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Stone Steps of the Giant's Causeway

4th grade nonfiction passage about rock columns in northern ireland: 192 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

4th grade nonfiction rock columns in northern ireland 192 words

Stone Steps of the Giant's Causeway

On the coast of Northern Ireland, thousands of tall stone columns stand beside the sea. Their tops form a bumpy floor of stepping stones that seems to lead right into the waves. This place is called the Giant's Causeway.

An old story says that a giant built the path so he could walk to Scotland. Scientists tell a different story. Millions of years ago, hot melted rock called lava poured out of the ground there. It spread over the land in a thick layer and then began to cool.

As the lava cooled, it shrank, and it cracked. Cracks formed in neat patterns, and most of them made shapes with six sides, much like the cells of a honeycomb. When the rock hardened fully, it was split into columns packed tightly side by side.

Over time, waves wore away the softer land around the columns and left them standing. Now visitors climb on them carefully, and they notice that some columns are taller and some are short and low. The short ones make a staircase down to the sea.

The Giant's Causeway shows that Earth sometimes builds its own works of art.

Questions

  1. Where is the Giant's Causeway? in the text

  2. What does the old story say about the path? in the text

  3. What is lava? in the text

  4. What shape do most of the columns have? in the text

  5. How did the columns come to stand by themselves? in the text

  6. What caused the cracks in the rock? think about it

Words to know

columns
tall, upright pillars of stone
lava
hot melted rock that flows from a volcano or crack in the ground
honeycomb
the wax cells with six sides where bees store honey
hardened
became firm and stiff
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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 · 181 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.8

On the coast of Northern Ireland, thousands of tall stone columns stand by the sea. Their tops make a bumpy floor of stepping stones. It looks like a path into the waves. This place is called the Giant's Causeway.

An old story says that a giant built the path to walk to Scotland. Scientists tell a different story. Millions of years ago, hot melted rock called lava poured out of the ground there. It spread over the land in a thick layer. Then it began to cool.

As the lava cooled, it shrank and cracked. The cracks made neat patterns. Most of the shapes had six sides, like the cells of a honeycomb. When the rock got hard, it was split into columns packed side by side.

Over time, waves wore away the softer land around the columns. The columns were left standing. Now visitors climb on them with care. Some columns are tall and some are short and low. The short ones make a staircase down to the sea.

The Giant's Causeway shows that Earth can make its own art.

▲ This passage · 192 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.9

On the coast of Northern Ireland, thousands of tall stone columns stand beside the sea. Their tops form a bumpy floor of stepping stones that seems to lead right into the waves. This place is called the Giant's Causeway.

An old story says that a giant built the path so he could walk to Scotland. Scientists tell a different story. Millions of years ago, hot melted rock called lava poured out of the ground there. It spread over the land in a thick layer and then began to cool.

As the lava cooled, it shrank, and it cracked. Cracks formed in neat patterns, and most of them made shapes with six sides, much like the cells of a honeycomb. When the rock hardened fully, it was split into columns packed tightly side by side.

Over time, waves wore away the softer land around the columns and left them standing. Now visitors climb on them carefully, and they notice that some columns are taller and some are short and low. The short ones make a staircase down to the sea.

The Giant's Causeway shows that Earth sometimes builds its own works of art.

■ Harder · 211 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 7.2

Along the coast of Northern Ireland, thousands of tall stone columns stand beside the sea. Their flat tops form a bumpy floor of stepping stones that appears to lead directly into the waves. This remarkable place is known as the Giant's Causeway.

According to an old story, a giant built the path so that he could stride across to Scotland. Scientists, however, offer a different explanation. Millions of years ago, scorching melted rock called lava poured out of the ground in this area. It spread across the land in a thick layer and then slowly began to cool.

As the lava cooled, it shrank, and the shrinking caused it to crack. The cracks formed in orderly patterns, and most of them created shapes with six sides, much like the cells of a honeycomb. When the rock finally hardened, it was divided into columns that fit tightly together side by side.

Over a very long time, the waves wore away the softer land surrounding the columns and left them standing. Today visitors climb across them with care, noticing that some are tall while others are short and low. The shorter ones form a staircase that descends to the water.

The Giant's Causeway demonstrates that the Earth itself sometimes creates works of art.

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 columns, lava, honeycomb and hardened 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 "Stone Steps of the Giant's Causeway"?

It was written for 4th grade. It has 192 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 4.9. 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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