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Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources
Reading Comprehension Worksheets
The 1980's
Disaster and the Challenger

The 1980's
The 1980's

Disaster and the Challenger
Print Disaster and the Challenger Reading Comprehension with Sixth Grade Work

Print Disaster and the Challenger Reading Comprehension


Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 6 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   6.84

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    indicator, reentry, superstitious, burning, lasting, launched, throttle, malfunction, element, sequence, commander, tribute, bolt, originally, utter, flights
     content words:    Christa McAuliffe, United States, Comet Experiment Deployable Module, Kennedy Space Center, Dick Scobee, Michael Smith, President Ronald Reagan, Pilots Dick Scobee, Arlington National Cemetery, Challenger Memorial

Disaster and the Challenger
By Jane Runyon 		  
1     The day was January 28, 1986. It was lunch time for many school children. Teachers and students alike were full of excitement. The Challenger space shuttle was finally going to launch. This was no ordinary launch. Today there would be someone on the space shuttle who would represent every student and every teacher in every classroom in every school across the nation. Today, Christa McAuliffe, a teacher, would be launched into space.
 
2     The sky was bright blue. The sun was shining brightly. It was a crisp, cool day for Florida. A cold snap had dropped temperatures below freezing in this area known for its warmth. If you were in central Florida that day, you could look up into the sky and see the vapor cloud that trailed the shuttle. Suddenly, that vapor trail started twisting and turning in on itself. Even an inexperienced eye could see that something was wrong -- terribly wrong.
 
3     NASA began planning a shuttle program in the 1970s. In earlier space exploration, the capsule used by astronauts was destroyed by reentry and landing. The engineers involved in the program felt that there just had to be a way to recycle equipment used in one flight for future flights. The first shuttle, Columbia, was launched in 1981. One year later, Challenger joined the Columbia in the United States shuttle fleet. They would later be joined by Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavor.
 
4     This particular shuttle mission was designed to carry cargo for the Halley's Comet Experiment Deployable Module. It was a routine mission in most ways. The most exciting element of this mission was that the first school teacher would be joining the crew. Christa McAuliffe was chosen from 11,000 teacher applicants for this flight. McAuliffe trained with other astronauts and was proud to be going on the journey of her dreams.

Paragraphs 5 to 13:
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The 1980's
             The 1980'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



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