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The Layers of the Earth

6th grade nonfiction passage about earth science: 224 words, seven questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

6th grade nonfiction earth science 224 words

The Layers of the Earth

Earth looks solid and still, but under your feet it is made of layers, like an onion. Scientists cannot dig to the center, so they learn about the layers by studying earthquakes. When an earthquake shakes the ground, waves travel through the planet. The way the waves bend, speed up, and slow down tells scientists what the inside is made of.

The outer layer is the crust, a thin shell of solid rock. In proportion, the crust is about as thin as the skin of an apple. It is thickest under the continents and thinnest under the oceans.

Below the crust is the mantle, the thickest layer. The mantle is made of hot rock. It is solid, but over a very long time it flows slowly, like thick putty. Slow movements in the mantle are one reason the plates in the crust move.

At the center is the core, which has two parts. The outer core is made mostly of iron and nickel, and it is so hot that the metal is liquid. The inner core is also iron and nickel, but it is solid, because the pressure at the center of the Earth is so great that the metal cannot melt.

The motion of the liquid outer core also produces Earth's magnetic field. That field is the reason a compass needle points north.

Questions

  1. How do scientists learn about the layers inside the Earth? in the text

  2. What is the crust? in the text

  3. Where is the crust thinnest? in the text

  4. What is the mantle like? in the text

  5. How is the outer core different from the inner core? in the text

  6. Why is the inner core solid when the outer core around it is liquid? think about it

  7. What does comparing Earth to an onion help you picture? think about it

Words to know

crust
the thin, hard outer layer of the Earth
mantle
the thick layer of hot rock between the crust and the core
core
the center of the Earth, made mostly of iron and nickel
pressure
a strong force pushing on something from all sides
magnetic field
the area around a magnet or planet where a magnetic force can be felt

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 crust, mantle, core, pressure and magnetic field 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 "The Layers of the Earth"?

It was written for 6th grade. It has 224 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 5.4. 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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