Worksheet

Before the Lid Closes

Analyze figurative language, connotation, alliteration, and rhyme in an original story about a class building a time capsule.

Grade 7ELAInteractive · Printable

Aligned toRL.7.4

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

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 7
Subject: ELA
Question types: Multiple choice, Circle the answer, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students interpret figurative and connotative meanings using details from a story.
Students explain how alliteration and rhyme contribute to mood and meaning.

How to use

Read the story aloud, including the inscription. Have students answer independently, then discuss how specific words and sounds shape the ending.

Curriculum

Common Core standard covered

RL.7.4

Work out figurative and connotative meanings, and how rhyme and repeated sounds like alliteration affect a poem or passage.

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Name Date

Before the Lid Closes

Analyze figurative meaning, connotation, and sound in an original story.

Read

Read the story. Notice how the language changes as the class finishes its time capsule.

Before the Lid Closes

1By Friday afternoon, Room 214 had become a shoreline of objects: lunch menus, handwritten jokes, a worn volleyball wristband, and photographs of shoes. The class was building a time capsule to be opened twenty years later. Everyone had brought something, but deciding what belonged inside had taken longer than collecting it.

2Dalia held up a photograph of the empty hallway. “It looks deserted,” Benton said. Dalia considered that word. The hallway in her picture had sunlight across the floor and a classroom door propped open. “Quiet,” she replied, writing a caption. “Not deserted.” She wanted future students to imagine a pause between classes, not a school everyone had abandoned.

3At the next table, Tomas tucked his spelling quiz beneath a team photograph. A red correction crossed the word tomorrow. He had nearly thrown the quiz away, but the mistake now seemed worth saving. The capsule was a handshake across twenty years. He hoped whoever opened it would recognize someone who had struggled with ordinary things, too.

4Then came the last-minute rush. Papers slapped, pencils scratched, and someone searched for the permission form. The clock bullied them from above the whiteboard. Each glance at it made Dalia hurry, although she wanted to check every caption. Their teacher finally raised one hand, and the room settled.

5Dalia lifted the strip of paper that would sit beneath the lid. She had written four lines instead of another label. Benton tapped the table while she read:
“We fold our Friday into light,
And leave it sleeping through the night.
Let small and scattered stories stay
To greet the hands of some new day.”

6On “small and scattered stories stay,” Dalia's repeated s sounds slipped softly through the quiet room. Benton stopped tapping. Tomas smoothed the quiz before placing it inside. Nobody suggested adding a grander achievement or replacing the hallway photograph. For the first time that afternoon, the collection seemed complete.

7The lid shut with a plain metal click. Dalia rested her hand on it, surprised by how little space their year occupied. She had called the contents scraps that morning. Now she wrote fragments on the inventory sheet. The pieces were small and incomplete, but she no longer thought that made them worthless.

Figurative Meaning and Connotation

Choose one answer for each multiple-choice question. For evidence questions, use the detail that most directly supports the interpretation.

In paragraph 3, what does “The capsule was a handshake across twenty years” suggest?

A. The capsule rewards students for reaching important goals.
B. The capsule records an agreement about future classroom rules.
C. The capsule shows how classroom routines change over time.
D. The capsule creates a friendly connection with future students.

Underline the sentence from paragraph 3 that best supports the interpretation of the capsule as a friendly connection with future students.

At the next table, Tomas tucked his spelling quiz beneath a team photograph.A red correction crossed the word tomorrow.He had nearly thrown the quiz away, but the mistake now seemed worth saving.He hoped whoever opened it would recognize someone who had struggled with ordinary things, too.

In paragraph 2, how does choosing “quiet” instead of “deserted” change the impression of the hallway?

A. It makes the hallway seem crowded rather than comfortable.
B. It makes the hallway seem mysterious rather than ordinary.
C. It makes the hallway seem unfamiliar rather than recognizable.
D. It makes the hallway seem peaceful rather than abandoned.

Which sentence from paragraph 2 best supports the answer to question 3?

A. “Dalia held up a photograph of the empty hallway.”
B. “Dalia considered that word.”
C. “She wanted future students to imagine a pause between classes, not a school everyone had abandoned.”
D. “The hallway in her picture had sunlight across the floor and a classroom door propped open.”

In paragraph 4, what is the effect of saying that the clock “bullied them”?

A. It makes the ticking seem louder than the students.
B. It makes limited time seem like an aggressive force.
C. It suggests that the students resent their teacher.
D. It suggests that the clock has become unreliable.

Underline the sentence from paragraph 4 that most directly shows the pressure suggested by “bullied them.”

Papers slapped, pencils scratched, and someone searched for the permission form.Each glance at it made Dalia hurry, although she wanted to check every caption.Their teacher finally raised one hand, and the room settled.Then came the last-minute rush.

Sound and Language Choices

Read the inscription aloud again. Consider how its sounds work with the surrounding story.

How does the alliteration in “small and scattered stories stay” affect the scene?

A. Its sharp repetition brings back the scramble to finish.
B. Its repeated sounds make the reading seem like a joke.
C. Its soft repetition reinforces the room's calmer mood.
D. Its uneven sounds suggest confusion about the objects.

Which sentence from paragraph 6 most directly supports the answer to question 7?

A. “On ‘small and scattered stories stay,’ Dalia's repeated s sounds slipped softly through the quiet room.”
B. “For the first time that afternoon, the collection seemed complete.”
C. “Nobody suggested adding a grander achievement or replacing the hallway photograph.”
D. “Tomas smoothed the quiz before placing it inside.”

How does end rhyme help organize the inscription in paragraph 5?

A. It connects alternating lines, leaving the final thought suspended.
B. It pairs neighboring lines, giving each pair a sense of completion.
C. It repeats one ending sound, joining all four lines into one group.
D. It links the outer lines, enclosing two lines that do not rhyme.

10.

Which observation about paragraph 5 supports the answer to question 9?

A. “light” rhymes with “night,” and “stay” rhymes with “day.”
B. “fold” and “Friday” begin with the same consonant sound.
C. “hands” suggests the people who will open the capsule.
D. “sleeping” gives the stored objects a human activity.

11.

In paragraph 7, Dalia changes “scraps” to “fragments.” Explain how the connotations of these words reveal a change in her attitude. Use a detail from the paragraph.

12.

Explain how the figurative phrase “leave it sleeping through the night” and the rhyme of “light” and “night” work together in paragraph 5. What feeling about storing the capsule do they create?