Ottilie Gets Pluto
Ottilie's class was making a sky parade. Each child would carry a world on a stick. Ottilie pulled Pluto from the hat.
A boy looked over at her paper. He said that Pluto is not a planet. Ottilie frowned and went to ask Mr. Ferro.
Mr. Ferro said that Pluto is still there. "But a planet has three jobs," he said. He held up three fingers.
"Job one is to go around the Sun," he said. "Pluto does that," said Ottilie. He put down one finger.
"Job two: a planet pulls itself round, like a ball." Pluto is round, so down went a second finger.
"Job three is the hard one," said Mr. Ferro. A planet must be the boss of its path. It clears the other big things away.
Pluto shares its path with many icy neighbors. There are thousands of them out there. So Pluto does not do job three.
In 2006, sky scientists made a new name. Some small round worlds share their paths. They are called dwarf planets.
Pluto is the most famous dwarf planet. Lots of people were upset about the change. Ottilie was a little upset too.
So she found out more about Pluto. It is about half as wide as the United States. Even our Moon is wider.
Pluto is very far from the Sun. It is dark and cold there. Noon on Pluto is as dim as sunset here.
Pluto pulls on you much less than Earth. Say you weigh one hundred pounds here. On Pluto you would weigh seven.
Pluto goes around the Sun very slowly. One Pluto year is 248 of our years. Ottilie would never have a Pluto birthday.
Pluto has five moons. The biggest is Charon, half as big as Pluto.
On one side of Pluto, Charon hangs still. It never rises or sets.
In 2015, a spaceship flew past Pluto and took pictures. It saw tall mountains made of ice. It saw a big pale shape like a heart.
Ottilie found one more true thing. Long ago, a girl of eleven thought up Pluto's name.
She said it at breakfast. Her mother and grandfather were at the table.
Ottilie cut a pale paper heart and glued it on. At the parade, she held her Pluto up high.
It was small and round and very far away. What would you put on your Pluto?
Questions
- Go around the Sun
- Clear the big things out of its path
- Be round like a ball
- A small round world that shares its path
- A planet with no moons
- A star that has gone out
- People who live next door
- Icy things that share Pluto's path
- Moons that go around Pluto
- The spaceship saw a heart shape on Pluto
- Mr. Ferro told her to
- Her paper Pluto was broken
- One of our years
- Twelve of our years
- 248 of our years
Words to know
- planet: world circling Sun
- dwarf: small kind
- path: way it travels
- neighbors: things close by
- parade: show walking together
Answer key: Ottilie Gets Pluto
- B. Clear the big things out of its path
- A. A small round world that shares its path
- B. Icy things that share Pluto's path
- A. The spaceship saw a heart shape on Pluto
- C. 248 of our years
Teaching a mixed class? Pluto at three reading levels
Three true passages from the same facts, a basic, a middle and an advanced one, so every group reads about the same thing and the class can talk about it together. Print one PDF: a sheet for each group, marked with a shape instead of a level, and a page for you that says which is which.
- ● Ottilie Gets Pluto (this passage)Basic, for about 6 to 8 · reading level 7 · 396 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.5 · 5 questions
- ▲ Why Is Pluto Not a Planet?Middle, for about 9 to 12 · reading level 11 · 1021 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6.3 · 6 questions
- ■ Ceres Was a Planet OnceAdvanced, for about 13 to 16 · reading level 14 · 1269 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 9.1 · 6 questions
The story in pictures
- Part One · The paper in the hat
- Part Two · Three jobs
- Part Three · Dwarf planet
- Part Four · Small, dark and light
- Part Five · Moons and a heart
- Part Six · The parade
For the teacher: how this passage is levelled
“Ottilie Gets Pluto” is a reading level 7 story. Every Peabody story at this level is written and checked to keep sentences to 10 words or fewer, to aim at an average of 6 words a sentence, and to show 12 to 30 words on a screen. At most 8% of its words may be off the familiar-word list. Children in 3rd grade start at this level.
| This passage | 396 words, 20 screens, 5 multiple-choice questions with an answer key, and 5 vocabulary words with kid-sized meanings |
|---|---|
| Longest sentence at this level | 10 words |
| Words on a screen | 12 to 30 |
| Skills practised at this level | phonics (sounding words out), sight words, spelling |
Reading level 7: the limits, a real sample and the free games. Peabody is a learning app, not an assessment: use the questions to talk about the story, not to grade a child.