Main/Central Idea & Key Details
Which sentence supports the following main idea?
There are enough funny and strange holidays to fill each day of the year.
A. The best holiday is Thanksgiving because people eat good food and watch football.
B. April 5 is Rubber Eraser Day, while National Play-Doh Day is September 18.
C. I like to celebrate my birthday by going to play miniature golf with my friends.
D. Teachers and students get to take time off from school for major holidays.
B. April 5 is Rubber Eraser Day, while National Play-Doh Day is September 18.
A difficulty is described and an answer is offered:
a) Chronological
b) Problem and Solution
c) Sequence
d) Cause and Effect
b) Problem and Solution
It was the first day of school, and we were running late. I frowned as Mom picked up her camera. “Can I please just take one kilofrac?”
You can infer that a kilofrac is most likely a
a. bus
b. snack
c. note
d. picture
d. picture
Monarch butterflies are some of the most easily recognizable butterflies in North America. The wings of monarch butterflies have a black, orange, and white pattern. Although small and light, these butterflies are surprisingly strong. Monarch butterflies, what travel south for the winter, can fly as far as 3,000 miles!
Which change, if any, is needed to the italicized text? what
A. which
B. whom
C. whose
D. No change
B. whom
Who is the best teacher at Cloudland Elementary?
a. Mr. Fleenor
b. Mr. Flenor
c. Mr. Flener
d. Mr. Fleener
A. Mr. Fleenor
The World Series baseball championship has been played since 1903. There are 30 professional teams in the US and Canada. They are divided into two leagues: the American League and National League. The champions from each league play each other in the World Series. The team that wins the most games out of seven wins the World Series. The New York Yankees have won the Series 26 times. This is more than any other team. No organization has named the World Series as a "world championship" event. However, sports fans still call it the "world championship of baseball."
What is this passage mainly about?
A. international championship winning teams
B. the World Series baseball championship
C. how to win a baseball championship game
D. the world champion New York Yankees
B. the World Series baseball championship
An action and its results are discussed:
a) Chronological
b) Problem and Solution
c) Sequence/Process
d) Cause and Effect
d) Cause and Effect
Throughout the state, there are growths of lilies, daisies, violets, and asters. This creates a home for many insects, bugs, and birds.
What is an aster?
a. an animal
b. a lake
c. a flower
d. a fish
c. a flower
We stood at the entrance to the trail, wondering whether our decision to begin this journey was wise. Big, dark clouds were covering the sky. We could hear rumbles of thunder in the distance. Dad pointed to a shelter about a hundred yards away from which we stood.
Which change, if any, is needed to the italicized text?
which
A. when
B. what
C. where
D. No change
C. where
My grandma made me a scrumptious blueberry pie last Sunday. We all sat on the front porch with tall glasses of lemonade and pieces of pie. Everyone was silent as we devoured the pie. When we were done, I looked around at four, smiling faces.
Point of View?
A. first person
B. third person
A. first person
Years ago, doctors made house calls. They took care of sick people at home. Later they stopped making house calls. They wanted people to go to hospitals instead. But hospitals cost so much money. Now some doctors have decided that the old way is better. They have found that house calls cost people less than going to the hospital.
The central idea of the passage above is
(A) why sick people go to hospitals
(B) why some doctors make house calls
(C) when doctors stopped going to houses
(D) how much money doctors make today
(B) why some doctors make house calls
If you ever get a really good idea, one that could change the world, you should get a patent to protect it. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issues two types of patents: design patents and utility patents. These patents have similar purposes but function in different ways. Design patents cover appearances. Let’s say that you developed a new and original design for an iPhone case. To protect your work, you would want to get a design patent, which would help you win lawsuits against people who sell iPhone cases that look like yours. However, if you created a whole new product, like an iPhone case that recharges your phone using solar energy, then you would want to file for a utility patent. Utility patents are harder to get, but they allow you to sue those that copy the function of your product, giving you even greater protection.
a) Cause and Effect
b) Chronological Order
c) Compare and Contrast
d) Problem and Solution
c) Compare and Contrast
An almost worthless kind of rock names pyrite has fooled lots of people. It is shiny and yellowish. People find a piece and think that they have discovered gold. However, pyrite is made of the elements iron and sulfur. It has no gold in it at all. That’s why it’s called “fool’s gold”.
A lump of pyrite is worthless. This means that
a. it is worth a lot of money.
b. it is yellowish in color.
c. it is the same as gold.
d. it has no value.
d. it has no value.
Which change, if any, is needed to the text?
“What do you think, Ann-Marie?” Dad asked me.
A. “What do you think, Ann-Marie? Dad asked me.”
B. “What do you think, Ann-Marie”? Dad asked me.
C. “What do you think,” Ann-Marie? Dad asked me.
D. No change
D. No change
Spiders belong to a group of animals called arachnids. They come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. All spiders have eight legs, but they have different numbers of eyes---two, four, six or eight. And even though no spiders have wings, all of them have fangs.
