Washing Clothes: Long Ago and Today
Let us learn how to wash clothes. We will see how people did it long ago.
We will see how we do it today. It was much harder long ago!
How to Wash Clothes Long Ago
Step 1: Fill a big tub with water. You must heat the water on a fire.
Step 2: Put soap in the tub. Put the dirty clothes in the warm water.
Step 3: Rub the clothes on a washboard. A washboard is made of bumpy metal.
Rubbing the clothes gets the dirt out. This takes a lot of time.
Step 4: Rinse the clothes in clean water. Squeeze the water out with your hands.
Step 5: Hang the wet clothes on a line. The sun and wind will dry them.
How to Wash Clothes Today
Step 1: Put the dirty clothes in a machine. This machine is called a washer.
Step 2: Pour in some liquid soap. Close the door of the machine.
Step 3: Push a button to start. The machine fills with water and spins.
It does all the hard work for you. Your hands do not get tired.
Step 4: Put the wet clothes in the dryer. The dryer makes them warm and dry.
- washboard:
- A board made of bumpy metal that people used long ago to rub dirt out of wet clothes.
- rinse:
- To wash clothes in clean water to get the soap out.
- washer:
- A machine used today that fills with water and spins to clean dirty clothes.
- dryer:
- A machine used today that makes wet clothes warm and dry.
- liquid:
- Flowing like water instead of being hard or solid.
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- 1Was it harder to wash clothes long ago or today?
- 2How did people heat the wash water long ago?
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About this how-to / procedural passage for 1st Grade
“Washing Clothes: Long Ago and Today” is a how-to / procedural reading passage about History of Household Chores, written for 1st Grade. It takes about 1 minute to read (203 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.