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Catching Drinking Water Out of Fog

4th grade nonfiction passage about fog nets: 194 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

4th grade nonfiction fog nets 194 words

Catching Drinking Water Out of Fog

Some places are very dry, with almost no rain, yet fog rolls in again and again. People in these places have found a way to catch water right out of the air. They use fog nets.

A fog net is a large, thin screen of mesh, stretched between two tall posts. It looks a bit like a giant volleyball net. When wind pushes fog through the mesh, tiny droplets of water stick to the strands. More and more droplets join together until they form bigger drops. The drops are too heavy to hang on, so they run down the net into a long trough at the bottom.

From the trough, the water flows through pipes into a tank. Villages can use it for drinking, for washing, and for watering gardens and young trees.

Fog is really a cloud that is touching the ground. A net cannot make water out of nothing. It only gathers water that is already floating in the air. The method works best on hills or mountains that the wind carries fog toward. A fog net uses no electric pump, so once it is built, it costs very little to run.

Questions

  1. What is a fog net? in the text

  2. What happens to the tiny droplets when they stick to the mesh? in the text

  3. Where does the water go after the trough? in the text

  4. What do villages use the water for? in the text

  5. Why does a fog net work best where wind blows fog toward it? think about it

  6. Why does a fog net cost little to run once it is built? think about it

Words to know

fog
a cloud of tiny water drops close to the ground
mesh
a net made of strands with small gaps between them
droplets
very small drops of liquid
trough
a long, narrow container that holds or carries water
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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 · 162 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.6

Some places are very dry and get almost no rain. But fog rolls in again and again. People there have a way to catch water out of the air. They use fog nets.

A fog net is a big, thin screen of mesh. It is stretched between two tall posts. It looks like a giant volleyball net. Wind pushes fog through the mesh. Tiny drops of water stick to the strands. More drops join together and grow bigger. They get too heavy to hang on. They run down the net into a long trough.

From the trough, the water flows through pipes into a tank. Villages use it for drinking, washing, and watering gardens and young trees.

Fog is a cloud that touches the ground. A net cannot make water from nothing. It only gathers water already in the air. It works best on hills where wind carries fog. A fog net has no electric pump, so it costs little to run.

▲ This passage · 194 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.5

Some places are very dry, with almost no rain, yet fog rolls in again and again. People in these places have found a way to catch water right out of the air. They use fog nets.

A fog net is a large, thin screen of mesh, stretched between two tall posts. It looks a bit like a giant volleyball net. When wind pushes fog through the mesh, tiny droplets of water stick to the strands. More and more droplets join together until they form bigger drops. The drops are too heavy to hang on, so they run down the net into a long trough at the bottom.

From the trough, the water flows through pipes into a tank. Villages can use it for drinking, for washing, and for watering gardens and young trees.

Fog is really a cloud that is touching the ground. A net cannot make water out of nothing. It only gathers water that is already floating in the air. The method works best on hills or mountains that the wind carries fog toward. A fog net uses no electric pump, so once it is built, it costs very little to run.

■ Harder · 199 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 7.5

Certain regions are extremely dry and receive almost no rainfall, yet fog drifts in over and over again. The people who live there have discovered a way of capturing water directly from the air. They use devices called fog nets.

A fog net is a large, delicate screen of mesh stretched between two tall posts, rather like an enormous volleyball net. When the wind pushes fog through the mesh, minuscule droplets of water cling to the strands. More and more droplets merge until they form larger drops, which eventually become too heavy to hang on and run down the net into a long trough at the bottom.

From the trough, the water travels through pipes into a storage tank. Villagers can use it for drinking and washing, and for watering their gardens and young trees.

Fog is really a cloud that is resting on the ground. A net cannot create water out of nothing; it merely collects the water that is already floating in the air. The method works best on hills or mountains toward which the wind carries fog. Since a fog net needs no electric pump, it costs very little to operate once it has been built.

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 fog, mesh, droplets and trough 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 2 minutes 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 "Catching Drinking Water Out of Fog"?

It was written for 4th grade. It has 194 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 4.5. 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 six. 4 ask for something the text says directly and 2 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 2 minutes 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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