U1 Review - Theme, Main Idea, Context Clues, Figurative Speech

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

What is the best question to ask yourself when you are trying to find the main idea?

• Who is the main character?
• What is the main event?
• What is one important detail?
• What point is the author trying to make?

Though forks were first used in China thousands of years ago, it took a long time for them to make their way to what is now the United States. 
Ancient Greeks began using forks after the Chinese. However, they did not use forks for eating. They used them for serving food. From Greece, forks moved to the Roman Empire. Romans first used long forks for cooking and serving. By the 300s, they began using table forks to feed themselves. 
The table fork spread from there to what is now the Middle East and Turkey, before arriving in Italy and becoming popular in the 1000s. It stayed popular in southern Europe, but was not used much in northern Europe until it first became popular in France and Spain in the 1700s. 
The table fork arrived in England from France before making its way to the North American colonies, where it first became popular shortly before the American Revolution.

• The fork changed after arriving in the Roman Empire.
• Roman forks were longer than Greek and Chinese forks.

The movie star’s large and beautiful home was palatial.

• ugly
• tiny
• for dogs
• like a palace

At the restaurant we were offered a variety of beverages, like milk and ice tea.

• bread
• silverware
• drinks
• milk

Slavery was abolished in the U.S. after the Civil War.

• outlawed
• exchanged
• running
• common

When I fell off the trampoline, I fractured my arm and wore a cast

• rested
• broke
• avoided
• looked at

The class decided to exhibit the science project during Parents’ Night

• lose
• eat
• trade
• show

The frigid water made Elizabeth’s teeth chatter.

• cold
• clean
• green
• warm

Typewriters became obsolete with the development of personal computers.

• popular
• out-dated
• careful
• round