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The Shortcut That Took Three Days

8th grade fiction passage about a tall tale about a very long shortcut: 290 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

8th grade fiction a tall tale about a very long shortcut 290 words

The Shortcut That Took Three Days

Everyone in Pickering County agreed that Rufus Dale could not resist a shortcut. If the road to the feed store bent left, Rufus believed that going straight through a cornfield would save at least four minutes. If a bridge was closed, he took it as a personal challenge. His neighbors found this charming for years, until the morning he announced that he had discovered the greatest shortcut ever to the county fair.

He set off at sunrise with a sandwich and a confident whistle. The shortcut began as a pleasant dirt track and then turned into a narrow trail that wound around a hill, which led to a meadow, which led to a river that Rufus crossed on the back of a very patient cow. By noon he had passed through two towns that he had never heard of. By evening, according to the story, he had climbed a mountain so tall that the sun was setting on one side while it was still afternoon on the other. His sandwich ran out, and he began to suspect that the fair was in a different state.

On the third morning he stumbled out of the woods and found himself at the very same crossroads where he had started. A farmer leaning on a fence asked him politely whether he was lost. Rufus replied that he was merely taking the scenic route. The county fair, it turned out, was only a twelve-minute drive down the main road. Rufus laughed so hard that he nearly fell over, and from that day he asked for directions before choosing a shortcut. The trail he blazed is now a popular walking path, with a wooden sign that says, "The Long Way Around. Do Not Hurry."

Questions

  1. What could Rufus Dale not resist? in the text

  2. How did Rufus cross the river? in the text

  3. Where did Rufus end up on the third morning? in the text

  4. How far away was the fair by the main road? in the text

  5. Why is the story called a tall tale? think about it

  6. What lesson did Rufus learn from his adventure? think about it

Words to know

shortcut
a quicker way to get somewhere than the usual way
confident
feeling sure that you are right
meadow
a field of grass and wildflowers
scenic
having beautiful views of nature
crossroads
a place where two roads cross each other
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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 3.3

Everyone in Pickering County knew that Rufus Dale could not resist a shortcut. If the road to the feed store bent left, Rufus went straight through a cornfield to save four minutes. If a bridge was closed, he took it as a test. His neighbors thought this was charming for years. Then one morning he said he had found the best shortcut ever, to the county fair.

He set off at sunrise with a sandwich and a happy whistle. The shortcut began as a dirt track. Then it became a thin trail around a hill. That led to a meadow, which led to a river. Rufus crossed it on the back of a patient cow. By noon he had passed two towns he had never heard of. By evening, said the story, he climbed a mountain so tall that the sun was setting on one side while it was still afternoon on the other. His sandwich ran out. He began to think the fair was in a different state.

On the third morning he came out of the woods. He was at the same crossroads where he began! A farmer leaning on a fence asked if he was lost. Rufus said he was just taking the scenic route. The fair was only a twelve-minute drive down the main road. Rufus laughed so hard he nearly fell over. From then on he asked for directions first. His trail is now a walking path. A wooden sign says, "The Long Way Around. Do Not Hurry."

▲ This passage · 290 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 7.2

Everyone in Pickering County agreed that Rufus Dale could not resist a shortcut. If the road to the feed store bent left, Rufus believed that going straight through a cornfield would save at least four minutes. If a bridge was closed, he took it as a personal challenge. His neighbors found this charming for years, until the morning he announced that he had discovered the greatest shortcut ever to the county fair.

He set off at sunrise with a sandwich and a confident whistle. The shortcut began as a pleasant dirt track and then turned into a narrow trail that wound around a hill, which led to a meadow, which led to a river that Rufus crossed on the back of a very patient cow. By noon he had passed through two towns that he had never heard of. By evening, according to the story, he had climbed a mountain so tall that the sun was setting on one side while it was still afternoon on the other. His sandwich ran out, and he began to suspect that the fair was in a different state.

On the third morning he stumbled out of the woods and found himself at the very same crossroads where he had started. A farmer leaning on a fence asked him politely whether he was lost. Rufus replied that he was merely taking the scenic route. The county fair, it turned out, was only a twelve-minute drive down the main road. Rufus laughed so hard that he nearly fell over, and from that day he asked for directions before choosing a shortcut. The trail he blazed is now a popular walking path, with a wooden sign that says, "The Long Way Around. Do Not Hurry."

■ Harder · 304 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 8.6

Everyone in Pickering County agreed that Rufus Dale was physically incapable of resisting a shortcut. If the road to the feed store curved to the left, Rufus was convinced that cutting straight through a cornfield would save at least four minutes. If a bridge happened to be closed, he regarded it as a personal challenge. His neighbors found this endearing for years, until the morning he proudly announced that he had discovered the greatest shortcut in history, leading directly to the county fair.

He set off at sunrise with a sandwich and a confident whistle. The shortcut began as a pleasant dirt track, then narrowed into a winding trail that curled around a hill, which led to a meadow, which led to a river that Rufus crossed on the back of a remarkably patient cow. By noon he had passed through two towns that he had never heard of. By evening, according to the legend, he had climbed a mountain so towering that the sun was setting on one side while it was still afternoon on the other. His sandwich ran out, and he began to suspect that the fair was located in an entirely different state.

On the third morning he stumbled out of the woods and discovered that he had returned to the very crossroads where he had started. A farmer leaning against a fence politely inquired whether he was lost. Rufus replied that he was merely enjoying the scenic route. The county fair, it emerged, was only a twelve-minute drive along the main road. Rufus laughed so hard that he nearly toppled over, and from that day forward he asked for directions before choosing a shortcut. The trail he blazed is now a beloved walking path, marked by a wooden sign that reads, "The Long Way Around. Do Not Hurry."

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 shortcut, confident, meadow, scenic and crossroads 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 Shortcut That Took Three Days"?

It was written for 8th grade. It has 290 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 7.2. 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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