The Fairy House
Reading Comprehension Activity
When John notices a ring of violets in his back yard, he knows the fairies must be out and about. He decides to build a fairy house to catch one. Will it work? Students will read the story and answer follow-up questions about character, plot, and vocabulary.
Topic(s): Realistic Fiction. Skill(s): Summary, Character Traits, Context Clues. Genre(s): Prose
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One spring morning, John looked out his bedroom window. He could see his whole back yard from the second story. John blinked. The grass was always very green, but this morning he could see something else. Something purple.
In his backyard was a big purple circle of flowers.
John ran downstairs and out the back door. He picked a flower and took it inside to show his mother.
“Those are violets,” Mom said.
“Did you plant them?” asked John.
Mom shook her head. “They just pop up sometimes after a good spring rain. Grandma always said the fairies planted them.”
John was excited. “Fairies! I bet I can catch one and find out how it does its magic!”
“Why don’t you build a fairy house?” Mom said.
So John looked around the house for just the right supplies. He found a chipped teacup in the cupboard and an old silk scarf in Mom’s room. He took a handful of checkers from the game closet, too. He also gathered some sticks from the back yard.
John carefully placed the tea cup near the edge of the ring of violets. He used the sticks as tent poles to hold the scarf above the cup to make a shady place for fairies to rest. Finally, he made a path to lead the fairies from the violets to the teacup by placing checkers on the grass as stepping stones.
John looked around. He still needed something to make the fairies want to sit in the cup. He chose a red, ripe strawberry from the kitchen.
The next morning, John went to see if any fairies were in the teacup. When he lifted the scarf to peek, he was surprised to see whiskers wiggling at the edge of the cup.
“Fairies don’t have whiskers,” John said. He removed the scarf to get a better look.
Inside the teacup was a small brown mouse. The mouse stopped nibbling the strawberry and looked at John. It wiggled its pink nose.
John wanted to pick the mouse up for a better look. He reached his hand into the teacup.
Quick as a flash, the mouse ran away, leaving the strawberry leaves behind.
John laughed. “I guess the little mouse chased away the fairies this time. I’ll try again tomorrow!”
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