The big idea and how each part backs it up
Grade 8 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
Builders of the Wetland (article)
[1] A beaver's dam is built from branches, mud, and stones, and it can stretch hundreds of feet across a stream. [2] The dam slows the water, and the stream backs up into a pond that spreads across the valley. [3] Inside that pond, a beaver lodge rises above the surface, and its entrance lies underwater, where swimmers can use it but most land animals cannot.
[4] The new pond changes the land for many other animals. [5] Frogs and dragonflies lay eggs in the still, shallow edges, and ducks and herons arrive to feed on them. [6] Bare trees standing in the water give woodpeckers places to nest.
[7] The water also changes the soil. [8] Mud and silt pile up behind the dam, and the extra moisture helps willows and grasses spread along the banks. [9] During a dry summer, the pond releases water slowly, so the stream below keeps flowing longer.
[10] Beaver work is not welcome everywhere, however. [11] A dam can flood a farm road or block a drainage pipe, and landowners may spend days clearing it away. [12] Wildlife managers therefore try to protect wetlands while helping people keep their roads dry, for example by placing pipes that let water pass through a dam. Ladder (one rung for each paragraph, with the arrow into each rung marked like or unlike): P1: a dam turns a stream into a pond | (like) P2: the pond gives many animals homes and food | (like) P3: the water also changes the soil and keeps the stream flowing | (unlike) P4: flooding troubles people, so managers must balance the two
Ari reads the article and its ladder. Which statement is the one central idea that all four rungs support?
- A beaver lodge rises above the pond, and its entrance lies underwater where swimmers can reach it, which keeps the family safe from most visitors, even in winter.
- Beaver dams do so much good for wildlife that managers should stop removing them from farm roads and drainage pipes.
- A beaver dam turns a stream into a pond that gives many animals homes and food and that changes the soil along the banks.
- Beavers reshape streams in ways that help many other species, though their dams can trouble people, so the benefits have to be weighed against the costs.
Esme wants support for the gist on rung P1. Which detail from the article belongs under it?
- A single beaver dam can turn a whole river valley into a lake that lasts for centuries.
- Frogs and dragonflies lay eggs in the still, shallow edges, and ducks and herons arrive to feed on them.
- Inside that pond, a beaver lodge rises above the surface, and its entrance lies underwater, where swimmers can use it but most land animals cannot.
- The dam slows the water, and the stream backs up into a pond that spreads across the valley.
What Tree Rings Remember (article)
[1] Cut across a tree trunk, and the wood shows a pattern of rings, each one made during a single year of growth. [2] In spring, when water is plentiful, a tree grows quickly and makes pale, wide wood; in late summer it grows slowly and makes dark, thin wood. [3] One pale band and one dark band together form a ring, so counting the rings tells a tree's age.
[4] The width of a ring records more than age. [5] A wide ring usually means a year of steady rain and mild weather, while a narrow ring points to drought or a harsh cold snap. [6] Scientists can therefore read the pattern as a calendar of past weather.
[7] Because trees in the same region share the same weather, their rings match from one trunk to the next. [8] A researcher can lay the pattern from a living tree beside the pattern from an old beam and slide them until they line up, which dates the beam to the year. [9] By linking many overlapping samples, researchers have built ring calendars that reach back thousands of years.
[10] The method has limits. [11] A tree in a tropical rainforest, where growth continues all year, may show no clear rings. [12] Scientists also avoid trees damaged by fire or insects, because those years can mislead them. Ladder (one rung for each paragraph, with the arrow into each rung marked like or unlike): P1: each ring forms in one year, so counting gives age | (like) P2: ring width records the weather | (like) P3: matching patterns dates old wood | (unlike) P4: the method has limits
Jun reads the article and its ladder. Which statement is the one central idea that all four rungs support?
- Tree rings are the most reliable record of past weather, so scientists no longer need to measure the weather in any other way.
- Each tree ring forms in one year, and its width records the weather, so scientists can read the rings like a calendar of the past and compare one decade with another.
- Rings form because a tree grows quickly in spring and makes pale wood, then grows slowly in late summer and makes dark wood, and the two bands together make a single ring.
