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How a Tall Tree Drinks

5th grade nonfiction passage about how trees move water: 224 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade nonfiction how trees move water 224 words

How a Tall Tree Drinks

A tall tree may have leaves that are far above the ground, yet it never has a drinking fountain. How does water get all the way to the top?

The journey starts underground. A tree's roots spread through the soil, and the tips of the roots are covered with tiny hairs. These root hairs soak up water and minerals from the soil, like thousands of little straws.

From the roots, the water enters narrow tubes that run up through the trunk and branches. Think of them as a long set of pipes, hidden just under the bark. The tubes carry water all the way to the leaves.

At the leaves, something interesting happens. The surface of a leaf has many tiny openings. Through these openings, a leaf lets out water as vapor, which is a very fine mist you cannot see. When water leaves the top of the tree this way, more water is pulled up the tubes to replace it. Scientists say it is a bit like drinking through a straw, since pulling at the top draws the liquid upward.

Leaves also use some of the water, along with sunlight, to make food for the tree.

On a warm day, a large tree can send a great amount of water into the air, which is one reason a forest feels cool and fresh.

Questions

  1. What do root hairs do? in the text

  2. Where are the tubes that carry water located? in the text

  3. How does water leave a leaf? in the text

  4. How is a tree's way of moving water like drinking through a straw? think about it

  5. What else do leaves do with some of the water? in the text

  6. Why might a forest feel cool on a warm day? think about it

Words to know

minerals
natural materials in soil that plants take in to grow
trunk
the main thick stem of a tree
vapor
tiny drops of water in the air, like a mist
bark
the tough outer covering of a tree
replace
to put something new in the place of what was lost
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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 · 193 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.9

A tall tree has leaves far above the ground, but it has no drinking fountain. How does water get to the top?

The trip starts underground. The roots of a tree spread through the soil. The tips of the roots have tiny hairs. These root hairs soak up water and minerals, like thousands of little straws.

From the roots, the water goes into narrow tubes. The tubes run up the trunk and branches, just under the bark. They are like a long set of pipes. They carry water to the leaves.

Then something interesting happens. A leaf has many tiny openings. A leaf lets water out through them as vapor, a fine mist you cannot see. When water leaves the top of the tree, more water is pulled up the tubes to take its place. It is a bit like drinking through a straw. Pulling at the top draws the water up.

Leaves also use some of the water, with sunlight, to make food for the tree.

On a warm day, a big tree can send a lot of water into the air. This is one reason a forest feels cool and fresh.

▲ This passage · 224 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5

A tall tree may have leaves that are far above the ground, yet it never has a drinking fountain. How does water get all the way to the top?

The journey starts underground. A tree's roots spread through the soil, and the tips of the roots are covered with tiny hairs. These root hairs soak up water and minerals from the soil, like thousands of little straws.

From the roots, the water enters narrow tubes that run up through the trunk and branches. Think of them as a long set of pipes, hidden just under the bark. The tubes carry water all the way to the leaves.

At the leaves, something interesting happens. The surface of a leaf has many tiny openings. Through these openings, a leaf lets out water as vapor, which is a very fine mist you cannot see. When water leaves the top of the tree this way, more water is pulled up the tubes to replace it. Scientists say it is a bit like drinking through a straw, since pulling at the top draws the liquid upward.

Leaves also use some of the water, along with sunlight, to make food for the tree.

On a warm day, a large tree can send a great amount of water into the air, which is one reason a forest feels cool and fresh.

■ Harder · 226 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 7.8

A towering tree may have leaves that sit far above the ground, yet it has no drinking fountain to rely on. How, then, does water reach the very top?

The journey begins underground, where a tree's roots spread widely through the soil. The tips of the roots are covered with tiny hairs, and these root hairs absorb water and minerals from the soil, much like thousands of microscopic straws.

From the roots, the water enters narrow tubes that run up through the trunk and branches, hidden just beneath the bark. You can picture them as a long network of pipes carrying water all the way to the leaves.

At the leaves, something fascinating occurs. The surface of each leaf is dotted with tiny openings, and through them the leaf releases water as vapor, a fine mist that is invisible to us. As water escapes from the top of the tree in this way, more water is drawn up the tubes to replace it. Scientists compare the process to drinking through a straw, since the pull at the top draws the liquid upward.

Leaves also use some of the water, together with sunlight, to manufacture food for the tree.

On a warm day, a large tree can release an impressive quantity of water into the air, which is one reason a forest often feels cool and fresh.

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 minerals, trunk, vapor, bark and replace 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 4 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 "How a Tall Tree Drinks"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 224 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 5.0. 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. 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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