Information in Other Forms is a free printable Grade 5 English worksheet on taking meaning from visual and quantitative material, aligned to Common Core standard SL.5.2. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions, 24 of them with 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.
Set 1 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.
24 of these 25 sets ask different questions — this skill does not have 25 questions to give. The rest reorder them, so no two pupils have the same paper in front of them.
Information in Other Forms
SL.5.2
NameDate
Read the text, then answer the questions.
1.Read the text, then answer the questions.
What Happened to the Textile Towns
Between 1965 and 1990 the British textile industry lost roughly four fifths of its jobs.
Three causes are usually given, and they are not equally weighted.
Cost is the one most often cited. Spinning and weaving are labour-intensive, and wages in the countries that took the work were a fraction of British wages. This explains a great deal.
Investment matters too. Much British machinery dated from before the war. Where firms did re-equip — and some did — they survived longer, which suggests the cost argument is not the whole story.
The third cause is the hardest to see: the industry was concentrated. A car plant closing takes a town's largest employer; a mill closing often took its only one, along with the suppliers and the shops that depended on it.
That concentration is why the closures show up in the population figures of particular towns and not in national ones.
1. How would a graph help a reader of this text?
2. What would a map for this text most usefully show?
3. Explain the relationship between concentration and the population figures.
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.
Canals and Railways
Between 1760 and 1830 Britain built about four thousand miles of canal. Within forty years of that, most of it was losing money.
A canal boat carried thirty tons behind one horse, where a cart carried two. That was transformative for coal and stone, which are heavy, cheap and not in a hurry.
But a canal cannot climb without locks, cannot be built where there is no water, and freezes. A boat averaged three miles an hour.
The railways did not beat canals on cost per ton at first. They beat them on speed, on reliability, and on where they could go — a railway can cross a watershed a canal cannot.
Many canal companies were bought by railway companies, sometimes specifically in order to close them. By 1900 most of the network carried nothing.
Some of it is now used more than it ever was, by people on holiday.
1. How would a map help a reader of this text?
2. Explain the relationship between a canal's limitations and the railways' success.
3. What would a diagram for this text most usefully compare?
LessonPrint · SL.5.2 · Set 1 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — Information in Other Forms
Set 1. Prints on its own sheet.
1.1. It could show textile employment falling from 1965 to 1990 against national employment. 2. Which towns held the mills, to make the concentration argument visible. 3. Because mills were the only employer in particular towns, the losses show in those towns' populations rather than in national ones.
2.1. It could show where canals could and could not go, which is the argument about watersheds. 2. Locks, water supply, freezing and three miles an hour were limits a railway did not share, so railways won on reliability and reach. 3. One horse pulling thirty tons on water against two tons on a road.
Questions about Information in Other Forms
What does the Information in Other Forms worksheet cover?
It practises taking meaning from visual and quantitative material — 2 questions for Grade 5, all on Common Core SL.5.2: Summarise a text or presentation you heard or watched. The instruction to pupils is “Read the text, then answer the questions”, and the answer key follows on the next sheet.
Which Common Core standard does Information in Other Forms practise?
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.2 — SL.5.2, in the Speaking & Listening domain for Grade 5. The published standard reads: “Summarize a written text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.” The worksheet assesses that standard rather than a paraphrase of it.
What age or grade is this worksheet for?
Information in Other Forms is written for Grade 5, typically ages 10-11. It is one of the sheets on SL.5.2, so it suits any pupil working at that standard — including older pupils revisiting it and younger ones working ahead.
Does Information in Other Forms come with an answer key?
Yes. All 2 answers are generated from the same problems as the questions, so the key cannot drift out of step with the sheet. It starts on a fresh sheet of paper, after the questions, so it is not handed out with the class by accident.
How many different versions of Information in Other Forms can I print?
25 versions, of which 24 ask genuinely different questions — this skill does not have 25 distinct questions to give, so the rest reorder them and no two pupils still share a paper. Set 1 downloads all 25 as one PDF.
Is Information in Other Forms free to print and photocopy?
Yes. Information in Other Forms, its answer key and its 25 versions are free to print and photocopy for your own class, with no account, no email capture and no subscription at the download step. Please do not resell them or republish them as your own.
More practice for SL.5.2
Summarise a text or presentation you heard or watched.