From this paragraph, you can infer that:
A. Spiders are dangerous.
B. Spiders are not insects.
C. Spiders use their legs to catch food
D. All spiders have four eyes.
B. Spiders are not insects.
(1) Beetles are one of the biggest groups of insects. There are over 300,000 kinds of beetles. Beetles can be found in houses, yards, forests, and even ponds. The only place they do not live is the ocean.
(2) Beetles have six legs, like other insects. They have two pairs of wings. Only the back wings are used for flying. The front wings protect the beetle's body, like tough shields. Beetles come in many different shapes and sizes. Some beetles are long and thin, while others are round. Some have bright colors, while others are just black or brown. Some beetles are so small that people can barely see them. The biggest beetles are the size of a human hand.
(3) Some beetles eat other insects for food. Others eat plants. Farmers do not like some beetles because they eat crops, like lettuce and tomatoes. Many beetles, however, are useful. The lady bug is a good example. It eats harmful insects. Some beetles eat dead plants and animals. It is like they are cleaning up nature's garbage.
Paragraph 3 is mainly about
A. what kinds of food beetles eat.
B. why farmers hate beetles.
C. how beetles make more trash.
D. why people like to see ladybugs.
A. what kinds of food beetles eat.
Are you the type of camper who enjoys the outdoors and wants to snooze under the stars with only the cover of a fabric tent? Or are you an indoor camper, who prefers the safety of a cabin and a roof over your head? You are sure to have a blast with either choice. If you choose to camp in a tent, be prepared to spend an hour or two setting up your temporary lodge. On the other hand, cabin-goers just need to open their front door and plop down their belongings. Think about where you keep your food – a cabin often has a hinge and a latching door, whereas a tent will need to be zipped shut. Hungry animals can usually find their ways into both tents and cabins if they try hard enough. If you are sleeping in a tent while camping, bundle up under your sleeping bag. Cabin campers, however, can cozy up on their cots with sheets and blankets. Which lodging option is right for you?
Which non-fiction text structure is being used in this passage?
a. Problem and Solution
b. Cause and Effect
c. Chronological
d. Compare and Contrast
d. Compare and Contrast
What you Need
MOST IMPORTANT: A TEACHER HELPING YOU
Three small candles (tea lights)
Three saucers
Two glass jars, one larger than the other
What You Do
Put each candle on a saucer. Have your teacher light the candles. Put a jar over two of the candles. Pay attention to the candles. Monitor what happens over time. You will see that the candle with the least air available is the first one extinguished. Keep watching to see which candle does out next. Blow out the last candle.
What does the word monitor mean as it is used in the passage?
a. to be careful of
b. to watch closely
c. to start on fire
d. to happen over time
b. to watch closely
Rocky Mountain National Park is located In Colorado. Covers 415 square miles. It has some of the highest peaks in the United States. Many hiking trails through the mountains.
Replace Many hiking trails through the mountains with
A. Many hiking trails through the mountains (no change)
B. On many hiking trails through the mountains
C. Many hiking trails going through the mountains
D. Many hiking trails go through the mountains
D. Many hiking trails go through the mountains
Daylight comes,
Pushing aside the dark coat of night.
The soft blanket of nighttime’s quiet
Lifts as birds chirp to greet the day.
Dark shapes that marked the land
With fearful domed heights
Are no longer hidden by the night.
Now they bloom into grassy hills
Showered by the golden sun.
Which line from the poem best suggest that early morning is a cheerful time?
A) Daylight comes,
B) Pushing aside the dark coat of night.
C) The soft blanket of nighttime’s quiet
D) Lifts as birds chirp to greet the day.
D) Lifts as birds chirp to greet the day.
Two thousand people sat with their faces turned to the sky. High above the airfield, a pilot had just finished carving a crisp figure eight in the air. Suddenly, the plane seemed to stumble. Twisting and turning, it began to fall from the sky. The crowd watched in horror. Had something happened to the pilot?
But the woman in the cockpit of the plane on October 15, 1922, was in perfect control. Only two hundred feet above the ground, she straightened out the tumbling aircraft and soared back into the sky. By the time she landed her plane, the crowd was on its feet, roaring with delight. Everyone cheered for Bessie Coleman, the first licensed black pilot in the world. Growing Up
Bessie Coleman was born on January 26, 1892. She was a bright girl and a star pupil in school. Bessie grew up in Waxahachie, Texas. Bessie’s mother was proud of her daughter’s sharp mind, and she urged her to do something special with her life.
In 1915, when she was 23, Bessie Coleman moved to Chicago. She found a job as a manicurist in a men’s barbershop. Coleman loved her job and the interesting people she met there. After the United States entered World War I in 1917, soldiers returning from the war often came to the shop. Coleman was fascinated by their stories of daredevil pilots. She read everything she could about airplanes and flying. She later recalled, “All the articles I read finally convinced me I should be up there flying and not just reading about it.”
