Inferences
Figurative Language
Main Idea/Summary
Vocabulary/Context Clues
Plot Elements
100

I was looking for a place to rest. I landed on a girl's pokadot scarf because it looked like me. I thought I would stay there for a while, but the girl flicked me off. I flew away and landed on a quiet green leaf and feasted on little green bugs called aphids for the rest of the day. What am I?

What is a lady bug?

100

This figurative language compares two things using like or as.

What is a simile?

100

Tim and Theo ordered burgers from Shep's Grill. Tim ordered a plain burger and Theo said,"BORING! I ordered the Jalapeno Challenge. Hot and Spicy!" When the burgers came, Theo tasted his burger. "Yuck! This is horrible. Do you want to trade burgers?" he said to Tim. 

"Sure. It will be a nice change for a boring, plain burger guy like myself." 

What is the THEME of this story?

What is 'Sometimes fancy isn't always better.' ?

100

At the end of the movie, they were all crying--and hungry. They had been so engrossed in the movie, they hadn't touched their popcorn.

What is captivated? Engaged? What is excited about?

100

The characters are introduced at this time in a story. 

What is the exposition?

200

"What's for Dinner?" the Kyle asked his mom. His big dog Zeke knew what dinner meant. He started jumping up and down, licking his lips. Mom told Kyle they were having hamburgers and asked him to take the meat out of the refrigerator. After making a phone call, she came back to the kitchen to make dinner. "Kyle! I told you to take out the hamburger meat."

"I did," he said.  What happened to the meat?

What is Zeke ate it.

200

The tree reached out over the dusty dirt road, making an arch that intertwined with the trees on the other side. 

What type of figurative language is this?

What is personification?

200
Once upon a time, the god Dionysus granted King Midas a single wish. Midas wished that everything he touched would turn to gold. His house turned to gold, his food turned to gold and his daughter turned to gold. What is the THEME of this story?

What is 'Be careful what you wish for.' ?

200

Some people hunt for lost coins on the beach using an apparatus called a metal detector. You hold it over the sand and when metal is detected, it beeps. 

What does the word apparatus mean?

What is a machine?

200

This plot element contributes to the struggles the characters in a story might experience.

What is Rising Action?

300

Zoe had been excited about the field trip to the zoo, so when she got sick and couldn't go, she felt dispirited. What does dispirited mean?

What is disappointed? or Sad? Or unhappy?
300

The meadow was a colorful painter's palette with brush strokes in hues of green, purple and yellow.

What type of figurative language is this?

What is a metaphor?

300

Summarize this passage in 12 words or less:

The tallest tree in the world is a giant redwood, located in Humboldt Redwoods State Park in Northern California. This tree is 380 feet tall. That's more than twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty. Only a few people know exactly where the tree is. The people who discovered it have kept it a secret so that people will not damage it. 

The world's tallest tree's location is kept secret so no one destroys it.

300

People debate who owns sunken treasure -- the country it came from or the people who find it. Some feel it belongs to the descendants of whoever the treasure belonged to, maybe a parent or a sibling.

What does descendants mean?

What is relatives?

300

This part of the story is the peak of excitement, when something changes for the main character and the problem is resolved.

What is Climax? Or Turning Point?

400

Juan challenged his cousin, saying "I can climb this tree higher than you." When Juan passed his cousin, he kept going higher and higher. When he looked back, he froze, and started to cry. The Fire Department was called. 

Why?

What is... Juan looked down and realized how high he'd climbed and was frozen in fear, so his cousin had to call for help?

400

Beautiful, bubbling brooks trickled over the rounded, array of rocks.

What type of figurative language is this? 

What is alliteration?

400

Summarize this passage in 15 words or less:

After traveling for more than 8 months through space, Curiosity, the NASA land rover, landed on the planet Mars on August 5, 2012. Curiosity has six wheels and seventeen cameras, as well as other research equipment. Its mission is to explore the planet and send the information it gathers back to Earth. 

Nasa Land Rover Curiosity explored Mars for over 8 months, reporting information back to Earth.

400

One pirate buried his treasure. People have dug up some of the loot, but much of it is still concealed.

What does concealed mean?

What is hidden?

400

This is the part of the story following the climax, and leads to a resolution.

What is the falling action?

500

12-year-old Ty had a pair of faded jeans that were his favorite. They fit just right. When summer came, it was too warm for jeans, so he wore his favorite pair of shorts. When it got cool again, he got so excited to wear his favorite jeans again, but something was wrong. They were too short! What happened?

What is... Ty grew a few inches over the summer.

500

Can you spell the figurative language that goes "Snap! Crackle! Pop?"  

What is onomatopoeia? 
500

What is the main idea of this passage? 

In 1803. the United States bought the Louisiana Territory from France. The Louisiana Territory stretched from the Mississippi River all the way to the Rocky Mountains. This purchase more than doubled the size of the United States. Over the next ninety years, thirteen new states would be carved from the land. 

What is "the purchase of the Louisiana Territory and its affect on the United States."
500

Though he was a bank robber, some lionize him as an Old West hero. 

What is praise? What is idolize?

500

This is the final part of the plot structure.

What is the resolution?

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