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Following a Weighed Argument is a free printable Grade 5 English worksheet on holding several competing claims together while reading, aligned to Common Core standard RI.5.10. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

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Following a Weighed Argument

RI.5.10

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Why the Thames Froze

Between 1309 and 1814 the Thames froze hard enough to walk on at least twenty-four times. Since 1814 it has not once. The usual explanation is that the climate has warmed. That is part of it, and not most of it. Old London Bridge had nineteen arches on wide stone piers. The piers took up so much of the channel that the bridge acted as a weir, slowing the water upstream almost to a standstill. Still water freezes; moving water does not. The river was also shallower and wider then, spreading over land that has since been embanked. Shallow water loses heat faster. Old London Bridge was demolished in 1831. The embankments were built between 1862 and 1874. The river that flows through London now is narrower, deeper and faster than the one that froze — and it would not freeze in a colder winter than any of those.

  1. 1. Explain the relationship between the bridge's piers and the freezing.
  2. 2. Summarise this text.
  3. 3. Why does the last sentence mention a colder winter?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

What Sleep Is For

Sleep is not switching off. Parts of the brain are busier asleep than awake. Two claims are well supported. The first is that sleep consolidates memory: during deep sleep, the day's experiences are replayed and moved from short-term storage into long-term. Interrupt deep sleep and recall of the previous day drops measurably. The second is that sleep clears waste. The spaces between brain cells widen during sleep, and fluid washes through, removing proteins that build up while awake. A third claim — that a particular number of hours suits everybody — is not supported. Need varies with age and between individuals, and self-reported sleep is unreliable. Teenagers are a special case. Their body clocks genuinely shift later at puberty, which is a biological fact rather than a preference, and school start times mostly ignore it.

  1. 1. Why does the author call the teenage body-clock shift "a biological fact rather than a preference"?
  2. 2. Summarise this text.
  3. 3. Explain the relationship between deep sleep and remembering the previous day.

LessonPrint · RI.5.10 · Set 11 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Following a Weighed Argument

Set 11. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. The wide piers made the bridge a weir, which slowed the water upstream almost to a standstill, and still water freezes. 2. The Thames froze two dozen times before 1814 because Old London Bridge dammed it and the river was shallow and wide; demolition and embankment made it too fast and deep to freeze. 3. To show the cause was the river's shape, not the temperature — even more cold would not refreeze it now.
  2. 2.1. To pre-empt the assumption that late-rising teenagers are simply choosing to. 2. Sleep consolidates memory and clears waste from the brain, no single number of hours suits everybody, and teenagers' body clocks genuinely shift later. 3. Experiences are replayed and moved to long-term storage during deep sleep, so interrupting it reduces recall.

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.5.10 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.