Reading Skills Passage - Protecting Watersheds: We All Live Downstream

Maximize your instruction time by covering a lot with a little! Your students will love this article about watersheds and what they can do to protect them. The article explains the significance of the phrase we all live downstream, discusses the environmental impact of plastics, and why it's important to keep them out of our watersheds. The packet also includes a word-study sheet that explores the words watershed and biodegradable. It even introduces morphemes!

Students can interact with the text in several ways; you choose how and how much. Here is what's included:

• 476-word reading passage that introduces watersheds and explores the phrase we all live downstream
• Main idea and supporting detail graphic organizer
• Text structure question and graphic organizer sheet
• Fact and opinion sheet
• Questioning sheet to spur student questions and further research
• A word study sheet hones in on specific words in the article and their latin roots

Use one sheet to focus on a specific skill or use as a packet for self-guided close-reading. Either way, this passage will engage students and maximize instruction.

5th grade reading level, but appropriate for other grades, including 3rd, 4th, middle school and beyond.

Keywords: we all live downstream, watersheds, water cycle, rain, river, stream, creek, environment, environmental, recycling, main idea, supporting details, text structure, questioning, graphic organizers, fact and opinion, word study