Table of Contents - Speech Cornerdownload.speechcorner.com/SamplePages/Teacher... · Silly and Smarty 37 A Special Kind of Joke 38 ... and how we can learn from both fiction and nonfiction

2 #8123 Let’s Get This Day Started: Reading ©Teacher Created Resources

Table of Contents

Introduction 4

Using the Book 5

Unit 1A Slow Animal 6What Animal Am I? 7When a Sloth Is Cold 8Green Hair 9The Oddest Thing 10Write On! 11

Unit 2The Coldest 12Danger on the Ice! 13A Penguin Play 14A Fight 15Pete’s Wish 16Write On! 17

Unit 3 Six Times 18Why the Moon Gets Big and Small 19New Life Form Report 20Taller, Taller, Shorter 21Strange Salt, Strange Pepper 22Write On! 23

Unit 4Suitcase Surprise 24Rules, Rules, Rules 25The Bone Proof 26Apple Picking 27Writing Dots 28Write On! 29

Unit 5What Am I? 30Sad People 31Clues 32What Reptile? 33Not Strange 34Write On! 35

Unit 6Fairy Tale 36Silly and Smarty 37A Special Kind of Joke 38The Princess and the Pea 39The Other Princess 40Write On! 41

Unit 7Where in the World? 42A Place to Love 43Letter to Grandpa 44Down Under 45The Silly Bridge 46Write On! 47

Unit 8Mary’s Lamb 48Little Piggy 49Jack and Jill 50Where Was Tom? 51Hickory, Dickory, Dock 52Write On! 53

Unit 9Hungry Ants 54Little and Big 55Book Report 56Not a Spider 57Grasshopper and Ant 58Write On! 59

Unit 10A Kind of Boat 60Birthday Treat 61Captain’s Log 62Kayaks 63The Largest Animal 64Write On! 65

3©Teacher Created Resources #8123 Let’s Get This Day Started: Reading

Unit 11Castle Stairs 66The King’s Sword 67A Note to My Reader 68Castle Windows 69The Scary Sound 70Write On! 71

Unit 12Whizz to the Rescue! 72The Yellow Monster 73Missing Dog 74Flying Dogs 75Dog Crackers 76Write On! 77

Unit 13What Fell? 78Lilly’s Wish 79Weather Forecast 80Tree Rings 81The Tree 82Write On! 83

Unit 14Stopping the Weed 84BUZZA Food 85Rose’s Diary 86The Vine That Ate 87King Midas 88Write On! 89

Unit 15Muscles 90What Mia Wanted 91Ahoy or Hello? 92Jumbo 93What Henry Wanted 94Write On! 95

Unit 16Teeth and More Teeth 96The Missing Tooth 97Wild Animal Dentist 98One a Day 99Horse Talk 100Write On! 101

Unit 17Carried by a Yak 102Molly the Yak 103A Choice of Ropes 104Eggs on the Mountain 105Sherpa Guide 106Write On! 107

Tracking Sheet 108

Answer Key 109

Table of Contents (cont.)


Introduction

Reading should be something that students look forward to. However, sometimes students must find fun and accessible literature before they can realize how enjoyable reading can be! The passages in this book contain high-interest topics that will immediately hook even the most stubborn of readers. Fun themes, surprise twists, and grade-appropriate content will motivate and excite young readers. Additionally, the passages in this book were designed to be accessible to students of varying reading abilities. Basic sight words are introduced and then reinforced with repetition and practice. As new words are introduced, they are repeated and written into the story in ways that allow a student to use context clues to decipher their meanings.

Each unit begins with five reading passages. The first several passages are short and include three multiple-choice questions. The remaining passages are a bit longer and have four multiple-choice questions. The passages in each unit are a mixture of fact and fiction. The last page of the unit calls for a written response to a prompt that incorporates the theme of the unit.

The passages in each unit are all linked by a loose theme. As the students continue to read more of the unit, they will begin to discover the common thread that weaves together each collection of stories. This approach broadens a student’s comprehension and understanding of the subject matter. It allows students to practice new words in various stories and in different genres. It also shows students how separate passages can be linked with other passages and used collectively to expand one’s horizons and views. This approach ultimately allows students to become familiar with the flexibility of word use, different viewpoints, and how we can learn from both fiction and nonfiction texts.

