^{Passages from Main Idea and Summarizing (Beech)} In 1588, the Spanish Armada sailed to fight against England. The armada consisted of a fleet of 130 ships. Aboard one of these ships was a tailless cat. Her job was to catch mice. After a great naval battle that England dominated, the Spanish ships set sail for home. The cat's ship was wrecked near the Isle of Man. The nimble cat got ashore safely and lived there ever after. Her many descendants became known as Manx cats after the name of their island home. Manx cats are known for being tailless. The title that best summarizes this passage is__________.

• Why the Spanish Lost at Sea

• How the Manx Cat Got Its Name

• Catching Mice Aboard a Ship

• Why Some Cats Are Tailless

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

Sailors have always needed lighthouses to warn them of dangerous conditions. The first tower that was built for such a purpose was at the entrance to Port Alexandria, a long-ago capital of ancient Egypt. The tower, called Pharos, was very large. It was such an impressive structure that it was known as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Fire beacons burning on the tower helped ships navigate through the treacherous waters approaching the city. Which title best summarizes this paragraph?

• Burning Fire Beacons in the Night

• Pharos, the First Lighthouse Tower

• Helping Ships Navigate Tricky Waters

• A Look at Ancient Egypt

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

Everyone knows that thousands of athletes compete in the Olympic Games and that hundreds of thousands of visitors attend.  But did you know that about 60,000 more people work to make the Olympics run smoothly?  Some of these workers are paid, but thousands of others are volunteers.  All of them have to be trained for their job.  These workers do everything from sweeping up litter to escorting competitiors to selling tickets to announcing winners. Which title best summarizes this paragraph?

• How Athletes Compete at the Games
• Working as a Ticket Seller
• Tips for Visitors to the Olympics
• Workers Behind the Olympics

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

What does it take to be a survivor? Gary Paulsen knows. This well-known writer had a difficult childhood and left home at age fourteen. He worked with a carnival, on a farm, on a ranch and as a truck driver. He's also been a teacher, editor and singer. Today, Paulsen receives more than 400 letters a day from readers who identify with the struggles of the main character in his award-winning books, Hatchet, Brian's Winter and The River. When he's not writing, Paulsen enjoys sailing and adventure. Which title best summarizes this paragraph?

• Reading Gary Paulsen's Books

• Why Paulsen Left Home at Fourteen

• Paulsen: Survivor in Life and Literature

• Getting to Know Book Characters

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

The explorer Marco Polo left his home in Italy in 1271.  After many years of traveling, his party reached the summer palace of Kublai Khan in what is now China.  Polo remained at the court for seventeen years.  He marveled at things not yet seen in Europe. For example, common people bathed daily.  Roads and bridges were paved.  People used paper money as currency.  They also burned coal as a fuel.  When Polo finally returned to Europe, it took a while before people believed the stories he told or the book he wrote about his travels.  Which title best summarizes this paragraph?

• What Marco Polo Was Like
• Meeting Kublai Khan
• A Wanderer from Italy
• The Travels of Marco Polo

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

At one time, people thought that blowing dust was the way to clean.  Then in the 1870s Hubert Booth, an engineer, tried placing a handkerchief between his mouth and a couch and sucking in.  The film of dirt on the other side of the handkerchief suggested that suctioning in dirt was the way to clean.  Booth designed fans that sucked dust into pillow cases.  He even sold some to the Queen of England.  About thirty years later, the Hoover Company came out with an upright suctioning machine on rollers.  The rest is vacuum cleaner history.  Which title best summarizes this paragraph?

• The FIrst Vacuum Cleaners
• How the Queen Cleaned
• Blowing in the Dust
• What Hoover Did

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

Some words are really combinations of two or  more words.  The new words are called blends.  The meaning of a blend reflects the meanings of both words it come from.  For example, the words gleam and shimmer have been combined to make glimmer.  The words smoke and fog blend to make the word smog.  Motor and calvacade combine to make motorcade.  Can you figure out what motor and hotel make when combined?  You're right - it's motel. What two words do you think combine to make the word brunch?  Which title best summarizes this paragraph?

• Combining Smoke and Fog
• Learning About Blends
• How Motel Got Its Meaning
• Forming Compound Words

Tags

CCSS.RF.3.3B

CCSS.RF.3.3C

CCSS.RF.3.3D

CCSS.RF.4.3A

CCSS.RF.5.3A

You know that spiders spin silk, but do you know what spiders do with their silk? Mother spiders keep the eggs they lay in silk sacs.  Spiders also use their silk to make webs or homes.  Many spiders have hideouts in places such as window corners or under sills.  They line the entrances to these places with silk. Spiders also use silk threads to drop straight to the ground when enemies appear.  And, of course, spiders can spin silken traps and nets to catch their dinner. 

• How Spiders Find Food
• A Spider's Use of Silk
• Spinning Silken Clothes
• Outwitting Spider Enemies

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.5

CCSS.RI.6.5

CCSS.RI.7.5

CCSS.RI.8.5

CCSS.RI.9-10.5

Music was very popular with the armies during the Civil War.  Soldiers on both sides liked to gather around campfires and sing familiar songs such as "Home! Sweet Home!" and "'Tis the Last Rose of Summer."  Confederate soldiers often sang "Dixie," while Northerners favored "Yankee Doodle."  A song written especially for the war was "Battle Hymn of Republic" by Julia Ward Howe.  The bugle melody "Taps" was also first played as a sign-off to soldier's day during the Civil War.  Which title best summarizes this paragraph?

• Singing "Home! Sweet Home!"
• The First Use of "Taps"
• Music of the Civil War
• Why Soldiers Like to Sing

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

In 1638, a Swedish ship arrived in America.  The immigrants aboard founded a community called Fort Christina.  The Dutch soon took over this settlement but not before the Swedes had built snug log cabins like those in their homeland.  The cabins were made of notched logs carefully fitted together without nails.  The walls were chinked with moss or clay, and the roofs were made of hardwood.  Plentiful lumber made these easy-to-build cabins ideal for settlers.  Log cabins became a symbol of the pioneer spirit.   Which title best summarizes this paragraph?

• A Building Boom in 1638
• Building the Pioneer Spirit
• Contribution From the Dutch
• Log Cabins From the Sweedish

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2