VOLCANOES

VOLCANO LESSON

Directions:

Print the Volcanoes reading comprehension passage and questions (see below).

Students should read the passage silently, then answer the questions.  Teachers may also use the text as part of a classroom lesson plan.

Lesson Excerpt

If you look at a volcano far away, it looks like a mountain. The main difference is a mountain is made of solid earth. A volcano opens from its top all the way down to a pool of hot, molten rock. This molten rock is stored in a cavern. The cavern is surrounded by earth except on its top.

The molten rock sits below the surface. It usually cannot be seen unless someone is looking down into the hole from the top. On occasion, it can be seen leaking out of the hole at the top. For this to happen there has to be an eruption!

When a volcano is not erupting, it is in what is called a "dormant" state. You can usually tell when a volcano is going to explode. It starts with gases from the volcano. These gases and rock shoot up through the opening in small amounts. When you see the smoke coming from the top, it usually means that the volcano is going to erupt.

When a volcano erupts, the rock and volcanic gases do one of two things. They either spill over the edge of the volcano or fill the air with fragments of lava. Eruptions come in many different forms.

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