Now and Ben Comprehension

Why is Dr. Benjamin Franklin famous?

• He was a great music composer who played the armonica

• He was a president who helped make peace with other countries

• He invented so many things that we still use today, and he helped write important documents that helped shape the world.

How did Ben Franklin find out that lightning is electricity?

• He gathered electricity from a storm cloud using a wire and a kite.

• He read a lot of books about storms and lightning.

• He was struck by lightning as a child.

How did his invention of lightning rods help people?

• Lightning rods can collect electricity to give power to homes.

• Lightning rods make it safe to go outside during a lightning storm.

• Lightning rods help prevent fires by redirecting the lightning into the ground.

How did Franklin's invention of the Long Arm help people?

• It helped people reach things they couldn't reach on their own.

• It gave people an extra arm to carry things with.

• It helped people who had broken arms pick things up.

How were Franklin's flippers different from today's flippers?

• They were used only in oceans.

• They were made of wood.

• They didn't stay on people's feet very well.

How did Franklin's work in the past help ship captains today?

• He learned how to use the right materials to make better ships.

• He learned during his voyages that the Gulf Stream has a fast moving current, so he publicized that it is a good path of sea travel.

• He taught ship captains how to load their ships so they would travel faster.

What words on page 531 help the reader understand what an armonica is?

• glass armonicas are very rare

• Mozart and Beethoven were so moved by the sounds

• A row of spinning glass bowls.

How are today's rocking chairs different from Franklin's rocking chairs?

• Today's rocking chairs just rock; his also fanned people and churned butter.

• Today's rocking chairs fall apart easily; his were very sturdy.

• Today's rocking chairs can also be stepladders; his were just chairs.

How did Franklin's invention of the odometer help drivers today?

• Drivers can see how fast they are going.

• Drivers can see the distance they have traveled.

• Drivers can see how much gas they have left.

If you didn't know what a sanitation department was, how could you figure it out from page 535?

• The pictures show what sanitation workers do.

• The words on the page help explain what sanitation workers do.

• There are no clues on page 535 that help you figure it out.