Genre 1
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
More Than a Whistle
Just off the coast of Africa lies a small group of islands known as the Canary Islands. The second smallest of these islands is La Gomera.
Informational text / NF
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
A Gold Miner’s Tale
I was twenty-one years old.
Fired up by dreams of gold.
Rushing West in ’49
to stake a claim to my own mine!
5 What did I find when I got there? Thousands of “rushers” everywhere!
Poetry
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
Sacagawea
CLARK: The Rocky Mountains. Have you ever seen such beaut
LEWIS: Have you ever seen such an impossible thing to cross? If we don’t find the Shoshoni and get horses from them, we’ll never make it over those mountains before winter.
Drama
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Smiles to Go
“What are protons?” I said. Jim took the book from my hands. His eyes returned to the present. He began talking, explaining. He talked about atoms first, the tiny building blocks of everything, smaller than molecules, smaller than specks. “So small,” he said, “millions can fit in a flea’s eye.” That got my attention.
Fiction
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
Picturing the Past for the Future
It’s difficult to imagine a more majestic American landmark than Mount Rushmore, with its imposing likenesses of former presidents carved in stone and rising dramatically above the land. It is even harder to imagine the loss to our nation if time or the elements were to destroy this beloved landmark. Thanks to a company called CyArk, sites like Mount Rushmore can now be digitally preserved and explored for years to come.
Informational text / NF
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
A Hard Rain
[Curtain opens to a cabin with bare furnishings. Erica is tapping on her cell phone. The room is dark and gloomy. Rain can be heard hitting the roof.]
ERICA: No reception at all!
REGGIE: [From offstage.] They have a chess set.
Drama
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
Trees Rise in the Desert
The villagers laughed as they watched their neighbor, farmer Yacouba Sawadogo, digging dozens of holes in the rock-hard soil of his field. Each pit (or zaï, as Sawadogo called them) was about a foot wide and eight inches deep.
Informational text / NF
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
Playing for Peace
For eight weeks of every school year, teacher John Hunter’s fourth-grade students take a break from their normal curriculum in order to solve the world’s problems.
Informational text / NF
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
The Fly
NARRATOR: [In front of the curtain.] Hello. I’d like you to meet the star of our show. [Displays the small fly.] Yes. He’s the star. Let’s take a trip to Southeast Asia to a small village in Vietnam, where our tale begins with a 13-year-old boy.
Drama
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
Poplars
The poplar is a lonely tree.
It has no branches spreading wide
Where birds may sing or squirrels hide.
It throws no shadows on the grass
Tempting the wayfarers who pass
To stop and sit there quietly.
Poetry
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
Silk Umbrellas
“Your elephant looks so alive, Kun Ya,” Noi said, leaning close. Her grandmother painted an elephant lumbering across a yellow silk umbrella. As she worked, her small body rocked with the thick, bold brush strokes.
Fiction
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
The Story of Pixar
“To infinity and beyond!” shouts Buzz Lightyear, holding his fist triumphantly high as he zooms through the air. Today this line is familiar to many people. Millions of viewers around the world have enjoyed the animated film Toy Story since its release in 1995.
Informational text / NF
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
Bridging Two Nations
On March 8, 1855, a 23-ton railroad engine crossed over the gorge on the new bridge near Niagara Falls. It was an exciting day because this was the first suspension railway bridge in the world. It was also an exciting day for Homan Walsh because the bridge might never have been built without his kite.
Informational text / NF
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
The World’s Most Valuable Vault
Deep beneath the permafrost about 600 miles from the North Pole, a concrete chamber is keeping a treasure safe. The vault is hidden 390 feet inside a mountain in Norway’s remote Svalbard Islands.
Informational text / NF
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
A Real Case
Doubtful,
I have a fever or any other measurable symptom.
I’m just down with a sniffly case
5 of sudden-self-loathing-syndrome.
Poetry
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
Golden Opportunities
On August 17, 1896, three men discovered a thumb-sized gold nugget near the Klondike River in the Yukon Territory of Canada. This marked the beginning of the Klondike gold rush.
Informational text / NF
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
Lake’s Promise
I am the lake.
I wait for you with cool, blue arms and silver face.
My wavelets lap, my pebbles gleam where once you left your barefoot trace.
Poetry
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Here to the Sargasso
We walk onto the beach in the late evening, as the last rays of the sunset scatter a vivid red amongst the clouds. The beach itself is already dark, shaded from the final remnants of daylight by a dense row of condos pressed against the edge of the dunes.
Fiction
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
Uncovering a New Era
in Archaeology
Imagine having the ability to uncover a hidden city from the past, a city worn down by time and buried beneath layers of sand. Imagine the thrill of ancient roads and houses suddenly appearing before your eyes.
Informational text / NF
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
Just a Trim
[The curtain rises. Asia and Lonnie are sitting on a couch in Asia’s living room reading magazines.]
LONNIE: Would this haircut look good on me? [She turns the magazine around so that the page is facing Asia.]
Drama
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
A Legacy of Stone
Art can come in many forms and from many places. Sometimes it can be created quickly, and other times its creation requires a prolonged effort. Over a century ago, a mail carrier named Ferdinand Cheval began a masterpiece that took over 33 years to complete.
Informational text / NF
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
Airball: My Life in Briefs
I should’ve suspected something.
The other guys whooped and dribbled around me, slapping balls out of each other’s hands and charging in for layups at both ends of the court. Layups that mostly bounced wide of the basket.
Fiction
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
A Ribbon for Baldy
One morning in February I left home in a white cloud that had settled over the deep valleys. I could not see an object ten feet in front of me in this mist.
Fiction
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
Can Writers Predict the Future?
The human race is constantly seeking to expand its knowledge and to discover answers to the mysteries of the unknown. This desire to learn has led to technological and scientific advancements that have transformed our world.
Informational text / NF
What is the genre of the following STAAR Reading passage?
Air Force One
The most important aircraft in the United States Air Force is a plane labeled VC-25A, better known as Air Force One. This plane has a single and very significant function: to provide air transportation for the president of the United States.
Informational text / NF