Worksheet

Forty Seconds in the Dark: Stage Crew Transitions

Read an original story about a school play's stage crew, sort transitions into words, phrases and clauses, and revise a draft that overuses "then."

Grade 5ELAInteractive · Printable

Aligned toW.5.3.c

Play online Play as a game

PrintLetter-size worksheet Answer keyPrintable answers

Assign to classAssign to your classes, or get a join code

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 5
Subject: ELA
Question types: Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students tell transitional words, phrases and clauses apart in a narrative.
Students use transitions to figure out the order of events, including a flashback.
Students revise a narrative draft with a variety of transitions.

How to use

Read the story aloud, then sort a few transitions together as a class before students finish the sheet on their own.

Curriculum

Common Core standard covered

W.5.3.c

Use a variety of transitional words, phrases, and clauses to manage the sequence of events.

Preview

OwlSheets.com

Name Date

Forty Seconds in the Dark: Stage Crew Transitions

Use transitional words, phrases and clauses to keep fast events in order.

Read the story

Read Kai's story about working backstage at the school play.

Forty Seconds in the Dark

1Three weeks before opening night, Ms. Okafor handed me a black T-shirt and a clipboard. "Welcome to stage crew, Kai," she said. "The actors get the applause. We make sure there is something to applaud."

2At first, I thought stage crew would be easy. Then I learned about the scene change. Between Act One and Act Two, the stage had to turn from a sunny park into a dark forest in forty seconds. Twelve props had to move, and each one had its own spot marked with glowing tape. Ms. Okafor called it the hardest forty seconds of the whole play.

3For the next two weeks, we practiced after school every day. We timed ourselves with a stopwatch. Our first try took almost two minutes. By the end of the second week, we were down to forty-five seconds.

4On opening night, my stomach was full of butterflies. Earlier that afternoon, I had counted every prop twice and checked that the glowing tape was still stuck to the floor.

5When the last line of Act One ended, the lights went dark. Lucía and I grabbed the park bench and hurried it into the wings. Meanwhile, Ben and Hye-jin rolled the cardboard trees onto the stage. Halfway through the change, my foot caught on a cable, and a lantern slipped out of my hand.

6For one terrible second, nobody moved. Then Lucía scooped up the lantern, set it on its glowing mark, and gave me a quick nod.

7Just as the last tree clicked into place, we slipped behind the curtain. A moment later, the lights rose on a dark, misty forest. From the audience came a soft "Ooh."

8After the show, Ms. Okafor held up the stopwatch so we could see it. Forty seconds, exactly. I grinned so hard that my cheeks hurt. Lucía gave me a high five.

Transitions in the story

Answer the questions about how Kai keeps the events in order.

In paragraph 4, what does the phrase "Earlier that afternoon" tell the reader?

A. The story goes back to a time before the show started.
B. The story jumps ahead to the day after the show ended.
C. Two events in the story happen at exactly the same time.
D. The story moves ahead to the scene change in the dark.

Sort the transitions from the story. A word is one word. A phrase is a group of words with no subject and verb. A clause has its own subject and verb.

A moment laterWhen the last line of Act One endedMeanwhileThree weeks before opening nightJust as the last tree clicked into placeThen

Transitional word	Transitional phrase	Transitional clause

Read paragraph 7 again. Underline the sentence that uses a transitional clause to show two actions happening at the same time.

Just as the last tree clicked into place, we slipped behind the curtain.A moment later, the lights rose on a dark, misty forest.From the audience came a soft "Ooh."

Which of these events happened first?

A. Lucía set the lantern on its glowing mark.
B. The lights rose on a dark, misty forest.
C. Ms. Okafor held up the stopwatch for the crew.
D. Kai counted every prop twice that afternoon.

Why does the writer begin a sentence in paragraph 5 with "Meanwhile"?

A. To show that the trees were moved on a different night
B. To show that two pairs of students worked at the same time
C. To show that the bench was moved after all the trees
D. To show that the lantern fell before the lights went dark

Match each transition to the ending that makes the most sense.

While the actors took their bows,
Long before the show started,
The instant the lights went dark between scenes,
After the last family went home,

A. we swept the empty stage and turned off the lights.
B. we rushed out to move the bench and the trees.
C. we waited quietly behind the curtain and listened.
D. we checked every prop on the table one more time.

Revise Kai's first draft

Before Kai wrote the story above, Kai wrote this first draft. Read it, then answer the questions.

Kai's first draft: The lights went out. Then we moved the bench. Then I dropped the lantern. Then Lucía picked it up. Then the lights came back on.

Which revision of the first two sentences uses a transitional clause?

A. Then the lights went out, and then we moved the bench.
B. The lights went out. Next, we moved the heavy bench.
C. Later, the lights went out. We moved the heavy bench.
D. As soon as the lights went out, we moved the bench.

Which transition best fills the blank? "I dropped the lantern. ____, Lucía picked it up and set it on its mark."

A. Three weeks earlier
B. Within a second
C. Before the show began
D. Long after the play

Rewrite Kai's whole first draft. Use at least three different transitions instead of "then," and make one of them a transitional clause.

10.

Write three or four sentences about a time you had to hurry to finish something. Use a transitional word, a transitional phrase and a transitional clause.