Guided Reading Questions May 2026

“We could leave,” Elias said at breakfast.

The next morning, Elias woke before dawn. Frost glittered on the grass. He ran to the sugar bush. From the spile in the old maple, a single drop fell. Then another. He cupped his hand under the flow—cold, clear, sweet. guided reading questions

No drip. No rhythm.

Elias walked the line of trees alone. He passed the old silver maple, then the twin reds, until he reached the last tree—a giant sugar maple his great-grandmother had planted. Its trunk was wider than his outstretched arms. He pressed his palm to the bark. “We could leave,” Elias said at breakfast

That night, Elias searched online: Why do maple trees stop producing sap? Climate change. Unseasonable heat. Shifting freeze-thaw cycles. He read that some farmers were moving operations north, chasing the cold. He ran to the sugar bush

His father stared into his coffee. “Your great-grandmother’s tree can’t move.”

“Too warm,” Elias’s father said, wiping his forehead in mid-March. “The sap isn’t running.”