1 Decodable Reading Passage
A short, decodable story embedding adding -ing and -ed words. Students read the passage then highlight all the target words.
It was a warm spring morning at school. The class was mixing paint and printing leaf shapes on big pieces of paper. Beth had just dusted off her desk when she heard a soft flapping sound.
A little brown wren had come in the open window! This was not what the class had planned for the morning. The wren flew around the room, twisting and turning. Then it bumped into the glass and landed on a shelf. Its tiny chest was going up and down fast.
"I will catch it!" yelled Dan. He went running after the wren, waving his cap. He batted at the air, but the wren flew up high. Now the other kids were jumping and yelling too. The wren hunted for a way out. It hit the glass again and again.
Beth felt bad for the little bird. "Stop, Dan!" she said. "You are scaring it more."
Dan stopped and looked up. The wren was resting on top of the clock, shaking. "I just wanted to help," he said. "But how do we get it out?"
Beth thought hard. "A bird will fly to the light," she said. "Please, everyone, sit still and be very quiet."
The class sat down. Beth closed the drapes on every window but one, and the room became dim. Then she pushed the last window open as wide as it would go. Bright sunlight spilled across the floor. "Now we wait," Beth whispered.
No one moved. Dan held his cap in his lap. The wren began to hop along the top of the clock. It turned its head this way and that. Then it spotted the sunlight! The wren zipped across the room and out the window, into the blue sky. It landed in the oak tree the class had planted last year, and it began to sing.
The class clapped. Dan grinned at Beth. "Sitting still worked better than running," he said. "Next time, I will keep my cap on my head." Beth laughed, and they both went back to the paint.
This story is part of Level 5. Get every Level 5 illustrated mini-book in one print-ready file ($14) →
2 Adding -ing and -ed Words
The words this story set practices, in the two groups used by the word sort.
Adds -ing (10)
running, hopping, jumping, playing, resting, twisting, mixing, packing, kicking, printing
Adds -ed (10)
batted, planted, landed, melted, planned, spotted, grinned, clapped, hunted, dusted
- Phrases to read
- a running · the hopping · a jumping · the playing · a resting · the twisting · a mixing · the packing
- RAN chart words
- running, hopping, jumping, playing, resting
- Sight words
- the, a, and, to, was, is, it, she, he, they, said, have, with, you, are, of, for, her, there, one, into, what, when, out, about
3 -ing and -ed Worksheets
Six sheets from the Level 5 word work set for this skill. Each PDF has its answer key on page 2.
Level 5 Word Work pack: all 124 syllable, prefix and suffix worksheets in one file
The sheets above are free. The pack is every sheet for compound words, the three syllable patterns, the endings -ing, -ed, -er, -est, -ly, -y, -ful, -less and -tion and the prefixes un-, re-, pre-, dis- and mis- in order, a review set and all the answer keys, ready to print.
Get the pack for $7 See every kind of sheetTeaching more than one level? All 6 levels, 600+ worksheets, for $19.
4 Story Worksheets
4 ready-to-print PDFs for this story's adding -ing and -ed words. Each one opens as its own file.
📖 More Adding -ing and -ed Stories
A new decodable story with the same adding -ing and -ed sounds — each comes with its own set of worksheets.
