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Squeezed Snow: How a Glacier Is Born

5th grade nonfiction passage about how glaciers form: 186 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade nonfiction how glaciers form 186 words

Squeezed Snow: How a Glacier Is Born

A glacier begins with a snowflake. In very cold places, some of the snow that falls in winter does not melt away in summer. The next winter, more snow lands on top of it. Year after year, the layers pile up.

The weight of the upper snow squeezes the snow below. Fluffy flakes turn into small, hard grains, and the air between them is pushed out. After many years, the grains pack together and become solid ice. When a mass of ice grows thick enough, a glacier has been born.

A glacier may look still, but it moves. Its great weight makes the ice flow slowly downhill, a little like thick syrup. It moves so slowly that you cannot watch it happen. As it creeps along, the ice scrapes up rocks and carries them. Over a long time, a glacier can carve a mountain valley into a wide U shape.

When the glacier reaches warmer land, its front edge melts. The rocks it carried are dropped in piles. The meltwater runs into streams, rivers, and lakes, so a glacier also gives water to the land below.

Questions

  1. What must happen to snow for a glacier to begin? in the text

  2. What happens to the air between the snow grains? in the text

  3. How does a glacier move? in the text

  4. How can a glacier change the shape of a valley? in the text

  5. Why can you not watch a glacier move? think about it

  6. How does a glacier give water to the land below? think about it

Words to know

glacier
a huge, slow mass of ice that moves over land
layers
levels of something piled one above another
grains
tiny, hard bits of something
carve
to cut and shape something slowly
meltwater
water that comes from melting ice or snow
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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 · 158 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.8

A glacier begins with a snowflake. In very cold places, some snow does not melt in summer. The next winter, more snow falls on top. Year after year, the layers pile up.

The weight of the top snow squeezes the snow below. Fluffy flakes turn into small, hard grains. The air between them is pushed out. After many years, the grains pack into solid ice. When the ice grows thick enough, a glacier is born.

A glacier looks still, but it moves. Its weight makes the ice flow slowly downhill, like thick syrup. It moves so slowly that you cannot watch it. The ice scrapes up rocks and carries them. Over a long time, a glacier can carve a mountain valley into a wide U shape.

When the glacier reaches warmer land, its front edge melts. The rocks drop in piles. The meltwater runs into streams, rivers, and lakes. So a glacier gives water to the land below.

▲ This passage · 186 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.1

A glacier begins with a snowflake. In very cold places, some of the snow that falls in winter does not melt away in summer. The next winter, more snow lands on top of it. Year after year, the layers pile up.

The weight of the upper snow squeezes the snow below. Fluffy flakes turn into small, hard grains, and the air between them is pushed out. After many years, the grains pack together and become solid ice. When a mass of ice grows thick enough, a glacier has been born.

A glacier may look still, but it moves. Its great weight makes the ice flow slowly downhill, a little like thick syrup. It moves so slowly that you cannot watch it happen. As it creeps along, the ice scrapes up rocks and carries them. Over a long time, a glacier can carve a mountain valley into a wide U shape.

When the glacier reaches warmer land, its front edge melts. The rocks it carried are dropped in piles. The meltwater runs into streams, rivers, and lakes, so a glacier also gives water to the land below.

■ Harder · 206 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 7.2

Every glacier begins with a single snowflake. In extremely cold places, some of the snow that falls during winter fails to melt away in the summer. The following winter, fresh snow settles on top of it, and year after year the layers continue to accumulate.

The weight of the upper snow compresses the snow beneath it. Fluffy flakes are transformed into small, hard grains, and the air trapped between them is forced out. After many years, the grains pack together tightly and become solid ice. Once a mass of ice has grown thick enough, a glacier has been born.

A glacier may appear motionless, but it is in fact moving. Its enormous weight causes the ice to flow gradually downhill, somewhat like thick syrup, though so slowly that no one could watch it happen. As it creeps along, the ice scrapes up rocks and carries them with it. Over a very long time, a glacier can carve a mountain valley into a wide U shape.

When the glacier eventually reaches warmer land, its front edge begins to melt, and the rocks it was carrying are dropped in heaps. The meltwater flows into streams, rivers, and lakes, so a glacier also supplies water to the land below.

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 glacier, layers, grains, carve and meltwater 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 "Squeezed Snow: How a Glacier Is Born"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 186 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 4.1. 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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