Category 1
How can you find the main idea in a passage?
To find the main idea, look for key details that support or explain the main point.
What is an opinion?
An opinion is what a person thinks, feels, or believes.
What is the main idea of a text?
The main idea is the most important point or message that the author wants to communicate about the topic.
What is a Sequential Text Structure?
A Text Structure that tells you about events that happen in a certain order.
What is a fact? (key word)
A fact is something that can be proven true.
Spelling Word #4
Eagle
Spelling Word #5
Absorb
Spelling Word #2
Pupil
Spelling Word #1
Muscle
Spelling Word #3
Surprise
What is the text's most likely purpose?
Erik gasped. A bird was in his living room, flying in circles.
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a. to persuade
b. to inform
c. to entertain
c. to entertain
What is the text's most likely purpose?
Don't get sick from cooking with eggs. Wash your hands with warm water and soap before and after touching eggs.
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a. to persuade
b. to inform
c. to entertain
a. to persuade
What is the text's most likely purpose?
Stack the blocks into a tower. Then take turns pulling blocks out of the tower. If you cause the tower to fall, you lose!
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a. to persuade
b. to inform
c. to persuade
b. to inform
Select the sentence where the writer states an opinion:
If you are driving in California, several roads will take you North to South (1). One such road is the Pacific Coast Highway (2). The Pacific Coast Highway goes along to the California coastline (3). This route is at least twenty miles longer, but it is a beautiful drive (4). You can visit Ventura Beach, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Redwood National and State Parks (5).
This route is at least twenty miles longer, but it is a beautiful drive (4).
Does the sentence state a fact or an opinion?
Every year, rainforests lose millions of acres to logging, mining, and other human enterprises.
Fact
Use the text to put the events in order:
Making a memory has three main steps. First, you have to encode information, which means turning it into pictures, sounds, or meanings. Next, this information must be stored in your brain. Finally, you have to retrieve, or get out, the information. This retrieved information is what we call a memory.
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-You store information
-You retrieve information
-You encode information
1. You encode information
2. You store information
3. You retrieve information
Look at these details from a paragraph about desserts that contain fruit.
-Many people enjoy pies filled with peaches, apples, or blueberries.
-Cobbler is a popular dessert of baked fruit topped with pieces of crust.
-Sherbet, a cold treat made of fruit or fruit juice, is often enjoyed in the summer.
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Choose the main, or central, idea that ties all the details together:
a. Some popular desserts are made with fruit.
b. Pies can be filled with various types of fruits.
c. Popular in the summer, a fruit tart contains a variety of colorful fruits.
d. There are many popular flavors of ice cream
a. Some desserts are made with fruit
Look at these details from a paragraph about the jobs needed to put on a play.
-In a play, the actors are the ones who perform onstage.
-Stage managers help run the stage lights during the play.
-Set designers make the sets and change the stage in between scenes.
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Choose the main, or central, idea that ties all the details together.
a. Costume designers put together the costumes and find props for the play.
b. Several groups of people have to work together to produce a play.
c. There are strategies that can help actors learn lines for plays.
d. Plays need actors and set designers.
b. Several groups of people have to work together to produce a play.
Read this passage and select the 3 details that are included in the text.
Many people love to ski, but skiers must remember to protect their eyes. This is because sunlight bounces off snow. The light that reflects back is so strong, it can sunburn the eyeballs. This is not only uncomfortable, but it can also cause short-term blindness. This condition is sometimes called snow blindness. Vision returns after the sunburn heals. Still, it's best to avoid sunburned eyes in the first place. Of course, we can't put sunscreen on our eyeballs. However, we can protect our eyes with sunglasses designed to block the sun's rays. The sunglasses should wrap around the face so that sunlight cannot enter through the sides. This type of sunglasses is widely available.
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a. The best sunglasses for preventing sunburned eyes are the kind that wrap around the face.
b. Sunlight bouncing off snow can burn your eyes.
c. The loss of sight from sunburned eyes is sometimes called snow blindness.
d. Before sunglasses, ancient Inuit people wore goggles to avoid sunburned eyes.
a. The best sunglasses for preventing sunburned eyes are the kind that wrap around the face.
b. Sunlight bouncing off snow can burn your eyes.
c. The loss of sight from sunburned eyes is sometimes called snow blindness.
