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How a Waterfall Slowly Walks Upstream

6th grade nonfiction passage about waterfalls moving upstream: 230 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

6th grade nonfiction waterfalls moving upstream 230 words

How a Waterfall Slowly Walks Upstream

A waterfall looks like a fixed part of the land, but many waterfalls are moving. Very slowly, over hundreds or thousands of years, they travel backward up the river that feeds them.

The story begins with two kinds of rock. Imagine a river that flows over a layer of hard rock that sits on top of a layer of softer rock. At the edge, the river tumbles over the hard layer and drops onto the soft layer below. That edge is the waterfall.

At the bottom, the falling water churns in a deep pool called a plunge pool. The swirling water, carrying sand and small stones, strikes the soft rock again and again and wears it away. Soon the soft rock under the hard layer is hollowed out, and the hard rock above is left hanging out like a shelf.

A shelf with nothing under it cannot stay up forever. Eventually a piece of it cracks and breaks off, and it falls into the pool. The edge of the waterfall is now a little farther upstream than before. The same thing then happens again, and again.

Each small step is tiny, but the steps add up. Over a very long time, a waterfall can carve out a deep, narrow valley called a gorge behind it. A gorge below a waterfall is the trail that the falls have left behind them.

Questions

  1. What two kinds of rock are needed for a waterfall to move upstream? in the text

  2. What is a plunge pool? in the text

  3. What does the swirling water wear away? in the text

  4. What happens when the hard shelf has nothing under it? in the text

  5. Why does the waterfall end up farther upstream after the shelf breaks? think about it

  6. What is a gorge below a waterfall? think about it

Words to know

plunge
to drop or fall suddenly
churns
stirs up and swirls with force
hollowed
made empty on the inside
shelf
a flat piece that sticks out from a wall or cliff
gorge
a deep, narrow valley with steep rock walls
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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 · 212 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.9

A waterfall looks like a fixed part of the land, but many waterfalls are moving. Very slowly, over hundreds or thousands of years, they travel backward up the river.

The story begins with two kinds of rock. Picture a river that flows over a hard layer of rock. Under it is a layer of softer rock. At the edge, the river tumbles over the hard layer and drops onto the soft layer below. That edge is the waterfall.

At the bottom, the falling water swirls in a deep pool called a plunge pool. The water carries sand and small stones. It strikes the soft rock again and again and wears it away. Soon the soft rock under the hard layer is hollow. The hard rock above sticks out like a shelf.

A shelf with nothing under it cannot stay up forever. A piece of it cracks and breaks off. It falls into the pool. The edge of the waterfall is now a little farther upstream. Then the same thing happens again, and again.

Each step is tiny, but the steps add up. Over a very long time, a waterfall can carve a deep, narrow valley called a gorge behind it. A gorge below a waterfall is the trail the falls have left.

▲ This passage · 230 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.5

A waterfall looks like a fixed part of the land, but many waterfalls are moving. Very slowly, over hundreds or thousands of years, they travel backward up the river that feeds them.

The story begins with two kinds of rock. Imagine a river that flows over a layer of hard rock that sits on top of a layer of softer rock. At the edge, the river tumbles over the hard layer and drops onto the soft layer below. That edge is the waterfall.

At the bottom, the falling water churns in a deep pool called a plunge pool. The swirling water, carrying sand and small stones, strikes the soft rock again and again and wears it away. Soon the soft rock under the hard layer is hollowed out, and the hard rock above is left hanging out like a shelf.

A shelf with nothing under it cannot stay up forever. Eventually a piece of it cracks and breaks off, and it falls into the pool. The edge of the waterfall is now a little farther upstream than before. The same thing then happens again, and again.

Each small step is tiny, but the steps add up. Over a very long time, a waterfall can carve out a deep, narrow valley called a gorge behind it. A gorge below a waterfall is the trail that the falls have left behind them.

■ Harder · 240 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 8.4

A waterfall appears to be a permanent feature of the landscape, yet many waterfalls are actually on the move. Extremely slowly, over hundreds or even thousands of years, they travel backward up the river that feeds them.

The story begins with two different kinds of rock. Imagine a river flowing across a layer of hard rock that rests on top of a layer of softer rock. At the edge, the river tumbles over the hard layer and drops onto the soft layer below, and that edge is the waterfall.

At the bottom, the falling water churns inside a deep basin called a plunge pool. The swirling water, loaded with sand and small stones, strikes the soft rock repeatedly and gradually wears it away. Before long, the soft rock beneath the hard layer is hollowed out, and the hard rock above is left jutting out like a shelf.

A shelf with nothing underneath it cannot remain in place forever. Eventually a section of it cracks and breaks away, plummeting into the pool. The edge of the waterfall is then located a little farther upstream than it was before, and the very same process begins again, and then again.

Each individual step is minuscule, but the steps accumulate. Over an immense span of time, a waterfall can carve a deep, narrow valley called a gorge behind it. A gorge below a waterfall is the trail that the falls have left behind 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 plunge, churns, hollowed, shelf and gorge 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 Waterfall Slowly Walks Upstream"?

It was written for 6th grade. It has 230 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 5.5. 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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