Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources Reading Comprehension Worksheets Middle Ages

Serfs Work the Land Middle Ages

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Serfs Work the Land
Print Serfs Work the Land Reading Comprehension with Fifth Grade Work

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Print Serfs Work the Land Reading Comprehension

Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 5 to 7
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	4.93

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		all-important, carded, fallow, harrow, hay-making, under-recognized, serf, medieval, provided, repaired, backbreaking, hard-working, based, lifestyle, lord, gasoline
	content words:		Middle Ages

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Serfs Work the Land By Sharon Fabian

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¹     Serfs were the all-important, but under-recognized, group of the Middle Ages. The economy of the Middle Ages was a farming economy. It was based on the land and the people who worked the land day in and day out - the serfs.
 
²     Serfs were the farmers of the Middle Ages. They got up at dawn and went to sleep at dusk; they spent the daylight hours working the land. Their day was the same as the Earth's day. Their year followed the natural seasons of the year too.
 
³     One job that took up lots of the serfs' time was plowing. Their plows didn't run on gasoline; they were powered by humans or animals. Many peasants couldn't afford an ox to pull their plow, so they did much of the backbreaking work by hand. Fields were plowed whenever they were available. Some fields were allowed to lay fallow each year to replenish the soil, so these fields could be plowed during the growing season. Fields planted in crops were plowed after the fall harvest.
 
⁴     During the winter months, serfs caught up on chores that needed to be done. They made new tools and repaired old ones. Winter was also the time for slaughtering animals. Sometimes, their lords asked serfs to work on other projects too, such as building a dirt road.

Paragraphs 5 to 14:
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Middle Ages

Middle Ages

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