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What Sixty Miles an Hour Really Means

5th grade nonfiction passage about speed, distance and time: 199 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade nonfiction speed, distance and time 199 words

What Sixty Miles an Hour Really Means

A speed such as 60 miles per hour is called a rate. A rate compares two different things, here the miles traveled and the hours that pass. The word per means "for each." So 60 miles per hour means that for each hour of driving, a car covers 60 miles.

Rates let you do some handy math. If a car holds that speed for 1 hour, it goes 60 miles. In 2 hours, it goes 120 miles. In half an hour, it goes 30 miles. You can write this as a rule: distance equals speed times time.

The rule can also work backward. Suppose a family needs to drive 150 miles and expects to go 50 miles per hour. Divide the distance by the speed, and 150 divided by 50 gives 3. The trip should take about 3 hours.

Real trips are not so tidy. A car slows down in town, stops at lights, and speeds up on open highway. Its speed changes all the time, which is why the speedometer needle moves. So a trip planner uses the average speed, which is the total distance divided by the total time. If a drive of 150 miles takes 3 hours, the average is 50 miles per hour, even if the car never held exactly that speed.

Questions

  1. What does 60 miles per hour mean? in the text

  2. How far does a car go in half an hour at 60 miles per hour? in the text

  3. What is the rule for finding distance? in the text

  4. How long should a 150 mile trip take at 50 miles per hour? in the text

  5. Why do trip planners use average speed? think about it

  6. Why does the speedometer needle move during a drive? think about it

Words to know

rate
a comparison of two different kinds of things, such as miles and hours
distance
how far it is from one place to another
average
a middle amount found by adding up and dividing
speedometer
a dial in a car that shows how fast it is going
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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 · 192 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.2

A speed like 60 miles per hour is called a rate. A rate compares two different things. Here they are miles and hours. The word per means "for each." So 60 miles per hour means that in each hour of driving, a car goes 60 miles.

Rates let you do handy math. If a car keeps that speed for 1 hour, it goes 60 miles. In 2 hours, it goes 120 miles. In half an hour, it goes 30 miles. You can write a rule. Distance equals speed times time.

The rule can work backward, too. Say a family must drive 150 miles. They expect to go 50 miles per hour. Divide the distance by the speed. 150 divided by 50 is 3. The trip should take about 3 hours.

Real trips are not so neat. A car slows down in town. It stops at lights. It speeds up on the open road. Its speed changes all the time. That is why the speedometer needle moves. So a trip planner uses the average speed. That is the total distance divided by the total time. A drive of 150 miles that takes 3 hours has an average of 50 miles per hour. The car may never go exactly that fast.

▲ This passage · 199 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.9

A speed such as 60 miles per hour is called a rate. A rate compares two different things, here the miles traveled and the hours that pass. The word per means "for each." So 60 miles per hour means that for each hour of driving, a car covers 60 miles.

Rates let you do some handy math. If a car holds that speed for 1 hour, it goes 60 miles. In 2 hours, it goes 120 miles. In half an hour, it goes 30 miles. You can write this as a rule: distance equals speed times time.

The rule can also work backward. Suppose a family needs to drive 150 miles and expects to go 50 miles per hour. Divide the distance by the speed, and 150 divided by 50 gives 3. The trip should take about 3 hours.

Real trips are not so tidy. A car slows down in town, stops at lights, and speeds up on open highway. Its speed changes all the time, which is why the speedometer needle moves. So a trip planner uses the average speed, which is the total distance divided by the total time. If a drive of 150 miles takes 3 hours, the average is 50 miles per hour, even if the car never held exactly that speed.

■ Harder · 224 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 7.4

A speed such as 60 miles per hour is known as a rate. A rate compares two different kinds of quantities, in this case the miles that are traveled and the hours that go by. The word per means "for each," so 60 miles per hour indicates that during each hour of driving, a car covers 60 miles.

Rates make some useful calculations possible. If a car maintains that speed for 1 hour, it travels 60 miles. In 2 hours, it travels 120 miles, and in half an hour, it travels 30 miles. These examples can be summarized in a single rule, which states that distance equals speed multiplied by time.

The same rule can also be used in reverse. Suppose a family needs to drive 150 miles and expects to average 50 miles per hour. By dividing the distance by the speed, they discover that 150 divided by 50 equals 3. The journey should therefore take about 3 hours.

Real journeys are rarely so tidy. A car slows down in towns, halts at traffic lights, and accelerates on the open highway, so its speed fluctuates constantly, which is why the speedometer needle keeps moving. For that reason, a trip planner relies on the average speed, which is the total distance divided by the total time. If a drive of 150 miles takes 3 hours, the average is 50 miles per hour, even if the car never held exactly that speed.

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 rate, distance, average and speedometer 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 "What Sixty Miles an Hour Really Means"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 199 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 3.9. 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.

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