All of the texts and activities in the Let’s Get This Day Started series have been aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Visit http://www.teachercreated.com/standards/ for all standards correlations.


UnIT 1

Name:

A Slow Animal

You sleep in a bed. Think about how long your bed is. How long would it take you to walk from one end of your bed to the other? It would not take long. You could do it in seconds! You could do it fast, fast, fast!

Some animals cannot go fast. One animal is the sloth. The sloth is a very slow animal. You can go a lot faster than a sloth. You could do it in a few seconds, but it would take a sloth a minute. A minute is 60 seconds. The sloth is slow, slow, slow.

Sloths do not sleep in beds. They sleep in trees. They hang upside down while they sleep. They move and eat while hanging upside down, too.

1. This story is mainly about

a. seconds.

b. hanging upside down.

c. a slow animal.

d. how long your bed is.

2. A minute is

a. 6 seconds.

b. 60 seconds.

c. 66 seconds.

d. 600 seconds.

3. If you saw a sloth, it would most likely be

a. hanging upside down.

b. sleeping.

c. eating.

d. moving fast.


UnIT 1

Name:

When a Sloth Is Cold

A Poem About Sloths

I am told That when a sloth is cold It cannot shiver.

A sloth can’t shiver? How can that be? Are you teasing me?

Muscles, muscles, that’s what we use When we shiver and shake to warm up and move. Muscles, muscles, a sloth just doesn’t have enough. It can’t shiver or shake or do any of that stuff.

It seems funny That a sloth must stay where it is warm and sunny. You and I can play in snow and ice And find it all to be very nice.

1. Why can’t a sloth shiver?

a. It lives where it is warm and sunny.

b. It doesn’t get cold.

c. It doesn’t have enough muscles.

d. It plays all day.

2. “When a Sloth Is Cold” is a

a. poem. b. song. c. story. d. sentence.

3. Look at the last words of each line. Some of the words rhyme. Which answer does not use rhyming words?

a. sunny, funny

b. enough, stuff

c. told, cold

d. muscles, move


UnIT 1

Name:

Green Hair

Look in the trees. You see green leaves. A sloth may be hanging upside down in the tree, but you may not see it! The sloth is hard to see because it stays very still. It does not move. It is hard, sometimes, to see things when they do not move.

One more thing makes the sloth hard to see. The sloth is hard to see because it looks green! The green color helps the sloth hide in the leaves. It is hard, sometimes, to see things when they are all the same color.

A sloth does not have green fur. No animal has green fur. So why does the sloth look green? The fur looks green because something grows on it. The green thing growing on the sloth’s fur is algae. You may have seen algae growing in ponds or the ocean. The algae growing on the sloth is good for the sloth. It helps the sloth stay hidden. The algae is also good for something else. When the sloth is hungry, it can lick its hair! It can eat the algae!

1. A fact is something that is true. Which sentence is a fact?

a. Sloths are green.

b. Sloths can look green.

c. Sloths do not eat algae.

d. Sloths cannot stay still.

2. This story was written so that you could learn

a. why it is hard to see a sloth.

b. all about animal fur.

c. why we have hair.

d. all about what animals eat.

3. How does staying still help the sloth?

a. It makes the sloth green.

b. It makes the algae grow.

c. It makes the sloth hard to see.

d. It makes the leaves turn green.


UnIT 1

Name:

The Oddest Thing

“Mama, Mama! Wake up!” Sammy said. “I saw the oddest thing. It was very strange.”

“What did you see?” asked Sammy’s mother as she slowly chewed on something green and tasty.

“It was on the ground. It didn’t crawl! It ran! And it didn’t use its hands to move! It only ran on two legs! It ran to the river and jumped in. Then, it swam away.”

“That is very odd,” Sammy’s mother agreed. “It must not be very smart. Why didn’t it crawl out on a branch and then drop into the river? That would have been safer. Was it a good swimmer?”

“It could swim as well as me,” Sammy said, “but I think it was sick. It only had hair on top of its head, and the hair wasn’t green. It would be hard to hide in a tree if this animal had fur that color.”

