Skip to the content
Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

Lake Baikal, the Deepest Lake in Siberia

5th grade nonfiction passage about the deepest lake: 200 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade nonfiction the deepest lake 200 words

Lake Baikal, the Deepest Lake in Siberia

Lake Baikal lies in the cold southern part of Siberia, in Russia. It is long and curved, a little like a crescent moon. Its most famous fact is its depth. Baikal is the deepest lake on Earth, and it holds more fresh water than any other lake.

The water is very clear. On a calm day, a diver can see far down into it. Scientists think the lake is also extremely old, and many of the plants and animals in it live nowhere else. One example is the nerpa, a small seal that lives in fresh water instead of the sea.

Winter changes the lake completely. The weather is so cold that the surface freezes into a thick sheet of ice. The ice is often clear, and cracks run across it like glass. Local people drive and walk on it as if it were a road, once it is firm enough. Fishing and travel go on all season.

In spring, the ice slowly melts and breaks apart. The lake then wakes up again, and boats return to the water.

Baikal is a reminder that a single lake can be as important to a region as a mountain or a river.

Questions

  1. Where is Lake Baikal? in the text

  2. What is the most famous fact about Baikal? in the text

  3. What is a nerpa? in the text

  4. What happens to the lake in winter? in the text

  5. Why can people travel on the lake in winter? think about it

  6. Why do you think many of its plants and animals live nowhere else? think about it

Words to know

Siberia
a huge, cold region in the north of Russia
crescent
a curved shape like the moon when it is a thin slice
depth
how far down something goes from the top
surface
the top layer of something
firm
solid and hard enough to hold weight
Share

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 · 158 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.8

Lake Baikal is in the cold southern part of Siberia, in Russia. It is long and curved, like a crescent moon. It is the deepest lake on Earth. It also holds more fresh water than any other lake.

The water is very clear. On a calm day, a diver can see far down. Scientists think the lake is very old. Many plants and animals in it live nowhere else. One is the nerpa, a small seal that lives in fresh water, not in the sea.

Winter changes the lake. It gets so cold that the top freezes into thick ice. The ice is often clear, with cracks like glass. When it is firm, people walk and drive on it like a road. Fishing and travel go on all season.

In spring, the ice melts and breaks apart. Boats come back to the water.

One lake can matter to a region as much as a mountain or a river.

▲ This passage · 200 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.9

Lake Baikal lies in the cold southern part of Siberia, in Russia. It is long and curved, a little like a crescent moon. Its most famous fact is its depth. Baikal is the deepest lake on Earth, and it holds more fresh water than any other lake.

The water is very clear. On a calm day, a diver can see far down into it. Scientists think the lake is also extremely old, and many of the plants and animals in it live nowhere else. One example is the nerpa, a small seal that lives in fresh water instead of the sea.

Winter changes the lake completely. The weather is so cold that the surface freezes into a thick sheet of ice. The ice is often clear, and cracks run across it like glass. Local people drive and walk on it as if it were a road, once it is firm enough. Fishing and travel go on all season.

In spring, the ice slowly melts and breaks apart. The lake then wakes up again, and boats return to the water.

Baikal is a reminder that a single lake can be as important to a region as a mountain or a river.

■ Harder · 204 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6.5

Lake Baikal lies in the frigid southern part of Siberia, in Russia. It is long and curved, somewhat like a crescent moon. Its most famous characteristic is its depth: Baikal is the deepest lake on Earth, and it holds more fresh water than any other lake.

The water is remarkably clear. On a calm day, a diver can see far down into it. Scientists believe the lake is also extremely old, and many of the plants and animals in it exist nowhere else. One example is the nerpa, a small seal that lives in fresh water instead of the sea.

Winter transforms the lake completely. The weather becomes so cold that the surface freezes into a thick sheet of ice. The ice is often clear, and cracks race across it like fractures in glass. Once it is firm enough, local people drive and walk on it as though it were a road, and fishing and travel continue throughout the season.

In spring, the ice slowly melts and breaks apart. The lake then wakes up again, and boats return to the water.

Baikal is a reminder that a single lake can be as important to a region as a mountain range or a great river.

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 Siberia, crescent, depth, surface and firm 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 "Lake Baikal, the Deepest Lake in Siberia"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 200 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. 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.

Nothing you do here is sent to us. No sign-in, no ads.