Pete Saves the Day
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Pete is a brown dog who loves to pay chase. Unfortunately, not everyone he meets feels the same way – including the neighborhood cat. Students will read the passage and answer follow-up questions about character and other story elements. This passage also contains Dolch Sight Words from the Pre-Primer and Primer lists.
Topic(s): Realistic Fiction. Skill(s): Fact & Opinion, Context Clues. Genre(s): Prose
Passage
Pete was a brown dog. He had a black spot over one eye. Pete was very friendly. He was a good boy and obeyed his family’s commands. He knew to come when called. He knew how to sit. Pete even knew how to shake hands to say hello.
The one thing Pete wasn’t good at was staying. He knew he should not move when Father or Mother said “Stay!”, but he couldn’t help it. Pete loved to play chase.
If a child or animal ran away from him, he would always try to catch them. This was a fun game! The children in Pete’s family loved to play chase, especially Ava. Not everyone liked when Pete ran after them, though. Pete had to stay inside when the mailman came, because he didn’t have time to play. Ava had to explain to her friends that Pete was friendly and would only lick them if he caught them.
But Ava couldn’t talk to all the animals in the neighborhood, so they were afraid when Pete chased them. Bigger dogs thought it was a fun game, but small animals stayed away from Pete’s house. Rabbits and birds never hopped in the grass of Pete’s back yard if he was outside.
One day, an orange cat walked along the fence around Pete’s yard. Pete sniffed the air and looked up. He wagged his tail. “Woof!” he said cheerfully. That meant he wanted to play.
The cat looked down at Pete. She quietly jumped down onto the grass and began to run across the yard.
Pete was excited. A cat came to his house to play! Now he could chase her and make a new friend.
Pete ran after the cat. The cat meowed loudly and quickly climbed up a tree. “Yeow-meow!” she said. That meant she needed help.
Pete was sorry he had scared the cat. He ran to the house and barked loudly three times. Father opened the door. “What have we here?” he asked. Pete ran to the tree and barked.
Father looked up and saw the orange cat. She was stuck on a branch. She was shaking and afraid. Father reached over his head and picked up the cat. He carried her to the fence and dropped her on the other side. She landed on her feet and turned to look at Pete.
“Mew,” she said. That meant thank you.
Reading Comprehension Questions
Answers
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