Understand how words connect
Grade 6 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
Trade Along the Old Roads (history article)
[1] Long before airplanes, merchants moved goods across continents in caravans, which are groups of travelers who journey together for safety. [2] A trade route is a regular path that traders follow. [3] The Silk Road was a network of such routes linking China with lands to the west. [4] Silk was one of the goods carried along these routes, together with spices, metals and paper. [5] Because no single trader traveled the whole distance, goods passed from one merchant to the next, and each exchange added to the price. [6] Cities that sat along a major route often grew wealthy, since traders needed food, rest and storage. [7] Commerce, the buying and selling of goods, also spread ideas, such as new farming methods and inventions. [8] Some historians describe the Silk Road as a bridge between East and West. [9] In the same way that a bridge connects two shores so that people can cross, the routes connected distant peoples so that goods and knowledge could travel.
Ari reads [8] and [9], where the Silk Road is called a bridge. Which relationship makes the comparison work?
- The Silk Road is one kind of bridge, so the two belong to the same category.
- Both connect two separated sides so that people and things can cross to the other side.
- Both were built by engineers from stone and wood, so the routes were made by many builders.
- Both are found over water, so the writer is describing a river crossing for boats.
Bo completes this analogy: caravan : travelers :: orchestra : ____ . A caravan is a group made of travelers. Which word fits?
- sections
- conductor
- concert
- musicians
A classmate claims that more merchants made goods cheaper. Esme wants evidence against it. Which choice uses [5] correctly?
- [6] says cities along a route grew wealthy, so goods must have been cheap for buyers.
- [5] says higher prices caused goods to pass from one merchant to the next.
- [4] says silk was one of the goods, so silk was the cheapest item.
- [5] says each exchange added to the price, so more merchants meant higher prices.
Sleep and Memory (science article)
[1] Scientists who study sleep have found that the brain stays active at night, sorting what it learned during the day. [2] Students who sleep well after studying often remember more the next morning. [3] The pattern suggests that sleep helps strengthen memories, but it does not prove that one night of rest guarantees a high test score. [4] Other factors, such as stress or hunger, also influence how well a person recalls information. [5] Researchers describe memory in stages: encoding, when information first enters the brain; storage, when it is held; and retrieval, when it is called back. [6] Sleep appears to matter most for storage. [7] A related word is consolidate, which means to combine and make firm. [8] The brain may consolidate new memories the way a builder sets concrete: loose material gradually becomes a solid structure.
Jun reads [8], where making memories firm is compared to setting concrete. Which relationship makes the comparison fit?
- Both turn loose material into something solid and lasting, given time.
- Both finish in a single night, so one night of sleep fixes a memory for good.
- Both are made of heavy stone, so a memory is a kind of building material.
- Both happen at night, when a builder and a student are asleep.
A classmate writes: Sleep causes a high test score. Kira wants the sentence that shows the claim goes too far. Which choice?
- [6] says sleep matters most for storage, so it has nothing to do with encoding or with retrieval.
- [3] says the pattern suggests sleep helps memory, but one night does not guarantee a high score.
- [2] says students who sleep well often remember more, so sleep is the main thing that matters.
- [4] says stress and hunger matter, so sleep and test scores are not related.
A Hive Like a Small City (science article)
[1] A honeybee colony can seem like a small city, with thousands of workers who share the labor of the hive. [2] The queen is the only bee that lays eggs, so the colony depends on her for its future members. [3] Worker bees clean the cells, feed the young, guard the entrance and gather nectar from flowers. [4] A forager that finds a rich patch of flowers returns and performs a waggle dance, which tells the other bees the direction and distance of the food. [5] Beekeepers say the dance works like a map drawn in motion. [6] Nectar becomes honey after workers fan it with their wings, which removes water until the mixture thickens. [7] A colony may store enough honey to survive a long winter when no flowers bloom. [8] Because each bee has a job, a hive with too few workers can collapse.
A classmate says the queen is the boss who gives orders to the workers. Zee checks [2] and [3]. Which choice shows what the passage supports?
- [2] says the queen lays the eggs, so the colony depends on her; it does not say she gives orders.
- [2] says the colony depends on workers for new members, so the workers lay the eggs.
- [3] says workers have many jobs, so the queen must be assigning each of them to a worker.
- [8] says a hive can collapse, so the queen rules in order to prevent that.
Pia reads [8]. Which meaning of collapse fits the sentence?
- To fold up so that something takes less space, as a tent might.
- To fall down suddenly because the supports gave way, as a bridge might.
- To fail or break down because too many needed parts are missing.
- To sit down suddenly because of being very tired after hard work.
A River of Ice (science article)
[1] A glacier is a huge mass of ice that moves slowly downhill under its own weight, which is why scientists sometimes call it a river of ice. [2] Snow that falls on the upper part of a glacier packs down into dense ice over many years. [3] The weight of that ice makes the lower layers flow, much as thick honey spreads across a plate. [4] As the glacier moves, it drags rocks along its bottom and carves a U-shaped valley. [5] Warm summers cause melting at the glacier's lower end, called the terminus. [6] When the glacier loses more ice at the terminus than it gains from snowfall, its edge retreats up the valley. [7] In everyday speech, retreat means to back away from danger, but in this setting it describes a measurable change in position. [8] Scientists measure retreat with satellite images taken years apart, and they compare the results to estimate how fast the ice is changing.
Milo reads [3], where a glacier's flow is compared to thick honey on a plate. Which relationship makes the comparison fit?
- Both flow as fast as water, so the glacier moves like a running stream.
- Both are found in cold places, where honey is often stored in jars and barrels.
- Both are sweet and sticky, so the ice must be sticky too, like a spoonful of honey.
- Both are thick materials that flow slowly and spread out under their own weight.
More melting than snowfall : retreat. Ren completes the analogy more snowfall than melting : ____ . Which word fits?
- valley
- terminus
- advance
- retreat
A classmate says retreat means a glacier is melting evenly from top to bottom. Noah checks [6] and [7]. Which choice corrects the claim?
- [7] says retreat means backing away from danger, so a glacier retreats from the storms that threaten it.
- [6] says retreat is the edge losing more ice than snowfall adds, so it describes where the lower end sits.
- [5] says summers cause melting, so a retreating glacier must be melting evenly from the top to the bottom.
- [4] says glaciers carve valleys, so retreat means the valley grows wider as the ice moves.