“That sounds terrible,” Sammy’s mother said. “I am sorry you saw such a thing, but you are a smart sloth, so you know what you saw cannot be real. It is too strange. You must have been dreaming.”

1. When something is odd, it is

a. tasty. b. smart. c. dreaming. d. strange.

2. Why did the author wait until the end before telling you Sammy was a sloth?

a. to surprise you

b. to make you think that you were dreaming

c. to make you mad

d. to show you that sloths can talk

3. Most likely, what did Sammy’s mother chew on?

a. gum b. grass c. leaves d. fish

4. Sammy could not have seen

a. a boy with blond hair.

b. a dog with brown fur.

c. a girl with red hair.

d. a man with black hair.


UnIT 1Name:

Write On!

A Name Poem tells about the word. It uses the letters of the word for the first letter of each line. A Name Poem is also called an Acrostic Poem.

For example, a name poem with the title “Snake” would go like this:

Snake

by Sammy Sloth

Slithers through the grass

Naps in the sun

A terrible thing if it is in your desk!

Kind of reptile

Eats mice and frogs

Look back at the stories you read about sloths. Think about what you learned from the stories. Use what you learned to write a Name Poem about a sloth.

S

L

O

T

H


Table of Contents

Introduction 4

Using the Book 5

Unit 1Snorkeling 6The Periscope 7A Fable About Wishing 8Something Scary 9Some Kind of Giant 10Write On! 11

Unit 2A Great Gymnast 12Fast, Faster, Fastest 13Sonic Boom 14Closing the Gap 15Charlie and Dill 16Write On! 17

Unit 3Hero Dogs 18Moose Alley 19Dangerous Ice 20Stove Sitting 21What Word? 22Write On! 23

Unit 4A Rule for Walls 24What Glowed in the Dark? 25A Long Sleep 26When the Sun Sets 27The Missing Hotel 28Write On! 29

Unit 5Joey for Dinner? 30The Strange Pouch 31Hero Kangaroo 32Unlikely Friends 33Surprise Answers 34Write On! 35

Unit 6The Open Window 36All Wrong 37Riddle Play 38Bee Thrashing 39Only Green 40Write On! 41

Unit 7Tied Together 42The Fastest Runner 43Live from the Racetrack! 44An Extra Leg 45Shark Attack 46Write On! 47

Unit 8Sky Fish 48The Wager 49Hurricane at Sea 50Storm Danger 51Alex and Bonnie 52Write On! 53

Unit 9One of Seven 54Impossible House 55Six or Seven? 56Longest and Largest 57The Liar 58Write On! 59

Unit 10Not for Sale 60The New Word 61Cinquain Poems 62Disaster 63When April Comes 64Write On! 65


Unit 11The Tree Octopus 66Seeing Through Walls 67Eye Test 68The TMW 69Fake News 70Write On! 71

Unit 12Fortune Cookies 72Dana’s Invention 73100 Years Diary 74Buttons 75Ali’s Invention 76Write On! 77

Unit 13Only Twelve 78Why She Wept 79A Piece of Space 80Dinosaurs and Erosion 81Missing! 82Write On! 83

Unit 14What Am I? 84The Best Job 85Fact or Fiction? 86Planning Ahead 87A San Story 88Write On! 89

Unit 15What Did You Say? 90Something’s Missing 91Riddles 92Puns 93Ruby’s Exact Weight 94Write On! 95

Unit 16Coughing Frogs 96The Frog Prince 97Ribbit, Ribbit 98Winter Surprise 99Surprise Pet 100Write On! 101

Unit 17The Nut That Isn’t 102Nut Party 103More Than Seven 104An Invention from Seeds 105Not Me First! 106Write On! 107

Tracking Sheet 108

Answer Key 109



IntroductionReading should be something that students look forward to. However, sometimes students must find fun and accessible literature before they can realize how enjoyable reading can be! The passages in this book contain high-interest topics that will immediately hook even the most stubborn of readers. Fun themes, surprise twists, and grade-appropriate content will motivate and excite young readers. Additionally, the passages in this book were designed to be accessible to students of varying reading abilities. Basic sight words are introduced and then reinforced with repetition and practice. As new words are introduced, they are repeated and written into the story in ways that allow a student to use context clues to decipher their meanings.

