Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources
Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources
Reading Comprehension Worksheets
Solar System
All the Spheres of the Earth

Solar System
Solar System


All the Spheres of the Earth
Print All the Spheres of the Earth Reading Comprehension with Sixth Grade Work

Print All the Spheres of the Earth Reading Comprehension

Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   high interest, readability grades 6 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.77

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    peridotite, argon, oceanic, basalt, dependent, best, tectonic, lithosphere, atmosphere, nitrogen, biosphere, groundwater, granite, magma, continental, hydrosphere


All the Spheres of the Earth
By Patti Hutchison
  

1     Do you know that there are four "spheres" that make up our Earth? They are the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. These four systems are separate, but they also work together with each other.
 
2     The "sphere" we know best is the lithosphere. This is the land we live on. It is the crust of the Earth. It also includes the mantle. This is the solid layer below the crust. There are two kinds of crust. They are the continental crust and the oceanic crust. Continental crust is made mostly of granite. Basalt is the main type of rock found in oceanic crust. The upper mantle, closest to the crust, is mostly made up of a hard rock called peridotite.
 
3     The lithosphere is made up of huge, solid pieces of rock. These are called tectonic plates. The continental crust is about 150 kilometers thick. The oceanic crust is about 70 kilometers thick. New oceanic lithosphere is always being made. It is made from cooled material from the lower mantle. The lower mantle is the layer of liquid rock or magma far below the Earth's surface.
 
4     New lithosphere is made at oceanic ridges. It is younger than continental crust. The oldest oceanic crust is only about 200 million years old. Some continental lithosphere is billions of years old.

Paragraphs 5 to 14:
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Solar System
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    Careers in Science  
 
    Caring for Earth  
 
    Clouds  
 
    Dinosaurs  
 
    Earth's Land  
 
    Earth  
 
    Earthquakes  
 
    Electricity  
 
    Energy  
 
    Erosion  
 
    Food Pyramid  
 
    Food Webs and Food Chain  
 
    Forces and Motion  
 
    Fossils  
 
    Health and Nutrition  
 
    How Things Work  
 
    Landforms  
 
    Life Science  
 
    Light  
 
    Magnets  
 
    Matter  
 
 
    Moon  
 
    Natural Disasters  
 
    Photosynthesis  
 
    Plant and Animal Cells  
 
    Plants  
 
    Rocks and Minerals  
 
    Science Process Skills  
 
    Scientific Notation  
 
    Seasons  
 
    Simple Machines  
 
    Soil  
 
    Solar System  
 
    Sound  
 
    Space and Stars  
 
    Sun  
 
    Tsunami  
 
    Volcanoes  
 
    Water Cycle  
 
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