How a sentence or paragraph fits the whole article
Grade 6 Reading Worksheet
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
Why the Moon Seems to Change Shape (article)
[1] Over about a month, the Moon appears to change from a thin curve into a full circle and then back again. [2] The Moon does not really change shape, and the shadow of Earth is not what causes the change.
[3] Sunlight always lights one half of the Moon, just as it lights one half of Earth at any moment. [4] As the Moon travels around Earth, we see that lit half from changing angles.
[5] When the Moon sits between Earth and the Sun, the lit side faces away from us, so we see almost no light. [6] About two weeks later the Moon is on the far side of Earth, and we see the whole lit face as a full Moon.
[7] In between, we see a part of the lit half, which is why the Moon passes through crescent and quarter shapes. [8] The pattern repeats about every twenty-nine days, so the same phases return during every month.
Esme imagines cutting sentence [2] from the article. What would readers lose?
- They would lose very little, because the first sentence already tells readers that the change is just an appearance.
- They would lose the rejection of the shadow idea, which gives the later explanation a problem to answer.
- They would lose the main idea of the article, and the sentences after it would make no sense.
- They would lose the reason the same phases return month after month, which the cut sentence supplies.
When the Plains Blew Away (article)
[1] In the early 1930s, a long drought dried out farmland across the southern Great Plains. [2] The soil there had once been held in place by deep-rooted prairie grass, but farmers had plowed most of the grass under to plant wheat.
[3] Without roots to hold it, the dry topsoil lifted into the air whenever strong winds blew. [4] Towering dust storms buried fences and farm machinery, and many families gave up their land and moved west.
[5] In 1935 the government created the Soil Conservation Service to help farmers protect their fields. [6] Its advisers taught farmers to plow along the curves of a slope, plant rows of trees as windbreaks, and rotate their crops.
[7] The rains returned by the end of the decade, but the new methods had already begun to keep soil in place. [8] Farmers still use many of these practices today, which shows that the lessons of the drought lasted.
Jun asks how the third paragraph, sentences [5] and [6], relates to the second paragraph, sentences [3] and [4]. Which choice fits?
- It gives a further cause of the damage described just before it, explaining why the storms grew so large.
- It responds to the damage described just before it, with steps taken to keep soil from blowing away.
- It compares the storms of the 1930s with earlier droughts to show that this one was more severe.
- It shows that the government's plan ended the drought and so stopped the dust storms.
Kira wants to add this sentence: “Those families often settled in California, where they looked for farm work.” Where does it fit best?
- After sentence [2]
- After sentence [4]
- After sentence [8]
- After sentence [6]
Luz imagines cutting sentence [7]. What would readers lose?
- They would lose very little, because the sixth sentence has already shown that the methods worked.
- They would lose the evidence that the new methods helped even before the rains came back.
- They would lose the point that farmers stopped using the new methods once the rains returned.
- They would lose the explanation of the drought, so readers would not know what caused the storms.
When Coral Reefs Turn White (article)
[1] A healthy coral reef is full of color because tiny algae live inside the soft bodies of the coral animals. [2] The algae make food from sunlight, and the coral gives them shelter in return.
[3] If the ocean stays warmer than usual for several weeks, the coral becomes stressed and pushes the algae out. [4] Without its algae, the coral turns pale or white, an event that scientists call bleaching.
[5] A bleached coral is still alive, but it has lost its main source of food. [6] If cooler water returns soon, the algae can move back in and the coral can recover.
[7] When the heat lasts too long, however, the coral starves, and the reef's fish and other animals lose their home. [8] Reefs that bleach again and again have less time to recover, so protecting them from rising water temperatures is a growing concern.
Milo asks how the third paragraph, sentences [5] and [6], relates to the second paragraph, sentences [3] and [4]. Which choice fits?
- It adds to the bleaching just described, showing that bleached coral is still alive and may recover.
- It shows that bleaching is harmless, since the algae come back whenever the water cools.
- It names what causes bleaching, which the second paragraph then describes as the result.
- It describes the harm to fish and other animals when a reef loses its coral.
Noah asks how sentence [7] connects to sentence [6]. Which choice describes the link?
- It repeats the same outcome with more detail about the fish and other reef animals.
- It happens first, since the coral starves before the cooler water brings it back.
- It gives the opposite outcome, showing what happens when the water stays warm too long.
- It explains the recovery, giving the reason that cooler water brings the algae back.
Pia imagines cutting sentence [5]. What would readers lose?
- They would lose the point that bleached coral is alive but short of food, which sets up both outcomes.
- They would lose the explanation of how algae and coral help each other, which the last paragraph needs.
- They would lose very little, because the fourth sentence already says the coral turns pale and loses its algae.
- They would lose the warning that a bleached reef cannot grow back, even when the water cools.
The Stone That Unlocked Egyptian Writing (article)
[1] For centuries after ancient Egyptian civilization faded, no one could read the picture-like signs carved on its temples. [2] These signs, called hieroglyphs, looked like art, and scholars could only guess what they meant.
[3] In 1799, French soldiers repairing a fort in Egypt found a dark slab of stone covered with three kinds of writing. [4] The top section held hieroglyphs, the middle section held a simpler Egyptian script, and the bottom section held Greek.
[5] Scholars could already read Greek, and they suspected that all three sections said the same thing. [6] By matching words and names in the Greek to signs in the other sections, they began to work out what the hieroglyphs stood for.
[7] In 1822, a French scholar named Champollion showed that the signs stood for sounds as well as ideas. [8] His discovery opened the way for people to read thousands of ancient Egyptian texts for the first time in many centuries.
Ren asks how the third paragraph, sentences [5] and [6], relates to the second paragraph, sentences [3] and [4]. Which choice fits?
- It shows how scholars used the stone just described as a starting point for reading the signs.
- It shows that scholars understood the hieroglyphs at once, as soon as they found a stone with Greek on it.
- It shows that scholars could finally read the signs, after the discovery described just before it.
- It explains how the stone came to be carved, which leads to the discovery described just before it.
Tala asks how sentence [5] connects to sentence [4]. Which choice describes the link?
- It explains why the Greek section mattered, since scholars could read it and the others might match.
- It repeats what the fourth sentence says about the three sections without adding anything new.
- It shows that scholars read the hieroglyphs first and then checked their work against the Greek.
- It explains why the stone was cut into three sections, saying each section told a different story.
Zee wants to add this sentence: “Their first success came with royal names, which the hieroglyphs enclosed in oval frames.” Where does it fit best?
- After sentence [4]
- After sentence [7]
- After sentence [8]
- After sentence [6]