Explain a topic in a few paragraphs
Grade 7 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
A Machine That Changed Reading (informative draft)
[1] Before the 1400s, every book in Europe was copied by hand, which took months and made books very expensive. [2] Around 1450, a German printer named Johannes Gutenberg built a press that used movable metal letters. [3] His invention changed how quickly books could be made and how widely ideas could travel across the continent.
[4] The printer arranged the letters into a page, inked them, and pressed a sheet of paper against the type. [5] By the year 1500, printing shops had opened in more than two hundred European cities. [6] After the letters were set, the same page could be printed again and again, so many copies took only days.
[7] Printing also did something else that is worth explaining in this essay. [8] With more books in circulation, more people learned to read, and schools could buy more textbooks for students. [9] News, maps, and new scientific ideas passed between cities faster than ever before.
Ren wants sentence [7] to link the paragraph on speed to the one on spread. Which sentence replaces it?
- Faster copying made books cheaper, and cheaper books let ideas travel to far more readers.
- Before the press, copying by hand had made books slow to produce and very expensive.
- Faster copying meant that many copies of a book took days instead of months to finish.
- Ideas could now travel to far more readers in many different towns and cities along the way.
The printing essay needs an ending. Tala compares closing sentences. Which one gathers the ideas without adding a new fact?
- That is everything I wanted to explain about the printing press, so I will stop writing here.
- By the year 1500, printing shops had opened in more than two hundred European cities and towns.
- Gutenberg printed a famous Bible, and a few of those early copies survive in museums and libraries today.
- By making books quick and cheap to produce, the printing press spread ideas and learning to many more people.
Four Floors of the Rainforest (informative draft)
[1] A tropical rainforest is not one flat carpet of trees but a tall habitat built in layers that each work differently. [2] Each layer has its own light, temperature, and wildlife, and the differences are easy to see. [3] From the sunny treetops to the dim ground, the layers show how living things share one forest.
[4] The tallest trees, called emergents, poke above the rest of the forest and catch the most sunlight. [5] On the forest floor, fallen leaves rot quickly in the warm, damp air and feed the soil. [6] Below them, the canopy forms a thick roof of leaves where monkeys, birds, and insects find fruit and flowers.
[7] Other layers matter too, and they are worth a closer look in this essay. [8] In the understory, shrubs and young trees grow in dim light, and large leaves help them catch the little that arrives. [9] Only a small fraction of sunlight reaches the floor, where mushrooms and ferns thrive.
Zee sees that one sentence in the rainforest essay is in the wrong paragraph. Which move keeps each paragraph on one idea?
- Move [5] to follow [9].
- Move [5] to follow [2].
- Move [6] to follow [9].
- Move [4] to follow [6].
Ari wants sentence [7] to link the upper layers to the lower ones. Which sentence replaces it?
- Beneath that roof, much less light reaches the lower layers, so the plants and animals there live differently.
- Each layer has its own light, temperature, and wildlife, and the differences are easy to see.
- The plants on the forest floor must grow in deep shade and in damp, still air near the ground.
- The canopy forms a thick roof of leaves where monkeys, birds, and insects find fruit and flowers.
The rainforest essay needs an ending. Bo compares closing sentences. Which one gathers the ideas without adding a new fact?
- Rainforests receive heavy rain through much of the year, which keeps the air warm and damp near the ground.
- That is everything I have to say about the layers of the rainforest, so this essay ends here for now.
- The tallest trees, called emergents, poke above the canopy and catch the most sunlight of any layer.
- Each rainforest layer offers different light and food, so many kinds of living things share one forest.
Rivers of Ice (informative draft)
[1] A glacier is a huge mass of ice that forms in cold places where more snow falls each year than melts. [2] Over many years, the snow piles up and squeezes into dense ice that can be hundreds of feet thick. [3] Once the ice is thick enough, it begins to flow slowly downhill under its own weight and reshapes the land.
[4] As a glacier moves, it picks up rocks and drags them along the ground like sandpaper. [5] This scraping can carve a narrow river valley into a wide, U-shaped valley. [6] When a glacier melts, it leaves behind piles of rock and sand called moraines.
[7] Glaciers also leave some other things behind, and those things are worth a closer look. [8] Melted ice can fill the carved hollows, and many northern lakes formed this way. [9] Scientists study these shapes to learn where glaciers once covered the land long ago.
Milo sees that one sentence in the glacier essay is in the wrong paragraph. Which move keeps each paragraph on one idea?
- Move [5] to follow [8].
- Move [6] to follow [2].
- Move [4] to follow [5].
- Move [6] to follow [8].
Noah wants sentence [7] to link the carving paragraph to the last one. Which sentence replaces it?
- Piles of rock and sand called moraines mark the place where a glacier once ended.
- A glacier forms where more snow falls each year than melts, and the snow becomes ice.
- After the scraping stops, the melting glacier leaves behind new shapes of its own.
- The scraping can carve a narrow river valley into a wide, U-shaped valley over time.
The glacier essay needs an ending. Kira compares closing sentences. Which one gathers the ideas without adding a new fact?
- That is everything I know about glaciers, and I hope this essay was helpful to read today.
- Moraines are piles of rock and sand that a melting glacier leaves behind on the land it crossed.
- Glaciers carve the land as they move and build new shapes as they melt, so the land keeps their story.
- Some glaciers are found high in mountains near the equator, even in warm parts of the world with little snow.
Roads That Carried More Than Silk (informative draft)
[1] More than two thousand years ago, traders began to travel long routes that linked China with lands far to the west. [2] These routes became known as the Silk Road, after the cloth that merchants carried along the way. [3] Trade along the road moved both goods and ideas across thousands of miles of mountains and desert.
[4] Merchants carried silk, spices, and pottery on camels, which could cross dry land for long distances. [5] Travelers also shared stories, religions, and inventions, such as the way to make paper. [6] In return, traders brought glass, silver, and horses back toward China.
[7] Trade did more than that, and the rest of the story is just as important to explain. [8] Few traders traveled the whole route, since goods were usually passed from one set of merchants to the next. [9] This chain of exchange let new ideas reach far-away towns that the original travelers never visited.
Jun wants sentence [7] to link the goods paragraph to the ideas paragraph. Which sentence replaces it?
- Along with goods, travelers also carried knowledge, and that exchange changed the places they reached.
- Traders began to travel long routes that linked China with lands far to the west long ago.
- Merchants carried silk, spices, and pottery on camels across dry land for long distances and many weeks.
- Stories, religions, and inventions moved between distant towns along the route in those days.
The Silk Road essay needs an ending. Esme compares closing sentences. Which one gathers the ideas without adding a new fact?
- The Silk Road linked distant peoples by carrying goods and ideas, and it helped shape the places it reached.
- That is everything I wanted to say about the Silk Road, and this essay is now finished for good.
- Some Silk Road cities still have busy markets where traders sell silk and spices to visitors today.
- Merchants carried silk, spices, and pottery on camels across thousands of miles of mountains.