Reading Comprehension Short Texts Cite Textual Evidence

Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier were papermakers, but they had been interested in flying for many years. One night, in 1782, Joseph noticed something that gave him an idea. He was sitting in front of the fire when he saw some small pieces of scorched paper being carried up the chimney.Soon afterwards, the brothers conducted an experiment. They lit a fire under a small silk bag, which was open at the bottom; at once, the bag rose to the ceiling. After this, Stephen and Joseph conducted many more experiments, both indoors and in the open air. Eventually, they built a huge balloon of linen and paper. On June 5th, 1783, they launched their balloon in the village of Annonay.

Which sentence in this article provides text evidence for the inference that the Montgolfier brothers used hot air to lift their balloon?

• Eventually, they built a huge balloon of linen and paper.

• They lit a fire under a small silk bag, which was open at the bottom; at once the bag rose to the ceiling.

• On June 5th, 1783, they launched their balloon in the village of Annonay.

• One night, in 1782, Joseph noticed something that gave him an idea.

Many breeds of dogs are used for work. In many cultures dogs are used to herd sheep. The dogs keep the flock from being attacked by animals such as wolves. They also keep sheep from wandering off. Sheepdogs are known for their loyalty and gentleness. Based on your reading of the text, you can INFER that:

• Sheepdogs are not very smart dogs.
• Sheepdogs are gentle and loyal.
• There are many breeds of dogs.
• Wolves are afraid of sheepdogs.

What is an inference?

•  An inference is something that you think is true based on information that you have.
• An inference is directly written in the text

When reading literature, it is important to cite text evidence to support your analysis of the most important details and events of a story. In addition to citing text evidence to answer comprehension questions, you can also use text evidence to make inferences.

• True
• False

Rosario was enjoying her vacation in the California sun. She was lying on araft in the ocean. This was perfect, Rosario thought. There was no noise—no childrenscreaming, no horns honking—and there were no papers to grade. All she couldhear was the crashing of the waves onto the beach. Rosario sighed and lookedaround her at the beauty of the ocean. Then she saw something long and graycoming toward her on an approaching wave. She thought, “This could only be onething!” and started yelling for help. She paddled back to shore as quickly as she could.She made it to the shore in one piece , but she realized that many people were laughing at her.
We can infer that the "thing" was not a...

• shark
• surfer
• swimmer

Which piece of evidence could be used to BEST support this claim:
High school students should be required to wear uniforms.

• When adding everything up, a school uniform could end up costing more than $200.
• A student reported, "Allowing us to wear our own clothes gives us a chance to show our unique style and independence."
• At one school that recently required students to wear uniforms, attendence rates went up, and behavior incidents went down.
• School uniforms can be ordered online .

Tim looked out the window. The house looked so lonely. Tim's father put the last suitcase in the trunk and started up the car. Thor, his dog, put his head on Tim's lap, like he understood how Tim was feeling. "It's okay Thor," he said, "Dad says we will like California." What is happening?

• Tim is sad because his dog doesn't have a house to live in.

• Tim is taking a trip to visit peolpe he doesn't know.

• Tim is taking Thor to live with his grandmother.

• Tim is moving to California with his family.

Joseph and Caitlin were choosing the players for their teams. It was Caitlin's turn to choose, and only Jason was left. Caitlin said, "Jason."

We can infer that…

• Jason was the best player.

• Caitlin wanted Jason on her team.

• Jason was not a very good player.

• Caitlin had a hard time choosing a team member.

Identify the steps you took to make an inference and cite evidence to support your analysis of the text.

• I thought about what I already knew that the text's topic

• I just made a wild guess with no evidence to support my analysis of the text

• When I made an inference, I was reading between the lines or just looking carefully at the facts and coming to conclusions.

• I used textual evidence to support my inference

What is textual evidence?

• something you can point to in the text

• a quote that supports your thoughts, claims, or opinions.

• using your book plus your brain to make an educated guess

• your favorite quote from the text