Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources Reading Comprehension Worksheets Solar System

Pluto - Not a Planet Anymore Solar System

---

Pluto - Not a Planet Anymore
Print Pluto - Not a Planet Anymore Reading Comprehension with Fifth Grade Work

Print Pluto - Not a Planet Anymore Reading Comprehension with Sixth Grade Work

Print Pluto - Not a Planet Anymore Reading Comprehension


Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 5 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	6.54

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		non-circular, rock-like, second-largest, trans-Neptunian, third-largest, circular, renamed, science, fourth-largest, orbit, comet, highly, definition, contrast, gravity, discover
	content words:		International Astronomical Union, Kuiper Belt

---

Pluto - Not a Planet Anymore By Cindy Grigg

---

¹     Science changes as we learn more and more new things. Pluto was discovered in 1930. At that time, there wasn't really a definition for what a planet was. We didn't know as much about space as we do now. In the summer of 2006, scientists of the IAU, or the International Astronomical Union, met to discuss the naming of new objects in the solar system. At this time, the members agreed to remove Pluto from the list of planets. It is now known as a "dwarf planet." A dwarf planet is not a planet. Here are the reasons why.
 
²     There are three main things that make Pluto different from the other planets in our solar system. First, Pluto is less than half the size of any other planet. It is very different from the other gas giants, the nearest planets to it. The first four planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) are rocky planets with solid surfaces. The next four planets are gas giants. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are huge planets with small rocky, metal cores surrounded by huge balls of gas. These four planets do not have a solid surface. Saturn is the second-largest planet. Uranus is the third-largest. Neptune is the fourth-largest planet. Then comes little Pluto. It is about one-sixth the size of Earth and about 1/100 the size of Jupiter. It is made of rock and ice. Pluto is like a comet, not a gas giant.

Paragraphs 3 to 4:
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 Pluto - Not a Planet Anymore

Leave your feedback on Pluto - Not a Planet Anymore   (use this link if you found an error in the story)

---

Solar System

Solar System

---

Science

Science

Careers in Science         Caring for Earth         Clouds         Dinosaurs         Earth's Land         Earth         Earthquakes         Electricity         Energy         Erosion         Food Pyramid         Food Webs and Food Chain         Forces and Motion         Fossils         Health and Nutrition         How Things Work         Landforms         Life Science         Light         Magnets         Matter

Moon         Natural Disasters         Photosynthesis         Plant and Animal Cells         Plants         Rocks and Minerals         Science Process Skills         Scientific Notation         Seasons         Simple Machines         Soil         Solar System         Sound         Space and Stars         Sun         Tsunami         Volcanoes         Water Cycle         Water         Weather

Copyright © 2018 edHelper