Central Idea, Text Features, and Text Structures

What is a topic?

• the writer's opinion about a text
• the general subject of a text
• the details that explain the text
• a retelling of the most important ideas

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.W.8.2A

Most people think that Johann Sebastian Bach played the piano, but this is not true. The piano was not invented until just two years before he died. Bach's main instrument was the organ. He was a great organist. He wrote a lot of wonderful music for that instrument. He also played other keyboard instruments that were ancestors of the piano. Among these instruments was the harpsichord. Along with Mozart, Bach is considered to be one of the all-time great composers
What is the main idea of this paragraph?

• Mozart and Bach did not compose music for the piano.
• Johann Sebastian Bach was a great organist and writer.
• The piano had not been invented three hundred years ago.
• The harpsichord was a keyboard instrument before the piano.

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.2

We often let others know what we are thinking without using words. The name that we give for this kind of communication is body language. Body language includes gestures, facial expressions, and posture. Body language does not always mean the same thing to everyone.
What is the main idea of the paragraph?

• We sometimes use words to express ourselves.
• Body language may not mean the same thing to everyone.
• We use body language to communicate with others.
• Body language includes gestures, facial expression, and posture.

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

 Imagine testing glass by throwing chickens at it? Sometimes fast moving airplanes fly through flocks of birds. If the birds hit the windshield of a plane, the glass could shatter and cause a crash. Airplane manufacturers have made a chicken cannon that fires rubber chickens at glass windshields. If the windshield doesn't break when the rubber chicken hits it, the designers know that the glass can withstand the force of a real crash.

• Why birds can be dangerous to airplanes
• How a chicken cannon checks glass
• How the Chicken cannon works
• How big a bird can hit a plane and bring it down

Find the central idea

Being a clown isn't all fun and games. Rodeo clowns expose themselves to great danger every time they perform. When cowboys dismount or are bucked off of bulls at riding competitions, rodeo clowns jump in front of the bulls and motion wildly to get their attention. In this way rodeo clowns provide an alternate target, and in doing so protect the rider. So you see, sometimes clowning around can be serious business

• Being a clown isn't all fun and games.

• Rodeo clowns protect cowboys by putting themselves in danger.

• Rodeos are exciting.

• Clowns are good at riding bulls.

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

Do you ever wonder how you taste things? You owe your sense of taste to your taste buds. We have 9,000 taste buds just on the tongue alone. There are also taste buds on the roof of your mouth. You even have taste buds on the back of your throat.

What does the author want you to learn about the passage?

• Why we can taste only sweet things.

• that we taste through our nose

• Taste buds are found in different places.

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.9

CCSS.RI.7.9

CCSS.RL.8.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RI.7.6

Microchips provide the power for wristwatches. They are also the brains in our computers, and they control robots. These chips are used in video games and space shuttles. They make our cameras, radios, and televisions small and light.
What is the story mainly about?

• How computers work
• Why televisions are small
• How microchips are used

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.2

The average school day for kindergarteners is getting longer, and it's paying off in improved reading skills.  This improvement will continue from elementary school to high school.  These children will be able to get better jobs when they are adults.  What is the author's viewpoint about full-day kindergarten?

• Against full-day
• Hates kindergarten
• Favors full-day
• Never went to kindergarten

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.6

Many people don't like bees.  However, without these helpful insects, we would not have many of our favorite flowers or fruits.  When bees drink nectar from flowers, they carry away pollen.  Bees leave the pollen on the next plant they visit.  This helps create necessary new plants.  What is the author's viewpoint about bees?

• Positive
• Negative
• Neutral
• The author is a bee.

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.6

While chocolate may seem like a dream come true, it actually starts out as a fruit that grows on trees.  Cacao pods - fruits roughly the shape and size of a football - grow on cacao trees in warm regions around the world.  Why did the author write this?

• Persuade
• Inform
• Entertain

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.6