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A Vault of Seeds for a Rainy Day

6th grade nonfiction passage about seed banks: 223 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

6th grade nonfiction seed banks 223 words

A Vault of Seeds for a Rainy Day

Imagine that a disease sweeps through a farmer's wheat and the old kind of wheat is gone from every field in the region. Without a backup, that kind of wheat could be lost forever. Seed banks exist so that this never happens.

A seed bank is a storage building, often built like a vault, where seeds of crops and wild plants are kept for the future. Workers clean the seeds, dry them carefully, seal them in small packets and store them in a cold room. Cold and dryness keep a seed asleep, so many kinds can stay alive for years or even decades.

Why does this matter? Over time, farmers have bred thousands of varieties of crops. One variety of rice may thrive in floodwater, while another may handle dry weather. Each has traits that might one day be needed, such as resistance to a new pest or a hotter climate. If farmers plant only a few popular varieties, the rest can vanish.

Seed banks also need care. Stored seeds slowly lose their power to sprout, so workers test samples and plant new batches every so often to make fresh seeds. Then the cycle begins again. Seed banks around the world also share copies with each other, so a flood or a fire in one place does not erase a variety for good.

Questions

  1. What is a seed bank? in the text

  2. What two conditions help keep stored seeds alive for years? in the text

  3. What is one example of a useful trait that a crop variety might have? in the text

  4. Why do workers plant new batches of seeds every so often? in the text

  5. Why do seed banks share copies with each other? think about it

  6. Why could planting only a few popular varieties be risky? think about it

Words to know

vault
a strong, secure room for keeping valuable things
variety
one particular kind within a larger type of plant
traits
features or qualities that a living thing has
resistance
the ability to avoid being harmed by something
sprout
to begin to grow from a seed
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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 · 199 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.8

Picture this. A disease hits a farmer's wheat. The old kind of wheat is gone from every field nearby. With no backup, that wheat could be lost forever. Seed banks are built so this never happens.

A seed bank is a storage building, often like a vault. Seeds of crops and wild plants are kept there for the future. Workers clean the seeds and dry them with care. They seal them in small packets and keep them in a cold room. Cold and dryness keep a seed asleep. Many kinds can stay alive for years.

Why does this matter? Farmers have bred thousands of varieties of crops. One kind of rice may grow in floodwater. Another may handle dry weather. Each has traits we might need one day, like resistance to a new pest. If farmers plant only a few popular kinds, the rest can vanish.

Seed banks need care too. Stored seeds slowly lose the power to sprout. So workers test samples and plant new batches to make fresh seeds. Then it starts again. Seed banks also share copies with each other. If a flood or a fire hits one place, the variety is still safe somewhere else.

▲ This passage · 223 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6.2

Imagine that a disease sweeps through a farmer's wheat and the old kind of wheat is gone from every field in the region. Without a backup, that kind of wheat could be lost forever. Seed banks exist so that this never happens.

A seed bank is a storage building, often built like a vault, where seeds of crops and wild plants are kept for the future. Workers clean the seeds, dry them carefully, seal them in small packets and store them in a cold room. Cold and dryness keep a seed asleep, so many kinds can stay alive for years or even decades.

Why does this matter? Over time, farmers have bred thousands of varieties of crops. One variety of rice may thrive in floodwater, while another may handle dry weather. Each has traits that might one day be needed, such as resistance to a new pest or a hotter climate. If farmers plant only a few popular varieties, the rest can vanish.

Seed banks also need care. Stored seeds slowly lose their power to sprout, so workers test samples and plant new batches every so often to make fresh seeds. Then the cycle begins again. Seed banks around the world also share copies with each other, so a flood or a fire in one place does not erase a variety for good.

■ Harder · 236 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 8.9

Imagine that a disease sweeps through a farmer's wheat and the traditional variety disappears from every field in the surrounding region. Without a backup, that variety could be lost permanently. Seed banks exist precisely so that such a loss never occurs.

A seed bank is a storage facility, frequently constructed like a vault, in which the seeds of crops and wild plants are preserved for the future. Workers clean the seeds, dry them meticulously, seal them in small packets and keep them in a cold room. Cold and dryness hold a seed in a dormant state, so many kinds can remain alive for years or even decades.

Why does this matter so much? Over the centuries, farmers have bred thousands of varieties of crops. One variety of rice may flourish in floodwater, while another may tolerate dry weather. Each carries traits that might someday be needed, such as resistance to a new pest or adaptation to a hotter climate. If farmers plant only a handful of popular varieties, the remainder can vanish entirely.

Seed banks also require constant care. Stored seeds gradually lose their capacity to sprout, so workers test samples and plant fresh batches every so often in order to produce new seeds. Then the cycle begins again. Seed banks around the world also exchange copies with one another, so a flood or a fire in one place does not erase a variety for good.

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 vault, variety, traits, resistance and sprout 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 "A Vault of Seeds for a Rainy Day"?

It was written for 6th grade. It has 223 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 6.2. 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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