Use text features to understand an article

Grade 6 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   The Dust Bowl

   How Farming Practices Turned Soil to Dust

   Plowing the Prairie
   [1] During the early 1900s, farmers on the Great Plains plowed millions of acres of native prairie grass to plant wheat. [2] The deep roots of that grass had held the soil in place through many dry years. [3] Wheat prices were high, so few farmers worried about what would happen if the rain stopped.

   Years Without Rain
   [4] In the 1930s a long **drought** struck the region, and the wheat withered in the fields. [5] With no roots to hold it and no crops to shade it, the dry **topsoil** blew away in great dust storms. [6] On April 14, 1935, a storm remembered as Black Sunday turned the afternoon sky dark across the southern plains.

   Cause | Effect
   [7] Plowing the prairie grass | Roots no longer held the soil
   [8] Drought in the 1930s | Wheat withered in the fields
   [9] Bare, dry topsoil | Soil blew away in dust storms
   [10] Conservation methods | Soil stayed in place and the land slowly recovered

   Picture: a farm in a dust storm
   Caption: [11] A farm family walks through blowing dust, and a fence is nearly buried by drifted soil.

   Healing the Land
   [12] The government urged farmers to try **conservation** methods, such as plowing along the curves of hills and planting rows of trees as windbreaks. [13] Rain returned in the late 1930s, and the land slowly recovered.

   A Closer Look
   [14] Contour plowing means plowing across a slope instead of up and down. [15] It makes small ridges that slow runoff and help keep soil from washing or blowing away.

2. 1.

   Ari wants one heading for the cause and effect table. Which heading fits all four rows?

   • From Plowed Prairie to Dust Storms and Recovery
   • How Farming Turned the Great Plains Into a Desert
   • Black Sunday, April 14, 1935
   • How Drought Withered the Wheat
3. 2.

   The caption describes a farm family walking through dust. What can the photograph show that sentence 5 cannot, Bo?

   • That dust storms happened because the topsoil was dry and bare after the drought
   • That plowing along the curves of hills keeps soil from blowing away in storms
   • What the storms felt like for families, such as soil drifting against a fence
   • That farm families had to leave the plains once the dust storms began to blow
4. 3.

   Which statement uses both the A Closer Look box and sentence 12, Esme?

   • Contour plowing ended the drought by keeping rain on the land for the crops
   • Plowing across a slope instead of up and down makes small ridges that slow runoff
   • Contour plowing is a conservation method because its ridges slow runoff and hold soil
   • The government urged farmers to plow along the curves of hills and plant windbreaks

5. Use this

   How Bridges Handle Pushing and Pulling Forces

   Two Forces
   [1] Every bridge must carry its own weight and the weight of traffic, and engineers describe these loads with two forces. [2] **Compression** squeezes a material together, while **tension** pulls it apart. [3] A material that handles one force well may handle the other poorly, so engineers match each bridge design to the forces it will face.

   Bridge type | Main forces | Common materials
   [4] Beam | Compression on top, tension underneath | Steel, concrete
   [5] Arch | Mostly compression | Stone, concrete
   [6] Suspension | Tension in the cables, compression in the towers | Steel

   Matching Design to Place
   [7] Arch bridges push their load outward and down into solid ground at each end, so they need strong banks. [8] A suspension bridge hangs its roadway from steel cables that are anchored at both ends, which lets it cross very long gaps. [9] A beam bridge is the simplest kind, but long beams sag, so builders usually use beams for short spans.

   Picture: a suspension bridge
   Caption: [10] The Golden Gate Bridge in California is a suspension bridge with a main span of about 4,200 feet.

   Try It
   [11] Hold a sponge at both ends and bend it down in the middle. [12] The top squeezes together, and the bottom stretches.

6. 4.

   Jun wants to explain why a long beam sags. Which explanation uses the table and the Try It box together?

   • The table says a beam has compression on top and tension underneath, and that steel and concrete are the common materials
   • The sponge test shows that steel beams are weaker than stone arches because arches mostly face compression
   • A bent sponge shows the top squeezing together while the bottom stretches, so the sponge is a good model
   • A beam has compression on top and tension underneath, and a bent sponge shows the top squeezing while the bottom stretches
7. 5.