- Tree rings record a tree's age and the weather of past years, so they can date old wood, but the method works only for trees that grow in seasons and stay undamaged.
What Tree Rings Remember (article)
[1] Cut across a tree trunk, and the wood shows a pattern of rings, each one made during a single year of growth. [2] In spring, when water is plentiful, a tree grows quickly and makes pale, wide wood; in late summer it grows slowly and makes dark, thin wood. [3] One pale band and one dark band together form a ring, so counting the rings tells a tree's age.
[4] The width of a ring records more than age. [5] A wide ring usually means a year of steady rain and mild weather, while a narrow ring points to drought or a harsh cold snap. [6] Scientists can therefore read the pattern as a calendar of past weather.
[7] Because trees in the same region share the same weather, their rings match from one trunk to the next. [8] A researcher can lay the pattern from a living tree beside the pattern from an old beam and slide them until they line up, which dates the beam to the year. [9] By linking many overlapping samples, researchers have built ring calendars that reach back thousands of years.
[10] The method has limits. [11] A tree in a tropical rainforest, where growth continues all year, may show no clear rings. [12] Scientists also avoid trees damaged by fire or insects, because those years can mislead them. Ladder (one rung for each paragraph, with the arrow into each rung marked like or unlike): P1: each ring forms in one year, so counting gives age | (like) P2: ring width records the weather | (like) P3: ? | (unlike) P4: the method has limits
Kira is finishing the ladder. Which gist belongs on the empty rung, P3?
- A researcher can lay a living tree's pattern beside an old beam's pattern and slide them until they line up.
- Because trees in one region share the same weather, their ring patterns match, so researchers can line up samples to date old wood.
- By matching patterns, scientists can date any piece of wood in the world, however old or damaged it is, simply by comparing it with a living tree.
- A wide ring means a year of steady rain and mild weather, while a narrow ring means drought or cold, so each ring records the weather of one year.
What Tree Rings Remember (article)
[1] Cut across a tree trunk, and the wood shows a pattern of rings, each one made during a single year of growth. [2] In spring, when water is plentiful, a tree grows quickly and makes pale, wide wood; in late summer it grows slowly and makes dark, thin wood. [3] One pale band and one dark band together form a ring, so counting the rings tells a tree's age.
[4] The width of a ring records more than age. [5] A wide ring usually means a year of steady rain and mild weather, while a narrow ring points to drought or a harsh cold snap. [6] Scientists can therefore read the pattern as a calendar of past weather.
[7] Because trees in the same region share the same weather, their rings match from one trunk to the next. [8] A researcher can lay the pattern from a living tree beside the pattern from an old beam and slide them until they line up, which dates the beam to the year. [9] By linking many overlapping samples, researchers have built ring calendars that reach back thousands of years.
[10] The method has limits. [11] A tree in a tropical rainforest, where growth continues all year, may show no clear rings. [12] Scientists also avoid trees damaged by fire or insects, because those years can mislead them. Ladder (one rung for each paragraph, with the arrow into each rung marked like or unlike): P1: each ring forms in one year, so counting gives age | (like) P2: ring width records the weather | (like) P3: matching patterns dates old wood | (unlike) P4: the method has limits
Luz wants support for the gist on rung P4. Which detail from the article belongs under it?
- In spring, when water is plentiful, a tree grows quickly and makes pale, wide wood; in late summer it grows slowly and makes dark, thin wood.
- A wide ring usually means a year of steady rain and mild weather, while a narrow ring points to drought or a harsh cold snap.
- Rings are so unreliable in many places that scientists have mostly stopped using them to date wood.
- A tree in a tropical rainforest, where growth continues all year, may show no clear rings.
The Day of Two Noons (article)
[1] Before 1883, nearly every American town kept its own time, set by the position of the sun at noon. [2] When it was noon in Chicago, it was about ten minutes earlier in St. Louis. [3] For people who stayed home, those small differences hardly mattered.
[4] Railroads changed that. [5] A train that crossed the country passed through dozens of local times, and printed schedules had to list each town's clock separately. [6] By the 1880s, dozens of different railroad times were in use. [7] The confusion caused delays and, on single tracks, a risk of collisions.
