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Sieve and Sand Comprehension
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Sieve and Sand Comprehension
Read the original passage below. Then answer the questions using details and ideas from the passage. For the written responses, support your thinking with evidence.
At the library makerspace, Andre found a metal sieve beside a tub of sand. A card on the table read: CAN YOU FILL THE SIEVE?
He scooped up a handful and poured it in. The grains slipped through the holes and whispered onto the table. Andre tried again, pressing the sand down with his palm. More grains escaped.
Madison, who was building a small model bridge nearby, glanced over. “Maybe you need a smaller scoop,” she said.
Andre tried a teaspoon. The sand still fell through. He tried dampening it, but the grains clumped for a moment and then tumbled out. Each attempt left him with less sand in the sieve and a larger mess on the table.
Jayden, the makerspace volunteer, came over. “What are you trying to find out?” he asked.
“That I can make the sand stay,” Andre said. “I keep trying, but I can’t hold on to it.”
Jayden nodded toward the library book Andre had brought along. “A sieve is made to let small things pass through. Sometimes our minds feel like that, too. We hear an idea, but it slips away if we rush past it or never stop to think about it.”
Andre opened the book. He read one paragraph, then closed it and tried to explain the main idea in his own words. At first, he remembered only a few details. He reopened the book, checked what he had missed, and tried again. This time the idea made more sense.
Madison pointed to the sand scattered across the table. “So the answer isn’t to squeeze harder?”
“Not if the sieve is still full of holes,” Andre said. He smiled. “I need to slow down, notice what matters, and come back to it.”
The sand could not be kept in the sieve. But Andre had found a better way to hold on to an idea: read carefully, think about it, and return to it.
Check your understanding
Answer each question from the passage.
1.What happens each time Andre pours sand into the sieve? Choose the best answer.
- The sand slips through the holes.
- The sieve breaks.
- The sand turns into mud.
- The sand disappears into the book.
2.Why does Andre try using a teaspoon?
3.True or false: Dampening the sand solves Andre’s problem permanently. Explain your choice.
4.What does Jayden mean when he says that our minds can feel like a sieve?
5.Put these actions in the order Andre does them: explain the paragraph in his own words; read one paragraph; check what he missed; reopen the book.
6.In the passage, what does “tumbled out” mean?
- Fell out in an uncontrolled way
- Was carefully carried away
- Became stuck inside
- Was mixed into the book
7.What does Andre learn about remembering an idea? Use two details from the passage.
8.Why is the title “The Sieve and the Sand” a good title for this passage? Explain what the sieve and sand represent.
9.At the end, Andre says, “I need to slow down, notice what matters, and come back to it.” What does this tell you about how he has changed since the beginning?
3 printable pages
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