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A Staircase of Water for Boats

4th grade nonfiction passage about canal locks: 211 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

4th grade nonfiction canal locks 211 words

A Staircase of Water for Boats

A boat cannot climb a hill, but a canal lock can lift it up one. A lock is a short, walled section of a canal with a gate at each end. It works like an elevator made of water.

Say a boat is traveling uphill on a canal. First, it floats into the lock through an open gate at the low end. The gate closes behind it. Now the boat is inside a box with water on all sides.

Next, workers open small openings in the upper gate. Water from the higher stretch of the canal flows into the lock. Slowly the water rises, and the boat rises with it. Nothing needs to push the boat. Gravity pulls the water in, and the water does the lifting.

When the water inside the lock is as high as the water beyond the upper gate, the flow stops. The upper gate swings open and the boat floats out onto the higher stretch of the canal.

To go downhill, the steps run backward. The boat enters the lock at the top. Water drains out, and the boat sinks gently down to the lower level. Where a canal must climb a steep slope, several locks are built in a row, like steps on a staircase.

Questions

  1. What is a canal lock? in the text

  2. What happens right after the boat floats into the lock? in the text

  3. What force pulls the water into the lock? in the text

  4. When does the flow of water stop? in the text

  5. What must happen to the water for a boat to go downhill? in the text

  6. Why do builders put several locks in a row on a steep slope? think about it

Words to know

lock
a section of a canal where water is raised or lowered to move boats
canal
a waterway dug by people so that boats can travel
gravity
the force that pulls things down toward the ground
stretch
a long piece of land or water
drains
flows out slowly until nothing is left
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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 · 144 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.4

A boat cannot climb a hill. But a canal lock can lift it. A lock is a short part of a canal with a gate at each end. It is like an elevator made of water.

A boat goes uphill on a canal. It floats into the lock at the low end. The gate shuts behind it.

Workers open small openings in the upper gate. Water flows in from the high part of the canal. The water rises, and the boat rises with it. Nothing pushes the boat. Gravity pulls the water in.

When the water inside is as high as the water past the upper gate, it stops. The upper gate opens. The boat floats out.

To go downhill, the steps run backward. Water drains out, and the boat sinks. On a steep slope, builders put several locks in a row, like stairs.

▲ This passage · 211 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4

A boat cannot climb a hill, but a canal lock can lift it up one. A lock is a short, walled section of a canal with a gate at each end. It works like an elevator made of water.

Say a boat is traveling uphill on a canal. First, it floats into the lock through an open gate at the low end. The gate closes behind it. Now the boat is inside a box with water on all sides.

Next, workers open small openings in the upper gate. Water from the higher stretch of the canal flows into the lock. Slowly the water rises, and the boat rises with it. Nothing needs to push the boat. Gravity pulls the water in, and the water does the lifting.

When the water inside the lock is as high as the water beyond the upper gate, the flow stops. The upper gate swings open and the boat floats out onto the higher stretch of the canal.

To go downhill, the steps run backward. The boat enters the lock at the top. Water drains out, and the boat sinks gently down to the lower level. Where a canal must climb a steep slope, several locks are built in a row, like steps on a staircase.

■ Harder · 227 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6.6

A boat cannot climb a hill on its own, but a canal lock can lift it up one. A lock is a short, walled section of a canal with a gate at each end, and it works like an elevator made entirely of water.

Suppose a boat is traveling uphill along a canal. First, it floats into the lock through an open gate at the low end, and the gate closes behind it. Now the boat sits inside a walled chamber with water on all sides.

Next, workers open small openings in the upper gate, and water from the higher stretch of the canal pours into the lock. Gradually the water level climbs, and the boat climbs with it. Nothing has to push the boat upward, because gravity pulls the water in, and the water does all of the lifting.

When the water inside the lock reaches the same height as the water beyond the upper gate, the flow stops. The upper gate swings open, and the boat floats out onto the higher stretch of the canal.

To travel downhill, the steps run in reverse. The boat enters the lock at the top, the water drains out, and the boat sinks gently to the lower level. Where a canal must climb a steep slope, several locks are built in a row, like the steps of a staircase.

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 lock, canal, gravity, stretch and drains 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 6 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 "A Staircase of Water for Boats"?

It was written for 4th grade. It has 211 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 4.0. 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. 5 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 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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