Set 1 — two Aesop fables and one informational passage.
A great lion lay fast asleep in the warm sun. A little mouse, scurrying by, did not see him and ran right across his paws. The lion woke with a roar and caught the tiny mouse beneath one huge paw.
“Please let me go!” squeaked the mouse. “Forgive me this time, and one day I may help you.” The lion laughed. How could such a small creature ever help the king of beasts? Still, he was amused, so he lifted his paw and let the mouse run free.
Some days later, the lion was prowling the forest when he became tangled in a hunter's net. He roared and struggled, but the ropes only held him tighter. He could not break free.
The little mouse heard the lion's roar and came running. “Hold still,” she said. With her sharp teeth she gnawed the thick ropes, one strand at a time, until at last the great lion stepped free.
“You laughed when I promised to help you,” said the mouse. “But now you see — even a little friend can be a great help.” And from that day on, the lion and the mouse were friends.
Pick an answer to see Fred explain it. Use the “Jump to paragraph” buttons to find your evidence.
In summer, most leaves are green. That green comes from something inside the leaf called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll lets a plant use sunlight to make its own food. As long as the leaf is busy making food, it stays green.
Leaves are actually full of other colors too — yellows and oranges — all summer long. We just cannot see them. The strong green of the chlorophyll hides these colors, the way a bright light hides the dimmer stars.
When fall arrives, the days grow shorter and the air turns cooler. The tree senses these changes and slowly stops making chlorophyll, because there is less sunlight to use.
As the green fades, the hidden yellows and oranges finally show through. Some trees even make a brand-new red color in the fall. That is why a single tree can blaze with color.
At last the leaves dry out and fall to the ground. The bare tree rests all winter. When spring returns and the days grow long again, fresh green leaves unfold, and the whole cycle starts over.
Pick an answer to see Fred explain it. Use the “Jump to paragraph” buttons to find your evidence.
On the hottest day of the summer, a thirsty crow flew over the dry fields searching for water. Her throat was parched, and every pond she passed had dried into cracked mud.
At last she spotted a tall pitcher beside a farmhouse. She swooped down and peered inside. There, far at the bottom, shimmered a little pool of water.
The crow stretched her neck as far as she could, but the pitcher was deep and her beak could not reach the water. She pushed against the pitcher to tip it, but it was far too heavy to move.
The crow did not give up. She sat on the rim and thought. Nearby lay a pile of small pebbles. One by one, she picked up a pebble in her beak and dropped it into the pitcher.
Plink. Plink. Plink. With each pebble the water rose a little higher. The clever crow kept working until the water reached the top. Then she drank deeply and flew home, proud of her patient mind.
Pick an answer to see Fred explain it. Use the “Jump to paragraph” buttons to find your evidence.
Set 2 — a fable, a Stevenson poem, and an informational passage.
A speedy hare loved to brag. “No one can run as fast as I can!” he boasted to all the animals. The slow tortoise grew tired of the bragging. “Let us race,” he said quietly. The hare laughed so hard he nearly fell over.
On the day of the race, all the animals gathered to watch. “Go!” called the fox. The hare shot ahead in a flash and was soon far out of sight. The tortoise plodded along, slow and steady, never once stopping.
The hare looked back and saw the tortoise far, far behind. “I have plenty of time,” he thought. “I will take a little nap.” He curled up beneath a shady tree and closed his eyes.
While the hare slept, the tortoise kept moving. Step by step, he passed the sleeping hare and drew near the finish line. The animals began to cheer. The hare woke with a start and ran as fast as he could — but it was too late.
The tortoise crossed the finish line first. “Slow and steady wins the race,” he said. The hare hung his head, and he never bragged about his speed again.
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How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside—
Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown—
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
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Honeybees are tiny insects that do an amazing job. Inside their hive, thousands of bees work together as a team. Each bee has a special job, and making honey is one of the most important.
It starts when worker bees fly out to find flowers. A bee uses its long, straw-like tongue to sip a sweet liquid called nectar from deep inside each blossom. The bee stores the nectar in a special honey stomach.
Back at the hive, the bee passes the nectar to other workers. They chew it and add special juices that slowly change it. Then they spread it inside tiny wax rooms called honeycomb cells.
The nectar is still too watery to be honey, so the bees fan it with their wings, again and again. The moving air dries out the extra water until the nectar turns thick and golden. Now it is honey!
Finally, the bees seal each full cell with a cap of wax. The honey can be stored a long time. It feeds the whole hive through the cold winter, when no flowers bloom.
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Set 3 — a fairy tale, a poem, and a fiction/nonfiction paired set.
On a sunny farm, a mother duck waited for her eggs to hatch. One by one the little ducklings broke their shells — all yellow and soft. But the last egg was the biggest, and when it cracked, out came a large, gray, clumsy bird that looked nothing like the others.
“How ugly he is!” said the other ducks, and they pecked and teased him. Even his brothers and sisters were unkind. The poor gray bird felt sad and alone, so one day he ran away from the farm.
All through the autumn he wandered, cold and lonely. Winter came, and he hid among the reeds of a frozen pond. It was a long, hard season, and he wondered if he would ever find a place where he belonged.
At last the warm spring returned. The gray bird, now grown, flew to a clear pond where three beautiful white swans were gliding. He felt certain they would chase him away, but he was too tired to care.
As he bent his head to the water, he saw his reflection. He was no longer gray and clumsy — he had grown into a graceful white swan! The other swans welcomed him warmly.
Children came to the pond and pointed. “Look — the most beautiful swan of all!” And the swan, who had once been called ugly, lifted his head with quiet joy. He had been a swan all along.
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I saw you toss the kites on high
And blow the birds about the sky;
And all around I heard you pass,
Like ladies' skirts across the grass—
O wind, a-blowing all day long,
O wind, that sings so loud a song!
I saw the different things you did,
But always you yourself you hid.
I felt you push, I heard you call,
I could not see yourself at all—
O wind, a-blowing all day long,
O wind, that sings so loud a song!
O you that are so strong and cold,
O blower, are you young or old?
Are you a beast of field and tree,
Or just a stronger child than me?
O wind, a-blowing all day long,
O wind, that sings so loud a song!
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All summer long, the grasshopper hopped and sang in the warm grass. Nearby, a line of ants marched back and forth, carrying grains of food to their nest. “Why work so hard on such a fine day?” laughed the grasshopper. “Come and sing with me!”
“We are storing food for the winter,” said one ant. “You should do the same.” But the grasshopper only laughed and kept on singing. Day after day, the ants worked, and day after day, the grasshopper played.
When winter came, the fields were cold and bare. The grasshopper had nothing to eat. Shivering, he came to the ants' cozy nest, where they were resting with plenty of food. “If only I had worked when there was time,” he sighed. From then on, the grasshopper never forgot: there is a time to work and a time to play.
Real ants are some of nature's hardest workers. An ant colony can have thousands of ants, and each one has a job. Worker ants gather food, dig tunnels, and care for the young.
Many kinds of ants store food to survive when it becomes scarce. Harvester ants, for example, collect seeds during the warm months and keep them in underground rooms. This stored food helps the colony live through cold or dry seasons when little food can be found.
Ants also work as a team. They leave invisible scent trails so others can follow them to food. By working together and planning ahead, an ant colony can survive seasons when food is hard to find.
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