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How a Desert Spring Makes an Oasis

6th grade nonfiction passage about desert springs and oases: 224 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

6th grade nonfiction desert springs and oases 224 words

How a Desert Spring Makes an Oasis

Imagine walking for hours across dry sand and then seeing a patch of green palm trees. That patch is an oasis, a place in the desert where water comes to the surface. It looks like magic, but the water has a long story.

Most of an oasis's water fell as rain, often far away. In a place with mountains, rain and melting snow soak into the ground and sink into layers of sand and rock that hold water, like a hard sponge. These layers are called aquifers. Water moves slowly through them, sometimes for many miles and many years, always flowing downhill underground.

An oasis appears where this hidden water reaches the surface. Maybe a crack in the rock lets it rise, or maybe the ground dips low enough to meet the water table, the upper edge of the underground water. The water bubbles up as a spring or can be reached by a shallow well.

Once water is there, life gathers around it. Date palms grow, and their shade protects smaller plants. Birds and insects arrive. For centuries, travelers crossing the desert planned their routes from one oasis to the next, and villages grew where the water was dependable.

Today people pump water from some aquifers faster than rain can refill them, so careful use matters if an oasis is to stay green.

Questions

  1. What is an oasis? in the text

  2. What are aquifers? in the text

  3. Where did most of an oasis's water first come from? in the text

  4. What is the water table? in the text

  5. Why did travelers plan their routes from one oasis to the next? think about it

  6. Why does careful water use matter for an oasis today? think about it

Words to know

oasis
a green place in a desert where water is found
aquifers
underground layers of rock or sand that hold water
spring
a place where water flows out of the ground
dependable
able to be counted on
refill
to fill up again
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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 · 211 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.8

Picture a long walk over dry sand. Then you see green palm trees. That is an oasis. It is a place in the desert where water comes to the surface. It looks like magic, but the water has a long story.

Most of the water fell as rain, often far away. In places with mountains, rain and melting snow soak into the ground. They sink into layers of sand and rock that hold water, like a hard sponge. These layers are called aquifers. Water moves slowly through them, sometimes for many miles and many years. It flows downhill under the ground.

An oasis forms where the hidden water reaches the surface. Maybe a crack in the rock lets it rise. Maybe the ground dips low enough to meet the water table, the top edge of the underground water. The water bubbles up as a spring, or people dig a shallow well.

When water is there, life gathers. Date palms grow, and their shade helps smaller plants. Birds and insects come. For centuries, desert travelers planned trips from one oasis to the next. Villages grew where the water was safe to count on.

Today people sometimes pump water out faster than rain can refill it. Careful use helps an oasis stay green.

▲ This passage · 224 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6.4

Imagine walking for hours across dry sand and then seeing a patch of green palm trees. That patch is an oasis, a place in the desert where water comes to the surface. It looks like magic, but the water has a long story.

Most of an oasis's water fell as rain, often far away. In a place with mountains, rain and melting snow soak into the ground and sink into layers of sand and rock that hold water, like a hard sponge. These layers are called aquifers. Water moves slowly through them, sometimes for many miles and many years, always flowing downhill underground.

An oasis appears where this hidden water reaches the surface. Maybe a crack in the rock lets it rise, or maybe the ground dips low enough to meet the water table, the upper edge of the underground water. The water bubbles up as a spring or can be reached by a shallow well.

Once water is there, life gathers around it. Date palms grow, and their shade protects smaller plants. Birds and insects arrive. For centuries, travelers crossing the desert planned their routes from one oasis to the next, and villages grew where the water was dependable.

Today people pump water from some aquifers faster than rain can refill them, so careful use matters if an oasis is to stay green.

■ Harder · 237 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 8.2

Imagine trudging for hours across dry, shimmering sand and then glimpsing a cluster of green palm trees. That cluster is an oasis, a place in the desert where water emerges at the surface. It seems almost like magic, but the water has a remarkably long history.

Most of an oasis's water fell as rain, frequently in a region far away. In mountainous country, rain and melting snow soak into the ground and sink into layers of sand and rock that hold water, rather like a hard sponge. These layers are called aquifers. Water travels slowly through them, sometimes for many miles and many years, always flowing downhill beneath the ground.

An oasis appears wherever this concealed water reaches the surface. Perhaps a crack in the rock allows it to rise, or perhaps the ground dips low enough to meet the water table, the upper edge of the underground water. The water then bubbles up as a spring, or it can be reached by digging a shallow well.

Once water is present, life gathers around it. Date palms grow, and their shade shelters smaller plants. Birds and insects arrive. For centuries, travelers crossing the desert planned their routes from one oasis to the next, and villages developed wherever the water was dependable.

Nowadays people sometimes pump water from an aquifer faster than rain can refill it, so careful use is essential if an oasis is to remain green.

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 oasis, aquifers, spring, dependable and refill 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 "How a Desert Spring Makes an Oasis"?

It was written for 6th grade. It has 224 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 6.3. 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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