Library Hours: Reading a Notice with a Closing Time
The notice below is on the door of the City Library. A Grade 5 student reads it and must answer three questions without help. Notice text: 'City Library. Open Monday to Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Closed on Sunday. You can keep books for two weeks. Please be quiet in the library. No food or drink.' The student knows the words 'library', 'book' and 'Sunday' but is not sure about 'closed' and 'keep'. She also mixes up 'a.m.' and 'p.m.' when she reads quickly. On Saturday she wants to return two books and borrow three new ones. Her friend says the library is open all day on Saturday. She is not sure who is right. The three tasks below ask her to use only the notice, not her friend's opinion.
1. On which day is the library closed?
Read the worked answer
The notice says Closed on Sunday. The word closed means 'not open'. So the answer is Sunday. Watch the wording: the notice also lists Saturday hours, but Saturday is only short, not closed. The only day that carries the word closed is Sunday. If a question asks 'which day', answer with one day, not with a time.
2. Yuki arrives at the library at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday. Can she go in? Explain using only the notice.
Read the worked answer
No, she cannot. Saturday hours are 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Work in three steps: (1) find the day - Saturday; (2) find the closing time for that day - 1:00 p.m.; (3) compare 3:00 with 1:00. Both are p.m. (afternoon), so they are easy to compare, and 3:00 comes two hours after the library closes. Her friend's idea that it is 'open all day' is not in the notice, so it cannot be used as the answer.
3. How long may Yuki keep the books she borrows? Answer in weeks.
Read the worked answer
Two weeks. The notice says 'You can keep books for two weeks.' Here keep means 'have the book at home', not 'hold it in your hand'. Notice the question word: how long asks about time, so look for the sentence with two weeks, not the opening hours. Do not copy '10:00 to 6:00' - that answers 'what time', not 'how long'.