Stories in the Stars Reading

5th Grade ScienceConstellations5 pages

About this worksheet

This 5-page 5th grade reading worksheet has a four-paragraph passage on the night sky. It covers how the ancient Greeks named Orion and Cassiopeia, why Britain calls the Big Dipper the Plough, how sailors used the bowl of the Big Dipper to find Polaris and how people escaping slavery on the Underground Railroad followed the Drinking Gourd north. Eight questions follow: four multiple choice, a true or false table with evidence, and three written responses. Page 5 holds the answers.

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Stories in the Stars Reading: Constellations - page 1

Stories in the Stars Reading: Constellations - page 2

Stories in the Stars Reading: Constellations - page 3

Stories in the Stars Reading: Constellations - page 4

Stories in the Stars Reading: Constellations - page 5

Curriculum objectives covered

RI.5.1

“Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.”

Questions 1 to 4 ask for details stated in the passage, question 5 asks students to copy the phrase that proves each answer, and question 8 asks for two pieces of evidence.

What's inside this worksheet

The Passage

Four paragraphs: the night sky as a storybook, the Big Dipper and the Plough, Polaris and sailors, and the Underground Railroad. Names and key terms such as constellations and 88 official constellations are in bold.

Retrieve from the Text

Four multiple choice questions with four options each: which constellations the Greeks named, Britain's name for the Big Dipper, why Polaris helped travelers and how many official constellations there are today.

Infer and Analyze

Question 5 is a true or false table with an evidence column. Questions 6 and 7 ask why cultures saw different pictures in the same seven stars and why the night sky mattered to people on the Underground Railroad.

Evaluate and Respond

Question 8 asks students to decide whether storytelling or navigation mattered more to people in the past and to back the choice with two pieces of evidence from the text.

Answers

The four letters, True or False with quoted evidence, model answers for questions 6 and 7, and a sample response for question 8.

How teachers use it

First read

Ask students to circle the bold terms as they read. Questions 1 to 4 can then be answered from those circles.

Underground Railroad unit

Pair question 7 with your history lessons. Students must use paragraph 4, so it shows who can tie a detail to a claim.

Partner debate

Question 8 has no single right answer. Give pairs two minutes to pick storytelling or navigation and swap evidence before they write.

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