Main Idea Nonfiction

A penny for your thoughts?  If it's a 1943 copper penny, it could be worth as much as fifty thousand dollars.  In 1943, most pennies were made out of steel since copper was needed for World War II, so the 1943 copper penny is ultra-rare.  Another rarity is the 1955 double die penny.  These pennies were mistakenly double stamped, so they have overlapping dates and letters.  If it's uncirculated, it'd easily fetch $25,000 at an auction.  Now that's a pretty penny.

• Pennies are pretty.
• This paragraph is about rare and valuable pennies.
• Pennies are made of copper.

Before you put on that Angry Birds costume and exhaust yourself roving from door to door pandering for candy, take a minute to reflect on the tradition in which you are taking part.  Halloween is believed to have come from an ancient Celtic festival dating back some 2,000 years.  November 1^st was the Celtic New Year and marked the end of summer to the Celts, so they celebrated on its eve by wearing costumes made of animal skins and dancing around bon fires.  Over the next two millennia, this primitive celebration grew to be candy fueled costume ball that we know today. 

• This paragraph is about Angry Birds.
• Halloween is a ancient Celtic festival.
• This paragraph is about the origins of Halloween.

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.2

When one hears the term "reality" applied to a television show, one might expect that the events portrayed occurred naturally or, at the least, were not scripted, but this is not always the case.  Many reality shows occur in unreal environments, like rented mansions occupied by film crews.  Such living environments do not reflect what most people understand to be "reality."  Worse, there have been accusations that events not captured on film were later restaged by producers.  Worse still, some involved in the production of "reality" television claim that the participants were urged to act out story lines premeditated by producers.  With such accusations floating around, it's no wonder many people take reality TV to be about as real as the sitcom.

• This paragraph is about how reality television isn't always "real."
• This paragraph is about how real television is.
• Television portray real participants in a sitcom.

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RI.8.8

It is estimated that over twenty million pounds of candy corn are sold in the US each year.  Brach's, the top manufacturer, sells enough candy corn to circle the earth 4.25 times if each piece were laid end to end.  That's a lot of candy corn, but that's nothing compared to Tootsie Roll production.  Over 64 million Tootsie Rolls are produced every day!  But even Tootsie Rolls have got nothing on the candy industry's staple product, chocolate.  Confectioners manufacture over twenty billion pounds of chocolate in the United States each year.  Now that's a mouthful!

•  This paragraph is about how much of popular candies are produced each year.
• Tootsie Roll production is higher than candy corn. 
• Brach is the top candy manufacturer.

There are many types of lethal venom in the animal kingdom, but perhaps no stranger carrier than the platypus. The platypus is one of few venomous mammals.  Males carry a venom cocktail in their ankle spurs that incapacitates victims with excruciating pain.  Stranger still, the platypus is the only mammal that uses electroreception.  What this means is that the platypus uses its bill to sense the electricity produced by the muscular movements of its prey.  The platypus neither sees, hears, nor smells its prey while hunting but, rather, pursues it through electroreception.  Perhaps most odd, the platypus is the only mammal that lays eggs rather than giving birth to live young.  The platypus is an odd creature indeed.

• This paragraph is about lethal a animals in the animal kingdom.
•   This paragraph is about strange and uniques attributes of the platypus
• This paragraph is about how platypus hunt its prey.

Yellowstone National Park is mainly located in Wyoming, although three percent is located in the state of Montana.  The Continental Divide of North America runs diagonally through the southwestern part of the park.  The park sits on the Yellowstone Plateau, which is an average elevation of 8,000 feet above sea level.  This plateau is bounded on nearly all sides by mountain ranges.  There are 290 waterfalls that are at least fifteen feet in the park, the highest being the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River, which falls 308 feet.

• This paragraph is about the waterfalls in Yellowstone.
• This paragraph is about the Yellowstone River.
•   This paragraph is about physical features of Yellowstone Park.

The wolverine, a medium sized mammal weighing no more than 50 lbs., has earned its reputation for ferocity with its documented ability to kill prey many times its size.  The reason why wolverines have so many conflicts with other animals (including wolves, cougars, and even bears) is probably because of the wolverine's preferred hunting style.  Rather than chasing down or tricking its prey like most hunters, the wolverine prefers to take its meals directly from other hunters.  So while a polar bear or a lone wolf might be enjoying a hard earned carcass, a hungry wolverine may try to take his lunch.  This keeps the wolverine in plenty of fights.

• The wolverine is very tough and takes its meals from other animals.
• Wolverines have many conflicts with other animals.
• Wolverines are in plenty of fights.

Sometime in December of 1891, Dr. James Naismith, a gym teacher at the YMCA College in Springfield, Massachusetts was trying to keep his gym class active on a rainy day.  He wanted a vigorous game that would keep his students moving.  After rejecting a few other ideas because they were too rough or not suited for the walled-in gym, Naismith wrote out the rules for a game with peach baskets fixed to ten-foot elevated tracks.  Naismith's students played against one another, passing the ball around and shooting it into the peach baskets.  Dribbling wasn't a part of the original game, and it took a while to realize that the game would run more smoothly if the bottoms of the baskets were removed, but this game grew to be one of the most popular sports in America today.  Can you guess which one?

• Basketball is one of the most popular sports.
• This paragraph is about the invention of basketball.
• This paragraph is about James Naismith.

What's that humming sound?  Could it be hummingbird, the only bird capable of backward flight?  Hummingbirds have many unique flight habits that distinguish them from other birds.  Most birds flap their wings up and down to fly, but the hummingbird moves its wings forward and backward very rapidly in a figure eight pattern.  This allows the hummingbird to hover in position, fly upside down, and move about very rapidly.  And while other birds have to push off with their feet to begin flying, and work their ways up to their top speeds, the hummingbird can both start flying at maximum speed and stop flying instantaneously.  After you've seen a hummingbird in flight, it's unlikely that you'll mistake them for another bird. 

• Hummingbirds are the only bird capable of backward flight.
• The hummingbird flys in a totally unique and unusual way.
• Hummingbirds can hover in position.

Automation is the use of machines to reduce the need for human labor.  In other words automation is when jobs done by people become jobs done by robots.  Automation can be a good thing.  Because of automation, clothing, cars, and other manufactured products are available at good prices and in large supply.  But automation can also be a bad thing.  Because of automation, there are over 700,000 robots in America alone that do jobs once performed by humans.  The way of automation may not be best for humanity, but it is the course we are taking.

• Automation is good for humanity.
• Automation is bad for humanity.
• Automation is both good and bad for humanity.