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Roman Roads

6th grade nonfiction passage about ancient history: 242 words, seven questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

6th grade nonfiction ancient history 242 words

Roman Roads

The Roman Empire stretched across much of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. To rule such a large area, Rome needed to move soldiers, messengers, and goods quickly. The Romans solved the problem by building roads, thousands of miles of them.

Roman engineers planned a road carefully. Surveyors chose a route, often a nearly straight one, and workers dug a trench along it. Into the trench they packed layers of material: large stones at the bottom, then smaller stones and gravel, and sand near the top. The surface was paved with flat stones that fit closely together.

The road was built higher in the middle than at the edges, so rain would run off into ditches on both sides. Water is a road's worst enemy, because it softens the ground and cracks the surface. Good drainage helped Roman roads last for centuries.

Soldiers marched along the roads, and so did traders carrying pottery, wine, and grain. Messengers could carry news from one province to another much faster than before. Along the way there were inns and stations where travelers could rest and change horses.

Roads also changed the lands they crossed. Towns grew up beside them, and ideas, languages, and customs spread along them. The saying "all roads lead to Rome" captured the idea that the roads connected the empire to its capital.

Parts of some Roman roads can still be seen today, and some modern roads follow their old paths.

Questions

  1. Why did Rome build so many roads? in the text

  2. How did workers build a Roman road? in the text

  3. Why was the road built higher in the middle than at the edges? in the text

  4. Why does the author call water a road's "worst enemy"? in the text

  5. What could travelers find along the roads? in the text

  6. How did good roads help Rome rule its empire? think about it

  7. What does the saying "all roads lead to Rome" mean? think about it

Words to know

empire
a large area with many peoples, ruled by one government
trench
a long, narrow ditch dug in the ground
paved
covered with a hard, flat surface such as stone
drainage
a way of letting water flow away
province
one of the large regions that made up the Roman Empire

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 empire, trench, paved, drainage and province 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 "Roman Roads"?

It was written for 6th grade. It has 242 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 6.4. 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.

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