Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: read-along
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as a read-along for the projector: 13 pages, 1864 words, level 17, beyond grade 8.
Page 1 of 13
At Camelot the Christmas festivities had continued for fifteen glorious days, with tournaments by daylight and dancing by candlelight, and on New Year's Day King Arthur sat in his great hall among the most celebrated knights in Christendom, refusing, according to his peculiar custom, to begin his dinner until somebody had told him a marvelous story or until some astonishing adventure had interrupted the feast. He did not wait for long. Scarcely had the first course been served when the doors burst open with a crash, and a gigantic horseman came riding straight into the hall, so enormous that he seemed half a giant, yet handsome and splendidly dressed. The entire company stared in silence, because the stranger and his horse were green, astonishingly green, from the crown of his head to the hooves of his tremendous charger, as green as grass in the spring.
Keys: ← → or Page Up and Page Down turn the page, Space starts and pauses the voice, Home and End jump, F fills the screen. Tapping the right side of a page goes on; the left side goes back.
How to use it
- Press Full screen (F) to put the book on the projector.
- Press Read to me (Space), or read it yourself and turn pages with the arrow keys or a tap. Pick the Pace that suits the class.
- After the last page, three questions come up to talk about.
About this book
- Level 17, beyond grade 8
- 13 pages, 1864 words, about 14 minutes aloud
- A classic tale, a little spooky
Related
About Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
On New Year's Day a gigantic knight, green from his hair to his horse, rides into King Arthur's hall and proposes a terrible game: strike me once with my own axe, and in a year and a day I will return the blow. Young Sir Gawain accepts, and the Green Knight does something nobody expected.
Words to preview
- Christendom (KRISS-un-dum)
- Christian lands
- charger (CHAR-jer)
- war horse
- disdainful (dis-DAYN-ful)
- scornful
- uncanny (un-KAN-ee)
- strangely eerie
- pentangle (PEN-tang-gul)
- five-pointed star
- girdle (GUR-dul)
- belt or sash
- whetstone (WET-stone)
- sharpening stone
- covetousness (KUV-uh-tuss-ness)
- wanting too much
Questions that fit any book
- What happened at the beginning, in the middle and at the end?
- Which page was your favorite? Why?
- How did the main character feel at the end? What tells you?
Questions
How long does Sir Gawain and the Green Knight take to read aloud?
It has 13 pages and 1864 words, so about 14 minutes at the Steady pace and a little less at Quick. If you stop to talk on the way, plan for more.
What reading level is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight?
Level 17, beyond grade 8. The library numbers its levels from 0 to 18 and puts the level of a book on its cover; levels above 13 are beyond grade 8 and have no grade. A level is a guide for choosing, so look at the pages yourself.
Whose voice is it?
Your browser's own. Read to me uses a speaking voice already on the computer, so it sounds like that computer and works without a sign-in. Voices differ: some light each word as it is spoken, and some do not, in which case the highlight follows a steady pace instead. Some browsers use an online voice; if yours does, the browser, not us, sends the words of the page to its speech service. If no voice is installed, turn the pages and read it aloud yourself.
Do students need an account?
No. Nothing is asked of anyone and nothing is sent to us. Project the page, or share the link and let students open it on their own screens.
Is this the original text?
No. It is a retelling in Peabody's own words at this reading level, so it may differ from the edition you know.
Nothing you do here is sent to us. The voice is your browser's own. No sign-in, no ads.