Fixing the Solar System Poster


October 14
Dear Journal,
Today was supposed to be the best day of science class, but it turned into a total disaster before lunch. We were finishing our giant solar system posters in groups of three. My group had Maya, Noah, and me. Maya is super neat with bubble letters, and Noah is an expert on outer space facts. My job was to color the deep-space background with dark blue and black pastels. Everything was going smoothly until the final fifteen minutes.
I was coloring the dark ring around Saturn when my elbow bumped my open water bottle. I did not even see it fall until a huge puddle splashed right across the center of our white poster board. The water spread fast. Noah gasped, and Maya dropped her markers. We grabbed paper towels from the sink as quickly as we could, but the water made the black pastel bleed in wide, blurry streaks across Saturn, Jupiter, and Maya’s carefully lettered title. The paper puffed up and turned gray and soggy.
- disaster:
- A sudden event that causes great damage, trouble, or failure.
- pastels:
- Sticks of powdered color used like crayons for drawing and coloring.
- bleed:
- To spread out or seep into surrounding paper when wet.
- presentations:
- Talks or demonstrations given in front of an audience to share information.
- smudges:
- Dirty marks, smears, or blurred spots made by rubbing something.
- recess:
- A short break between school lessons for rest, play, or recreation.
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Main Idea
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Context Clues
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Summarize
Select, organize, and restate the most important information without adding opinion.
Point of View
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Purpose
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Structure
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Language & Tone
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Vocabulary
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Writing Prompts
Use the passage as a springboard for short written responses, from personal reflection to evidence-based arguments.
Fix the Sentence
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1What specific job was the narrator assigned to do on the solar system poster?
- 2What accident ruined the poster during the final fifteen minutes of science class?
Where this passage belongs
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About this diary entry passage for 3rd Grade
“Fixing the Solar System Poster” is a diary entry reading passage about taking responsibility, written for 3rd Grade. It takes about 4 minutes to read (611 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.


