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The Small Moon That Sprays Ice Into Space

6th grade nonfiction passage about icy jets on saturn's moon enceladus: 244 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

6th grade nonfiction icy jets on saturn's moon enceladus 244 words

The Small Moon That Sprays Ice Into Space

Saturn has dozens of moons, and one of the smallest, Enceladus, turned out to be among the most exciting. It is far smaller than Earth's Moon, and its surface is covered with clean, bright ice. In fact, it reflects sunlight better than almost anything else in the solar system.

The spacecraft Cassini flew past Enceladus many times. Its cameras revealed long cracks near the moon's south pole. From those cracks, jets of water vapor and tiny ice grains were shooting high into space. Scientists call such jets plumes. Cassini even flew through one and tasted the spray with its instruments.

The plumes helped explain two puzzles. First, much of the spray falls back like snow and keeps the surface looking fresh and bright. Second, some of it escapes and spreads out along Enceladus's orbit. That stream of ice grains feeds one of Saturn's faint outer rings.

The spray also gave a hint about what lies under the ice. Cassini found salt in the grains, along with other materials. Many scientists think the plumes come from a salty ocean of liquid water hidden beneath the frozen shell. They also think the water may touch the rocky core below.

That makes Enceladus a place scientists want to study more. Liquid water is one thing that living things on Earth need, so researchers are curious about whether this faraway moon could have the right conditions. For now, nobody knows. More missions would be needed to find out.

Questions

  1. What covers the surface of Enceladus? in the text

  2. What did Cassini's cameras reveal near the moon's south pole? in the text

  3. What are the jets called? in the text

  4. Why does the surface of Enceladus stay bright and fresh? think about it

  5. What did Cassini find in the ice grains that hints at a hidden ocean? in the text

  6. Why are scientists curious about this moon? think about it

Words to know

plumes
tall streams of gas or spray rising into the air
vapor
a gas made from a liquid, like steam
reflects
bounces light back
conditions
the situation or surroundings that affect something
frozen
turned hard by cold into ice
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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 · 225 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.7

Saturn has dozens of moons. One of the smallest is Enceladus. It turned out to be one of the most exciting. It is much smaller than Earth's Moon. Its surface is clean, bright ice. It reflects sunlight better than almost anything else in the solar system.

A spacecraft named Cassini flew past Enceladus many times. Its cameras found long cracks near the south pole. Jets of water vapor and tiny ice grains were shooting out of the cracks and up into space. Scientists call these jets plumes. Cassini even flew through one and tested the spray.

The plumes explained two puzzles. First, much of the spray falls back like snow. That keeps the surface fresh and bright. Second, some of the spray escapes. It spreads out along the moon's orbit. The ice grains feed one of Saturn's faint outer rings.

The spray also gave a clue about what is under the ice. Cassini found salt in the grains. Many scientists think the plumes come from a salty ocean of liquid water. The ocean is hidden under the frozen shell. The water may touch the rocky core below.

So scientists want to study Enceladus more. Living things on Earth need liquid water. Researchers are curious if this far moon has the right conditions. For now, no one knows. It would take more missions to find out.

▲ This passage · 244 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.9

Saturn has dozens of moons, and one of the smallest, Enceladus, turned out to be among the most exciting. It is far smaller than Earth's Moon, and its surface is covered with clean, bright ice. In fact, it reflects sunlight better than almost anything else in the solar system.

The spacecraft Cassini flew past Enceladus many times. Its cameras revealed long cracks near the moon's south pole. From those cracks, jets of water vapor and tiny ice grains were shooting high into space. Scientists call such jets plumes. Cassini even flew through one and tasted the spray with its instruments.

The plumes helped explain two puzzles. First, much of the spray falls back like snow and keeps the surface looking fresh and bright. Second, some of it escapes and spreads out along Enceladus's orbit. That stream of ice grains feeds one of Saturn's faint outer rings.

The spray also gave a hint about what lies under the ice. Cassini found salt in the grains, along with other materials. Many scientists think the plumes come from a salty ocean of liquid water hidden beneath the frozen shell. They also think the water may touch the rocky core below.

That makes Enceladus a place scientists want to study more. Liquid water is one thing that living things on Earth need, so researchers are curious about whether this faraway moon could have the right conditions. For now, nobody knows. More missions would be needed to find out.

■ Harder · 261 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 8.1

Saturn has dozens of moons, and one of the smallest, Enceladus, has proved to be among the most fascinating. It is considerably smaller than Earth's Moon, and its surface is blanketed in clean, brilliant ice. In fact, it reflects sunlight more effectively than almost anything else in the solar system.

The spacecraft Cassini swept past Enceladus many times. Its cameras revealed long fractures near the moon's south pole, and from those cracks, jets of water vapor and tiny ice grains were erupting high into space. Scientists refer to such jets as plumes. Cassini even flew straight through one of them and sampled the spray with its instruments.

The plumes helped to resolve two puzzles. First, a large portion of the spray falls back like snow and keeps the surface looking fresh and bright. Second, some of it escapes and spreads out along the orbit of Enceladus. That stream of ice grains supplies one of Saturn's faint outer rings.

The spray also offered a hint about what lies beneath the ice. Cassini detected salt in the grains, along with other materials. Many scientists believe the plumes originate from a salty ocean of liquid water concealed under the frozen shell. They also suspect that the water may come into contact with the rocky core below.

That possibility makes Enceladus a place that researchers are eager to study further. Liquid water is one thing that living things on Earth require, so scientists wonder whether this distant moon might have suitable conditions. At present, nobody knows, and additional missions would be needed to find out.

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 plumes, vapor, reflects, conditions and frozen 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 "The Small Moon That Sprays Ice Into Space"?

It was written for 6th grade. It has 244 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 5.8. 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.

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