Reading Comprehension - Literature: "Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean"

Contributed by:
Ivan
Water is always flowing, from a brook to a stream, to a river to the ocean. Read and find out more about how water shapes the earth and why it is important to keep our water clean in this fascinating book from authorillustrator Arthur Dorros. This book clearly explains terms like "brook, " "stream, " "river, " and "delta, " and the full-color illustrations show where water comes from, how it travels and where it goes.
1. Exemplar Read-Aloud Informational Texts – Follow the Water from
Brook to Ocean
Dorros, Arthur. Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. (1991)
After the next big rain storm, put your boots on and go outside. Look at the water dripping from
your roof. Watch it gush out of the drainpipes. You can see water flowing down your street too.
Water is always flowing. It trickles in the brook near your house.
Sometimes you see water rushing along in a stream or in a big river.
Water always flows downhill. It flows from high places to low places, just the way you and your
skateboard move down a hill.
Sometimes water collects in a low spot in the land – a puddle, a pond, or a lake. The water’s
downhill journey may end there. Most of the time, though, the water will find a way to keep
flowing downhill. Because water flows downhill, it will keep flowing until it can’t go any lower.
The lowest parts of the earth are the oceans. Water will keep flowing until it reaches an ocean.
Where does the water start? Where does the water in a brook or a stream or a river come
from? The water comes from rain. And it comes from melting snow. The water from rain and
melting snow runs over the ground. Some of it soaks into the ground, and some water is soaked
up by trees and other plants. But a lot of the water keeps traveling over the ground, flowing
The water runs along, flowing over the ground. Trickles of water flow together to form a brook.
A brook isn’t very deep or wide. You could easily step across a brook to get to the other side.
The brook flows over small stones covered with algae. Algae are tiny plants. They can be
green, red, or brown. Green algae make the water look green. Plop! A frog jumps into the
brook. A salamander wiggles through leafy water plants. Slap! A trout’s tail hits the water. Lots
of creatures live in the moving water.
COPYRIGHT © 1991 BY ARTHUR DORROS. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
Common Core K–1 Text Exemplars