Each unit begins with five reading passages. The first several passages are short and include four multiple-choice questions. The remaining passages are a bit longer and have five multiple-choice questions. The passages in each unit are a mixture of fact and fiction. The last page of the unit calls for a written response to a prompt that incorporates the theme of the unit.




UnIT 8

Name:

Sky Fish

Christine Blamer was walking home. Suddenly, it started to rain. It wasn’t raining water. It was raining fish! Hundreds of fish were falling from the sky. The fish were alive!

Blamer lived in Lajamanu. Lajamanu is in Australia. It is a tiny desert town. It is in the outback. It is far away from the ocean. There are not any lakes or rivers close by. How could it be raining fish?

Scientists say that the fish were picked up in a waterspout. A waterspout is like a small tornado that happens over water. The fish were carried high in the air. As one scientist said, “They were pretty much frozen.” The people in town gathered up the fish. What did they eat for dinner that night? They feasted on fresh fish!

1. The story does not tell us a. where the fish fell. b. how the fish came to the town. c. what day the fish fell. d. what the people did to the fish.

2. Most likely, how did the people in Lajamanu feel? a. shocked and lucky b. shocked and mad c. scared and lonely d. scared and sad

3. How was it possible that the fish were still alive? a. They had been cooked. b. They found food in the sky. c. They had only been partly frozen. d. They fell into a lake.

4. This story is mainly about a. fish falling from the sky. b. a girl named Christine. c. waterspouts. d. what people can do with fish.


UnIT 8

Name:

Hurricane at Sea

August 15, 2017Heading east from Boston Harbor

Dear Mom and Dad,I'm about to sail through my first hurricane at sea! I thought we would head into port. I thought we would stay by land. We're not! The harbor is a dangerous place for big ships during hurricanes.

Ships are made with steel. They have hard sides. Docks are made with concrete pilings. When ships are tied up, the big waves make the ships smash against the concrete pilings over and over. The ships get damaged. Their sides get weakened. Sometimes, the big waves break a docked ship loose. When that happens, the ship is nothing more than a floating wrecking ball.

That's why we're headed out. Captain says not to worry because he's been tracking the hurricane. He's heading away from it so that we'll be out of its path.

Love,Kenji

1. Why is the ship like “a floating wrecking ball” when it becomes loose? a. It is hard and can smash and crash into things. b. It can float safely in the water. c. Its steel sides are crushed into balls. d. It sinks when its sides are weakened.

2. When a ship captain finds out that a hurricane is coming, he or she will a. take the ship to a harbor and dock it. b. take the ship out to sea away from

the hurricane.

c. take the ship out to sea and into the hurricane.

d. take the ship to a harbor and leave it untied.

3. From the story, you can tell that a. this is Kenji’s first hurricane at sea. b. Kenji has sailed through a hurricane

before.

c. Kenji didn’t know where they were headed. d. Kenji wanted the ship to stay in the

harbor.

4. Most likely, the ship Kenji is on a. has weak sides. b. has damaged sides.

c. has sides made of steel. d. has sides made of paper.


UnIT 8

Name:

Storm Danger

One minute, you are fine. The next minute, you see a wave. The wave is thousands of feet high! It is racing toward you at 25 miles per hour! You can’t escape! The wave hits, and you are completely blinded. You can barely breathe. The wave covers you completely, but you are dry. There is not a drop of water for miles around. How can this be?

You are in a sandstorm. Hurricanes are storms with high winds that start at sea. Sandstorms are different. They have high winds, but they start over land. Often, they are in desert areas. The wind picks up sand. It picks up the top layer of dirt or soil. It lifts the soil into a huge wall, and then it blows it across the land.

Sandstorms have shut down airports. They have made all street traffic stop because no one could see. During one sandstorm, desert soil from Africa was lifted high into the sky. The sand blew across the Atlantic Ocean. It made the sunsets in Florida very red.

1. How are hurricanes different from sandstorms? a. Hurricanes start over land. b. Hurricanes start over water.

c. Hurricanes cause big waves. d. Hurricanes do not have high winds.

