The Storm of 1859: read-along
The Storm of 1859 as a read-along for the projector: 9 pages, 1391 words, level 18, beyond grade 8.
Page 1 of 9
On the morning of September 1, 1859, an English astronomer named Richard Carrington set up his telescope at a private observatory near London and began his usual routine of studying the face of the sun. Carrington was a wealthy brewer's son who had given up a career in the church to pursue science, and for several years he had devoted himself to recording the positions of sunspots, the dark blemishes that drift across the solar surface. He projected the sun's image onto a screen, so that he would not damage his eyes, and then sketched each spot with remarkable accuracy. That particular morning a huge and unusually complicated group of spots lay across the disk, and he started to draw it carefully, unaware that he was about to witness something that no human being had ever recorded before. It was a clear, ordinary Thursday, and nothing in the quiet room gave him the slightest warning of what was coming.
Keys: ← → or Page Up and Page Down turn the page, Space starts and pauses the voice, Home and End jump, F fills the screen. Tapping the right side of a page goes on; the left side goes back.
How to use it
- Press Full screen (F) to put the book on the projector.
- Press Read to me (Space), or read it yourself and turn pages with the arrow keys or a tap. Pick the Pace that suits the class.
- After the last page, three questions come up to talk about.
About this book
- Level 18, beyond grade 8
- 9 pages, 1391 words, about 10 minutes aloud
- A true book, gentle
Related
About The Storm of 1859
A true story of the largest solar storm ever recorded, which set the night skies glowing and sent sparks through the world's telegraph wires in 1859.
Words to preview
- sunspot (SUN-spot)
- dark solar patch
- flare (flair)
- sudden sun burst
- aurora (uh-ROR-uh)
- glowing sky lights
- telegraph (TEL-uh-graf)
- wire message system
- magnetic (mag-NET-ik)
- like a magnet
Questions that fit any book
- What is one new thing you learned from this book?
- Which page told you the most? What did it say?
- What would you still like to find out about this?
Questions
How long does The Storm of 1859 take to read aloud?
It has 9 pages and 1391 words, so about 10 minutes at the Steady pace and a little less at Quick. If you stop to talk on the way, plan for more.
What reading level is The Storm of 1859?
Level 18, beyond grade 8. The library numbers its levels from 0 to 18 and puts the level of a book on its cover; levels above 13 are beyond grade 8 and have no grade. A level is a guide for choosing, so look at the pages yourself.
Whose voice is it?
Your browser's own. Read to me uses a speaking voice already on the computer, so it sounds like that computer and works without a sign-in. Voices differ: some light each word as it is spoken, and some do not, in which case the highlight follows a steady pace instead. Some browsers use an online voice; if yours does, the browser, not us, sends the words of the page to its speech service. If no voice is installed, turn the pages and read it aloud yourself.
Do students need an account?
No. Nothing is asked of anyone and nothing is sent to us. Project the page, or share the link and let students open it on their own screens.
Where does this book come from?
It was written for Peabody's library as a true book. It is not copied from a textbook or another site.
Nothing you do here is sent to us. The voice is your browser's own. No sign-in, no ads.