Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources Reading Comprehension Worksheets Explorers

Exploring America's Great Rivers Explorers

---

Exploring America's Great Rivers
Print Exploring America's Great Rivers Reading Comprehension


Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 8 to 9
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	7.5

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		Hernando, expedition, interior, riches, northwest, transfer, eventually, route, quest, originally, somehow, continent, discover, opportunity, explorer, supplies
	content words:		Native Americans, South America, Jacques Cartier, Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, North America, Amazon River, Atlantic Ocean, Mississippi River, United States

Other Languages
     Spanish: Explorando los Grandes Ríos de América

---

Exploring America's Great Rivers By Sharon Fabian

---

¹     Explorers of America in the 1500s had to be tough! First they had to survive crossing the ocean to get to America, and then they had to land in the right place. At that time, neither of those things was easy to do, and many explorers didn't even make it to America.
 
²     Once they finally reached America, do you think things got easier? No! They got worse! An explorer couldn't just step off of his ship and transfer to a train or a car to travel across the land. There wasn't even a covered wagon to hitch a ride on. Once they landed, explorers traveled by foot, and not on roads or sidewalks, either! They couldn't stop at an inn for a good night's sleep and a hot meal. When they did have a chance to stop and rest at the invitation of a group of Native Americans, they may have slept with one eye open, remembering all the awful things that explorers before them had done to the Indians who lived there. Was it really safe to sleep among Indians who probably had good reasons to want to get rid of them?
 
³     Maybe those explorers were relieved when they had the chance to get back on their ships and explore by water instead of land. Explorers sailed up and down the great rivers of North and South America. Some were on a quest for riches. Some were still trying to find a passage to Asia. Some were hunting for food to keep themselves alive.

Paragraphs 4 to 7:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

---

Weekly Reading Books

Create Weekly Reading Books Prepare for an entire week at once!

---

Feedback on Exploring America's Great Rivers

Leave your feedback on Exploring America's Great Rivers   (use this link if you found an error in the story)

---

Explorers

Explorers

---

More Lessons

High School Reading Comprehensions and High School Reading Lessons

---

Social Studies

Social Studies

United States History and Theme Units         American Government         Ancient America         Ancient China         Ancient Egypt         Ancient Greece         Ancient India         Ancient Mesopotamia         Ancient Rome         Biographies         Canadian Theme Unit         Country Theme Units         Crime and Terrorism         Economics         European History: 1600s-1800s

Explorers         Famous Educators         Geography         Grades 2-3 Social Studies Wendy's World Series         History of Books and Writing         History of Mathematics         How Can I Help?         Inventors and Inventions         Middle Ages         Renaissance         World Religion         World War I         World War II         World Wonders

Copyright © 2018 edHelper