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Why Plants Need Water — Reading Comprehension

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5-LS1-1

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This comprehensive 400-word reading passage explores why plants need water, aligned with NGSS standard 5-LS1-1. Students discover that water is one of two main materials plants use to make food through photosynthesis. The passage explains how roots absorb water from soil and transport it through stems to leaves. In the leaves, water combines with carbon dioxide from air during photosynthesis to produce glucose (food) and oxygen. Written at a Grade 5 reading level, the passage uses clear explanations and relatable examples to build foundational understanding. Audio integration supports diverse learners by providing text-to-speech functionality. The educational resource includes a simplified differentiated version for struggling readers, Spanish translations of both versions, a comprehensive glossary, multiple-choice comprehension questions, writing activities, and graphic organizers. Students explore cause-and-effect relationships, sequence processes, and structure-function connections related to plant water use. This standards-aligned material prepares fifth graders for hands-on investigations and deeper discussions about how plants obtain and use materials from their environment to survive and grow.

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A hand watering indoor plants on a window sill using a metal watering can. — Water plays a critical role in photosynthesis. Image Credit Polina Tankilevitch / Pexels.

Water is one of the two main materials plants need to make their own food. Plants cannot eat food like animals do, so they must create it themselves through a process called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is how plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide from the air to produce a type of sugar called glucose that gives them energy to grow. Without water, plants cannot perform photosynthesis and will eventually die.

Plants take in water through their roots, which are underground structures that spread out in the soil. Roots are like straws that absorb water from the spaces between soil particles. Once water enters the roots, it travels upward through the plant's stem to reach the leaves. Leaves are the food-making factories of the plant. Think of the stem as a highway system—just as roads carry cars from one place to another, the stem carries water from the roots to the leaves where it is needed most.

Inside the leaves, water plays a critical role in photosynthesis. The leaves contain tiny structures called chloroplasts that capture sunlight. During photosynthesis, water molecules split apart and combine with carbon dioxide that enters the leaf from the air. This chemical reaction produces glucose, which the plant uses as food for growth and energy. As a bonus, photosynthesis also releases oxygen into the air, which is the oxygen that humans and animals breathe.

Water does more than help plants make food. It also keeps plant cells firm and strong, which helps the plant stand upright. When a plant does not get enough water, its cells lose pressure and the plant wilts or droops. Water also helps transport nutrients from the soil throughout the plant. Scientists have discovered that plants can lose water through their leaves in a process called transpiration, which helps pull more water up from the roots, similar to how sipping through a straw pulls liquid upward.

Interesting Fact: A large oak tree can absorb and release over 40,000 gallons of water in a single year—that's enough to fill a small swimming pool!

What are the two main materials plants use?

Water and carbon dioxideSoil and sunlightOxygen and glucoseRoots and leaves

Where does photosynthesis happen in plants?

In the rootsIn the leavesIn the stemIn the soil

What does glucose provide for plants?

Water for cellsEnergy to growOxygen to breatheSunlight for leaves

Why would a plant wilt without water?

Cells lose pressure and cannot stay firmRoots stop growing in soilLeaves fall off the stemChloroplasts stop making oxygen

How does water travel from roots to leaves?

Through the soil around the plantThrough the air surrounding the plantThrough the stem of the plantThrough the chloroplasts in leaves

What happens to water during photosynthesis?

It stays in the rootsIt evaporates into the airIt splits and combines with carbon dioxideIt turns into soil nutrients

Plants can make their own food.

TrueFalse

What is transpiration?

Plants making glucose from sunlightPlants losing water through their leavesPlants absorbing water from soilPlants releasing carbon dioxide into air

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Why Plants Need Water — Reading Comprehension

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