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Three Tiny Bones Behind Your Eardrum

4th grade nonfiction passage about how we hear: 182 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

4th grade nonfiction how we hear 182 words

Three Tiny Bones Behind Your Eardrum

Deep inside each of your ears are three of the smallest bones in your body. They have funny names from their shapes: the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup. Together they make a chain that carries sound.

Sound reaches you as shaking in the air. The shaking moves down your ear canal and hits the eardrum, a thin piece of skin stretched like the top of a drum. The eardrum shakes back and forth.

The hammer touches the eardrum, so it shakes too. The hammer bumps the anvil, and the anvil moves the stirrup. The stirrup then pushes on the inner ear, which is filled with fluid.

Why does the sound need three bones? Shaking fluid is harder than shaking air. The little bones make the shaking stronger, so it can move the fluid. Inside, thousands of tiny cells turn that motion into signals. The signals travel along a nerve to your brain, and your brain tells you what you heard.

All of this happens in a flash, every time you hear a bird, a bell or a friend calling your name.

Questions

  1. What are the names of the three tiny bones? in the text

  2. What is the eardrum like? in the text

  3. Which bone touches the eardrum? in the text

  4. What is the inner ear filled with? in the text

  5. Why does the sound need three bones? think about it

  6. What carries the signals from the inner ear to the brain? in the text

Words to know

eardrum
a thin skin inside the ear that shakes when sound hits it
canal
a narrow tunnel or path
fluid
a liquid that can flow
nerve
a bundle of fibers that carries messages to the brain
signals
messages sent from one place to another
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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 · 169 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 1.7

Deep in each ear are three of the smallest bones in your body. Their names come from their shapes. They are the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup. They work as a chain that carries sound.

Sound comes to you as shaking in the air. The shaking goes down your ear canal and hits the eardrum. The eardrum is a thin skin, stretched like the top of a drum. It shakes back and forth.

The hammer touches the eardrum, so it shakes too. The hammer bumps the anvil. The anvil moves the stirrup. The stirrup pushes on the inner ear. The inner ear is full of fluid.

Why three bones? It is hard to shake fluid. The bones make the shaking stronger so it can move the fluid. Tiny cells turn the motion into signals. The signals go along a nerve to your brain. Your brain tells you what you heard.

It all happens in a flash, each time you hear a bird or a friend call your name.

▲ This passage · 182 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.9

Deep inside each of your ears are three of the smallest bones in your body. They have funny names from their shapes: the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup. Together they make a chain that carries sound.

Sound reaches you as shaking in the air. The shaking moves down your ear canal and hits the eardrum, a thin piece of skin stretched like the top of a drum. The eardrum shakes back and forth.

The hammer touches the eardrum, so it shakes too. The hammer bumps the anvil, and the anvil moves the stirrup. The stirrup then pushes on the inner ear, which is filled with fluid.

Why does the sound need three bones? Shaking fluid is harder than shaking air. The little bones make the shaking stronger, so it can move the fluid. Inside, thousands of tiny cells turn that motion into signals. The signals travel along a nerve to your brain, and your brain tells you what you heard.

All of this happens in a flash, every time you hear a bird, a bell or a friend calling your name.

■ Harder · 195 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.5

Deep inside each of your ears are three of the smallest bones in your entire body. They have curious names that come from their shapes: the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup. Together they form a chain that carries sound onward.

Sound reaches you as vibrations in the air. Those vibrations travel down your ear canal and strike the eardrum, a thin piece of skin that is stretched tightly like the top of a drum. The eardrum shakes back and forth.

The hammer rests against the eardrum, so it shakes as well. The hammer bumps the anvil, and the anvil moves the stirrup. The stirrup then pushes against the inner ear, which is filled with fluid.

Why does sound need three bones to get there? Shaking fluid is much harder than shaking air. The little bones strengthen the vibrations so that they can move the fluid. Inside, thousands of tiny cells convert that motion into signals. Those signals travel along a nerve to your brain, and your brain tells you what you heard.

All of this takes place in a flash, every time you hear a bird, a bell or a friend calling your name.

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 eardrum, canal, fluid, nerve and signals 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 "Three Tiny Bones Behind Your Eardrum"?

It was written for 4th grade. It has 182 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 3.9. 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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