Down the rabbit hole
Passage Activities:

Words: 101-200

Skills: Character Traits Summary

Grades: 3rd 4th

Topics: Adventure / Thriller and Science Fiction / Fantasy

Genres: Prose

Lexile Range: 1060L - 1290L

Lexile Measure: 1250L

CCSS: Reading: Literature

Themes: —

Down the Rabbit-Hole

by Lewis Carroll from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Chapter I passage: Lewis Carroll wrote “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” in 1865. It’s the story of a girl who follows a rabbit and has some amazing adventures. Below is a passage from the book. Alice is sitting with her sister near a river.

Reading Comprehension Passage

Down the Rabbit-Hole

by Lewis Carroll from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

As the scene opens, Alice is sitting with her sister near a river.

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So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that, nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!”

But when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket and looked at it and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and, burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole, under the hedge. 

In another moment, down went Alice after it!

Passage Only

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Reading Comprehension Questions

1)  Name the cause: Alice wasn’t sure she wanted to get up to pick daisies. Why was she feeling this way?



2) Name the effect: The White Rabbit had a watch and was wearing a coat. What effect did that have on Alice?



3) Name the cause: Alice follows the White Rabbit. What was she feeling that made her follow the rabbit?



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Vocabulary List

Vocabulary List

Each of the vocabulary words below are used in the reading passage. As you read the passage, pay attention to context clues that suggest the word’s meaning.

  1. considering
  2. remarkable
  3. waistcoat
  4. curiosity
  5. hedge

Context Clues

Context Clues

Using context clues from the sentences in the passage, underline the correct meaning of the word in boldface.

1. "So she was considering in her own mind"

a. thinking carefully, examining      b. confusing     c. remembering     d. forgetting

2. "There was nothing so very remarkable in that"

a. nice, gentle     b. distressing, upsetting     c. worthy of attention, surprising     d. boring, dull

3. "But when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket"

a. backpack     b. a man's vest     c. suitcase     d. pants or trousers

4. "burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it"

a. fever      b. embarrassment      c. energy      d. strong desire to know about, interest

5. "and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole, under the hedge"

a. a fence made of bushes     b. ground, earth     c. shed or small building     d. willow tree