Don't Hate on the Trait

Open Ended

What environment would your character live in, and what 3 traits would make them awesome for their adventure?

STEMS:

My character lives in a _ environment.
I gave them _ and _ powers.

Multiple Choice

Where do you think your eye color or hair type comes from?

• The foods you eat

• The school you go to

• Your genes

• Your personality

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is a way your environment might affect you?

• It decides your favorite TV show

• It controls how tall your parents are

• It can influence how you talk or act

• It tells your body what genes to have

Multiple Choice

When someone says, “It runs in the family,” what are they most likely talking about?

• A family game of tag

• Something passed down through genes

• A race everyone in the family is running

• A family business

Multiple Choice

Why does the author compare buildings to something that has "thousands of wooden boards"?

• To explain how expensive building materials can be and how most people can't afford it.

• To show that architects are skilled at counting supplies

• To highlight the complexity of buildings and the importance of detailed plans

• To prove that wooden boards are the most important part of construction

Multiple Choice

How does the structure of paragraph 1 help develop the author’s central idea?

• By describing a real architect’s job in a city

• By using a simple, relatable example to explain the need for instructions

• By explaining how toilets and electrical plugs work

• By comparing buildings to plants and trees and how they are super different

Multiple Choice

Which detail from the paragraph best supports the idea that buildings need specific instructions to be built?

• “Think about the building where you live.”

• “Architects have to draw every single part.”

• “On your street there are probably many different buildings.”

• “Each building is very, very complicated.”

Multiple Choice

What is the main idea of paragraph 2?

• People can easily change their appearance with clothing and haircuts.

• Everyone has different colors of eyes, hair, and skin.

• People are built differently because of their genes, which act like instructions for the body.

• Every cell in your body looks exactly the same.

Multiple Choice

Which detail best supports the main idea that genes are like instructions for your body?

• “People can change what they look like somewhat by cutting their hair.”

• “Genes are the instructions for your body and they are inside of every one of your cells.”

• “The people in your class might all have different colors of eyes, hair, and skin.”

• “You can decide what some parts of you look like on the outside.”

Multiple Choice

How does the structure of this paragraph support the controlling idea?

• It lists facts about buildings and classrooms.

• It starts with examples of outside traits and shifts to internal traits determined by genes.

• It gives steps for changing your appearance.

• It explains how to locate genes inside your body.

Multiple Choice

What is the controlling idea that connects both paragraphs?

• Buildings and people are both made of wood and wires.

• People can choose how they look if they follow instructions.

• Both buildings and people are made up of many parts that require detailed instructions to come together correctly.

• Architects and scientists use similar tools to design things.

Multiple Choice

What structural element does the author use in both paragraphs to explain complex ideas?

• Lists of vocabulary terms

• A cause-and-effect chain

• A comparison between two topics

• Dialogue between characters

Multiple Choice

What is the main idea of paragraph 3?

• All plants and animals grow in similar ways.

• People and palm trees have the same traits.

• Traits are characteristics that can come from genes, the environment, or both.

• Palm trees are a good example of human traits.

Multiple Choice

Which sentence best supports the idea that traits can be inherited?

• “A palm tree might be tall, brown, skinny, and have green leaves at the top.”

• “Genes give you characteristics that can make you look the same as other people or very different from them.”

• “Another name for a characteristic that we use in science is trait.”

• “Traits are any part of a living thing.”

Multiple Choice

What is the author’s purpose in including a palm tree as an example in this paragraph?

• To show that palm trees are very different from people

• To explain why palm trees grow in warm weather

• To show that traits apply to all living things, not just people

• To prove that palm trees and people share DNA

Open Ended

SCR Question:
How do genes determine what a living thing’s traits are?
STEMS:
Genes determine a living thing’s traits by...

Multiple Choice

What is the main idea of paragraph 4?

• People have no control over how they grow.

• Traits are caused by genes, environment, or both.

• Everyone should avoid unhealthy environments.

• Palm trees are very different from people.

Multiple Choice

How do the details in paragraphs 4 and 5 work together to support the controlling idea?

• They show that genes can only cause health problems.

• They describe how to avoid traits passed down from parents.

• They explain how traits can come from genes, the environment, or a combination, and how heredity passes those traits on.

• They focus only on environmental causes of traits.

Multiple Choice

Which sentence best explains the concept of heredity?

• “Every child gets half of each of their parent’s genes.”

• “Your genes tell your body how to grow.”

• “You might have some of the same traits as your parents.”

• “Heredity is the name for when genes are passed from parents to children.”

Multiple Choice

What is the main idea of paragraph 6?

• People look exactly like their parents because of shared genes.

• Skin color is only determined by genes.

• The environment plays a role in how inherited traits appear in different people.

• People should try to stay indoors to protect their skin.

Multiple Choice

Which detail best supports the idea that the environment affects how traits appear?

• “Genes are not the only things that make you and your parents look the same.”

• “If you spend time inside and your parents spend most of the day outside, they will have darker skin than you.”

• “Genes are found in every living thing.”

• “You can’t decide how you are built.”

Multiple Choice

How does this paragraph support the overall thesis of the passage?

• It gives an example of how traits can be caused by heredity and environment.

• It argues that people can change their genes through environment.

• It lists all the traits people inherit from their parents.

• It explains how to control the genes you receive from your parents.

Multiple Choice

What is the main idea of paragraph 7?

• Students should use different types of writing tools in class.

• All organisms are exactly the same.

• Children inherit half of their genes from each parent, and this results in variation among people.

• Genes are more important than anything else in determining who we are.

Multiple Choice

Which detail best supports the idea that no two people are exactly the same?

• “Every child will get half of their father’s genes and half of their mother’s genes.”

• “Some may use lead pencils, while others use pens.”

• “If you look at the chairs in your classroom, they might all look the same.”

• “This also means that every single person is different or varied.”

Multiple Choice

Why does the author compare classroom chairs and writing tools?

• To show that chairs are more important than pencils

• To distract readers with an example

• To explain that variation can be seen more easily in some things than others

• To suggest that students should choose their supplies carefully

Open Ended

✍️ SCR Question: How does the author explain why people have different traits, and what makes each person unique?
A.C.E.
People have different traits because…

The text states, “_.”

This shows that…