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Enhance close reading skills with 60 professionally written passages for 3rd-5th graders. Includes print and digital options, differentiation, audio support, and paired passages. Ideal for morning work, centers, homework, or test prep. Developed by a published children’s author.
$25.97
These close reading comprehension passages are the perfect no-prep, standards-based, and high interest way to strengthen your students’ close reading skills!
This resource includes 60 (x2 for 2 reading levels) passages professionally written by a published children’s author with more than 100 books in print!
WHAT’S INCLUDED:
✍️ PRINT:
DIGITAL:
DIFFERENTIATION OPTIONS:
Great for 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade!
CHECK OUT THE PREVIEW TO SEE A LOT MORE!
NOTE: This resource uses American English and is not editable.
About the Passages
There are 60 passages, each presented at two reading levels (grades 3-4 and 4-5) for a total of 120 passages. The passages are a mix of high-interest and curriculum-based topics and include informational text, literature, and poetry. The included text-dependent questions address a variety of close reading skills.
Text Dependent Questions
The Show What You Know, text-dependent questions are identical for both reading levels. This allows you to discuss the passages altogether, even if you have students using different reading levels. Note that some questions may be challenging for third-grade students, especially near the start of the year.
Audio Support
Audio support is included through links or QR codes. These are recordings created with the most advanced AI text to talk technology on the market for a natural human-like sound. You can click here for an example of what the audio sounds like.
Use in 3 Ways
Teacher instructions, student pages, and answer keys are all included in the PDF. There are two versions of printable pages: with and without QR codes.
Links to the digital versions are included in your download. Click the links for your own copy of the resources. 2 Google Slide files are included: with and without audio support.
You can open an *Easel Activity (only available if you purchase on TPT) from the TpT product page. Text boxes are built-in for student input. One advantage of using Easel is that students can easily annotate the text using the pen and highlight tools.
More about the reading passages:
The passages are sequenced in cycles of six as follows:
Breakdown by type: 1/2 Informational Text, 1/3 Literature, and 1/6 Poetry.
Within the 60 passages, there are five sets of paired passages. The paired passages appear adjacent to each other and address a similar topic for comparing and contrasting. Three additional printables are included to use with these paired passages. These passages will also work as stand-alone activities if you do not want to use them together.
The skills addressed in each passage are written in small print at the bottom on the left-hand side. The skills address most of the RI and RL Common Core Standards and include: reading for details, main idea, summarizing, inference, predicting, genre setting/character/plot, theme, context clues/vocabulary, figurative language, author’s style, author’s purpose, point of view, mood/tone, text structure, comparing and contrasting, interpreting an illustration (map, chart, diagram, table, or photo), analysis, and evaluation. They are also listed in the table of contents for easy reference.
If you would like consistent practice all year long, use two Text Time pages per week, perhaps on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Another option is to use them three times a week, possibly Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, which will get you through most of the school year. A third possibility is to go ala carte, selecting passages for their subjects or the skills addressed, as needed.
These passages could be used for morning work, at a center or station, as part of a reading packet, with a small group, as homework, as enrichment for younger, highly capable students, as remediation for struggling students, or as test prep. For interactive notebooks, just cut the two sections apart.
Parents and Caregivers:
This resource will work best if your child is already familiar with the reading skills in this product (you can see them in the table of contents in the free preview). This product is meant to reinforce those concepts, not to teach them. If you feel your student would benefit by being able to reference specific reading skills, you might also consider these reading posters/charts.
Here’s what teachers are saying:
✏️ “Thanks for a great resource–I love that there are 2 versions of the same text with the same questions so we can discuss those together no matter which version my students had.” -Eilidh H.
✏️ “This is an amazing resource!! It is comprehensive and full of engaging articles that I know my students will love! It also has metric conversions in the articles, which I HUGELY appreciate as a Canadian teacher. Thank you so much for all your hard work!! This resource is absolutely worth the price and then some!” -Candace E.
✏️ “I love that these are differentiated and so well thought out. Excellent. I use these for morning work and students walk in and do the work, the expectation is clear, and no time is lost getting on track with literacy.” -Kerri C.
