Worksheet
Saturn from the Rooftop: Theme and Summary
Read an original short play about a rooftop telescope, find its theme from details in the text, and summarize what happens.
Grade 4ELAInteractive · Printable
Aligned toRL.4.2
What’s included
- Single worksheet
- Auto-graded online
- 1 Common Core standard
- Printable answer key
- 10 questions
- Classroom-ready
Details
- Format
- Interactive · Printable
- Grade
- Grade 4
- Subject
- ELA
- Question types
- Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Short answer
About this worksheet
What students practice
- Students determine the theme of a play from details in the text.
- Students summarize a play by telling its key events in order.
How to use
Read the play aloud in parts, then have students answer the questions on their own and share their theme statements.
Curriculum
Common Core standard covered
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, and summarize the text.
Preview
OwlSheets.com
Saturn from the Rooftop: Theme and Summary
Read a short play, find its theme, and summarize what happens.
Read the play
Saturn from the Rooftop
1A clear summer night on the flat rooftop of an apartment building. City lights glow below. OMAR, age ten, is setting up a brand-new telescope. His older sister, ZARA, sits on an upside-down crate.
2OMAR: (proudly) Tonight I'm going to see the rings of Saturn. Nobody touches this telescope but me. It's brand-new.
3ZARA: Relax. I only came up here for the breeze.
4(The door to the stairs creaks open. MRS. FLORES, who lives on the fourth floor, steps out with a folding chair. BEN, a boy from the second floor, follows her with a rolled-up paper under his arm.)
5BEN: Whoa, a telescope! Can I look?
6OMAR: (stepping in front of it) Sorry. It's not ready yet.
7(OMAR turns the telescope left and right. He squints into the eyepiece again and again. Minutes pass.)
8OMAR: (frustrated) This is impossible. There are so many bright dots up there. How am I supposed to know which one is Saturn?
9MRS. FLORES: (gently) When I was a girl, my father and I watched the sky from our roof every summer. Stars usually twinkle, but planets usually shine with a steadier light. Look for a bright dot that does not flicker.
10BEN: (unrolling his paper) And my star map shows where Saturn should be tonight. See? It's just above that tall water tower.
11(OMAR is quiet for a moment. Then he steps aside. BEN holds up the map while MRS. FLORES points. OMAR aims the telescope where they show him.)
12OMAR: (gasping) There it is! It has rings, real rings! (He turns to the others.) Ben, you have to see this. Mrs. Flores, you first.
13(One by one, they take turns at the eyepiece. Even ZARA gets up from her crate.)
14ZARA: (staring into the eyepiece) Okay, that is amazing.
15OMAR: (smiling) I wanted Saturn all to myself. But I couldn't have found it alone, and it's way more fun with all of you here.
Details and theme
Use the play to answer each question.
- A. He is trying to block the wind from it.
- B. He does not want Ben to look through it.
- C. He wants to hide it from his sister.
- D. He is looking for a better place to set it.
- A. Clouds are covering most of the night sky.
- B. His new telescope is broken and will not turn.
- C. Zara keeps standing in front of the eyepiece.
- D. He cannot tell which bright dot is Saturn.
- A. She tells him how to tell a planet from a star.
- B. She gives him a map she drew as a girl.
- C. She fixes a loose part on his telescope.
- D. She tells him to wait until the sky is darker.
- A. He starts out sharing and ends up wanting to be alone.
- B. He starts out excited and ends up bored with stars.
- C. He starts out selfish and ends up sharing with others.
- D. He starts out calm and ends up angry at his sister.
- A. It is wise to keep new things away from others.
- B. Sharing what you have can make good times better.
- C. Clear summer nights are good for looking at the sky.
- D. Older people can teach children how to build things.
This is impossible.Ben, you have to see this.Nobody touches this telescope but me.How am I supposed to know which one is Saturn?Mrs. Flores, you first.It's not ready yet.
Summarize the play
Think about the most important events in the play.
- First
- Next
- Then
- Last
- A. Mrs. Flores and Ben help Omar aim the telescope.
- B. Everyone takes a turn looking at Saturn's rings.
- C. Omar says that nobody can touch his telescope.
- D. Omar cannot tell which bright dot is Saturn.
- A. Omar wants to keep his new telescope to himself, but he cannot find Saturn. Mrs. Flores and Ben help him find it, and he lets everyone see the rings.
- B. Omar sets up a telescope on a rooftop. Ben carries a rolled-up paper, and Zara sits on a crate. The city lights glow below them on a summer night.
- C. Ben asks to look through Omar's new telescope, and Omar says no. Ben gets upset and goes back home, so Omar looks at Saturn alone with his sister.
- D. Mrs. Flores shows Omar and Zara how to build a telescope. They use it to look at the moon, and Ben draws a map of what they see from the roof.
Omar does not want anyone to his new telescope. He cannot find Saturn until Mrs. Flores and Ben him. In the end, Omar lets everyone take looking at the rings.
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