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 Slinky: The Dropped Spring

Slinky: The Dropped Spring

A Short Reader

Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 3 to 4
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   3.98

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    whatever, gravity, steel, planes, travels, wire, history, function, alone, safety, part, during, wonderful, what, also, main
     content words:    Vietnam War, Toy Story, Official State Toy

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Slinky: The Dropped Spring
By Jody Williams 		  
1     "What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, and makes a slinkity sound? A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing, everyone knows it's Slinky...It's Slinky, it's Slinky, for fun it's a wonderful toy. It's Slinky, it's Slinky, it's fun for a girl and a boy." That jingle helped to make Richard and Betty James's invention famous. They invented the Slinky.
 
2     The Slinky is a spring-like toy. It travels end over end down stairs or other inclined planes. Slinkys were first made in the 1940s. They were made of ninety-eight coils of steel. The first Slinky was sold in 1945. In the last sixty years, the Slinky has changed very little. Today they are made from eighty feet of wire. Crimps were added to the ends of the wire for safety.
 
3     The Slinky's main function is a toy. It has also been used for other things. During the .....
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