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Noon Is Not Always at Twelve O'Clock

5th grade nonfiction passage about noon, the sun and time zones: 253 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade nonfiction noon, the sun and time zones 253 words

Noon Is Not Always at Twelve O'Clock

Long ago, every town set its clocks by the sun. When the sun reached its highest point in the sky, it was noon, and the town clock said twelve. Because the sun reaches its highest point a little earlier in places to the east, nearby towns had slightly different times. A town twenty miles to the east might say noon a few minutes before yours did.

That was fine when people traveled slowly. Then railroads arrived in the 1800s. A train might pass through a dozen towns in a day, and each one had its own local time. Train schedules became a confusing mess, and passengers kept missing their rides.

The solution was time zones. The world was divided into wide bands, and every place inside one band agreed to use the same time. Now a traveler can cross a whole region and not have to change a watch at every town.

Time zones are handy, but they mean that the sun no longer matches the clock exactly. In a zone, the sun reaches its highest point earlier in the east side than in the west side. Some places see the sun highest well before twelve, and others see it well after. Many places also move their clocks forward in summer, which pushes the sun's highest point even later on the clock. So if you hold a stick up in the sunshine and the shadow is shortest at one o'clock, nothing is wrong. The clock is simply following the rules of the zone.

Questions

  1. How did towns long ago decide when it was noon? in the text

  2. Why did railroads cause a problem with local times? in the text

  3. What was the solution to the problem? in the text

  4. Why might the sun be highest at one o'clock instead of twelve? think about it

  5. Which side of a zone sees the sun highest earlier, the east or the west? in the text

  6. Why was local sun time fine before railroads? think about it

Words to know

schedules
lists that show when things will happen
railroads
tracks that trains run on, and the companies that run them
zones
areas set apart for a certain purpose
passengers
people who ride in a train, bus, or plane
region
a large area of land
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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 · 202 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.9

Long ago, each town set its clocks by the sun. When the sun was highest in the sky, it was noon. The town clock said twelve. The sun is highest a little sooner in places to the east. So nearby towns had slightly different times. A town twenty miles east might have noon a few minutes before yours.

That was fine when people traveled slowly. Then railroads came in the 1800s. A train might pass through a dozen towns in one day. Each town had its own time. Train schedules were a mess, and people missed their trains.

The fix was time zones. The world was split into wide bands. Every place in one band uses the same time. Now a traveler does not have to change a watch at every town.

But the sun no longer matches the clock exactly. In a zone, the sun is highest sooner on the east side. Some places see the sun highest well before twelve. Others see it well after. Many places also move clocks forward in summer. That pushes the sun's highest point later on the clock. So if your shadow is shortest at one o'clock, nothing is wrong. The clock follows the zone.

▲ This passage · 253 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.7

Long ago, every town set its clocks by the sun. When the sun reached its highest point in the sky, it was noon, and the town clock said twelve. Because the sun reaches its highest point a little earlier in places to the east, nearby towns had slightly different times. A town twenty miles to the east might say noon a few minutes before yours did.

That was fine when people traveled slowly. Then railroads arrived in the 1800s. A train might pass through a dozen towns in a day, and each one had its own local time. Train schedules became a confusing mess, and passengers kept missing their rides.

The solution was time zones. The world was divided into wide bands, and every place inside one band agreed to use the same time. Now a traveler can cross a whole region and not have to change a watch at every town.

Time zones are handy, but they mean that the sun no longer matches the clock exactly. In a zone, the sun reaches its highest point earlier in the east side than in the west side. Some places see the sun highest well before twelve, and others see it well after. Many places also move their clocks forward in summer, which pushes the sun's highest point even later on the clock. So if you hold a stick up in the sunshine and the shadow is shortest at one o'clock, nothing is wrong. The clock is simply following the rules of the zone.

■ Harder · 255 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 7.9

Centuries ago, every town regulated its clocks by the sun. When the sun reached its highest point in the sky, it was noon, and the town clock was set to twelve. Because the sun peaks slightly earlier in places farther east, neighboring towns kept slightly different times, and a town twenty miles to the east might announce noon a few minutes before yours did.

This arrangement worked perfectly well while people traveled slowly. Then, in the 1800s, railroads spread across the land. A single train might pass through a dozen towns in one day, and every one of them kept its own local time. Train schedules became a bewildering tangle, and passengers frequently missed their rides.

The solution was the creation of time zones. The world was divided into wide bands, and every place within a band agreed to share the same time. As a result, a traveler can cross an entire region without adjusting a watch at every town along the way.

Time zones are enormously convenient, but they mean that the sun no longer lines up exactly with the clock. Within a zone, the sun reaches its highest point earlier on the eastern side than on the western side, so some places see it peak well before twelve and others well after. Many places also move their clocks forward during summer, which pushes the sun's peak even later on the clock. If your shadow is shortest at one o'clock, therefore, nothing is wrong. The clock is simply obeying the rules of the zone.

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 schedules, railroads, zones, passengers and region 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 3 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 "Noon Is Not Always at Twelve O'Clock"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 253 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 5.7. 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 3 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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