A Bad Robot

Who is EARL? 

• EARL is Bonnie’s robotics teacher. 
• EARL is Bonnie’s father. 
• EARL is the robot Bonnie built. 
• EARL is Bonnie’s best friend at school. 

Tags

CCSS.RL.K.1

CCSS.RI.K.4

CCSS.RI.1.4

CCSS.RI.1.1

CCSS.RI.K.1

The main event in the story is when Bonnie brought EARL to school. What happens when Bonnie brought EARL to school? 

• Bonnie ran away when EARL ripped one of the lockers from its hinges. 
• Bonnie lost control of EARL when EARL began to malfunction. 
• EARL followed Bonnie’s directions and entertained her classmates. 
• Bonnie’s classmates attacked EARL. 

Tags

CCSS.RL.K.1

CCSS.RL.K.2

CCSS.RL.K.3

CCSS.SL.K.2

EARL’s software still had bugs and needed to be reprogrammed even though Bonnie worked very hard on building EARL. What evidence from the text supports this conclusion? 

• EARL tore off a locker door and did not listen to Bonnie’s instructions. 
• Bonnie had to work on the robot for a long time. 
• Bonnie’s friends were frustrated that they had not hung out with her in so long. 
• EARL had slanting eyes and a mouthful of jagged teeth. 

Tags

CCSS.RL.K.1

CCSS.RI.K.4

CCSS.RL.K.2

CCSS.RF.1.4C

CCSS.RL.1.2

Read the following sentences from the text: “Bonnie felt like she might explode. Tears pouring, she bolted out of the classroom.” Based on the evidence in these sentences, how was Bonnie feeling? 

• Bonnie was happy and proud. 
• Bonnie was tired yet excited. 
• Bonnie was nervous and apprehensive. 
• Bonnie was frustrated and upset. 

Tags

CCSS.RL.K.1

What is the theme of this story? 

• Robots are unreliable instruments that humans should not waste time building. 
• To succeed at something you must ignore your friends and other parts of your personal life. 
• Even when you work very hard, things don’t always work out as you hoped. 
• If you work hard at something, nothing will go wrong. 

Tags

CCSS.RL.K.9

Read the following sentences:
“EARL is a tool, Bonnie’s mother kept reminding her, not a friend or a puppy. ‘Don’t anthropomorphize it, honey,’ Bonnie’s mom said one night after she found Bonnie dancing around her bedroom with the metal contraption. ‘It’s a walking blender. Never forget that.’”
As used in the passage, what does the word “anthropomorphize” mean? 

• to program a robot so that it acts in a robotic or unnatural way
• to give human characteristics to an object or animal 
• to make a human act more like an animal and less of a human 
• to program a robot so that it acts more like an animal

Tags

CCSS.RI.K.4

CCSS.RI.1.4

CCSS.RI.2.4

CCSS.RI.3.4

CCSS.RL.3.4

Choose the answer that best completes the sentence below.
EARL demonstrated many problems in his programming, _____________, tearing a locker door off and acting as if it were a friend. 

• for example
• however
• instead
• before

Tags

CCSS.RI.1.5

CCSS.RI.2.5

CCSS.RI.3.5

CCSS.RI.4.5

CCSS.RI.K.5