Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources Reading Comprehension Worksheets The 1950's

Hula Hooping The 1950's

---

Hula Hooping
Print Hula Hooping Reading Comprehension with Fourth Grade Work

Print Hula Hooping Reading Comprehension with Fifth Grade Work

Print Hula Hooping Reading Comprehension with Sixth Grade Work

Print Hula Hooping Reading Comprehension

Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 4 to 6
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	5.77

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		reinvented, difficult, banned, entertainment, occasionally, needless, totally, provided, thus, settled, slingshot, bamboo, falcon, history, market, decade
	content words:		Ancient Greek, Richard Knerr, Arthur Melin, Wham-O Toy Company, United States

---

Hula Hooping By Jane Runyon

---

¹     It would be difficult to write a history of the 1950's without including the most famous toy of the era. People from ages two to ninety-two tried their luck at keeping the hula hoop swirling around their hips. People who knew what they were doing made it look easy. Those who hadn't mastered it provided comic relief for those watching. Over one hundred million hula hoops were sold in just the last two years of the decade.
 
²     Although the hula hoop became the craze of the 50's, it was invented long before then. Hoops used as toys have been around for thousands of years. In early Egypt, hoops were made of grape vines. Children fashioned the vines into large circles and rolled them along the streets. They used sticks to keep the circles moving. Ancient Greek doctors told some of their weightier patients to chase the hoops as exercise to lose weight. Putting the hoops around their waists and twirling them was even better. In the 1300's, "hooping" was banned in some parts of England. Doctors decided that the sport was causing too many back problems and more than a few heart attacks.
 
³     Sailors visiting Hawaii in the 1700's noticed that the native dance in the islands looked familiar. The hula danced by the native women used the same hip motion that was used to keep a hoop twirling around the waist. The name hula hoop was created way back then.

Paragraphs 4 to 10:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

---

Weekly Reading Books

Create Weekly Reading Books Prepare for an entire week at once!

---

Feedback on Hula Hooping

Leave your feedback on Hula Hooping   (use this link if you found an error in the story)

---

The 1950's

The 1950's

---

United States

United States

American Government         Black History and Blacks in U.S. History         Children in History         Government Careers         Hispanic Heritage         How Can I Help?

Immigration         National Parks and Monuments         Native Americans         Presidents of the United States         Women's History

---

United States History

A Nation Divided (1840-1861)         A New Nation (1776-1830)         After the Civil War (1865-1870)         American Revolution         Cold War (1947-1991)         Colonial America (1492-1776)         Lewis and Clark (1804-1806)         Pearl Harbor         Spanish American War (1898)         The 1890's         The 1900's         The 1910's         The 1920's         The 1930's

The 1940's         The 1950's         The 1960's         The 1970's         The 1980's         The 1990's         The 2000's         The Civil War (1861-1865)         The Great Depression (1929-1945)         The United States Grows (1865-1900)         The War of 1812         Wild, Wild West         World War I (1914-1918)         World War II

---

50 States

Fifty States Theme Unit

---

Document Based Activities

Document Based Activities

Copyright © 2025 edHelper