Look at these details from a paragraph about the jobs helicopters can do.
-Helicopters are sometimes used to carry loads of water that help put out forest fires.
-Ships in the middle of the ocean often receive supplies from helicopters.
-Helicopters can be used to rescue people in hard-to-reach areas.
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Choose the main, or central, idea that ties all the details together.
a. Helicopters move in special ways.
b. Helicopters are used to help fight fires and deliver supplies.
c. Helicopters can carry objects to help with construction.
d. Helicopters are used to complete tough jobs.
d. Helicopters are used to complete tough jobs.
Read the passage "The Water Cycle"-
In the water cycle, water travels around the planet in a repeating set of steps. Water from the surface of the Earth goes into the air. For example, when the ocean is heated by the sun, some of the water evaporates. In other words, it turns into water vapor, a gas. The water vapor then rises into the sky. When water vapor starts to condense, or change to liquid water, clouds form. Next, when the clouds are full of water, tiny drops form. The drops fall to Earth as rain or snow. Over time, the water will evaporate again, continuing the cycle.
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What is the main, or central, idea of the passage?
a. Water moves around the Earth in a series of steps known as the water cycle.
b. The water cycle takes place all around us all the time.
c. When the sun's rays heat the ocean's water, the water turns into water vapor.
a. Water moves around the Earth in a series of steps known as the water cycle.
Select the sentence where the writer states an opinion:
The sound of a squawking bird is unpleasant on a quiet morning (1). However, all that noise has a purpose (2). Birds communicate by squawking or making other types of longer calls or chirps. For example, if you walk near a mother's bird's nest, she may squawk loudly at you (3). This is her way of telling you to back off (4). Many birds squawk to tell each other that a predator, like a cat or an owl, is near (5). At other times, birds may squawk or call to tell each other about nearby food (6).
The sound of a squawking bird is unpleasant on a quiet morning (1)
Read the passage "Putting Code in the Classroom"-
Computer-science skills are important in today's world. In countries such as Britain, China, and Vietnam, most students learn computer programming, also called coding. However, many American schools don't offer computer-science classes. A group called Code.org believes this should be changed. The group provides a first step in bringing computer science to U.S. schools. They offer a service called Hour of Code. Hour of Code gives students one hour of free online computer-science classes. Code.org hopes this program will encourage all schools to teach computer programming.
-------------------------------------------------------------What is the main, or central, idea of the passage?
a. Code.org believes that not enough schools in the United States offer computer-science classes.
b. Code.org offers a way for more students to learn computer science.
c. Hour of code allows students to spend one hour learning computer-science skills.
b. Code.org offers a way for more students to learn computer science.
Read the passage "Snowflake Man"
You may have heard people say that no two snowflakes are exactly alike. It was Wilson Bentley who first discovered this. Bentley was born in Vermont in 1865. When he was fifteen, he received a microscope for his birthday. The first things he looked at were snowflakes. He wanted to draw them, but the snowflakes melted before he could finish. At last, Bentley discovered that he could capture a picture of a snowflake by using a camera along with his microscope. He spent many hours working in the cold to develop his new technique. Finally, in 1885, he took his first successful picture of a snowflake. Bentley went on to take pictures of more than five thousand snowflakes.
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What is the main, or central, idea of the passage?
a. When Wilson Bentley first tried to take pictures of snowflakes, he was unsuccessful.
b. Wilson Bentley successfully photographed snowflakes after a long process of trial and error.
c. Wilson Bentley was one of the first to observe that no two snowflakes are exactly alike.
b. Wilson Bentley successfully photographed snowflakes after a long process of trial and error.
Use the text to put the events in order.
During the Age of Exploration, Europeans began to colonize North America. The Spanish started a settlement at Saint Augustine, Florida, in 1565. Forty-two years later, the English started a colony at Jamestown, Virginia. And by the following year, in 1608, the French had started a colony in what is now Canada.
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-The French settle Canada.
-The Spanish settle Florida.
-The English settle Virginia.
1. The Spanish settle Florida.
2. The English settle Virginia.
3. The French settle Canada.