How Wetlands Clean Water and Slow Floods, Read and Answer

Pick one idea from the page to try at home, such as timing a shower or setting out a rain barrel. Keep a small table of the results like the one on the drought page. Check the sort with the answer key.

Read how wetlands soak up floodwater and clean it, and why towns now protect them instead of filling in. A marsh is a wetland covered with tall grasses. The directions on the page read: Read the passage. Then, turn the page and answer the questions. On page 2: Circle the letter of the best answer for questions 1 to 3, and write the answers to questions 4 to 6 on the lines. The answer key covers the questions on page 2.

Yes, both. We made it for 5th Grade Earth systems, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with protecting Earth. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

A wetland soaks up extra rain like a giant sponge and its plants and mud slow the water, so less floods nearby streets. Water moving slowly through a marsh also drops its dirt, so it flows out cleaner.

To reduce is to use less, like skipping a straw. To reuse is to use something again, like refilling a bottle. To recycle is to make used materials into something new, like melting cans into new cans. Reducing is best because it stops trash before it starts.

Tree roots hold the soil like a net, and leaves and branches break the fall of raindrops, so rain soaks in slowly. On a bare hillside, rain knocks soil loose and carries mud into the stream below.

Yes. All five protecting Earth sheets have an answer key, with sample answers for the questions children answer in their own words.

5 printable worksheets, all free to preview. Downloads are included with a ClassWeekly free trial, and every page prints on standard 8.5 x 11 paper.

These are written for 5th Grade students, roughly ages 10-11. Many teachers also use them a grade up for review or a grade down as an extension, so use the preview to judge the fit for a particular child.

Yes. Each one shows the NGSS code it covers on its own page, so you can check the alignment yourself rather than taking our word for it.