[8] In 1883, the railroads agreed on four time zones for North America, and on November 18 clocks in thousands of towns were reset at noon. [9] Some citizens objected, because they felt that a railroad company should not set the time for their town. [10] Others welcomed the change, since it made travel easier.
[11] The government did not officially adopt the zones until the Standard Time Act of 1918. [12] By then, most Americans had lived by railroad time for thirty-five years, which shows how a business solution can become a public rule. Ladder (one rung for each paragraph, with the arrow into each rung marked like or unlike): P1: each town kept its own sun time | (like) P2: railroads needed one schedule across many towns | (like) P3: in 1883 the railroads set zones and towns reset their clocks | (like) P4: the law caught up thirty-five years later
Milo reads the article and its ladder. Which statement is the one central idea that all four rungs support?
- Railroads needed one schedule, so they created standard time zones, which Americans accepted in daily life long before the law made them official.
- Before 1883, each American town kept its own time, and railroads found the differences confusing and dangerous.
- When it was noon in Chicago, it was about ten minutes earlier in St. Louis, because each town set its clock by the sun.
- Railroad companies forced standard time on unwilling towns, and the law of 1918 finally settled the public disagreement about it for good, so the objections stopped.
The Day of Two Noons (article)
[1] Before 1883, nearly every American town kept its own time, set by the position of the sun at noon. [2] When it was noon in Chicago, it was about ten minutes earlier in St. Louis. [3] For people who stayed home, those small differences hardly mattered.
[4] Railroads changed that. [5] A train that crossed the country passed through dozens of local times, and printed schedules had to list each town's clock separately. [6] By the 1880s, dozens of different railroad times were in use. [7] The confusion caused delays and, on single tracks, a risk of collisions.
[8] In 1883, the railroads agreed on four time zones for North America, and on November 18 clocks in thousands of towns were reset at noon. [9] Some citizens objected, because they felt that a railroad company should not set the time for their town. [10] Others welcomed the change, since it made travel easier.
[11] The government did not officially adopt the zones until the Standard Time Act of 1918. [12] By then, most Americans had lived by railroad time for thirty-five years, which shows how a business solution can become a public rule. Ladder (one rung for each paragraph, with the arrow into each rung marked like or unlike): P1: each town kept its own sun time | (like) P2: ? | (like) P3: in 1883 the railroads set zones and towns reset their clocks | (like) P4: the law caught up thirty-five years later
Noah is finishing the ladder. Which gist belongs on the empty rung, P2?
- Railroad clocks caused so many collisions that railroads stopped running trains at night.
- In 1883, the railroads agreed on four time zones, and thousands of towns reset their clocks at noon.
- Printed schedules had to list each town's clock separately for each train that crossed the country, so one schedule could hold dozens of local times.
- Railroads that crossed many towns needed one schedule, because local clocks caused confusion, delays, and a risk of collisions.
The Day of Two Noons (article)
[1] Before 1883, nearly every American town kept its own time, set by the position of the sun at noon. [2] When it was noon in Chicago, it was about ten minutes earlier in St. Louis. [3] For people who stayed home, those small differences hardly mattered.
[4] Railroads changed that. [5] A train that crossed the country passed through dozens of local times, and printed schedules had to list each town's clock separately. [6] By the 1880s, dozens of different railroad times were in use. [7] The confusion caused delays and, on single tracks, a risk of collisions.
[8] In 1883, the railroads agreed on four time zones for North America, and on November 18 clocks in thousands of towns were reset at noon. [9] Some citizens objected, because they felt that a railroad company should not set the time for their town. [10] Others welcomed the change, since it made travel easier.
[11] The government did not officially adopt the zones until the Standard Time Act of 1918. [12] By then, most Americans had lived by railroad time for thirty-five years, which shows how a business solution can become a public rule. Ladder (one rung for each paragraph, with the arrow into each rung marked like or unlike): P1: each town kept its own sun time | (like) P2: railroads needed one schedule across many towns | (like) P3: in 1883 the railroads set zones and towns reset their clocks | (like) P4: the law caught up thirty-five years later
Pia wants support for the gist on rung P3. Which detail from the article belongs under it?
