ShortGarden Detectives · Case 26
The Bell Under the Bench
Short E · Level 7
Cumulative Short E reading with sound location and a chain reaction
Before reading
Open the case file
Hear the focus words
Read and investigate
The Bell Under the Bench
Read one sentence at a time, then reread for smooth phrasing.
A faint bell rang whenever someone stepped near the garden bench. The bench had no bell, and none hung from the shed. Meg listened from the left end, then from the right. The sound was strongest near the center step.
Under the bench, she found a metal tag tied to a thin stem. The tag was not a bell, but it could tap a hollow leg. A root had grown beneath one paving stone. The raised stone rocked when a foot pressed its edge.
That motion nudged the bench step. The step bent the stem, and the tag struck the metal leg. Meg placed a flat pad under the rocking stone for a safe test. With the stone steady, the hidden bell sound stopped.
The garden team reset the path around the root without cutting it. The tag returned to the plant it was meant to label.
Check the evidence
Can you solve the case?
Choose the answer that is supported by the story.
What really happened?
A root-raised stone rocked under a footstep, moved the bench step, and made a plant tag tap the hollow metal leg.
For adults
Use evidence, not guesses
Ask the learner to point to the sentence that proves each answer. If decoding is effortful, reread one paragraph at a time. A fluent second reading is more valuable than rushing to the next story.