Bessie Coleman asked some of Chicago’s pilots for lessons. They refused. No one thought that an African American woman could learn to fly.
In desperation, Coleman asked Robert Abbott for help. Abbott owned Chicago’s African American newspaper, The Chicago Defender. He had often promised to help members of the black community with their problems. Abbott told Coleman to forget about learning to fly in the United States. Go to France, he said to her, where no one would care if her skin was black or white.
So she did. First Coleman learned to speak French. Then she applied to a French flying school and was accepted. On November 20, 1920, Coleman sailed for France, where she spent the next seven months taking flying lessons. She learned to fly straight and level, and to turn and bank the plane. She practiced making perfect landings. On a second trip to Europe, she spent months mastering rolls, loops, and spins. These were the tricks she would need if she planned to make her living as a performing pilot.
Coleman returned to the United States in the summer of 1922. Wherever she performed, other African Americans wanted to know where they, too, could learn to fly. It was a question that made Coleman sad. She hoped that she could make enough money from her air shows to buy her own plane. Then she could open a school so everyone would have a chance to feel the freedom she felt in the sky.
By early 1923, Coleman was close to her goal. She had saved her money and bought a plane. Then, as she was flying to an air show in California, her engine stalled. The brand-new plane fell to the ground.
Coleman was injured but still, she refused to quit. “Tell them all that as soon as I can walk I’m going to fly!” she wrote to friends and fans.
Many people were very impressed by Coleman’s determination. A businessman helped her buy another plane. By 1926, Coleman was back to where she had been before the crash. She wrote to her sister, “I am right on the threshold of opening a school.”
However, at 34, Bessie Coleman lost her life flying, but her dream survived. In 1929, three years after her death, the Bessie Coleman Aero Clubs were formed. The clubs encouraged and trained African American pilots—just as Coleman had hoped to do. In 1931, the clubs sponsored the first All-African-American air show. Bessie Coleman would have been proud.
Which key detail from the passage supports the main idea that Bessie Coleman was determined to accomplish her goals?
a) “Wherever she performed, other African Americans wanted to know where they, too, could learn to fly.”
b) “Abbott told Coleman to forget about learning to fly in the United States.”
c) “She read everything that she could about airplanes and flying.”
d) “She spent months mastering rolls, loops, and spins.”
d) “She spent months mastering rolls, loops, and spins.”
Avalanches and mudslides closed a major highway overnight and blocked Amtrak train service on Monday. This was due to the latest series of storms that have drenched the Northwest since December. The storm that hit on Sunday also knocked out power and phone service in northwest Oregon.
Interstate 90, Washington state’s main highway, was closed Sunday evening because of two mudslides in the area. 72 miles of the interstate remained shut-down until late Monday morning. The state Transportation Department said, “No injuries were reported.”
Mudslides during the night, north of Seattle, stopped Amtrak passenger trains between Seattle and California. Passenger service won’t start up again until at least Wednesday because of the major damage caused by the mudslides.
The Northwest is dealing with an unusually wet winter. Earlier this month, Seattle set a record with 35 days in a row of rainfall. Oregon had nearly 27 days in a row of rainfall, and Northern California had 25. Wow! What a wet winter.
This passage is organized this way to _____________.
a) Show the effect of mudslides in the Northwest.
b) Categorize different types of natural disasters.
c) Tell an amusing story about mudslides.
d) Show a timeline of mudslides throughout our history.
a) Show the effect of mudslides in the Northwest.
Winter had finally ended and it was spring. Abigail was still reluctant to ride her bicycle even though it has been 6 months since she fell while on her bike. She had scraped up her leg pretty bad and told her mom she would never ride a bike again. Today, her friends were getting ready to ride their bikes to the ice cream show and up the road. Abigail wanted to go with them but could not bring herself to get on her bike.
What is the best definition of reluctant?
a. ready
b. unwilling
c. eager
d. lucky
b. unwilling
Near the border of Nevada and Arizona sits a huge concrete structure called the Hoover Dam. This barrier was built to hold back water from the colorado river. It is a hydroelectric dam, which means it produces electricity to power homes and businesses. Herbert Hoover was president of the united states when the project started. Its name is from him.
Replace of the united states with
A. of the united states (no change)
B. of The United States
C. of the United States
D. Of The United States
C. of the United States
THE Donkey and the Fox, having entered into partnership together for their mutual protection, went out into the forest to hunt. They had not proceeded far when they met a Lion. The Fox, seeing imminent danger, approached the Lion and promised to get for him the capture of the Donkey if the Lion would pledge his word not to harm the Fox. Then, upon assuring the Donkey that he would not be injured, the Fox led him to a deep pit and arranged that he should fall into it. The Lion, seeing that the Donkey was secured, immediately clutched the Fox, and attacked the Donkey at his leisure.
What is the theme of the passage?
A. Be careful who you trust
B. Donkeys shouldn’t trust lions
C. Promises are always broken
D. Be satisfied with a little instead of being greedy
A. Be careful who you trust