Write a story with pace, tension and reflection
Grade 9 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
The Domino Line (story draft)
[1] For three afternoons in a row, Tala and Milo knelt on the gym floor and set up a curving line of two thousand wooden dominoes that spelled the name of their school. [2] The art teacher, Mr. Okafor, had promised that the whole school could watch the line fall at the Friday assembly, as long as the pieces stayed standing until then. [3] Every fiftieth domino, Tala left a gap the width of a finger, so that a single accident would knock over one short section instead of the entire line. [4] By Thursday evening the last letter was finished, and the two builders sat back on their heels in the quiet gym while the late sun stretched across the floor.
[5] On Friday morning, a cleaning cart rolled through the side door, and one of its wheels caught the edge of the tape that marked the safe path. [6] Milo felt very nervous. [7] Near the letter R, a single domino wobbled, leaned against its neighbor and started a small clatter that ran toward the gap Tala had left. [8] Milo, who had been standing a few steps away near the bleachers and watching the cart move slowly across the floor, hurried over toward the falling pieces and tried hard to reach the next gap before the falling section could get there and keep going. [9] The clatter stopped at the gap, leaving forty dominoes flat on the floor and the rest still standing.
[10] Tala and Milo rebuilt the fallen section in twenty minutes, checking each piece twice, and just before the assembly Tala filled every gap with its missing domino. [11] At the assembly, Mr. Okafor counted down from five, and Tala pressed the first domino with one finger. [12] The line rattled through each curve and each letter, and when the last piece fell, the gym rang with cheering. [13] Afterward, Milo picked up the domino from the letter R and slipped it into a pocket to keep.
Bo is writing the mood under each box of the scene strip. What does scene 2, sentences [5] to [9], build for the reader?
- It builds the plot by showing that a cart bumps the tape and forty dominoes near the R end up flat on the floor.
- It builds tension, because a sudden fall races toward the gap and the reader waits to see if the whole line goes.
- It builds a playful mood, because the bumping cart turns the morning into a silly mix-up that the builders laugh about.
- It builds a calm, patient mood, because the long line stands finished while the two builders rest in the quiet gym.
Jun sees that sentence [6] names a feeling. Which sentence could replace [6] and show how Milo feels without naming the feeling?
- Milo looked over at the long line of dominoes that stretched across the wooden floor of the gym.
- Milo hummed a cheerful tune and leaned lazily against the wall, enjoying the warm morning sun.
- Milo's hand froze halfway to the line, and a breath Milo had been holding came out in a thin whistle.
- Milo was suddenly so worried and scared that it was hard to think about anything else that morning in the gym.
Luz marks sentence [8] as the tense moment, but it drags. Which version of [8] tightens the pace to raise the tension?
- Milo ran. Three steps. Two. A hand shot out toward the gap.
- Some time later, after everything had settled, Milo stood looking down at the flat section near the R.
- Milo ran toward the gap, because a falling domino line moves faster than people expect and a gap is what stops it.
- Milo walked past the bleachers, where the morning light lay in long yellow bars across the polished boards.
The Egg Drop (story draft)
[1] All week, Esme and Bo worked at the back table of the science room, folding a parachute out of a plastic bag and taping a cup of cotton balls beneath it to hold a raw egg. [2] The physics teacher, Ms. Varga, would drop each team's design from the second-floor balcony on Friday, and any egg that landed without a crack would earn its team a place in the district contest. [3] Bo trimmed the strings to the same length so that the parachute would open evenly, while Esme tested the cup by dropping it from a chair onto the carpet again and again. [4] By Thursday the design weighed less than a sandwich, and the two partners agreed that it was ready.
[5] On Friday afternoon, a gusty wind blew across the courtyard and pushed the paper scorecards off the judges' table below the balcony. [6] Esme felt scared about the wind. [7] The first three teams' parachutes swung sideways in the gusts, and two of their eggs struck the brick edge of a planter instead of the soft grass. [8] When it was finally their turn, Bo, who had carefully held the parachute for the entire wait so that the strings would not tangle, slowly handed it over to Ms. Varga, who leaned out over the railing, held it into the open air for a long moment and at last let go. [9] The parachute opened, tipped toward the planter, and then drifted back over the grass as the gust died away.
[10] The cup landed with a soft thump, and the crowd of students leaned in while Ms. Varga lifted out the egg. [11] The shell was smooth and whole, without a single line across it. [12] Esme and Bo wrote their names on the contest list, and Bo noted in the margin that the strings could be even shorter. [13] On the walk home, Esme kept looking up at the trees along the sidewalk, watching the wind move their branches.
Milo is writing the mood under each box of the scene strip. What does scene 2, sentences [5] to [9], build for the reader?
- It builds tension, because each gust that throws an egg toward the planter makes the reader fear for the next drop.
- It builds the plot by showing that the wind blows, two eggs hit the planter and the parachute opens.
- It builds a calm, patient mood, because the partners test and trim the design again and again.
- It builds a playful mood, because the wind turns the courtyard into a game of chasing the flying scorecards.
Noah sees that sentence [6] names a feeling. Which sentence could replace [6] and show how Esme feels without naming the feeling?
- Esme stood on the second-floor balcony and looked down at the courtyard and the judges' table.
- Esme laughed at the scorecards tumbling across the grass and waved down at friends in the crowd.
