wrong, a gardener could grow something surprising."

Hana poured the seeds onto a white saucer. They were small, round, and speckled with brown. Bean seeds are shaped like little kidneys. These were not.

She checked a poster on the wall. The speckled seeds looked like tomatillos. "Someone wrote beans by mistake," she said.

The record cards showed the donor. Mrs. Quill had saved tomatillo seeds. A volunteer had copied her label in a hurry and written the wrong plant.

Hana fixed the label in her neat printing. She added a note about the fix. Then she put the envelope in the drawer for tomatillos.

▲ This passage · 259 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 8

The community seed library kept its envelopes in a wooden cabinet with tiny drawers, and Hana loved sorting them every Saturday. Each envelope held seeds donated by a gardener, along with a label that gave the name of the plant and the year it was saved. On this particular Saturday she noticed an envelope that looked wrong.

The label said "Purple Pole Beans," but the top line was written in a slanting, careful script, while the second line, which gave the year, was written in blocky capital letters. "Two people wrote this," she told the librarian, Mr. Bellamy.

He turned it over under the lamp. "Then one of them may have changed the label," he said, "and that could matter. If the plant name is wrong, a gardener could grow something unexpected."

Hana opened the envelope onto a white saucer. The seeds were small, round, and speckled with brown. Real bean seeds are shaped like little kidneys, and these looked nothing like that.

She compared them to a poster on the wall, and the speckled seeds matched a picture of tomatillos. "Somebody labeled these beans by mistake," she said.

They found the original donor's name on the record cards. A woman named Mrs. Quill had saved tomatillo seeds, and a volunteer had later copied her label onto a fresh envelope in a hurry and written the wrong plant on the top line.

Hana fixed the label in her own neat printing, added a note about the correction, and tucked the envelope into the drawer for tomatillos, where it belonged.

■ Harder · 276 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 9.4

The community seed library kept its envelopes in a wooden cabinet fitted with dozens of tiny drawers, and Hana loved sorting them every Saturday. Each envelope held seeds donated by a local gardener, along with a label that recorded the name of the plant and the year in which the seeds had been saved. On this particular Saturday she noticed an envelope that looked distinctly wrong.

The label read "Purple Pole Beans," but the top line was written in a slanting, careful script, while the second line, which gave the year, was written in blocky capital letters. "Two different people wrote this," she told the librarian, Mr. Bellamy.

He turned the envelope over beneath the lamp. "Then one of them may have changed the label," he said, "and that could matter a great deal. If the plant name is wrong, a gardener could end up growing something entirely unexpected."

Hana emptied the envelope onto a white saucer. The seeds were small, round, and speckled with brown, whereas genuine bean seeds are shaped like little kidneys, and these looked nothing like that.

She compared them with a poster on the wall, and the speckled seeds matched a picture of tomatillos. "Somebody labeled these beans by mistake," she concluded.

They traced the original donor through the record cards. A woman named Mrs. Quill had saved tomatillo seeds, and a volunteer had later copied her label onto a fresh envelope in a hurry, writing the wrong plant on the top line.

Hana corrected the label in her own neat printing, added a brief note explaining the change, and tucked the envelope into the drawer for tomatillos, where it belonged.

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 donated, script, speckled, volunteer and correction 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 Seed Packet Labeled in Two Handwritings"?

It was written for 8th grade. It has 259 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 8.0. 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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