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Dripping Time: Ancient Water Clocks

5th grade nonfiction passage about ancient water clocks: 183 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade nonfiction ancient water clocks 183 words

Dripping Time: Ancient Water Clocks

A sundial can tell the hour, but only when the sun is shining. People in ancient Egypt wanted a way to keep time on cloudy days and at night. Their answer was a clock that ran on water.

The idea was simple. A bowl had a small hole near the bottom, and lines were marked on the inside wall. When the bowl was filled with water, drops slowly leaked out. As the water level sank past each line, people could tell how much time had gone by. The ancient Greeks later used such clocks too, and they called them clepsydras, which means water thief.

There was one problem. Water leaks faster out of a full bowl than out of a nearly empty one, so the hours could drift. Some makers shaped their bowls with slanted sides to help keep the time steadier.

Water clocks did real jobs. In the city of Athens, they timed how long a person was allowed to speak in court. Later builders made far fancier clocks, but the first ones were just a bowl, a hole, and some patience.

Questions

  1. Why could a sundial not tell time at night? in the text

  2. How did a water clock show how much time had passed? in the text

  3. What does the word clepsydra mean? in the text

  4. What job did water clocks do in Athens? in the text

  5. Why could the hours drift on a simple water clock? think about it

  6. Why did some makers give their bowls slanted sides? think about it

Words to know

sundial
a clock that uses the shadow of the sun
ancient
from a very long time ago
clepsydras
the Greek name for water clocks
drift
to slowly move away from what is right
steadier
more regular and even
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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 · 163 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 1.8

A sundial can tell the hour. But it works only when the sun is out. People in ancient Egypt wanted to tell time on cloudy days and at night. So they made a clock that ran on water.

The idea was simple. A bowl had a small hole near the bottom. Lines were marked on the inside. The bowl was filled with water, and drops slowly leaked out. The water sank past each line. This showed how much time had passed. Later, the Greeks used these clocks too. They called them clepsydras. That means water thief.

There was one problem. Water leaks faster from a full bowl than from a bowl that is almost empty. So the hours could drift. Some makers made bowls with slanted sides. This helped keep the time steadier.

Water clocks did real jobs. In Athens, they timed how long a person could speak in court. The first water clocks were just a bowl, a hole, and some patience.

▲ This passage · 183 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.3

A sundial can tell the hour, but only when the sun is shining. People in ancient Egypt wanted a way to keep time on cloudy days and at night. Their answer was a clock that ran on water.

The idea was simple. A bowl had a small hole near the bottom, and lines were marked on the inside wall. When the bowl was filled with water, drops slowly leaked out. As the water level sank past each line, people could tell how much time had gone by. The ancient Greeks later used such clocks too, and they called them clepsydras, which means water thief.

There was one problem. Water leaks faster out of a full bowl than out of a nearly empty one, so the hours could drift. Some makers shaped their bowls with slanted sides to help keep the time steadier.

Water clocks did real jobs. In the city of Athens, they timed how long a person was allowed to speak in court. Later builders made far fancier clocks, but the first ones were just a bowl, a hole, and some patience.

■ Harder · 194 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6.8

A sundial can indicate the hour, but only while the sun is shining. People in ancient Egypt wanted a way to keep time on cloudy days and throughout the night, and their solution was a clock powered by water.

The principle was simple. A bowl had a small hole near the bottom and lines marked along its inner wall. When the bowl was filled with water, droplets slowly leaked out, and as the water level sank past each line, people could tell how much time had gone by. The ancient Greeks later adopted such clocks as well, and they called them clepsydras, which means water thief.

One difficulty remained. Water escapes more quickly from a full bowl than from one that is nearly empty, so the hours could drift. Some makers shaped their bowls with slanted sides in order to help keep the time steadier.

Water clocks performed genuinely useful tasks. In the city of Athens, they measured how long a person was permitted to speak in court. Much fancier clocks were built in later times, but the earliest ones were nothing more than a bowl, a hole, and a great deal of patience.

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 sundial, ancient, clepsydras, drift and steadier 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 "Dripping Time: Ancient Water Clocks"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 183 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 4.3. 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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