Passage Titles:
1 A Real Life Batman
2 At the Amusement Park
3 Be a Tree Detective
4 California Bound!
5 So Many Satellites!
6 Victory
7 Insects for Dinner
8 The Gorilla and the Monkey
9 Alligator or Crocodile?
10 Why I am Afraid of Balloons
11 Author Louis Sachar
12 A Boy’s Summer Song
13 The Pony Express (paired)
14 My Brother the Rider (paired)
15 One Country or Four?
16 The Case of the Missing Poodle
17 A Quarterback Who Gives Back
18 Little-Girl-Two-Little-Girls
19 Mission to Mars (paired)
20 A New Life on Mars (paired)
21 The Layers of the Earth
22 Pandora’s Box
23 Coniferous and Deciduous Trees
24 Brother and Sister
25 The Invention of Earmuffs
26 Hamster Adventures
27 Too Much Sugar!
28 Kirla’s Quest
29 Mountain Food Chains
30 Which are You?
31 Sojourner Truth
32 Snow Day
33 Animal Bedtimes
34 The Best Day Ever!
35 Our Incredible Sun
36 Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
37 Amazing Anacondas (paired)
38 I Saw an Anaconda (paired)
39 The Population of Australia
40 Sam and the Swim Team
41 The Early Life of Benjamin Franklin
42 Chicago Poet
43 Conductors and Insulators (paired)
44 Safety First (paired)
45 Hurricanes
46 Jamie and the Bear
47 Staying Safe in the Sun
48 The Wind
49 Reading to Rover
50 Super Cheese Man to the Rescue!
51 China’s Terracotta Soldiers (paired)
52 An Ancient Soldier(paired)
53 Ice Cream in a Baggie
54 The Grass So Little Has to Do
55 Machu Picchu
56 Lizzy’s Lemonade Stand
57 Wind Power
58 The Wind and the Sun
59 Hooray for Peanut Butter!
60 The Fisherman
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Need Text Time at a lower level? Check out
Text Time for Grades 1-3
Love Text Time but need more paired passages? Then you need:
Text Time Triples
Check out 35 ways to use post it notes in your classroom here!
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About the Author
These passages were written by me, Rachel Lynette. I am a published author of over 120 nonfiction books for children on a variety of subjects, as well as several teacher resource books. I have written for publishers such as Harcourt, Thompson-Gale, Rosen, Children’s Press, Evan-Moor, Kagan, and several others. These passages reflect more than a decade of professional writing experience.
Terms of Use
This resource was created by Rachel Lynette and Cassi Noack for Minds in Bloom INC., all rights reserved. It may be used by the original purchaser for single class use only. Teachers may distribute this product in email, through google classroom or over the Internet to their students (and parents) as long as the site is password protected. In other words, you may distribute it to your own students, but may not put it on the Internet where it could be publicly found and downloaded.
If you want to share this resource with colleagues, please purchase additional licenses from TpT. Thank you for respecting these terms of use.
This product is happily brought to you by Rachel Lynette and Cassi Noack of Minds in Bloom
SKU: 1987225
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Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
JANINE L. –
Great readers to be used in class! They help to reinforce skills and allow students to work independently!
Valeria S. –
Wow! Just what I needed! Such a great purchase! My students have been enjoying this resource! I use this for small groups!
Sue Ann M. –
I have a couple above level readers in my classroom this year. These passages are perfect for a reading packet for them to work on independently. When we get together in a small group, we discuss what they read. Perfect for my uses this year.
Gemini M. –
My students and I love this! I am speechless at how detailed this resource is! Definitely worth every cent. It helped me save a lot of time preparing lessons. I use this every day. I highly recommend this resource to teachers.
Cortnee K. –
This was great for distance learning with my fourth grade class. It helped that the audio was attached so I could have my lowest students listen as well as read along. This year I still use these in 6th grade with my EL students and as review for identifying parts of texts. The students enjoy these and they are a quick grab when prepping for a sub.
Naomi B. –
I really appreciate that there are two levels available. I am easily able to match the student need with the correct level. The length is perfect and the variety of topics allow me to hit multiple teaching points.
Brittany L. –
My students found this to be very useful. It was easy for them to follow. They loved it.
Sweet n Sassy Teacher –
Using with small groups and as a way to check understanding of skills that have been introduced whole group. Love how they have the different reading levels.
Talia M. –
These passages are great for practicing and enforcing comprehension. I like that there is also an audio option for students who may need it.
Hillary Kiser – Hillary’s Teaching Adventures –
This resource was so much fun for my students! Thank you for all of your hard work!