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How Glaciers Shape the Land

6th grade nonfiction passage about glaciers: 233 words, five questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

6th grade nonfiction glaciers 233 words

How Glaciers Shape the Land

A glacier is a huge, slow river of ice. It begins in cold places where more snow falls in winter than melts in summer. Year after year, new snow piles on top, and the weight squeezes the older snow into dense ice. When the ice becomes thick enough, gravity makes it creep downhill. Most glaciers move only a few inches or feet in a day, but over many years they travel a long way.

Glaciers are powerful tools of change. As the ice moves, it picks up rocks and gravel and drags them along the ground like sandpaper. The rocks scrape the bedrock underneath and leave long scratches. A glacier can also scoop out a valley. A river tends to cut a narrow valley shaped like the letter V, but a glacier grinds the sides and floor wider, so the valley ends up shaped like the letter U.

When the ice melts, it drops the rocks it was carrying. These piles, called moraines, can form long ridges that mark where the glacier once ended. Meltwater can fill the deep basins that ice carved, making lakes. Some of the Great Lakes were shaped this way by enormous ice sheets thousands of years ago.

Today glaciers cover about a tenth of Earth's land, mostly in Antarctica, Greenland, and high mountains. Scientists measure them carefully, because they hold a great deal of the world's fresh water.

Questions

  1. How does a glacier begin? in the text

  2. What shape is a valley carved by a glacier? in the text

  3. What are moraines? in the text

  4. A hiker finds long scratches on bare rock where there is no ice now. What might have made them? think about it

  5. Why do scientists measure glaciers carefully? think about it

Words to know

glacier
a huge, slow-moving mass of ice on land
bedrock
the solid rock under the soil
valley
low land between hills or mountains
moraines
ridges of rock and gravel left by a glacier
meltwater
water that comes from melting ice or snow
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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 · 213 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.7

A glacier is a huge, slow river of ice. It starts in cold places. More snow falls in winter than melts in summer. New snow piles on top year after year. The weight squeezes the old snow into hard ice. When the ice is thick enough, gravity makes it creep downhill. Most glaciers move only a few inches or feet a day. Over many years they go a long way.

Glaciers change the land. As the ice moves, it picks up rocks and gravel. It drags them along the ground like sandpaper. The rocks scrape the bedrock and leave long scratches. A glacier can also scoop out a valley. A river cuts a narrow valley like the letter V. A glacier grinds the sides and floor wider. Its valley is shaped like the letter U.

When the ice melts, it drops the rocks. The piles are called moraines. They can form long ridges where the glacier once ended. Meltwater can fill the deep basins that the ice carved. That makes lakes. Huge ice sheets shaped some of the Great Lakes thousands of years ago.

Glaciers cover about a tenth of Earth's land. Most are in Antarctica, Greenland, and high mountains. Scientists measure them, because they hold a lot of the world's fresh water.

▲ This passage · 233 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.6

A glacier is a huge, slow river of ice. It begins in cold places where more snow falls in winter than melts in summer. Year after year, new snow piles on top, and the weight squeezes the older snow into dense ice. When the ice becomes thick enough, gravity makes it creep downhill. Most glaciers move only a few inches or feet in a day, but over many years they travel a long way.

Glaciers are powerful tools of change. As the ice moves, it picks up rocks and gravel and drags them along the ground like sandpaper. The rocks scrape the bedrock underneath and leave long scratches. A glacier can also scoop out a valley. A river tends to cut a narrow valley shaped like the letter V, but a glacier grinds the sides and floor wider, so the valley ends up shaped like the letter U.

When the ice melts, it drops the rocks it was carrying. These piles, called moraines, can form long ridges that mark where the glacier once ended. Meltwater can fill the deep basins that ice carved, making lakes. Some of the Great Lakes were shaped this way by enormous ice sheets thousands of years ago.

Today glaciers cover about a tenth of Earth's land, mostly in Antarctica, Greenland, and high mountains. Scientists measure them carefully, because they hold a great deal of the world's fresh water.

■ Harder · 253 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 7.4

A glacier is an immense, slow-moving river of ice. It forms in frigid regions where more snow falls during winter than melts during summer. Year after year, fresh snow accumulates on top, and the tremendous weight compresses the older snow into dense, solid ice. Once the ice becomes thick enough, gravity causes it to creep downhill. Most glaciers advance only a few inches or feet in a day, but over many decades they can travel an astonishing distance.

Glaciers are powerful agents of change. As the ice flows, it picks up rocks and gravel and drags them across the ground like enormous sheets of sandpaper. The embedded rocks scrape the bedrock below and leave long scratches behind. A glacier can also excavate an entire valley. A river tends to carve a narrow valley shaped like the letter V, but a glacier grinds the sides and floor wider, so the valley it leaves behind is shaped like the letter U.

When the ice finally melts, it deposits the rocks it was carrying. These piles, called moraines, can form long ridges that mark the place where the glacier once ended. Meltwater can fill the deep basins that the ice carved out, creating lakes. Some of the Great Lakes were shaped in this way by enormous ice sheets many thousands of years ago.

Today glaciers cover about a tenth of Earth's land, mostly in Antarctica, Greenland, and high mountain ranges. Scientists monitor them carefully, because they contain a great deal of the world's fresh water.

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 glacier, bedrock, valley, moraines and meltwater 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 "How Glaciers Shape the Land"?

It was written for 6th grade. It has 233 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 5.6. 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 five. 3 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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