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A2 Reading Activity • 12 Mins 🧶 🐑

Wool, Sheep and Knitting

Learn how people get wool, read facts from big museums, and find out how knitting works!

📌 How to use this lesson

👩‍🏫 For Teachers:

Use this 12-minute reading task to practice reading for facts. Have students complete the 8 questions and check their answers using the evidence quotes.

🧑‍🎓 For Learners:

Read the short article first and check the word meanings below it. Next, answer the 8 exercises to test your understanding.

Pattern example: My aunt started knitting a hat.

📖 Reading Passage

Article

Farmers cut wool off sheep once a year in spring or summer. This is shearing. FAO says people started to keep sheep 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Lamb's wool from a lamb's first shearing is the finest wool. The V&A museum in London has an old cotton sock from Egypt made between 1100 and 1300. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York also has a cotton sock from Egypt from the 12th or 13th century. The V&A says people use two needles to knit in rows, and four or five needles to knit in the round to make a tube with no seam.

A cozy scene showing fluffy sheep in a green spring pasture next to wooden knitting needles and colorful balls of natura

💡 Hard Words Glossary

wool:

Soft hair of a sheep used to make clothes.

FAO:

Food and Agriculture Organization (works on food & farming).

shearing:

Cutting the wool off a sheep.

lamb's wool:

Wool taken from a lamb's first shearing.

finest:

The softest and thinnest wool.

seam:

The line where two pieces of cloth are joined together.

✏️ Interactive Practice Exercises

Question 1 • True / False

Farmers shear sheep usually once a year in spring or summer.

____ True ____ False

Question 2 • True / False

People started to keep sheep 1,000 years ago.

____ True ____ False

Question 3 • Multiple Choice

What is the finest wool that a sheep gives?

____ a. Winter wool ____ b. Lamb's wool ____ c. Cotton wool

Question 4 • Multiple Choice

Where is the V&A museum?

____ a. New York ____ b. Cairo ____ c. London

Question 5 • Multiple Choice

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has an old cotton sock from which country?

____ a. Egypt ____ b. UK ____ c. USA

Question 6 • Matching Matrix

Match the number of knitting needles to how people use them:

Needles

Knit in rows

Knit in the round

Four or five needles

____ Knit in rows ____ Knit in the round

Two needles

____ Knit in rows ____ Knit in the round

Question 7 • Short Answer

What does knitting in the round make?

Type your answer based on the article (a short phrase from the article).

____ (Your answer...)

Question 8 • Short Answer

What is shearing?

Complete the definition in simple words (a short phrase, starting with a word that ends in -ing).

____ (Your answer...)

Reading: Wool, Sheep and Knitting

Wool, Sheep and Knitting

📌 How to use this lesson

📖 Reading Passage

💡 Hard Words Glossary

✏️ Interactive Practice Exercises

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