The Dirty History of Soap

1. In 1775, what was Abigail making when she boiled fat and ashes together?

• bacon

• medicine

• perfume

• soap

2. You can infer that one reason most ancient people didn’t use soap made of fat and ashes to wash their bodies is that ______.

• the soap made their skin itchy

• the soap smelled too sweet

• all soaps were made in Connecticut

• they preferred to use gel soap

3. Based on the article, during Abigail’s time, many people thought bathing was ______.

• relaxing

• dangerous

• healthy

• funny

4. Which sentence best supports the idea that bathing was dangerous?

• “Humans began making soap this way nearly 5,000 years ago.”

• “But they cost a lot of money.”

• “Abigail would have used the soap to clean her home.”

• “They believed that dirt helped block diseases from entering the body.”

5. In the late 1800s, scientists learned ______.

• how to make soap from ashes

• that diseases are caused by living things called germs

• that bathing is not needed to be healthy

• how to make sweet-smelling soaps

6. Which sentence best expresses the main idea of “The Dirty History of Soap”?

• People tried many different ways to make soap before finding the best one.

• People never washed themselves because they hated the smell of soap.

• People have made soap for thousands of years and now use it to wash away germs.

• People made soap from ashes and meat.

7. Based on “Lending a Clean Hand,” Jayden Perez collected and donated hand sanitizers to his community because ______.

• hand sanitizers were hard to find

• he was working on a school project

• his mother is an emergency worker

• his community ran out of soap

8. Read this phrase: “. . . Americans came to love the convenience of hand sanitizer.” The word convenience helps you understand that people found hand sanitizer ______ to use.

• difficult

• fun

• easy

• expensive