Looking for a hi-lo reading passage for older struggling readers that keeps the text accessible without lowering the level of thinking? The Day Boston Flooded With Molasses tells the unbelievable true story of the 1919 Boston Molasses Flood and helps students examine how multiple causes and warning signs combined to create a disaster.

This resource goes beyond a passage and comprehension questions. Students work with cause-and-effect text structure, evidence-based responses, scaffolded writing, word work, and optional video connections. Teachers can use the core reading as a short lesson or extend it into a deeper study of how causes, triggers, and effects connect.

What's Included

• Hi-lo informational passage with historical photo and vocabulary support

• 6 text-dependent reading comprehension questions

• Two levels of scaffolded evidence-based writing support

• Blank and partially completed Cause & Effect Chain organizers

• Completed model/answer page

• Optional Watch & Connect video activity

• Extension activities for vocabulary, adjectives, signal words, and sentence work

• Teacher guide with flexible lesson pathways

The extension activities are built directly from the passage, so students can strengthen comprehension while also working with vocabulary in context, descriptive language, cause-and-effect signal words, sentence structure, and text organization. Students can even transfer the skill by creating a cause-and-effect chain from an event in their own lives.

Use it for reading intervention, special education reading support, small-group instruction, or independent practice. Students don't need to complete every activity. Choose the pathway and supports that match your instructional goal and your students’ needs.