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Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources
Reading Comprehension Worksheets
The United States Grows
(1865-1900)

Growing Wheat on the Great Plains

The United States Grows<BR>(1865-1900)
The United States Grows
(1865-1900)


Growing Wheat on the Great Plains
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Print Growing Wheat on the Great Plains Reading Comprehension

Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.19

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    reaper, immigrate, resistant, breadbasket, provided, brittle, bushels, semi, harvest, freedom, earth, date, however, early, appear, religious
     content words:    Native Americans, Russian Mennonites, American Midwest, Great Plains, Turkey Red Wheat, Red Wheat, In Kansas


Growing Wheat on the Great Plains
By Sharon Fabian
  

1     Wheat farmers in Kansas harvest hundreds of millions of bushels of wheat each year. One huge combine can harvest 1,000 bushels in just one hour. That's enough to bake 73,000 loaves of bread! The wheat is stored in giant grain elevators, nicknamed prairie skyscrapers, and then shipped out by railroad or semi truck.
 
2     It wasn't always like that. The Native Americans didn't grow wheat. They grew corn. The early settlers tried to grow wheat sometimes, mostly as an experiment, but with little success. The prairie soil was too hard. There wasn't enough rain. High winds and dust storms made wheat farming even more difficult.
 
3     Then, in the early 1870s, Russian Mennonites began to immigrate to the American Midwest. The Mennonites were a religious group who came to America for religious freedom and freedom to live the way they wanted. Back in Russia, they had lived on the steppes, flat land similar to the Great Plains. There, they had grown winter wheat. When they came to America, each family brought a trunk full of wheat seeds with them. This winter wheat had the colorful name of Turkey Red Wheat.

Paragraphs 4 to 9:
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The United States Grows
(1865-1900)

             The United States Grows
(1865-1900)



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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