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Weaving a Picture with Holes in Cards

8th grade nonfiction passage about the Jacquard loom: 255 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

8th grade nonfiction the Jacquard loom 255 words

Weaving a Picture with Holes in Cards

Weaving cloth with a picture in it was once slow, painstaking work. A loom holds many long threads, called warp threads, stretched side by side. To make a pattern, a weaver lifts some of them, passes a crosswise thread called the weft through the gap, and then lifts a different set for the next row. A complicated design could require hundreds of separate choices, and a single slip would spoil it. Skilled workers often needed an assistant just to raise the correct threads in order.

In the early 1800s, a French inventor named Joseph Marie Jacquard built a loom attachment that stored the pattern on cards. Each card was a stiff piece of cardboard punched with holes, and each one matched a single row of the design. Hooks and thin rods pressed against the card. Where a hole appeared, a rod passed through and lifted the matching warp thread. A solid spot pushed the rod back, so the thread stayed down.

The cards were laced together into a long chain, so the loom could step through them one after another. Changing the chain changed the design. A pattern could even be saved and used again years later with exactly the same result.

The idea mattered far beyond cloth. The cards were a way to give a machine a list of instructions and let it carry them out without a person making every decision. Later inventors borrowed punched cards to feed information into calculating machines, and the cards stayed in use for decades alongside early computers.

Questions

  1. What are warp threads? in the text

  2. What did each card in the Jacquard chain match? in the text

  3. What happened where a card had a hole? in the text

  4. How could the same loom weave a different design? in the text

  5. Why was the card chain better than a worker lifting threads by hand? think about it

  6. Why did the idea matter beyond cloth? think about it

Words to know

loom
a machine used to weave thread into cloth
weft
the crosswise thread that goes over and under the warp
pattern
a design made of parts that are arranged in a planned way
punched
having holes made through it
instructions
directions that tell someone or something what to do
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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 · 252 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3

Weaving cloth with a picture in it used to be slow work. A loom holds many long threads side by side. They are called warp threads. To make a pattern, a weaver lifts some of the threads. Then the weaver passes a crosswise thread, called the weft, through the gap. For the next row, a different set of threads is lifted. A hard design needed hundreds of choices. One slip spoiled it. Skilled workers often needed a helper to lift the right threads in order.

In the early 1800s, a French inventor named Joseph Marie Jacquard built a part for the loom that kept the pattern on cards. Each card was stiff cardboard with holes punched in it. Each card matched one row of the design. Hooks and thin rods pressed on the card. Where there was a hole, a rod went through and lifted a warp thread. Where the card was solid, the rod was pushed back, and the thread stayed down.

The cards were tied together in a long chain. The loom moved through the cards one by one. A new chain of cards gave a new design. A pattern could be saved and used again years later, and it came out the same.

The idea mattered for more than cloth. The cards gave a machine a list of instructions. A person did not have to make each choice. Later, inventors used punched cards to feed facts into calculating machines. The cards stayed in use for decades with early computers.

▲ This passage · 255 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6.8

Weaving cloth with a picture in it was once slow, painstaking work. A loom holds many long threads, called warp threads, stretched side by side. To make a pattern, a weaver lifts some of them, passes a crosswise thread called the weft through the gap, and then lifts a different set for the next row. A complicated design could require hundreds of separate choices, and a single slip would spoil it. Skilled workers often needed an assistant just to raise the correct threads in order.

In the early 1800s, a French inventor named Joseph Marie Jacquard built a loom attachment that stored the pattern on cards. Each card was a stiff piece of cardboard punched with holes, and each one matched a single row of the design. Hooks and thin rods pressed against the card. Where a hole appeared, a rod passed through and lifted the matching warp thread. A solid spot pushed the rod back, so the thread stayed down.

The cards were laced together into a long chain, so the loom could step through them one after another. Changing the chain changed the design. A pattern could even be saved and used again years later with exactly the same result.

The idea mattered far beyond cloth. The cards were a way to give a machine a list of instructions and let it carry them out without a person making every decision. Later inventors borrowed punched cards to feed information into calculating machines, and the cards stayed in use for decades alongside early computers.

■ Harder · 272 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 8.4

Weaving cloth with a picture in it was once slow, painstaking, and exacting work. A loom holds many long threads, called warp threads, stretched side by side. To produce a pattern, a weaver lifts some of them, passes a crosswise thread called the weft through the opening, and then raises a different set of threads for the following row. A complicated design could require hundreds of separate choices, and a single careless slip would spoil the entire piece. Skilled workers frequently needed an assistant just to raise the correct threads in the correct sequence.

In the early 1800s, a French inventor named Joseph Marie Jacquard built a loom attachment that stored the pattern on cards. Each card was a stiff piece of cardboard punched with holes, and each one corresponded to a single row of the design. Hooks and thin rods pressed against the card. Wherever a hole appeared, a rod passed through and lifted the matching warp thread, and wherever the card was solid, the rod was pushed back, leaving the thread down.

The cards were laced together into a long chain, so the loom could step through them one after another. Changing the chain changed the design. A pattern could even be preserved and used again years later with exactly the same result.

The idea mattered far beyond the weaving of cloth. The cards offered a way to give a machine a list of instructions and let it carry them out without a person making every decision. Later inventors borrowed punched cards to feed information into calculating machines, and the cards remained in use for decades alongside the earliest computers.

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 loom, weft, pattern, punched and instructions on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text 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 write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Weaving a Picture with Holes in Cards"?

It was written for 8th grade. It has 255 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 6.8. 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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