Skip to the content
Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

Why Flowers Wear Bright Colors

5th grade nonfiction passage about flowers and pollination: 211 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade nonfiction flowers and pollination 211 words

Why Flowers Wear Bright Colors

A flower is not just a pretty decoration. It is the part of a plant that makes seeds. To make seeds, most flowers need pollen, a fine powder, to travel from one flower to another of the same kind. This move is called pollination.

A plant cannot walk to its neighbor, so many flowers hire helpers. Bees, butterflies, moths, and other insects visit flowers to drink a sweet liquid called nectar. As an insect crawls inside a flower, pollen sticks to its body. When it flies to the next flower, some of that pollen rubs off. The flower has paid the insect in nectar, and the insect has carried the pollen.

That is why flowers wear bright colors and often smell sweet. The colors and scents are signals that say, "Food is here." Some petals even have lines or spots that point toward the nectar, like a landing strip.

Not all flowers use insects. Grasses and many trees depend on the wind. Their flowers are small, plain, and have no sweet smell, because they do not need to attract anyone. They make huge amounts of light pollen that drifts through the air.

Once pollen reaches the right place, the flower can begin to form seeds and often a fruit around them.

Questions

  1. What is pollination? in the text

  2. What does an insect get from visiting a flower? in the text

  3. How does pollen get from one flower to the next on an insect? in the text

  4. Why do many flowers have bright colors and sweet smells? think about it

  5. Why are the flowers of grasses small and plain? think about it

  6. What can form once pollen reaches the right place in a flower? in the text

Words to know

pollen
a fine powder made by flowers that helps them make seeds
pollination
the moving of pollen from one flower to another
nectar
the sweet liquid that flowers make for insects to drink
signals
signs that tell others something
attract
to draw something closer
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 · 193 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3

A flower is not just pretty. It is the part of a plant that makes seeds. To make seeds, most flowers need pollen to move from one flower to another of the same kind. Pollen is a fine powder. The move is called pollination.

A plant cannot walk to its neighbor, so many flowers get help. Bees, butterflies, and other insects visit flowers to drink nectar. Nectar is a sweet liquid. When an insect crawls inside a flower, pollen sticks to its body. When it flies to the next flower, some pollen rubs off. The flower pays the insect with nectar. The insect carries the pollen.

That is why many flowers have bright colors and a sweet smell. The colors and smells are signals. They say, "Food is here." Some petals have lines that point to the nectar.

Not all flowers use insects. Grasses and many trees use the wind. Their flowers are small and plain. They do not need to attract anyone. They make lots of light pollen that floats in the air.

When pollen reaches the right place, the flower can start to make seeds. A fruit often grows around them.

▲ This passage · 211 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.9

A flower is not just a pretty decoration. It is the part of a plant that makes seeds. To make seeds, most flowers need pollen, a fine powder, to travel from one flower to another of the same kind. This move is called pollination.

A plant cannot walk to its neighbor, so many flowers hire helpers. Bees, butterflies, moths, and other insects visit flowers to drink a sweet liquid called nectar. As an insect crawls inside a flower, pollen sticks to its body. When it flies to the next flower, some of that pollen rubs off. The flower has paid the insect in nectar, and the insect has carried the pollen.

That is why flowers wear bright colors and often smell sweet. The colors and scents are signals that say, "Food is here." Some petals even have lines or spots that point toward the nectar, like a landing strip.

Not all flowers use insects. Grasses and many trees depend on the wind. Their flowers are small, plain, and have no sweet smell, because they do not need to attract anyone. They make huge amounts of light pollen that drifts through the air.

Once pollen reaches the right place, the flower can begin to form seeds and often a fruit around them.

■ Harder · 232 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 8.3

A flower is far more than a pretty decoration, since it is the part of a plant responsible for making seeds. To produce seeds, most flowers require pollen, a fine powder, to travel from one flower to another of the same kind. Scientists call this transfer pollination.

Because a plant cannot walk over to its neighbor, many flowers recruit helpers. Bees, butterflies, moths, and other insects visit flowers in order to drink nectar, a sweet liquid. As an insect crawls deep inside a blossom, grains of pollen cling to its body, and when it travels to the next flower, some of that pollen rubs off. The flower has paid the insect in nectar, and the insect has delivered the pollen in return.

That bargain explains why so many flowers display bright colors and give off sweet scents. These features serve as advertisements announcing that food is available. Some petals even carry lines or spots that guide visitors toward the nectar, much like the markings on a landing strip.

Not every flower depends on insects, however. Grasses and many trees rely on the wind, so their flowers tend to be small, plain, and unscented, since there is no one to attract. Instead, they release enormous quantities of light pollen that drifts through the air.

Once pollen arrives at the right place, the flower can begin forming seeds and frequently a fruit around them.

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 pollen, pollination, nectar, signals and attract 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 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 "Why Flowers Wear Bright Colors"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 211 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 4.8. 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.