   What does the Golden Gate caption add that the table's suspension row does not, Kira?

   • That the roadway hangs from steel cables anchored at both ends of the bridge
   • That suspension bridges are the strongest kind of bridge ever built
   • That suspension bridges carry tension in their cables, as the table says
   • A real bridge with a measured span, showing how long a gap it can cross

8. Use this

   The Four Layers of a Tropical Rainforest

   Stacked Habitats
   [1] A tropical rainforest is organized into four layers, and each layer receives a different amount of sunlight. [2] The tallest trees poke above the rest as the **emergent layer**, where wind and sun are strongest. [3] Beneath them, the leaves of most trees form the **canopy**, a dense roof that blocks much of the sunlight.

   Life in the Shade
   [4] Under the canopy, the **understory** is dim and still, and young trees wait there for a gap to open. [5] On the **forest floor**, only a tiny share of the sunlight arrives, so few plants grow there.

   Layer | Sunlight reaching it | Example animals
   [6] Emergent | Full sunlight | Harpy eagles
   [7] Canopy | Much of the light is absorbed here | Monkeys, toucans
   [8] Understory | Dim | Tree frogs, snakes
   [9] Forest floor | About 2 percent | Ants, beetles

   Picture: a toucan
   Caption: [10] A toucan perches in the canopy, where it feeds on fruit.

9. 6.

   Which claim does the table support best, Milo?

   • Young trees wait in the understory for a gap in the canopy to open
   • Animals in the lower layers are weaker than animals above because they get less light
   • The understory gets nearly as much sunlight as the emergent layer
   • The light shrinks toward the ground, and each layer lists different animals
10. 7.

    Which heading best fits the whole article, given that the table covers all four layers, Noah?

    • Four Layers, Four Different Habitats
    • Why the Forest Floor Stays Dark
    • Toucans and Monkeys in the Trees
    • How Light Decides Which Animals Survive

11. Use this

    When the Moon Blocks the Sun

    Lining Up
    [1] A solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes directly between Earth and the Sun. [2] The Moon casts a shadow with two parts: a dark center called the **umbra** and a lighter outer region called the **penumbra**. [3] People standing in the umbra see the Sun completely covered, which is called a total eclipse.

    Why Eclipses Are Rare
    [4] The Moon's orbit is tilted compared with Earth's path around the Sun, so the three bodies usually do not line up exactly. [5] Even when they do, the umbra is narrow, usually less than about 170 miles wide where it reaches the ground. [6] As a result, a total eclipse is visible from any one spot on Earth only about once in several centuries.

    Type of eclipse | What you see | Where you stand
    [7] Total | The Sun fully covered | In the umbra
    [8] Partial | Part of the Sun covered | In the penumbra
    [9] Annular | A bright ring around the dark Moon | Where the Moon is too far away to cover the Sun fully

    Picture: the Sun's corona
    Caption: [10] During the few minutes of totality, the Sun's faint outer atmosphere, called the corona, becomes visible.

    Safety First
    [11] Never look at the Sun without eclipse glasses, even when most of it is covered. [12] Only during totality, when the Sun is fully covered, is it safe to take the glasses off.

12. 8.

    Ren wants to explain why people in the penumbra see only a partial eclipse. Which explanation uses the table and sentence 2 together?

    • The penumbra is the lighter outer shadow, and the table says people in it see part of the Sun covered
    • The penumbra is the lighter outer part of the Moon's shadow, as sentence 2 says
    • The table says people standing in the penumbra see part of the Sun covered
    • People in the penumbra see a partial eclipse, so a partial eclipse is safe to watch without eclipse glasses
13. 9.

    How does the Safety First box change the way Tala should read the corona caption?

    • It repeats what the table says about each type of eclipse and where a viewer stands
    • It shows the corona is unsafe to look at, even during totality itself
    • It lists the three kinds of eclipse that people can see from Earth
    • It shows the caption describes totality, the one moment when glasses may come off
14. 10.

    Which heading best fits sentences 4 to 6, Zee?

    • Why a Total Eclipse Is Rare at Any One Place
    • Everything to Know About Eclipses and the Moon
    • Why Hardly Anyone Ever Gets to See a Total Eclipse
    • How the Moon's Shadow Is Shaped Into Two Parts