Skip to the content
Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

How Vaccines Work

6th grade nonfiction passage about health and the body: 243 words, seven questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

6th grade nonfiction health and the body 243 words

How Vaccines Work

Your body has a defense system called the immune system. When germs such as viruses and bacteria get inside, the immune system goes to work. White blood cells find the germs. The body makes proteins called antibodies that stick to the germs and help destroy them.

The first time your body meets a germ, the response takes time. You may feel sick for days before the immune system wins. But the body keeps a memory. Some of the cells remember the germ, so if it ever comes back, the body can respond much faster, often before you feel ill.

A vaccine lets the body learn this lesson without the illness. It carries a harmless piece of a germ, or a germ that has been killed or weakened so that it cannot make you sick. Some newer vaccines carry instructions that tell your cells how to make a harmless piece of the germ. The immune system sees the piece, treats it as an invader, and makes antibodies. Then it keeps the memory.

Most vaccines are given as shots, though some are taken by mouth or as a spray in the nose. Some need more than one dose so that the memory stays strong.

Vaccines protect the person who gets them. They also protect others. When most people in a community are protected, a germ has trouble spreading, which shields people who cannot be vaccinated, such as very young babies. Doctors call this community immunity.

Questions

  1. What is the immune system? in the text

  2. What do antibodies do? in the text

  3. Why does meeting a germ a second time usually go better than the first time? in the text

  4. How does a vaccine teach the immune system without making a person sick? in the text

  5. Why do some vaccines need more than one dose? in the text

  6. How can a vaccine protect someone who has not had it? think about it

  7. What does the author mean by a lesson "without the illness"? think about it

Words to know

immune system
the parts of the body that fight germs
germs
tiny living things, such as viruses and bacteria, that can cause illness
antibodies
proteins the body makes that stick to germs and help destroy them
vaccine
a medicine that teaches the immune system to recognize a germ
dose
a measured amount of a medicine
community immunity
protection of a whole group when most of its members are protected

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 immune system, germs, antibodies, vaccine, dose and community immunity 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 6 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 Vaccines Work"?

It was written for 6th grade. It has 243 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 seven. 5 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.

Nothing you do here is sent to us. No sign-in, no ads.