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Print “The Ball in the Pond”

Level 1 · Short words · black-and-white friendly, A4. Untick any sheet you don’t need.

Sheets to print
Name Date

1. Picture answers

Read, Decode & Understand · Level 1 · Roo Bloom

Read the story. Circle the right picture.

The Ball in the Pond

  1. Tim and Dad have a red ball.
  2. Tim hit it up and up.
  3. The ball fell in the pond.
  4. A big dog got it.
  5. The dog ran to Tim and sat.

  1. 1. What do Tim and Dad have?

    • red ball
    • kite
    • balloon

  2. 2. Where did the ball fall?

    • pond
    • tree
    • bin

  3. 3. Who got the ball?

    • cat
    • dog
    • duck
Name Date

2. Word answers

Read, Decode & Understand · Level 1 · Roo Bloom

Read the story. Tick the right word.

The Ball in the Pond

  1. Tim and Dad have a red ball.
  2. Tim hit it up and up.
  3. The ball fell in the pond.
  4. A big dog got it.
  5. The dog ran to Tim and sat.

  1. 1. What colour is the ball?

    • pink
    • red
    • yellow

  2. 2. Where did the dog run?

    • to Dad
    • to a duck
    • to Tim
Name Date

3. Find the clue

Read, Decode & Understand · Level 1 · Roo Bloom

Find the clue. Write the number of the sentence, then underline it.

The answer can be hiding in the story.

The Ball in the Pond

  1. 1Tim and Dad have a red ball.
  2. 2Tim hit it up and up.
  3. 3The ball fell in the pond.
  4. 4A big dog got it.
  5. 5The dog ran to Tim and sat.

  1. 1. Why did the ball go in the pond?

    The clue is in sentence number

    Now say or write the answer:

Name Date

4. Short answers

Read, Decode & Understand · Level 1 · Roo Bloom

Read the story. Write or say your answer.

The Ball in the Pond

  1. Tim and Dad have a red ball.
  2. Tim hit it up and up.
  3. The ball fell in the pond.
  4. A big dog got it.
  5. The dog ran to Tim and sat.

  1. 1. What did the big dog get?

  2. 2. What did the dog do at the end?

Name Date

5. Put it in order

Read, Decode & Understand · Level 1 · Roo Bloom

What happened first? Write 1, 2, 3 in the boxes.

The Ball in the Pond

  1. Tim and Dad have a red ball.
  2. Tim hit it up and up.
  3. The ball fell in the pond.
  4. A big dog got it.
  5. The dog ran to Tim and sat.
  • A big dog got it
  • Ball fell in the pond
  • Tim hit the ball up

Tell a grown-up the story in your own words: first, next, last.

Name Date

6. Draw the story

Read, Decode & Understand · Level 1 · Roo Bloom

Draw something you remember from the story.

The Ball in the Pond

  1. Tim and Dad have a red ball.
  2. Tim hit it up and up.
  3. The ball fell in the pond.
  4. A big dog got it.
  5. The dog ran to Tim and sat.

Draw the big dog with Tim's red ball.

Write a word or sentence about your picture:

Answers for grown-ups

Read, Decode & Understand · Level 1 · Roo Bloom

The Ball in the Pond · Level 1 (Short words) · focus words: Tim, hit, dog, got, sat · tricky words: have, the, ball

1. Picture answers

  1. Yes! Tim and Dad have a red ball.
  2. Yes — the ball fell in the pond.
  3. Yes! A big dog got the ball.

2. Word answers

  1. Yes — the ball is red.
  2. Yes! The dog ran to Tim and sat.

3. Find the clue

  1. Sentence 2. Tim hit the ball up and up, so it fell in the pond.

4. Short answers (any wording that shows they understood is fine)

  1. It got the ball.
  2. It ran to Tim and sat.

5. Put it in order

1. Tim hit the ball up · 2. Ball fell in the pond · 3. A big dog got it

There is no score. If an answer is not the one, read the sentence together and ask the question again.