English for Kids: Reading and Comprehension - Potter the Otter
Potter the otter always had an excuse for not doing his homework. He would rather be playing and having fun at his play station in the glistening stream that ran through the backwoods, where he lived, outside of town. One afternoon, Potter the otter took a break from streaming up and down the stream. He took off his swimming goggles to bask in the sun along the stream bank. Unbeknownst to Potter, a new service was coming to the backwoods that would change everything.
The trees and bushes started rustling near the stream bank where Potter was resting. As he was turning around to see what was happening, out popped a pair of muskrats wearing yellow hard hats. "Who are you guys?" asked Potter. "We're the installers for the new broad rubber band network that's going to stretch from the town to the backwoods," replied the muskrats in hard hats. "What are you guys looking for?" inquired Potter. "We're looking for a logwood tree to install a plug-in outlet. Do you know where we can find one?" asked the muskrats in hard hats. "There's one next to Weaver the beaver's dam," Potter pointed out.
The muskrats in hard hats followed Potter down the stream bank to Weaver's dam, just in time to see Weaver the beaver getting ready to chop down the logwood tree with his large buckteeth. "Don't chop down that logwood tree!" shouted the muskrats in hard hats. "What's going on?" demanded Weaver. "I need the logwood tree to make a logjam in the dam because it's leaking!" "We're sorry, but logwood trees are now part of the broad rubber band network. When you go to school tomorrow, your teacher will tell you everything you need to know," stated the muskrats in hard hats.
The next morning there was a lot of fur flying and rumors floating around the schoolyard from all the kids about the changes coming to the backwoods. Then the school bell began ringing for class to start. "We have connected the school to the backwoods through the broad rubber band network, and today, we will issue you a new iPaw computer to use for your homework. Your first assignment will be to write a paper and send it back to school," said Miss Marmot the schoolmarm. After class let out, Weaver the beaver was eager to get back to his dam to do his homework on the new iPaw computer. He wasted no time in writing a paper on using a spruce tree to spruce up his dam. As usual, Potter the otter went to his play station, streaming up and down the stream, trying to come up with a new excuse for not doing his homework. When Potter took a rest break on the stream bank, he saw Pat the polecat,
who was poling a raft upstream. He asked, "What's your favorite excuse for not doing your homework?" "I fell off my raft on the way to school, and my homework got wet," Pat the polecat replied. Next to come by was Kellogg the dog, who was dog paddling downstream and was asked the same question: "What's your favorite excuse for not doing your homework?" "My homework fell off the table, and my little brother ate it," Kellogg the dog replied. "None of these excuses will work anymore, because the new iPaw computer doesn't use paper," Potter thought.
Potter decided to go visit Weaver to see how his dam was doing. He noticed Weaver plugging his iPaw computer into the logwood tree to log on and send his homework to school. "Now that my homework is finished, I can get back to the beaver thing of fixing up the leaking dam," said Weaver. "That gives me a great idea for an excuse not to do my homework," said a scheming Potter. Weaver winced. "So what's your great excuse?" "I'll set up my iPaw computer on a tripod and film the two of us fixing up the dam. They'll see I had no time to do my homework," stated Potter. Potter began logging on the logwood tree, while Weaver was chopping down a spruce tree. The two of them quickly went about sprucing up the dam with the spruce tree. The leaking dam was fixed in no time at all. "Now I can get back to the otter thing of playing and having fun," said Potter. The next day after class let out, Weaver saw a sight he had never seen before. It was Potter, sitting on the stream bank, actually doing his homework by writing a paper. "I take it your excuse didn't work," noticed Weaver. "I forgot to log off the logwood tree, and the camera on my iPaw computer was streaming video of me, playing and having fun in the stream instead of doing my homework," said the sunken Potter the otter.
Questions
What does Potter the otter always have?
What would he rather be doing?
What did he take a break from?
What did he take off?
What started rustling near the stream?
Who are the muskrats?
Why does Weaver need the logwood tree?
What is the first assignment on the iPaw?
What is Kellog the dog's favourite excuse for not doing homework?
What was the camera streaming?