Worksheet

The Night Crew

Read an original poem about the workers who keep a town running at night, then work out word meanings and tell literal from nonliteral lines.

Grade 3ELAInteractive · Printable

Aligned toRL.3.4

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What’s included

Single worksheet
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1 Common Core standard
Printable answer key
9 questions
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Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 3
Subject: ELA
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students work out the meaning of words and phrases in a poem using context.
Students tell literal lines from nonliteral lines in a poem.
Students explain what a nonliteral phrase in a poem really means.

How to use

Read the poem aloud twice so students can hear the rhymes, then have them reread the stanza each question names. Discuss what each phrase says and what it really means.

Curriculum

Common Core standard covered

RL.3.4

Work out the meaning of words and phrases in a text, telling literal language from nonliteral language.

Preview

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Name Date

The Night Crew

Work out what words mean and tell literal from nonliteral language in a poem.

Read the poem

The Night Crew

1The sky turns to ink as I climb into bed.
I pull up my blanket and rest my sleepy head.
But out in my town, there is so much to do,
and the night crew keeps things running the whole night through.

2Mr. Patel drives the last bus of the day.
His bus is a whale gliding slowly away.
It stops at each corner to let riders on,
and it carries them home till the last one is gone.

3At the hospital, Nurse Ana walks down the long hall.
She checks on her patients and answers each call.
She brings a soft blanket to someone who's cold.
Everyone says that her heart is pure gold.

4At my school, Mr. Ruiz mops every floor.
He empties the trash, and he locks every door.
He makes the long hallways shine just like glass,
so they sparkle at sunrise for every class.

5On snowy nights, Ms. Kim drives a plow down my street.
She scrapes the road clear for the cars and our feet.
She builds a white mountain beside the school gate,
so the buses can get there and no one is late.

6When the sun opens one sleepy eye in the sky,
the night crew heads home, and they yawn and wave bye.
When I wake, my whole town looks brand-new,
so thank you, thank you, to the hard-working night crew!

Words and phrases

Each numbered part of the poem is a stanza. Use the poem to work out what each word or phrase means.

In stanza 1, the poet writes, "The sky turns to ink." What does this mean?

A. Someone writes words across the sky.
B. Black rain starts to fall on the town.
C. The sky turns bright blue and clear.
D. The sky becomes very dark.

Read stanza 3. What are patients?

A. people who wait calmly without getting upset
B. people a nurse or doctor takes care of
C. workers who clean the halls of a hospital
D. visitors who bring gifts to the hospital

Write the word from stanza 1 that names a group of people who work.

The word is .

In stanza 2, the poet writes, "His bus is a whale gliding slowly away." What does the poet want you to picture?

A. a bus that is painted to look like a sea animal
B. a whale that swims down the street at night
C. a big bus that moves along slowly and smoothly
D. a bus that drives through deep water at night

In stanza 4, Mr. Ruiz makes the hallways "shine just like glass." What does this mean?

A. The floors are very clean and shiny.
B. The floors are made out of glass.
C. The hallways have many windows.
D. The floors break very easily.

Literal or nonliteral?

Literal language means exactly what the words say. Nonliteral language means something different from what the words say.

Read stanza 3 again. Underline the line that uses nonliteral language.

At the hospital, Nurse Ana walks down the long hall.She checks on her patients and answers each call.She brings a soft blanket to someone who's cold.Everyone says that her heart is pure gold.

Match each phrase from the poem to what it really means.