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Cutting Winter Ice for Summer Drinks

5th grade nonfiction passage about ice harvesting and iceboxes: 193 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade nonfiction ice harvesting and iceboxes 193 words

Cutting Winter Ice for Summer Drinks

Before homes had refrigerators, how did people keep food cold in the summer? In the 1800s, in places with snowy winters, the answer was ice cut from frozen lakes and ponds.

When the ice grew thick enough, workers headed out with saws and horses. They marked the ice in squares and sawed it into big blocks. Using long poles, they floated the blocks to the shore and slid them up a ramp into a building called an icehouse.

Inside the icehouse, the blocks were stacked in rows with sawdust packed in between. Sawdust works like a blanket, because it slows the heat from getting in. Thick walls helped too. Stored this way, ice could last all through the warm months.

In summer, a delivery worker brought blocks of ice to homes and shops in a wagon. Families set a block in an icebox, a wooden cabinet with a space for ice. As the ice melted, it kept the food cool, and a pan caught the drips. Some ice was even shipped by boat to far-off cities. Later, machines learned to make ice, and electric refrigerators took the place of the old iceboxes.

Questions

  1. Where did people get ice in the 1800s? in the text

  2. What was the building called where the blocks were stored? in the text

  3. What was packed between the blocks of ice? in the text

  4. How did families use an icebox? in the text

  5. Why does the passage say sawdust works like a blanket? think about it

  6. Why did iceboxes go out of use? think about it

Words to know

icehouse
a building where blocks of ice were stored
sawdust
tiny bits of wood made when wood is sawed
ramp
a slanted path that joins a low place to a high one
icebox
a wooden cabinet that kept food cold with a block of ice
delivery
the act of bringing something to a place
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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 · 167 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.9

Long ago, homes had no refrigerators. How did people keep food cold in summer? In the 1800s, in snowy places, they used ice from frozen lakes and ponds.

When the ice was thick, workers came with saws and horses. They marked the ice in squares and sawed it into big blocks. They floated the blocks to the shore with long poles. Then they slid them up a ramp into an icehouse.

In the icehouse, the blocks were stacked in rows. Sawdust was packed in between. Sawdust works like a blanket. It slows the heat. The walls were thick, too. The ice could last all summer.

In summer, a worker brought ice to homes and shops in a wagon. Families put a block in an icebox. This was a wooden cabinet with a space for ice. The melting ice kept the food cool. A pan caught the drips. Some ice went by boat to far cities. Later, machines made ice, and electric refrigerators took the place of iceboxes.

▲ This passage · 193 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.4

Before homes had refrigerators, how did people keep food cold in the summer? In the 1800s, in places with snowy winters, the answer was ice cut from frozen lakes and ponds.

When the ice grew thick enough, workers headed out with saws and horses. They marked the ice in squares and sawed it into big blocks. Using long poles, they floated the blocks to the shore and slid them up a ramp into a building called an icehouse.

Inside the icehouse, the blocks were stacked in rows with sawdust packed in between. Sawdust works like a blanket, because it slows the heat from getting in. Thick walls helped too. Stored this way, ice could last all through the warm months.

In summer, a delivery worker brought blocks of ice to homes and shops in a wagon. Families set a block in an icebox, a wooden cabinet with a space for ice. As the ice melted, it kept the food cool, and a pan caught the drips. Some ice was even shipped by boat to far-off cities. Later, machines learned to make ice, and electric refrigerators took the place of the old iceboxes.

■ Harder · 201 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 7.8

Before refrigerators existed in people's homes, how did families manage to keep their food cold during the summer? In the 1800s, in regions where winters were snowy, the solution was ice harvested from frozen lakes and ponds.

Once the ice had grown thick enough, workers ventured out with saws and horses. They marked the surface in squares and sawed it into enormous blocks. Using long poles, they floated the blocks to the shore and guided them up a ramp into a building called an icehouse.

Inside the icehouse, the blocks were stacked in rows with sawdust packed tightly between them. Sawdust functions like a blanket, because it slows the movement of heat into the ice, and thick walls helped as well. Stored this way, the ice could last throughout the warm months.

During the summer, a delivery worker transported blocks of ice to homes and shops by wagon. Families placed a block inside an icebox, a wooden cabinet with a compartment for ice. As the ice melted, it kept the food cool, while a pan collected the drips. Some ice was even shipped by boat to distant cities. Eventually, machines learned to produce ice, and electric refrigerators replaced the old iceboxes.

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 icehouse, sawdust, ramp, icebox and delivery 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 "Cutting Winter Ice for Summer Drinks"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 193 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 5.4. 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 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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