What's the Main Idea?
What's the Author's Purpose?
What does the Simile mean?
What's being Personified?
What's the Point-of-View?
100
Grandma Susie has a compost bin. She throws all sorts of scraps in it. I asked Grandma what her compost bin is for. She said a compost bin provides a way to create rich dirt to help her plants and garden. Grandma Susie explained that over time, her leftover vegetables, pieces of plants, grass clippings, and egg shells break down into new dirt. The dirt contains nutrients that help other plants grow.
What is a compost bin helps create healthy dirt for gardens.
100
The Latin root word “oct” stands for eight. Therefore, an octagon is a polygon with eight sides. An octahedron is a polygon with eight faces. An octopus has eight legs. The octal numeral system is a base-8 number system that uses the digits 0 to 7 only. The month of October is the eighth month of the year on an old Roman calendar. The arc on an octant, a navigational measuring tool, is one eighth of a circle. You can even see the number eight in the sky when you see Octans, a faint star constellation. Oh, the powers of eight!
What is to inform?
100
The new neighbor was as sweet as spoiled milk.
What is the new neighbor wasn't very nice?
100
Joy danced in the woman's heart.
What is joy?
100
Kate wants a new TV for her room. She thinks she deserves it for being such a good student. Her mom willingly takes her to look, but she knows there won't be a new TV in Kate's room anytime soon. It breaks her mother's heart to know she has no money to spare this month for extra things even though she loves Kate very much.
What is third-person omniscient?
200
Children like to use computers. It is good to have rules for going online. One rule is that you should not give anyone your name, address, or phone number. You should tell someone if a person online is writing bad things. You should not plan to meet anyone from a chat room. These rules will help you stay safe.
What is we need rules for going online.
200
Kiteboarding is an extreme water sport that’s been gaining popularity since the late 1990’s. It’s like surfing but involves harnessing oneself by 75-foot-long lines to a large, inflated kite. The board has straps for the rider’s feet. When the wind catches the kite, the kite pulls the rider along on an exhilarating ride. The rider can catch some air with jumps. A beginner may rise a few feet off the water. A good kiteboarder can usually rise 20 to 30 feet above the water. A pro may get as high as 50 feet above the water before splashing down again!
What is to inform?
200
The issue was as clear as mud.
What is the issue was not clear at all?
200
It is clear from my pictures that the camera loves me.
What is camera?
200
I knew it was going to be a bad day when I got out of bed and stepped in a puddle. It had not rained that night, and besides, my house didn't have a leaky roof. That meant that the puddle was left by my dog Twinkles.
What is first person?
300
Jon held the ball in his hands. He bounced it slowly on the ground. Once. Twice. He crouched low and then jumped. The ball flew into the air. Up, up, up, it went. Then down, down, down, into the basket. "Yes!" he yelled. "Nothing but net!"
What is Jon makes a basket.
300
Bethany found herself in front of a small, clear pond filled with green lily pads. Each lily pad had an enormous flower on top! The flowers smelled delicious, but they did not have ordinary scents. The pink ones smelled like bubble gum. The yellow ones smelled like banana milkshakes. The blue ones smelled exactly like fresh blueberry pie, right out of the oven. Bethany plucked a pretty pink petal from a flower and tasted it. It did taste like bubble gum! She then noticed the sounds of a lively chorus of crickets, and as she sat down on the soft carpet of grass, Bethany realized that the crickets were playing one of Beethoven’s symphonies.
What is to describe?
300
The job is as easy as calculus.
What is the job is very difficult?
300
The butterfly danced with the flowers in the blowing breeze.
What is butterfly?
300
We hid behind the counter in Mr. Olson's toy shop. My friends and I could hear the robot as it marched down the aisle. Our mouths hung open as we heard the robot call our names! Wasn't the robot just a toy? When I peered over the counter and saw its flashing red eyes staring at me, my heart beat so hard in my chest that I couldn't speak!
What is first person?
400
The world's first postage stamp was called the Penny Black. It was introduced on May 1, 1840. It cost only a penny! It was a black and white stamp. It had a picture of the British queen on it. A blue two-penny stamp came out a few days later. It had the same picture of the queen. The blue stamp was for mail that weighed more.
What is the Penny Black was the world's first postage stamp.
400
But Mom, all my friends at school have one. I’m the only kid that does not have an iPod. I promise I will take care to find the best price. I promise I will read the directions so I don’t damage another piece of technology. I promise I will help you pay for it. No, I can’t pay for the whole thing by myself because I need money to save for our trip to Florida. Oh, if I want it, I have to pay for the whole thing? Really? You are saving for Florida, too? I guess I don’t really need an iPod.
What is to persuade?
400
Marie was as busy as a sleeping baby.
What is Marie wasn't busy at all?
400
Pain sprung to Bob’s broken leg.
What is pain?
400
What did Trina want to do for their science project? Dallas had no idea, but he nodded as she spoke, waving her arms wildly. He would pretend that her big words and her idea made sense. After all, he had no good ideas of his own.
What is third-person limited?
500
My friend has a collection of puppets. Every summer, she does puppet plays with the children in the neighborhood. Each year, she buys one or two more puppets. Now, she has 10. She has three girl puppets and four boy puppets. She also has a beaver, a lion, and a teddy bear puppet. One of the girl puppets has red hair. The others have blonde--or yellow--hair. The boy puppets each wear a different color baseball hat. My favorite is the lion puppet. She can open his mouth wide and make a loud roaring sound. The kids on our block love to watch her puppet plays.
What is My friend has a collection of puppets.
500
The purple aliens landed with a crash and a boom. The residents of the small Iowa town ran in all directions as the multi-fingered creatures got off their spaceship. They landed right in front of the local cell phone store and appeared to be eager to check out Earth’s communication technology. Fortunately, the salesman kept his head and showed the aliens many kinds of cell phones. The friendly purple creatures soon discovered that cell phones were cool. And lo and behold, the salesman had never seen anyone learn how to text so quickly. Maybe friendly aliens would do well on Earth after all.
What is to entertain?
500
Jonathan was as brave as the Cowardly Lion.
What is Jonathan wasn't brave at all.
500
The video game challenged me to a rematch.
What is video game?
500
Melissa raised her hand to read the next paragraph from the social studies book. She was very scared but she wanted to show her teacher how hard she had worked on her reading. Miss Jameson called on Melissa, and smiled wildly with pride as Melissa read the passage beautifully. This was Miss Jameson's proudest moment as a teacher.
What is third-person omniscient?
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