2. From the story, you can tell that when there is a lot of sand and dirt in the sky, a. there is a hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean. b. airports have been shut down. c. you will not be able to breathe for one minute. d. it might make the sunset look very red.

3. Why might a sandstorm be bad for a farmer? a. It helps his plants grow. b. It blows good topsoil away.

c. It makes his farm too wet. d. It blows the dirt off his airplane.

4. This story is mainly about a. storms in Africa. b. different kinds of waves.

c. why it is hard to breathe. d. a kind of desert storm.

5. In the story, the wave is moving at a. 25 miles per second. b. 35 miles per second.

c. 25 miles per hour. d. 35 miles per hour.


UnIT 8

Name:

Alex and Bonnie

Juan said, “Hannah, I want to tell you about Alex and Bonnie. They both died. Alex died in the Appalachian Mountains. Bonnie died at sea.”

Hannah gasped. “Juan,” she said, “that is horrible news. I’m so sorry. I’m sure you must feel very sad.”

Juan asked, “Why is it horrible news? Why should I feel sad? It’s good that they died. Everyone was happy. They were happiest with Bonnie’s death.”

Hannah was puzzled. She asked, “How can it be good that Alex and Bonnie died? Why was everyone happier with Bonnie’s death?”

Juan said, “Every year, they pick new names for hurricanes. The names are alphabetical. They go boy, girl, boy, girl. There can be more than one hurricane happening at once. Naming them helps people keep track of the storms. The names help make sure that everyone gets the right information.”

“Oh,” Hannah said, laughing. “Now I understand. It was better for Bonnie to die at sea because that means she didn’t make landfall. No cities were flooded. She did less damage.”

1. If you only read the first part of the story, a. you would know what Alex is. b. you would know that Bonnie was sick.

c. you might have wanted to dance. d. you might have felt upset.

2. The first two hurricanes of 2016 were named Alex and Bonnie. What were the third and fourth hurricanes named?

a. Nicole and Otto b. Lisa and Eric

c. Adam and Betty d. Colin and Danielle

3. What can you tell about Hurricane Alex from the story? a. It did less damage than Bonnie. b. It started after Bonnie.

c. It made landfall. d. It was the second hurricane of the year.

4. You can sum up this story by saying it is about a. how boys and girls are named. b. why it is better to die at sea.

c. a boy telling a girl about hurricanes. d. what storms cause the most damage.

5. When something is damaged, it is a. helped. b. hurt. c. hungry. d. hot.

Name:


UnIT 8

Write On!Write a letter to someone you know. Begin your letter with the date and the city from where you are writing. Your letter can be about anything you want, but it must include at least four facts about hurricanes and strong winds. Use the information from the stories in Unit 8 to help you.


Table of Contents

Introduction 4

Using the Book 5

Unit 1Smell-O-Vision 6Only Three 7Optical Illusion 8Bigfoot 9Dragon Sighting 10Write On! 11

Unit 2Bandy-Bandy 12He Caught What? 1324/7 14What’s in the Name? 15Saga of Pecos Bill 16Write On! 17

Unit 3A Lucky Find 18Sleeping Beauty 19Sleep Play 20Time for Art 21Robin the Brave 22Write On! 23

Unit 4Alvin 24A Sponge for What? 25Explorer Diary 26On Your Thumb 27Plunging to the Depths 28Write On! 29

Unit 5A Big, Flightless What? 30Backside Protection 31Eight Questions 32Rodent 33Sick and Tired! 34Write On! 35

Unit 6The Dog Who Waited 36ASISMO 37Haiku 38Japan 39Folk Tale from Japan 40Write On! 41

Unit 7Rare Treasure 42The Heavy Backpack 43Amazing Amy and Andy 44Believe It or Not! 45Bizarre Dog 46Write On! 47

Unit 8Pale Blue Dot 48Where to Next? 49Space Log 50Ten or Sixteen? 51First! 52Write On! 53

Unit 9Lab Mistake 54Spider-B-Gone 55Water Park 56Made to Clean 57Prince’s Treat 58Write On! 59

Unit 10Lost and Found 60Cave Treasure 61Hazardous Entry 62Mysterious Creatures 63Haunted Cave 64Write On! 65


