Reading Worksheet · Grades 4–6
The Bermuda Triangle Worksheet
A printable reading worksheet for grades 4-6 on the Bermuda Triangle. Students read a one-page passage tracing how the legend was built from a 1950 newspaper story, what a research librarian found when he checked the original records, and what insurers and the Coast Guard actually report about the area, then answer four multiple-choice questions, six true-or-false statements, and six fill-ins. A complete answer key is included.
Subject
Reading
Grades
Grades 4–6
Skill Focus
The Bermuda Triangle, informational text
Lesson Length
40 minutes
Learning Objective
Students will read about the Bermuda Triangle legend and weigh the evidence that explains it, including what insurers and the Coast Guard actually report.
Lesson Overview
About this worksheet
The Bermuda Triangle is a stretch of the western Atlantic where ships and aircraft are said to vanish. This worksheet is less about the legend than about how it was made and how you would settle it, which makes it a reading lesson in evaluating a claim rather than a list of spooky facts.
The passage traces the story from its start: an Associated Press piece in September 1950, a magazine article in 1952 that first drew the losses inside a triangle, and Vincent Gaddis’s 1964 article that supplied the name. Then it follows Lawrence David Kusche, a research librarian who went back to the original reports and found that the retellings had drifted a long way from them — ships described as vanishing in calm seas had gone down in storms, some were lost hundreds of miles outside the area, and at least one had been found.
The evidence that actually settles it is the part most retellings leave out, and it is here. Lloyd’s of London insures ships, has real money riding on knowing where they sink, and charges nothing extra for a voyage through the area. The United States Coast Guard reports that the losses are insignificant against the traffic passing through. Students are asked to weigh that against a paperback, which is the habit the sheet is really teaching.
Page 2 has sixteen questions in three forms: multiple choice, true or false, and fill in the missing word. Page 3 is a complete answer key with a short reason recorded beside every false statement. The ordinary explanations get their due as well — hurricanes, the Gulf Stream, compass variation, and the cause official inquiries name most often, which is human error.
How to Use This Lesson
Read the passage on page 1.
Answer the four multiple-choice questions in Section A.
Mark each Section B statement TRUE or FALSE, and be ready to say why.
Write the missing word in each Section C sentence.
Use the answer key on page 3 for self-check or grading.
Discuss the last line: why is what an insurance company does better evidence than what a book says?
Printable Resource
A classroom-ready PDF with everything in one printable resource.
Free Member Resource · Printable PDF · 3 pages · Answer Key
The Bermuda Triangle Worksheet
A printable reading worksheet for grades 4-6 on the Bermuda Triangle. Students read a one-page passage tracing how the legend was built from a 1950 newspaper story, what a research librarian found when he checked the original records, and what insurers and the Coast Guard actually report about the area, then answer four multiple-choice questions, six true-or-false statements, and six fill-ins. A complete answer key is included.
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