The Vast Ocean

THE VAST OCEAN LESSON

Directions:

Print The Vast Ocean reading comprehension passage and questions (see below).

Students should read the passage silently, then answer the questions.

Lesson Excerpt

Have you ever been to the ocean?  Have you collected tiny shells that washed up on the endless shore?  Have you admired the sparkling blue waves and vast expanse of water that seems to go on forever?   

Have you ever wondered how big the ocean is?  The four oceans, the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian, and the Arctic, cover about 71% of the Earth's surface.  The area of all the oceans put together is approximately 140 million square miles, compared to only about 6 million square miles for the entire United States!  The average depth of the ocean is 12,200 feet.  It would take over 2,000 adults standing on each other's shoulders to stretch from the ocean floor to the surface.  The deepest point in the ocean is 36,198 feet, in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific.  That's the length of 120 football fields.  The ocean is huge!

You've probably seen plenty of fish, whales, dolphins, lobsters, crabs, sharks, and seals, but did you know that there are around 170,000 different animal species in the ocean?  The largest known animal ever to live on Earth is the blue whale, which can reach a length of over 100 feet and weigh up to 200 tons (continued...)