STAAR READING PREP TO PRACTICE

 Ice-cream is a delicious frozen treat that comes in a many different colors and flavors.  Two of my favorite flavors are strawberry and chocolate.  Though both of these flavors are delicious, strawberry may contain pieces of fruit while chocolate usually will not.  Even though more chocolate ice-cream is sold across the country annually than strawberry, each flavor tastes great inside of a milk shake.

• cause and effect

• compare and contrast

• chronological

• spatial / descriptive

• sequence / process

The ice-cream shop around the corner from my house has the best ice-cream in the city.  When you first walk inside, there is a long chrome counter with matching stools extending to alongside the far wall.  Right where the counter stops, the booth seating begins.  There are lots of old-timey knick knacks on the walls and chrome napkin holders on all the tables.  My favorite part of the shop is behind the counter glass, where they keep all of the ice-cream flavors.  A rainbow of delicious sugary flavors is kept cool and delicious behind the counter glass.

• cause and effect

• chronological

• spatial / descriptive

• sequence / process

• compare and contrast

Freezer burn may have wasted more ice-cream than sidewalks.  If you don’t know, freezer burn is when ice crystals form on the surface of ice-cream.  These ice crystals can ruin the texture and flavor of the ice cream.  But you can prevent freezer burn.  Since freezer burn is caused when melted ice-cream is refrozen, rather than eating your ice-cream from the container as it melts, scoop your ice-cream into a bowl and put the container back in the fridge immediately.  Doing this ought to help you solve your issues with freezer burn.

• chronological

• spatial / descriptive

• cause and effect

• sequence / process

• problem and solution

No one knows the true origin of ice-cream, but the first published ice-cream recipe appears in “Mrs. Mary Eales's Receipts,” a cookbook that was printed in London in 1718. Sometime around 1832, an African American confectioner named Augustus Jackson created multiple ice cream recipes and invented a superior technique to manufacture ice cream.  Ice cream soda was invented around 1874, but the real breakthrough may have been at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, when the American ice-cream cone was unveiled!

• cause and effect

• compare and contrast

• chronological

  spatial /

• spatial / descriptive

• sequence / process

Which word is spelled correctly?

• Argumnet

• Agrument

• Argument

• Arugment

Unable to tolerate the dust one moment longer, Elizabeth spent the afternoon cleaning the living room tables and shelves. Now __________ slippery with furniture polish, glowing in the sunlight that spills through the open window.

• There

• They're

• Their

Randall picked up the tarantula, hoping __________ impress Betty Lou, who had a 10- foot albino python draped over her shoulders.

• Too

• To

• Two

The slice of pizza was still __________ hot to eat, but Benjamin couldn’t resist, blistering his mouth with the first painful bite.

• Too

• To

• Two

Grandma believes that clothing color indicates a person’s character. Wearing pinks, reds, or oranges—whether male or female, whether shirts, socks, or ties—indicates __________ morals in Grandma’s book.

• Lose

• Loose

So that Mrs. Hoff doesn’t __________ a single minute of class time, she watches the second hand sweep across the twelve, indicating the hour has started, and then launches into her lecture.

• Lose

• Loose