Unit 11Ancient Riddle 66Stymied! 67Cipher 68Logic Puzzle 69Clever Crow 70Write On! 71

Unit 12Born Where? 72All About Kenya 73Settlement Report 74Is It Really Georgia? 75Where the Pyramids Are 76Write On! 77

Unit 13Not for Warmth 78Crater Lake 79Stone Bread 80After Thunder 81Rock on a Dollar 82Write On! 83

Unit 14Farmers of the Tropics 84Flying Fisherman 85Going Batty 86River of Bats 87Wish Upon a Star 88Write On! 89

Unit 15Moss Needed 90Retro Look 91Origami 92Mad as a Hatter 93The Cloak 94Write On! 95

Unit 16Thermos Explained 96Winter Swimming 97Fluffed or Huddled 98Warm and Too Warm 99Found 100Write On! 101

Unit 17Rescuers 102Rise and Shine 103Giraffe Delivery 104Into the Mines 105Tricked! 106Write On! 107

Tracking Sheet 108

Answer Key 109



IntroductionReading should be something that students look forward to. However, sometimes students must find fun and accessible literature before they can realize how enjoyable reading can be! The passages in this book contain high-interest topics that will immediately hook even the most stubborn of readers. Fun themes, surprise twists, and grade-appropriate content will motivate and excite young readers. Additionally, the passages in this book were designed to be accessible to students of varying reading abilities. Basic sight words are introduced and then reinforced with repetition and practice. As new words are introduced, they are repeated and written into the story in ways that allow a student to use context clues to decipher their meanings.

Each unit begins with five reading passages. The first several passages are short and include four multiple-choice questions. The remaining passages are a bit longer and have five multiple-choice questions. The passages in each unit are a mixture of fact and fiction. The last page of the unit calls for a written response to a prompt that incorporates the theme of the unit.




UnIT 4

Name:

Alvin

Alvin is the name of a vehicle. What kind of vehicle? It is a submersible. Alvin took people to where they had never been before. It took them down into the deep ocean.

The ocean is divided into zones. The top zone is the sunlight zone. Next is the twilight zone. The midnight zone is below the twilight zone. The fourth zone is the abyssal zone. The abyssal zone begins at a depth of 13,100 feet. It plunges down to 19,700 feet. Scientists did not expect to see any life in that zone. What they saw from the Alvin surprised them.

There were cracks in the ocean floor. Jets of hot water spewed from the vents. Animals lived around the vents. All the animals were new to the scientists.

1. Water at what depth is in the abyssal zone? a. 9,899 feet b. 10,543 feet c. 17,200 feet d. 24,016 feet

2. When something is submersible, a. it can go underwater. b. it will not melt in hot water. c. two people can fit inside it. d. it can slide into cracks.

3. This text is mainly about a. cracks in the ocean floor. b. the ocean’s second zone. c. why scientists did not expect to see anything. d. a vehicle that made a new discovery possible.

4. Most likely, what will the author talk about next? a. what the scientists ate in the Alvin b. what kinds of animals were found at the vents c. how big the Alvin was d. how many animals there are in the world


UnIT 4

Name:

Explorer Diary

March 10, 2005

Today is the first day we went down in the Alvin. We were all afraid. We weren’t sure that the ship could withstand the pressure of all the water on it.

Fear turned to amazement. We found tons of life around hot water vents. We vacuumed some life up so that we could study it.

March 15, 2005

We named one of the animals we discovered the “Yeti crab.” It’s all white. Its legs and claws are covered in fuzzy bristles. This amazing crab farms its own food! It grows its food on its own body!

The crab’s fuzzy bristles are covered with bacteria. The bacteria use energy and chemicals spewed out by the hot water vents to make their own food. When the crab is hungry, it nibbles on its bristles and eats the bacteria! I can’t imagine growing my own food on my arms and legs!

1. How did the explorer’s feelings change over the time of the text? a. afraid to angry b. fearful to amazed c. hungry to excited d. fearful to scared

2. Where did the crab grow its food? a. on the bristles on its own legs and body b. on the bristles on its own claws and back c. on the bristles on its own body and back d. on the bristles on its own legs and claws

3. Most likely, when the animals were vacuumed up, a. the explorers swam outside the Alvin to get them. b. a robot arm was used so the explorers could stay in the ship. c. the explorers picked them up through an open window. d. the explorers planned on eating crab for dinner.

