IXL | Read along with realistic fiction

Listen and read along with the first part of the story.

At the Boardwalk

Ding, ding, ding! The sounds of carnival games and laughter filled the ocean air. The smell of pizza made my stomach growl. My older brothers had told me all about the boardwalk. Each of them had taken a turn coming here with Grandpa. Finally, this weekend was my turn!

There was so much to see, but I couldn't stop to explore. I dragged Grandpa past the games and the food. I had to get to the Octopus.

"The Octopus is the coolest ride ever, Aaron!" my brother Henry had said. Last weekend, Grandpa had taken pictures of Henry on the Octopus. Looking at the photos, I had to agree. I couldn't wait to try the Octopus for myself.

What is the Octopus?

a ride

a game

a kind of food

ref_doc_title.

Learn with an example

question

Listen and read along with the first part of the story.

Star of the Show

Jonas made his way into the crowd of students. He stood on his tiptoes, stretching to see the piece of paper on the wall. Finally, he spotted his name! But it was next to the word . . . starfish?

This year's school play was about the ocean. For days, Jonas had been dreaming about the part he would play. He had practiced racing through the water like a shark. He'd practiced waving his arms like an octopus. But a starfish? A starfish doesn't do anything. It just lies there on the sand like a rock!

"I'm a crab!" shouted Arlo. He ran over to Jonas. "Isn't that cool?"

Jonas nodded. But he wasn't sure if he thought the play was cool anymore.

What does Jonas think about his part in the play? Look for clues in the story.

He feels bad about getting the part Arlo wanted.

He wishes he could play something less scary.

He doesn't think being a starfish is very exciting.

key idea

Sometimes a story doesn't explain everything that you need to know. You have to make a guess using details from the story.

solution

Jonas had hoped to play a sea animal that moves around a lot, like a shark or an octopus. He thinks that starfish just lie around and don't move.

So, you can guess that Jonas doesn't think being a starfish is very exciting.

$Confetti$

Excellent!

Now entering the Challenge Zone—are you ready?

Questions
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Time
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SmartScore
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IXL's SmartScore is a dynamic measure of progress towards mastery, rather than a percentage grade. It tracks your skill level as you tackle progressively more difficult questions. Consistently answer questions correctly to reach excellence (90), or conquer the Challenge Zone to achieve mastery (100)! Learn more

Teacher tools

Work it out

Not feeling ready yet? These can help:

DD.1Choose the picture that matches the setting or character

DD.2Use actions and dialogue to understand characters

Z.1What is the picture about?

HH.2Read realistic fiction

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Jumping to level 1 of 1

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