- Esme's fingers tightened around the railing, and with each gust Esme's eyes went straight to the brick planter below.
- Esme was frightened and worried that a whole week of careful work was about to be ruined.
The Stuck Curtain (story draft)
[1] For the spring play, Luz and Ren ran the stage crew, which meant sitting in the dark wings with a headset and a clipboard while the actors lit up the stage. [2] Their most important job came at the end of the second act, when the main curtain had to close in four seconds so that the crew could roll the garden set off and push the train station on. [3] They practiced the change every afternoon for two weeks, and by the final rehearsal they could finish before the stage manager finished counting. [4] On opening night the first act went smoothly, and the audience laughed in the right places while Luz read the cues aloud in a whisper.
[5] Then, as the second act ended, Ren pulled the rope, and the curtain slid halfway across the stage and stopped with a jolt. [6] Ren felt panicked. [7] Through the gap, the audience could see the painted garden and the actors frozen in their final poses, waiting for a curtain that was not coming. [8] Luz looked up and saw that a loop of rope had caught on a hook near the top of the frame, and then Luz began to climb the short metal ladder that was fixed to the wall beside the curtain, going carefully one rung at a time until the loop was close enough to reach. [9] With one tug, the loop came free, and the curtain swept closed the rest of the way.
[10] The scene change took eleven seconds instead of four, but the train station was in place when the lights came up. [11] During the break, the stage manager asked what had happened. [12] Ren explained about the hook, and the stage manager wrote a note to have it removed before the next show. [13] For the rest of the run, Luz checked the top of the frame with a flashlight before each performance, and the curtain did not stick again.
Zee sees that sentence [6] names a feeling. Which sentence could replace [6] and show how Ren feels without naming the feeling?
- Ren stood beside the rope in the wings and looked across at the curtain on the stage.
- Ren leaned back against the wall and yawned, glad that the long first act was finally over.
- Ren was suddenly full of panic and fear about the whole audience watching the stuck curtain from the dark seats.
- Ren kept yanking the stuck rope, harder each time, as if the curtain might give way to force alone.
Ari marks sentence [8] as the tense moment, but it drags. Which version of [8] tightens the pace to raise the tension?
- Luz climbed the ladder, because a stage curtain runs on ropes and pulleys that can catch when a loop slips loose.
- Later that night, after the show had ended, Luz told the rest of the crew how the rope had been freed.
- Luz looked up into the shadows above the stage, where dusty ropes hung in long gray lines beside the painted clouds.
- Luz looked up. A loop of rope, caught on a hook. Luz grabbed the ladder and climbed.
The Ramp (story draft)
[1] For six weeks, Kira and Jun built a small robot out of metal strips, wheels and a motor, and wrote the program that would steer it at the regional robotics meet. [2] The hardest part of the course was a steep wooden ramp near the finish, where most robots slid backward unless their wheels gripped the slope at just the right speed. [3] Every evening, Jun adjusted the speed in the program by a small amount, and Kira timed each climb with a stopwatch and wrote the results in a notebook. [4] By the night before the meet, the robot climbed the practice ramp nine times out of ten, and they packed it carefully into a shoebox lined with towels.
[5] At the meet, the robot rolled through the first part of the course without a mistake, turning cleanly around each cone. [6] Kira felt worried as the robot reached the ramp. [7] Halfway up, the wheels began to spin, and the robot stopped climbing and hung on the slope with its motor whining. [8] Jun, who was holding the controller, remembered after a moment that the program had a button for a slower, stronger gear, and so Jun carefully looked for that button on the controller and then pressed it down while thinking about the many evenings of testing that had led to this point. [9] The whine dropped to a low hum, and the robot crawled the rest of the way up and over the top.
[10] Their time was too slow to win a medal, but the robot was one of four that climbed the ramp at all. [11] On the bus home, Kira opened the notebook to a fresh page and wrote a new heading: lower gear first. [12] Jun leaned against the window with the shoebox on both knees and said nothing for a long time. [13] When the bus pulled into the school lot, Jun finally looked up and asked when the next meet would be.
Ren is writing the mood under each box of the scene strip. What does scene 3, sentences [10] to [13], build for the reader?
- It builds the plot by telling that the team won no medal and then rode the bus back to school.
- It builds a quiet, determined mood, because both builders are already thinking about the next meet.
- It builds tension, because the wheels spin and the robot hangs halfway up the slope with its motor whining.
- It builds an angry mood, because the two builders blame each other for the slow time on the ramp.
Bo sees that sentence [6] names a feeling. Which sentence could replace [6] and show how Kira feels without naming the feeling?
- As the robot reached the ramp, Kira watched it from the edge of the course with the team.
- As the robot reached the ramp, Kira grinned and turned to chat with the team in the bleachers.
- As the robot reached the ramp, Kira's thumb pressed the stopwatch too early, and the numbers began to run.
- As the robot reached the ramp, Kira grew more and more anxious and afraid of what might happen.
Esme marks sentence [8] as the tense moment, but it drags. Which version of [8] tightens the pace to raise the tension?
- Jun found the gear button. Pressed it. Held on.
- Jun looked down at the controller, its gray plastic worn smooth at the edges and its buttons faded from weeks of practice.
- By the time the judges wrote down the results, the robot was already back in its shoebox.
- Jun pressed the gear button, since a lower gear turns the wheels more slowly but with more force on a steep slope.