4. What can you tell about the bacteria from the text? a. It does not need the sun’s energy. b. You would like the taste. c. It could harm you. d. You could grow it on your arms and legs.


UnIT 4

Name:

On Your Thumb

Put out your thumb. Now imagine that a hippopotamus is standing on it! Ouch! Double ouch! Triple ouch! There is a place on this planet where, if you go there, your whole body will feel that way. Where is this place?

The ocean is divided into zones. You swim in the sunlit zone. The twilight zone is below the sunlit zone. The midnight zone is below the twilight zone. The midnight zone starts at about 3,250 feet below the surface. It plunges down to 13,100 feet below the surface. It is pitch black. The water is extremely cold. The temperature is just a few degrees above the freezing point of fresh water.

The weight of the water puts a lot of pressure on whatever lives in that zone. The pressure flattens them. You could only explore this zone if you were in an underwater vehicle. Jellyfish live in this zone. How do jellyfish survive? Jellyfish are mostly made of water. Water can’t be squished the way you or I can.

1. Water at what depth is in the midnight zone? a. 825 feet b. 1,974 feet c. 12,425 feet d. 16,100 feet

2. The ocean zone that you swim in is called a. the hadal zone. b. the sunlit zone. c. the twilight zone. d. the abyssal zone.

3. Why can’t you swim in the midnight zone? a. It is too dark. b. There are too many jellyfish. c. The water pressure would squash you. d. The midnight zone is below the twilight zone.

4. Why did the author ask you to imagine a hippopotamus standing on your thumb? a. so that you could think about pain b. so that you could learn about underwater vehicles c. so that you could compare it to the weight of a jellyfish d. so that you could understand the amount of pressure you would feel

5. Most likely, if the text were longer, what would the author write about next? a. the zone below the midnight zone b. what hippopotamuses eat c. why it hurts when you smash your thumb with a hammer d. safe areas to swim


UnIT 4

Name:

Plunging to the Depths

I knew that the Dead Sea wasn’t as big as the ocean. After all, it’s a lake and not really a sea. Still, I was planning on swimming underwater as deep as I could. I was going to pretend that I was swimming through all the zones of the ocean. Using my imagination, I was finally going to see all the huge tubeworms that live by the vents in the abyssal zone. I was going to make my own underwater adventure.

Jumping into the water, I took the plunge. At least I tried to take the plunge! I didn’t sink. I couldn’t sink. I tried again and again, but I kept bobbing to the surface! I was floating without even trying. It was impossible to submerge!

That’s when I found out that the Dead Sea is far saltier than the ocean. It’s about ten times saltier. The salt makes the water dense. It makes the water so dense that it is impossible to sink! There would be no plunging to the depths for me!

1. How was the narrator of the text going to get to the abyssal zone? a. by plunging to the depths b. by submerging c. by swimming through zones d. by using his/her imagination

2. Why couldn’t the narrator submerge? a. The Dead Sea is a lake and not an ocean. b. The narrator didn’t try hard enough. c. The water was so dense; it was impossible to sink. d. The narrator only knew how to float.

3. About how many times saltier is the Dead Sea than the ocean? a. 10 b. 100 c. 1,000 d. 10,000

4. This text is fiction, but there are facts in it. What statement is a fact from the story? a. There are huge tubeworms in the Dead Sea. b. The Dead Sea is an ocean. c. It is impossible to sink in the Dead Sea. d. The Dead Sea is not very dense.

5. If someone plunges right into something, he or she a. floats. b. keeps bobbing. c. keeps trying. d. dives in.

Name:


UnIT 4

Write On!Look at the table below. In the first column, list the names of all the ocean zones. List them in order from shallowest to deepest. In the next column, tell the water depth. In the third column, describe what it is like, and if possible, an animal that lives there.

Ocean ZoneWater Depth Details

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Table of Contents - Speech Cornerdownload.speechcorner.com/SamplePages/Teacher... · Silly and Smarty 37 A Special Kind of Joke 38 ... and how we can learn from both fiction and nonfiction