edHelper.com
Transportation

Travel in the Sky

Travel in the Sky
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 3 to 4
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   2.65

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    glider, entire, flyer, traveled, flight, seconds, crashed, lasted, below, glide, longer, several, minutes, once, brothers, arms
     content words:    Cal Rodgers

Print Travel in the Sky
edHelper.com subscriber options:
     Print Travel in the Sky  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
     Quickly print reading comprehension
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on Travel in the Sky
     Leave your feedback on Travel in the Sky  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

Travel in the Sky   
1     Flying was once a dream. For a long time, people had wanted to be up in the sky. They tried many ways. But nothing worked.
 
2     Things changed on one September day more than 220 years ago. Two brothers from France made a very large balloon with paper and cloth. To make the balloon float, they built a fire inside a basket and hung the basket below the balloon. They thought hot air from the fire would be light enough to push up the balloon. They were right! Their hot air balloon traveled about 2 miles. It was in the sky for eight minutes. Nobody was on board for the ride. To be safe, they had invited a duck, a rooster, and a sheep to be the first passengers. The hot air balloon landed safely. No animals were hurt.
 
3     Two months later, the same two brothers from France set off their hot air balloon again. This time, they had two people inside the basket. The flight lasted 25 minutes. It also landed safely. That was the first time men were in the sky!

Paragraphs 4 to 8:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Copyright © 2008 edHelper