The Ozone Layer Reading

5th Grade ScienceLayers of the Atmosphere5 pages

About this worksheet

A four-paragraph passage called Earth's Invisible Sunscreen tells 5th grade students how the ozone layer in the stratosphere absorbs ultraviolet light. It goes on to the thin patch found over Antarctica in the 1980s, the CFCs from spray cans, air conditioners and refrigerators that caused it, and the Montreal Protocol of 1987. Ten questions follow over three pages: four multiple choice, two short answers, a vocabulary item on the word culprits, a true or false with evidence and two written responses. It lines up with Common Core RI.5.1, RI.5.3 and L.5.4a.

Remix for free

The Ozone Layer Reading: Layers of the Atmosphere - page 1

The Ozone Layer Reading: Layers of the Atmosphere - page 2

The Ozone Layer Reading: Layers of the Atmosphere - page 3

The Ozone Layer Reading: Layers of the Atmosphere - page 4

The Ozone Layer Reading: Layers of the Atmosphere - 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.”

Item 8 asks students to mark a claim False and quote a phrase from the passage as proof.

RI.5.3

“Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text.”

Items 6, 9 and 10 link CFCs used around the world to the Montreal Protocol and the healing ozone layer.

L.5.4a

“Use context (e.g., cause/effect relationships and comparisons in text) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.”

Item 7 asks what culprits means in the sentence about CFCs.

What's inside this worksheet

Reading Passage

Four paragraphs with the key words stratosphere, ozone, ultraviolet, ozone hole, CFCs and Montreal Protocol in bold. A picture of Earth from space sits beside the first paragraph.

Part 1 Retrieve the Facts

Four multiple choice items on the layer that holds ozone, the harmful rays, where the ozone hole was found and which everyday items held CFCs. Two short answers ask why the ozone layer matters and what countries did in 1987.

Part 2 Read Between the Lines

Students explain what culprits means in paragraph 3. They then check True or False for the claim that the ozone hole was a completely empty space and copy a phrase from the text as evidence.

Part 3 Evaluate and Respond

Why one country could not fix the ozone layer alone, using clues from paragraphs 3 and 4, and an opinion on whether the Montreal Protocol was a major success, backed by two details.

Answers

Letter answers for items 1 to 4, model answers for items 5 to 7, the False answer with two possible quotes for item 8 and sample responses for items 9 and 10.

How teachers use it

Two reads

Read the passage aloud once, then have students reread alone and underline each date and place. Items 3 and 6 and the evidence line in item 8 are then quick to find.

Culprits in context

Write culprits on the board before item 7 and ask where students have heard it. A mystery story or a crime show usually comes up, which gets them to the meaning.

Stand and vote

Item 10 works as a quick vote. Students move to one side of the room for agree or disagree and give one detail from paragraph 4 before they write.

More 5th Grade Science worksheets

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