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One River, Six Towns, One Shared Plan

6th grade nonfiction passage about towns sharing a watershed: 211 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

6th grade nonfiction towns sharing a watershed 211 words

One River, Six Towns, One Shared Plan

Rain that falls on a hillside does not care where a town boundary runs. It flows downhill into a stream, then into a river, and finally toward a lake or an ocean. All the land that drains into one river is called its watershed, and a watershed often crosses many towns.

That creates a puzzle for local governments. Imagine six towns along a river. The town at the top allows a new parking lot with no place for rain to soak in. Water rushes off the pavement, carrying oil and dirt into the river. The town at the bottom, which never made that choice, is left with muddy water and a flooded park.

Since one town cannot solve the problem alone, neighbors sometimes form a watershed council. Each town sends a representative, and they meet to share information and agree on common goals. Members might decide on shared rules for keeping the stream banks planted with trees, or work together to test the water.

A council like this usually cannot force a town to do anything. Its power comes from agreements that each town chooses to join, and from the fact that every member depends on the same river. Cooperation works because people upstream and downstream are on the same team.

Questions

  1. What is a watershed? in the text

  2. What can happen when rain rushes off pavement? in the text

  3. Who does each town send to a watershed council? in the text

  4. What could the members of a watershed council do together? in the text

  5. Why can the town at the bottom not solve the problem alone? think about it

  6. Why does cooperation work even though the council cannot force a town? think about it

Words to know

watershed
all the land that drains into one river
boundary
a line that shows where one place ends
pavement
a hard road or parking surface
representative
a person chosen to speak for others
cooperation
working together toward the same goal
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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 · 196 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.6

Rain on a hillside does not care where a town ends. It flows downhill into a stream. Then it flows into a river. At last it goes toward a lake or an ocean. All the land that drains into one river is its watershed. A watershed often crosses many towns.

This makes a puzzle for local governments. Picture six towns along a river. The town at the top allows a parking lot. The rain has no place to soak in. Water rushes off the pavement. It carries oil and dirt into the river. The town at the bottom did not make that choice. But it gets muddy water and a flooded park.

One town cannot fix this alone. So neighbors may form a watershed council. Each town sends a representative. They meet to share facts and set common goals. They might make shared rules to plant trees along the stream banks. They might test the water together.

A council like this usually cannot force a town to act. Its power comes from agreements that towns choose to join. Every member also depends on the same river. Cooperation works because upstream and downstream are on one team.

▲ This passage · 211 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 7.1

Rain that falls on a hillside does not care where a town boundary runs. It flows downhill into a stream, then into a river, and finally toward a lake or an ocean. All the land that drains into one river is called its watershed, and a watershed often crosses many towns.

That creates a puzzle for local governments. Imagine six towns along a river. The town at the top allows a new parking lot with no place for rain to soak in. Water rushes off the pavement, carrying oil and dirt into the river. The town at the bottom, which never made that choice, is left with muddy water and a flooded park.

Since one town cannot solve the problem alone, neighbors sometimes form a watershed council. Each town sends a representative, and they meet to share information and agree on common goals. Members might decide on shared rules for keeping the stream banks planted with trees, or work together to test the water.

A council like this usually cannot force a town to do anything. Its power comes from agreements that each town chooses to join, and from the fact that every member depends on the same river. Cooperation works because people upstream and downstream are on the same team.

■ Harder · 234 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 8

Rain that lands on a hillside pays no attention to where a town boundary happens to run. It flows downhill into a stream, then into a river, and eventually toward a lake or an ocean. All of the land that drains into a single river is known as its watershed, and a watershed frequently stretches across many towns.

This creates a genuine puzzle for local governments. Imagine six towns strung along a river. The town at the top permits a new parking lot that leaves no place for rain to soak into the ground. Water rushes off the pavement, carrying oil and dirt into the river. The town at the bottom, which never made that choice, is left with muddy water and a flooded park.

Because no single town can solve such a problem by itself, neighbors sometimes form a watershed council. Each town sends a representative, and together they exchange information and settle on common goals. Members might agree on shared rules for keeping the stream banks planted with trees, or they might cooperate to test the water.

A council of this kind usually has no power to force a town to do anything. Its strength comes from agreements that each town chooses to join, and from the fact that every member depends on the same river. Cooperation succeeds because the people upstream and downstream are, in the end, on the same team.

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 watershed, boundary, pavement, representative and cooperation 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 "One River, Six Towns, One Shared Plan"?

It was written for 6th grade. It has 211 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 7.1. 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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