- In 1883, the railroads forced each town in North America to reset its clock at noon, and no town refused, so the change happened without argument across the continent.
- Others welcomed the change, since it made travel easier.
- The government did not officially adopt the zones until the Standard Time Act of 1918.
- In 1883, the railroads agreed on four time zones for North America, and on November 18 clocks in thousands of towns were reset at noon.
Monarchs on the Move (article)
[1] Each fall, millions of monarch butterflies in eastern North America fly up to three thousand miles to spend the winter in the mountain forests of central Mexico. [2] None of the butterflies that arrive has seen those forests before, because the round trip takes several generations. [3] The generation that flies south lives for months, much longer than the few weeks that most monarchs live in summer.
[4] Their route depends on a single plant. [5] Monarch caterpillars eat only milkweed, and a female lays her eggs on its leaves. [6] Milkweed contains a poison that makes the caterpillar taste bitter to birds, and the adult keeps that protection.
[7] In recent decades, the number of wintering monarchs has fallen sharply. [8] Farmers have cleared milkweed from fields with herbicides, and mowing along roads has removed more, so fewer places remain for eggs. [9] Cold storms and logging in the Mexican forests add further danger.
[10] Volunteers across the continent have responded. [11] Gardeners plant milkweed in yards and along highways, and schools raise caterpillars and tag adults to track their travels. [12] Scientists say the effort helps, but they warn that monarchs need far more habitat before their numbers recover. Ladder (one rung for each paragraph, with the arrow into each rung marked like or unlike): P1: monarchs fly thousands of miles over several generations | (like) P2: caterpillars depend on milkweed | (like) P3: ? | (like) P4: volunteers are helping, but more habitat is needed
Tala is finishing the ladder. Which gist belongs on the empty rung, P3?
- Farmers have cleared milkweed from fields with herbicides, and mowing along roads has removed more.
- The number of wintering monarchs has fallen sharply because milkweed has been cleared and dangers in the forests have grown.
- Monarch caterpillars eat just milkweed, and a female lays her eggs on its leaves, so the plant must grow near wherever the adults travel.
- Herbicides are the sole reason the number of monarchs has fallen, and the Mexican forests are perfectly safe for them, so protecting milkweed is the sole step that matters.
Monarchs on the Move (article)
[1] Each fall, millions of monarch butterflies in eastern North America fly up to three thousand miles to spend the winter in the mountain forests of central Mexico. [2] None of the butterflies that arrive has seen those forests before, because the round trip takes several generations. [3] The generation that flies south lives for months, much longer than the few weeks that most monarchs live in summer.
[4] Their route depends on a single plant. [5] Monarch caterpillars eat only milkweed, and a female lays her eggs on its leaves. [6] Milkweed contains a poison that makes the caterpillar taste bitter to birds, and the adult keeps that protection.
[7] In recent decades, the number of wintering monarchs has fallen sharply. [8] Farmers have cleared milkweed from fields with herbicides, and mowing along roads has removed more, so fewer places remain for eggs. [9] Cold storms and logging in the Mexican forests add further danger.
[10] Volunteers across the continent have responded. [11] Gardeners plant milkweed in yards and along highways, and schools raise caterpillars and tag adults to track their travels. [12] Scientists say the effort helps, but they warn that monarchs need far more habitat before their numbers recover. Ladder (one rung for each paragraph, with the arrow into each rung marked like or unlike): P1: monarchs fly thousands of miles over several generations | (like) P2: caterpillars depend on milkweed | (like) P3: loss of habitat has cut their numbers | (like) P4: volunteers are helping, but more habitat is needed
Zee wants support for the gist on rung P4. Which detail from the article belongs under it?
- The generation that flies south lives for months, much longer than the few weeks that most monarchs live in summer.
- Volunteers have already saved the monarchs, so scientists say that no more habitat is needed.
- Gardeners plant milkweed in yards and along highways, and schools raise caterpillars and tag adults to track their travels.
- Farmers have cleared milkweed from fields with herbicides, and mowing along roads has removed more, so fewer places remain for eggs.