From Here to There
Reading Comprehension Activity
Author: RV staff author
Children will read a nonfiction passage about different modes of transportation over the years and learn how people got around. Children will answer questions about the main idea, summarizing, context clues, and comparing and contrasting.
Click for the passage & questions on one printable PDF.
People like to go, go, go! Ever since our first steps, we have been on the move. Over time, the way people get around has changed.
3500 BCE–1900s: Wagons and Carts
For many hundreds of years, people rode on wagons and carts pulled by animals. The wagons were made of wood. This made the ride pretty bumpy. It took a long time to go far.
1830: Trains
Railroad tracks began to cover more and more of the country. By 1870, people could ride a train all the way from New York to California. That trip could take six months by wagon. It took only one week by train!
1903: Airplanes
Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the first airplane in 1903. It wasn’t long before people could fly quickly across the sea. The same trip by boat took days and days!
1905: Cars
In 1905, a man named Henry Ford figured out how to make a lot of cars in a short time. Today, there are millions of cars on American roads! Unlike the animals that pulled wagons, cars need oil and gas to go.
There are many other ways to travel, or get around. We can ride in buses or ride on scooters. We can sail boats or slide on skates. How do you like to travel?
Get the passage & questions on one printable PDF.