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The Tower That Fell Nine Times

Kindergarten fiction passage about building with blocks: 55 words, five questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

Kindergarten fiction building with blocks 55 words

The Tower That Fell Nine Times

Kai stacked blocks to make a tall tower. Crash! It fell down.

Kai stacked them again. Crash! It fell again. Kai felt grumpy. He wanted to quit.

Then Kai put the big blocks on the bottom. He put the small blocks on top. The tower stood. Kai stacked one more block. It stayed! Kai cheered.

Questions

  1. What did Kai make with the blocks? in the text

  2. How did Kai feel when the tower fell? in the text

  3. Which blocks went on the bottom? in the text

  4. What did Kai do when the tower stayed up? in the text

  5. Why did the tower stand the last time? think about it

Words to know

stack
to pile things one on top of another
tower
something very tall and narrow
grumpy
cross and in a bad mood
quit
to stop trying
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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 · 37 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade -0.9

Kai made a tall tower. Crash! It fell.

Kai made it again. Crash! It fell. Kai was grumpy.

Then Kai put big blocks at the bottom. He put small blocks on top. The tower stood. Kai cheered.

▲ This passage · 55 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade -0.8

Kai stacked blocks to make a tall tower. Crash! It fell down.

Kai stacked them again. Crash! It fell again. Kai felt grumpy. He wanted to quit.

Then Kai put the big blocks on the bottom. He put the small blocks on top. The tower stood. Kai stacked one more block. It stayed! Kai cheered.

■ Harder · 72 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.6

Kai carefully stacked his wooden blocks into a very tall tower. Crash! It toppled over. He built it again, and once more it came crashing down. Kai felt so grumpy that he wanted to quit.

Instead, he tried something new. He set the biggest blocks at the bottom and the smallest ones on top. This time the tower stood steady. Kai added one last block, and it stayed put. He cheered loudly.

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 stack, tower, grumpy and quit 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 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 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 Tower That Fell Nine Times"?

It was written for Kindergarten. It has 55 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.

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