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Ultramarine, the Blue Paint Brought Across the Sea

5th grade nonfiction passage about ultramarine blue paint: 210 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade nonfiction ultramarine blue paint 210 words

Ultramarine, the Blue Paint Brought Across the Sea

Hundreds of years ago, some blue paint cost a great deal of money. Painters in Europe called it ultramarine, a name that means "beyond the sea." The blue did not come from nearby. It was carried across the sea from far away.

The paint began as a stone called lapis lazuli. This deep blue rock was dug out of mountains in Afghanistan and sent to workshops by long trade routes. Making a good pigment from it took patience. Workers ground the stone to a powder, then kneaded the powder with wax and oils, and washed it again and again. Only the purest blue settled out in the end.

Because the work was slow and the stone was costly, a painter might save ultramarine for the most important parts of a picture. A rich client sometimes even paid for the paint separately. Cheaper blues were used for skies and backgrounds.

Things changed in the 1800s, when chemists learned how to make a similar blue in a factory. The new color was bright, steady, and much less expensive. Today an artist can buy a tube of ultramarine at a shop for a small price. Even so, the paint still carries a name from the days when a color could cross an ocean.

Questions

  1. What does the word ultramarine mean? in the text

  2. What stone was used to make the original blue paint? in the text

  3. Where was the stone dug out of the ground? in the text

  4. What did workers do to turn the stone into pigment? in the text

  5. Why might a painter save ultramarine for the most important parts of a picture? think about it

  6. What changed in the 1800s? in the text

Words to know

pigment
a colored powder that is mixed into paint
ground
crushed into tiny bits
costly
expensive, costing a lot of money
chemists
scientists who study how materials mix and change
steady
not changing, staying the same
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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 · 195 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.9

Long ago, one blue paint cost a lot of money. Painters in Europe called it ultramarine. The name means "beyond the sea." The blue did not come from nearby. It was carried across the sea from far away.

The paint began as a stone called lapis lazuli. This deep blue rock was dug from mountains in Afghanistan. Traders took it to workshops on long routes. Making paint from it took time. Workers ground the stone into powder. They mixed the powder with wax and oils. They washed it again and again. Only the purest blue was left at the end.

The work was slow, and the stone cost a lot. So a painter might save ultramarine for the most important parts of a picture. A rich client sometimes paid for the paint on its own. Cheaper blues were used for skies and backgrounds.

In the 1800s, chemists learned how to make a like blue in a factory. It was bright and steady and cost much less. Today, an artist can buy a tube of ultramarine for a small price. The paint still has a name from the days when a color could cross an ocean.

▲ This passage · 210 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.1

Hundreds of years ago, some blue paint cost a great deal of money. Painters in Europe called it ultramarine, a name that means "beyond the sea." The blue did not come from nearby. It was carried across the sea from far away.

The paint began as a stone called lapis lazuli. This deep blue rock was dug out of mountains in Afghanistan and sent to workshops by long trade routes. Making a good pigment from it took patience. Workers ground the stone to a powder, then kneaded the powder with wax and oils, and washed it again and again. Only the purest blue settled out in the end.

Because the work was slow and the stone was costly, a painter might save ultramarine for the most important parts of a picture. A rich client sometimes even paid for the paint separately. Cheaper blues were used for skies and backgrounds.

Things changed in the 1800s, when chemists learned how to make a similar blue in a factory. The new color was bright, steady, and much less expensive. Today an artist can buy a tube of ultramarine at a shop for a small price. Even so, the paint still carries a name from the days when a color could cross an ocean.

■ Harder · 207 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 10.4

Several hundred years ago, one particular blue paint cost an enormous amount of money. Painters throughout Europe called it ultramarine, a name meaning "beyond the sea," because the color was not found nearby but was transported across the water from distant lands.

The paint originated from a stone known as lapis lazuli. This deep blue rock was quarried from mountains in Afghanistan and sent to workshops along lengthy trade routes. Producing a fine pigment from it demanded considerable patience: workers ground the stone to a powder, kneaded the powder with wax and oils, and washed it repeatedly until only the purest blue settled out.

Since the process was slow and the stone was so costly, a painter might reserve ultramarine for the most significant parts of a picture, and a wealthy client sometimes paid for the paint separately. Cheaper blues were used for skies and backgrounds.

Matters changed in the 1800s, when chemists discovered how to manufacture a similar blue in a factory. The new color was bright, steady, and far less expensive. Today, an artist can buy a tube of ultramarine at a shop for a modest price, although the paint still carries a name from the era when a color could cross an entire ocean.

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 pigment, ground, costly, chemists and steady 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 "Ultramarine, the Blue Paint Brought Across the Sea"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 210 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 5.1. 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. 5 ask for something the text says directly and 1 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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