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How the Stanzas Fit Together is a free printable Grade 5 English worksheet on explaining how parts combine into a whole, aligned to Common Core standard RL.5.5. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions, 19 of them with different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 1 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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19 of these 25 sets ask different questions — this skill does not have 25 questions to give. The rest reorder them, so no two pupils have the same paper in front of them.

How the Stanzas Fit Together

RL.5.5

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

The Bell

Stanza one: The church has gone. They took the stone for walls and gateposts, load by load. Where the aisle was there is a field. Where the door was there is a road. Stanza two: The bell they could not sell or break. It hung in a barn for eighty years, green with the damp, out of the way, mute as a stone among the gears. Stanza three: Last spring they hung it in the school. It rings at nine and rings at three. The children do not know its age and ring it anyway, and it is free. Stanza four: So the building went, and the faith went, and the road runs where the door was cut, and still the sound the masons heard goes out at nine, and comes back, and stops.

  1. 1. Why does the poem give the bell its own stanza?
  2. 2. How does the last stanza differ in what it does from the first three?
  3. 3. Explain how the four stanzas fit together to make the poem's point.
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

What We Kept

Stanza one: We kept the table, which was too big, and the clock, which had never gone, and a tin of buttons nobody wanted, and the habit of turning lights off. Stanza two: We gave away the good chairs. We gave away the china, all of it. We gave away the piano to a school because none of us could play. Stanza three: Ten years on, I would not know the chairs if I saw them in a window on a street. But I turn the hall light off behind me every single time, and think of her.

  1. 1. Why does the first stanza list a habit alongside objects?
  2. 2. Explain how the three stanzas fit together to make the poem's point.
  3. 3. How does the repetition in the second stanza work?

LessonPrint · RL.5.5 · Set 1 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — How the Stanzas Fit Together

Set 1. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Because the bell is the one thing that continues, so it is separated from what was lost. 2. The first three narrate; the last draws the conclusion and names what survived. 3. The church goes, the bell survives unused, the bell returns to use, and the last stanza states what has and has not lasted.
  2. 2.1. So the last stanza can reveal that the habit was the real inheritance. 2. Kept things, given-away things, then ten years on — and what lasted was the one thing that could not be kept or given. 3. "We gave away" three times makes the disposal sound brisk and impersonal.

Questions about How the Stanzas Fit Together

What does the How the Stanzas Fit Together worksheet cover?

It practises explaining how parts combine into a whole — 2 questions for Grade 5, all on Common Core RL.5.5: Explain how the chapters or stanzas fit together into a whole. The instruction to pupils is “Read the text, then answer the questions”, and the answer key follows on the next sheet.

Which Common Core standard does How the Stanzas Fit Together practise?

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.5 — RL.5.5, in the Reading: Literature domain for Grade 5. The published standard reads: “Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama, or poem.” The worksheet assesses that standard rather than a paraphrase of it.

What age or grade is this worksheet for?

How the Stanzas Fit Together is written for Grade 5, typically ages 10-11. It is one of the sheets on RL.5.5, so it suits any pupil working at that standard — including older pupils revisiting it and younger ones working ahead.

Does How the Stanzas Fit Together come with an answer key?

Yes. All 2 answers are generated from the same problems as the questions, so the key cannot drift out of step with the sheet. It starts on a fresh sheet of paper, after the questions, so it is not handed out with the class by accident.

How many different versions of How the Stanzas Fit Together can I print?

25 versions, of which 19 ask genuinely different questions — this skill does not have 25 distinct questions to give, so the rest reorder them and no two pupils still share a paper. Set 1 downloads all 25 as one PDF.

Is How the Stanzas Fit Together free to print and photocopy?

Yes. How the Stanzas Fit Together, its answer key and its 25 versions are free to print and photocopy for your own class, with no account, no email capture and no subscription at the download step. Please do not resell them or republish them as your own.

Is there a lesson plan to teach RL.5.5?

Yes — “How Chapters Fit Together” is a 40-minute Grade 5 plan for RL.5.5, timed section by section, with the misconceptions to expect and an exit ticket. How the Stanzas Fit Together is the practice that follows it.

More practice for RL.5.5

Explain how the chapters or stanzas fit together into a whole.

Teaching this next? How Chapters Fit Together is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 5 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RL.5.5 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.