Soil, by Sally M.

Walker
Reading 2nd Grade

1. What is soil?
a) Soil can also be called ____________________.
b) Soil contains ____________, ______________, and bits of _______________.
c) Soil is a _______________ resource that helps plants and animals _________.

2. How Soil Forms:

Soil starts out as __________ which are pieces of broken ___________________. They
are broken by ___________, ___________, and ___________.

a) Big rocks can be ground into smaller rocks from ____________________ which
grind the big rocks down.
b) Those big rocks have __________________ inside them which becomes part of the
soil when the rock breaks apart.
a. Minerals add ____________________ to the soil.
c) Along with minerals, soil is also made up of _____________ which is bits of dead
plants and animals.
d) The third material that makes up soil is ______________. This _______ is found in
the tiny spaces between the minerals and humus.
e) The last material found in soil is __________________.
f) Soil forms:
o Alongside _____________
o On ___________ ____________
o And on low _______________
o BUT IT CANNOT FORM ON ___________________ because
_________________________________________________________________.

3. What Soil Looks Like

a) ____________________ and ________________ in the soil make the different colors.
b) Soils can be:
a. ______________
b. ______________
c. Or a bright ______________-___________
c) Soils can also have different ___________________, which is how ______________
or _____________ something is. This depends on the size of the soil
_______________.
d) The largest particle in soil is _______________, another kind of particle in soil is
__________________, and the smallest particle in soil is __________________.
e) Water drains quickly in areas with __________________ soil.
f) With small spaces between particles, it takes longer for water to drain through soil
with ________________.
g) It takes the longest time for water to drain through _________________.
h) Soil with equal amounts of _______________, _______________, and ___________
particles is called _______________.
a. ________________ is very good for _____________________________ because
_____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________.
i) To figure out what is in your soil, you can:
a. _______________________
b. _________________________________ and add _____________________
c. Look at the ____________________.