Reading Comprehension • Saddleback Educational Publishing ©2002 3 Watson, Irvine, CA 92618•Phone (888)SDL-BACK•www.sdlback.com
Directions: Read the story below and then fill in the plot information.Who: ____________________________________________________________________
Where: __________________________________________________________________
When: __________________________________________________________________
What happened: _________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Why: ____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________Lori and her mom invited Zack to visit the zoo with them. Lori was
especially excited because she knew there was a panda exhibit there.
Lori’s mom paid for all three tickets, and they immediately headed
over to see the pandas.
Behind the bars, they could see the black and white animals eating
bamboo, playing, and sleeping. Lori, her mom, and Zack were
enjoying themselves and taking pictures by the bears. While Lori posed,
she heard a rustling noise in the tree behind her. As she slowly turned
around to see what it was, Zack yelled, “Lori, look out!” Hidden in a tree
was a baby panda bear. It was staring Lori directly in the face! Lori
stared back into its eyes and then smiled. She looked closely at the panda bear’s face and
thought she noticed a smile in return. “Paddy, the Panda,” she whispered to herself.
The rest of the afternoon, the three of them continued to walk around the zoo stopping at
the other animal cages as well. Lori’s mom treated them to an ice cream cone because
they needed to cool off! As they were leaving, Lori asked to walk by the panda cage again
to say goodbye. When they got there, she noticed all the pandas were sleeping—except
for one. It was Paddy, of course! Paddy had waited to say goodbye to Lori.
A week later, Lori’s mom came home with the pictures from the zoo. The panda pictures
turned out so clear that when Lori was taking a closer look at the one of her in front of
the tree, she spotted Paddy smiling back!117
Na m e : _______________________________________ Date: _____________________The plot explains all the background stuff about
a story like who, what, where, when, and why.