The Big Wooden Horse
For ten years, the Greeks waited by Troy. Its walls were very high. They could not get in.
Then a clever man named Odysseus had an idea. "Let us build a big wooden horse," he said.
The Greeks built the horse. It was as tall as a house. It had a little door in its side.
Odysseus and his men hid inside the horse. It was dark in there. They did not make a sound!
The other Greeks went to their ships. They sailed away. The beach was empty, but for the horse.
The people of Troy came out. "The Greeks have gone!" they said. Then they saw the big wooden horse.
"It must be a gift," they said. They pulled the horse into the city. They sang and danced all day.
A man named Laocoon shouted, "Do not trust it! It may be a trick!" No one listened.
That night, the people of Troy went to bed. The horse stood still in the square. It was quiet.
In the night, the little door opened. Odysseus and his men climbed out. The Greeks came out of the horse.
And so the war was over. It was a clever trick. A wooden horse had won it.
People still say, "Look twice at a gift." It might hold a trick!
Questions
- One day
- Two weeks
- Ten years
- Laocoon
- Odysseus
- The people of Troy
- Inside the horse
- In the ships
- Under the wall
- They thought it was a gift
- They wanted to hide it
- They were afraid of it
- Very tall
- Very loud
- Quick at thinking up plans
- Pull it in
- Do not trust it
- It is a boat
Words to know
- wooden: made of wood
- clever: quick to think
- gift: a present
- trick: a sly plan
Answer key: The Big Wooden Horse
- C. Ten years
- B. Odysseus
- A. Inside the horse
- A. They thought it was a gift
- C. Quick at thinking up plans
- B. Do not trust it
For the teacher: how this passage is levelled
“The Big Wooden Horse” is a reading level 6 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 20 words on a screen. At most 7% of its words may be off the familiar-word list. Readers reach this level by climbing, not by grade.
| This passage | 218 words, 12 screens, 6 multiple-choice questions with an answer key, and 4 vocabulary words with kid-sized meanings |
|---|---|
| Longest sentence at this level | 10 words |
| Words on a screen | 12 to 20 |
| Skills practised at this level | phonics (sounding words out), first sounds, sight words |
Reading level 6: 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.