Skip to the content
Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

Owl Wakes Up at Night

Kindergarten nonfiction passage about owls at night: 45 words, five questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

Kindergarten nonfiction owls at night 45 words

Owl Wakes Up at Night

An owl naps all day. It sits in a tree.

When the sun goes down, the owl wakes up. It has big eyes. They help it see in the dark.

The owl flies. It is so quiet. Whoosh! A mouse does not hear it come.

Questions

  1. When does the owl nap? in the text

  2. When does the owl wake up? in the text

  3. What helps the owl see in the dark? in the text

  4. Is the owl loud or quiet when it flies? in the text

  5. Why does the mouse not hear the owl come? think about it

Words to know

owl
a bird with big eyes that is awake at night
nap
a short sleep
quiet
making very little sound
dark
with no light
Share

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 · 39 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade -1.6

An owl naps in the day. It sits in a tree.

At night, the owl wakes up. It has big eyes. It can see in the dark.

The owl flies. It is quiet. A mouse does not hear it.

▲ This passage · 45 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade -1.6

An owl naps all day. It sits in a tree.

When the sun goes down, the owl wakes up. It has big eyes. They help it see in the dark.

The owl flies. It is so quiet. Whoosh! A mouse does not hear it come.

■ Harder · 61 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 1.9

An owl spends the whole day napping on a branch of a tree.

When the sun goes down and the sky grows dark, the owl wakes up. Its big eyes help it see well in the dark.

Then the owl flies out, and it makes almost no sound at all. A little mouse on the ground does not hear it coming.

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 owl, nap, quiet and dark 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 under a minute 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 "Owl Wakes Up at Night"?

It was written for Kindergarten. It has 45 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about below 1. 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 five. 4 ask for something the text says directly and 1 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?

Under a minute 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.

Nothing you do here is sent to us. No sign-in, no ads.