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Island or Peninsula? Count the Water Sides

1st grade nonfiction passage about islands and peninsulas: 96 words, five questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

1st grade nonfiction islands and peninsulas 96 words

Island or Peninsula? Count the Water Sides

An island is land with water all the way around it. You need a boat or a plane to get there. Some islands are tiny. Some are very big.

A peninsula is different. It is land with water on three sides. The fourth side is joined to a bigger piece of land. You can walk onto a peninsula.

Here is a trick. Trace the edge of the land with your finger. Count the sides with water. If water is on every side, it is an island. If water is on three sides, it is a peninsula.

Questions

  1. What is an island? in the text

  2. How many sides of a peninsula have water? in the text

  3. How can you get to an island? in the text

  4. What is joined to the fourth side of a peninsula? in the text

  5. A piece of land has water on all four sides. What is it? think about it

Words to know

island
land with water all around it
peninsula
land with water on three sides
trace
to follow the edge of something with your finger
joined
connected or attached to something
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One passage, three levels

The same topic and facts written three ways, so a mixed class can read and talk about one text. Each group’s sheet shows only a shape; the key says which is which.

● Easier · 75 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 1.5

An island is land with water all around. You need a boat or a plane to get there. Some islands are small. Some are big.

A peninsula is not the same. It has water on three sides. One side is joined to more land. You can walk onto a peninsula.

Here is a trick. Trace the edge of the land. Count the sides with water. Water on every side? Island. Water on three sides? Peninsula.

▲ This passage · 96 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.4

An island is land with water all the way around it. You need a boat or a plane to get there. Some islands are tiny. Some are very big.

A peninsula is different. It is land with water on three sides. The fourth side is joined to a bigger piece of land. You can walk onto a peninsula.

Here is a trick. Trace the edge of the land with your finger. Count the sides with water. If water is on every side, it is an island. If water is on three sides, it is a peninsula.

■ Harder · 110 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.9

An island is a piece of land that has water on every side of it. To reach an island, you usually need a boat or a plane. Some islands are tiny, while others are enormous.

A peninsula is different because it has water on only three sides. Its fourth side is joined to a larger area of land, so people can simply walk onto a peninsula.

Here is a handy trick for telling them apart. Trace the edge of the land with your finger and count the sides that touch water. If water touches every side, the land is an island. If water touches three sides, it is a peninsula.

Download as one PDF

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put island, peninsula, trace and joined on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 1 minute to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 5 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Island or Peninsula? Count the Water Sides"?

It was written for 1st grade. It has 96 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 2.4. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are five. 4 ask for something the text says directly and 1 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 1 minute read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

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