Whales Reading Comprehension Passage - Cored Ed Encyclopedia

This whales reading comprehension with lesson plan includes:

Visualization (on the front cover)

Start your lesson by taking a minute to think and share something about the topic.

• Read the script aloud (slowly), perhaps prepare some music or sound effects. Student close their eyes and let their imaginations wander.

• Students open their eyes, read the question aloud and give them a few minutes to complete. Ask a few students to share or keep answers until the end to compare with what they learn in the passage.

Quick pause—thousands of Cored Education products are included with your TeachSimple membership.

Download links and encyclopedia index available here.

Pre-Reading Trivia

Students will write down one thing they already know about the subject and then read five more facts and discuss. These facts are fun, and the students will enjoy learning about the subject before reading more.

• Give 1 minute for students to write what they already know (no pressure—best guess is fine).

• Read the five facts together. After each fact, do ask a student for their opinion, was it surprising?

• Set a purpose by asking students to highlight/underline one fact they want to learn more about during the reading.

Reading Passage

The text is a high-interest reading passage with set paragraphs, roughly three to four paragraphs long. It contains a variety of themes about the topic, anywhere from history to technology. The passage is between 250 and 350 words in length.

• First, ask students to look at the headings and see what they’ll learn about today. What do they know about the topic/heading?

• First read options:

  • Teacher read-aloud (best for support).

  • Partner reading (paragraph by paragraph).

• While reading, students underline important details, and vocabulary words they think may come up in the questions section.

Mixed Questions

The first question page contains four multiple-choice questions, each with a choice of four answers, and three written response questions that require a sentence or two from the student.

• Students complete the mcqs first independently, then review quickly as a class.

• For the 3 written responses, try to get students giving the answer with some form of evidence:

  • “I think ___ because the text says ___.”

• If students get stuck, send them back to check the passage.

Vocabulary Questions

Practice seven key words from the text in this section across two activities. First section is scrambled words where students will unscramble three words given a clue for each. The second section is a word to meaning matching activity.

• Before starting, have some students read out words they underlined in the passage. Ask students to say the word and read aloud the sentence(s) around each word.

• Ask students to do scrambled words and the matching exercise in pairs then go through answers as a class.

• For the scrambled spelling task, get four pairs to come up to the board and write the words for extra practice with the other student reading out the clue.

• For the matching task, prompt students to give full sentences: “I matched ___ with ___ because ___.”

Creative Writing

In this question, the student will be required to write a five to eight sentence paragraph on a question related to the topic.

• Before starting, ask students write down 3 key ideas they are going to include in their piece. Ask students for ideas to share around the class to help those struggling.

• Pro writing expectations:

  • 5–8 sentences

  • At least 2 facts or details from the passage

  • At least 2 vocabulary words from the previous page

• Students read their paragraphs while classmates listen for facts and vocabulary words.

Extension Activities

This page is optional for fast finishers or to take home. There are several activities, each one requiring a different skill. Do some, do none, do all, completely optional - but you will feel reassured knowing every possibility is planned for. Includes summary writting question.

Answer Key

There are answers for the multiple-choice questions, written response questions have sample answers, vocabulary answers and if there is a summary question then a sample summary will be provided as well.

Lesson Plan Included

Customized lesson plan for this lesson is included.

Lesson Snapshot

• Title: Whales

• Genre: Nonfiction (informational text)

• Subject: Life Science / Informational Reading

• Primary Topic: Whales as mammals, feeding types, fossils, human impacts

• Estimated Guided Reading Level (A–Z): Q

What This Lesson Teaches Best

• Whales are mammals that breathe air with lungs through blowholes, so they must surface as part of everyday life.

• Whales can have two different feeding tools: baleen plates that strain food like krill, or sharp teeth used to grab fish or squid.

• Fossils provide evidence that early whale relatives were land mammals and changed over millions of years to live in the ocean.

• Human activity affects whales today (fishing gear tangles, ships strike, and loud noise can fill the water where whales communicate), and scientists use tracking tools to help protect them.

Learning Goals

• Students will explain why whales rise to the surface using details about breathing and blowholes.

• Students will compare how baleen whales and toothed whales get food, using evidence from the text.

• Students will describe what fossils show about where whales came from long ago.

• Students will identify one modern problem that can make whale communication harder, based on the passage.

• Students will describe at least one way scientists track whales to protect them, using details from the text.

Key Vocabulary From the Text

• blowholes — nostrils on top of a whale’s head.

• baleen — mouth plates that strain tiny food from water.

• krill — tiny sea creatures baleen whales hold onto.

• streamlined — shaped to move smoothly through water.

• fossils — old remains in rock that give clues.

FULL CATALOG OF DOWNLOAD LINKS AND ENCYCLOPEDIA INDEX HERE