Watersheds – Reading Article – Grades 5-7

Description

Watersheds – Fully editable, Science Reading Activity – Disciplinary Literacy for Grades 5-7 (ages 10-12) as well as older students with lower developed learning levels. The readability index is between grade 6-7. Tackle literacy and science by having your students read and answer questions from a scientific article. Each page highlights and explains key terms for student reference. Questions include knowledge (direct from the paper), thinking, connecting, and open-ended varieties.

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The reading looks at:

– What Are Watersheds?

– How Are Watersheds Divided?

– How Does Water Move Through Watersheds?

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This activity covers the following NGSS:

– 5-ESS2-1

– MS-ESS2-1

– MS-ESS2-4

This reading is perfect for an extension activity, substitute plans or literacy practice and hits on the following Common Core Standards:

– CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.1

– CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.2

– CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.10

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**Please note that the preview file contains THREE complete readings. I’ve made them available so you can fully see how the resource is structured as well as the quality of its writing. Your article will be very similar in nature but if you’d like a closer look at it in particular, I’d recommend you review the preview images**

No prep, no formatting, no issues. Simply download, print (or upload to your class site) and you’re all set. The article comes as a WORD file as well as a PDF for your convenience. The sample contains three complete readings free so you can get a better idea of how they are structured.

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The Problems You Face

– Not having the time to properly teach scientific literacy (disciplinary literacy) or improve your students reading comprehension and analysis skills.

– Some students work faster than others and you would like an interesting extension activity for your faster-moving students to keep them learning and engaged.

The Solution

This fully editable, NO PREP reading comprehension article is composed of relevant, applicable and engaging reading activities which can be used to:

• introduce your topic

• improve your students literacy skills

• improve your students reading comprehension and scientific literacy skills

• improve your student’s analysis skills

• provide an extension activity to students who move at a faster pace

• provide extra credit to students in need

• measure your students literacy skills

Furthermore, this resource works very well as an emergency substitute plan as it will keep your students on task and focused while you are away.

This resource will take your students between 40-60 minutes to complete and includes a variety of questions. An answer key is also included for your reference.

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You might also be interested in the articles below and if you don’t find what you are looking for, send me an email with your topic. If it is made, I’ll send it to you free of charge. devon@teachwithfergy.com

Health and Wellbeing

• Concussions

• The Common Cold

• Allergies

• Cancer

• Viruses

• The Cardiovascular System

• Vaccines

• Blood Types

• The Nervous System

• Asthma and Asthma Attacks

• Acne

• Immune System – Your Body’s Police Force

• Fracking and Its Dangers

• The Measles

• Stem Cells

• The Flu

• How Protective Equipment Keeps You Safe

• Caffeine: The Elixir of Energy

• Exercise and its Importance for Health

• Smallpox

• HIV and AIDS

• Polio

• Effects of stress on the brain

• Pesticides

• Whooping Cough

• Genetics and Gene Therapy

• Down Syndrome

• Cystic Fibrosis

• Heart Disease

• Heart Attack and Stroke

• Multiple Sclerosis

• Laser Eye Surgery

• Muscle Growth

• Diabetes

Ecology

• Invasive Species

• Urban Sprawl

• Food Webs

• Why Leaves Change Color In The Fall

• The Effects of Pollution

• Endangered Species

• Animal Adaptations

• Biodiversity

• The Water Cycle

• The Seasons and What Causes Them

• Nocturnal Animals

• Climate Change

• Oil Spills and Their Consequences

• Farming – Is Organic Really Better?

• Fracking and Its Dangers

• Why Bees Are Important

• Bioaccumulation and Biomagnification

• Ecosystems

• Mosquitoes And The Diseases They Spread

• Predator Prey Relationship

• Physical Adaptations

• Watersheds

Chemistry

• The Chemistry of Cooking

• Water Softeners

• Chemistry of Dyeing Hair

• Smog

• Ocean Acidification

• Pollution Control Devices

• The Greenhouse Effect

• Cleaning up Acid Spills

• Rust-Proofing

• Chemistry of Cosmetics

Physics

• Energy Use and Conservation

• Wind Energy Production

• Hydroelectric Energy Production

• Solar Electricity Production

• Fossil Fuel Energy Production

• Nuclear Energy – Fission and Fusion

• The Science of Roller Coasters

• Optical Phenomena

• The Northern and Southern Lights

• Car Safety

• Hydraulics

• Simple Machines

Natural Disasters and Weather

• Earthquakes

• Hurricanes

• Tornadoes

• How Weather Works

• Lightning

• Thunderstorms

• Why The Wind Blows

• Climate Change

• Volcanoes

• Tsunamis

• Natural Disasters: Weather and Climate

• Natural Disasters: Earth, Water, and Space

General Sciences

• Making Food Using Fermentation

• Why is the Sky Blue?

• The Limitations of Space Travel

• Artificial Preservatives

• Plate Tectonics

• How Do Ships Float?

• Effects of Everyday Forces

• The Planets Of Our Solar System

• Fossils

Biology

• Genetically Modified Organisms

• Twins – Identical and Fraternal

• The Importance of Bats

• Predator Prey Relationship

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Praise For My Other Reading Comprehension Resources:

“I teach middle school science and need to include informational text in my classroom. These readings are great for independent reading for my grade level and upper-level readers. The articles address CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.1 (Citing specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts.) and CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.10 (By the end of grade 8, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.). The leveled questions allow you to subtly assign the questions to different ability students working in a group.

Topics are relevant to the students and current. Graphics draw the students into the article.

I’m going to have one printed and waiting in for my substitute folder too!

THANKS!”

“Thanks for putting together a wonderful resource.”

“I teach Special Education high school science in Maryland in a special school for children with learning disabilities/Autism. I liked the readings and I think students could relate to the topics. I know these are too high a reading level for most of my students and I would read it out loud and highlight the important information together. I would not be able to use the higher order thinking questions (which I like) with these kids. For my high students (very few of these in my school :), I really like these especially how you noted where you got the information which if they were inclined, they could go back to the original source. I like that you have scaffolded the questions and I would only be able to use these with a handful of students, but I think in a regular high school classroom (I spent many years in regular ed) these are spot on. Thank you for sharing.”

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Each summary is rich with age-appropriate content (grades 5-7) and is 1-1.5 pages long (13-font). Following each reading are 5-8 questions along with the answer key, which will help guide your students understanding. The questions include information-based questions straight from the article as well as more open-ended thinking questions which provide an extension for the learning.

How this product will help your students:

– Improve their scientific and disciplinary literacy skills

– Improve their reading comprehension and scientific knowledge

– Give them insights into important scientific concepts

– Provide an extension activity for your faster moving/more gifted students

How this product will help you:

– Allow you to meet the NGSS, TEKS and Common Core Standards

– Provide you with a concise introduction to your topic

– Provide you with an engaging and easy to leave substitute plan which will keep your students engaged and on task

– Prove you a means of measuring your students’ literacy skills

We don’t spend enough time teaching scientific literacy to our students. This is either because we don’t have the resources to do so effectively or we don’t have the time. However, teaching our students to become scientifically literate is vital if we want them to succeed in life. We need them to know about the world they live in and about the issues they face. Even issues as simple as the common cold are misunderstood and can lead to the misuse of antibacterial drugs eventually rendering them ineffective.