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Skiing the Slopes Sports

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Skiing the Slopes
Print Skiing the Slopes Reading Comprehension with Fifth Grade Work

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Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 5 to 7
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	6.43

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		rightly, popularity, original, wearers, military, endure, sledge, snowboarding, camps, mining, literally, beginning, downhill, equipment, history, whom
	content words:		In Sweden, Old Norse, Sondre Norheim, Pete Dennison, Sierra Nevada, United States, Carson City, Thompson Alpine Club, Olympic Games

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Skiing the Slopes By Jane Runyon

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¹     In Norway, there is a picture that was drawn on a rock almost 5,000 years ago. This picture is of a man wearing skis and carrying a stick. In bogs in Sweden, the remains of 4,500-year-old skis have been found. Obviously, people have been skiing for a very long time. The word ski itself comes from Old Norse. It literally means a stick of wood.
 
²     People in Scandinavian countries needed to find a way to get around during the long, cold, snowy winters they had to endure. It was found that snowshoes kept the person wearing them on top of the deep snow instead of falling into it. Early snowshoes came in several shapes and sizes. The pedal snowshoe was an oval board sometimes covered with fur. The fur shoe was created to be worn with the pedal snowshoe. The sledge runner was much shorter than today's ski but looked much the same. The usefulness of the snowshoes soon gave way to the need for speed over the frozen land. Pieces of wood were fashioned that were longer and thinner than the snowshoes. The pieces of wood were laced to the wearers' feet with strips of hide and twisted green twigs. Scandinavians learned to maneuver the pieces of wood to get from one place to another much quicker and more safely.
 
³     Early skis included the southern type, the Siberian type, and one used by Laplanders for cross country trips. The basic difference in these skis can be found in the way the ski is bound to the foot. Ski poles developed when it was discovered that a walking stick made it easier for the skier to balance or walk. In the beginning, any old stick or tree limb was used.

Paragraphs 4 to 6:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

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