What information should go in your summary?

Which part of the book can I find definitions?

Nate knew his Language Art's teacher was persnickety, so he made sure his penmanship was legible, he capitalized proper nouns, looked up any words he did not know how to spell, and used all the correct punctuation.

Which line contains an idea that would be most important to include in a summary of this passage?

Rosa Parks has been called the "mother of the civil rights movement." She is one of the most important people of the 20th century. In December of 1955, she refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white passenger. The bus driver had her arrested. She was sent to court. She was found guilty of breaking the law.

Her act sparked a boycott of the bus system by blacks. Blacks refused to use the buses for more than a year. The boycott introduced the country to a man named Martin Luther King, Jr. People all over the country came to know King. Soon, the U.S. Supreme Court made segregation on city buses against the law.

Over the next forty years, Rosa Parks helped make Americans aware of the history of the civil rights struggle. She earned many honors, including the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize. She is an example of courage and strength. She inspires all Americans to live free.

Which of the below statements best summarizes the passage?

April's parents were dog breeders and their kennels were often filled with a litter of puppies. April helped care for the dogs by bathing them and giving them the best food and water.

April's class had also been learning how to care for animals in their science lessons, so she was thrilled when her teacher announced a field trip to an animal shelter. The shelter manager, Rachel, led the class into the kennel area where dogs and cats sat along opposite walls of the building. April was stunned by what she saw. Some dogs looked like they had been starved before coming to the shelter.

"What happened to these dogs?" April asked.

"These dogs are here because their owners did not care for them properly," Rachel replied. "We try to keep the animals healthy so they can go to good homes. If you know someone who wants to adopt a pet, please tell them about our shelter."

April decided to take action and she printed flyers with information about the shelter. April's parents handed them out to people who bought their puppies. The following day April received permission to post a flyer at her school. That afternoon, April received a phone call at home.

"Hi, April, this is Rachel. I wanted to thank you for creating flyers for the shelter. Our adoptions have already started to increase!"

"You're welcome! I just wanted to help rescue the puppies."

"He was as cool as a cucumber" is an example of...

Giddy-up, cowboys and girls! In the Southwest during early half of the 1800s, cows were only worth 2 or 3 dollars a piece. They roamed wild, grazed off of the open range, and were abundant. Midway through the century though, railroads were built and the nation was connected. People could suddenly ship cows in freight trains to the Northeast, where the Yankees had a growing taste for beef. Out of the blue, the same cows that were once worth a couple of bucks were now worth between twenty and forty dollars each, if you could get them to the train station. It became pretty lucrative to wrangle up a drove of cattle and herd them to the nearest train town, but it was at least as dangerous as it was profitable. Cowboys were threatened at every turn. They faced cattle rustlers, stampedes and extreme weather, but kept pushing those steers to the train station. By the turn of the century, barbed wire killed the open range and some may say the cowboy too, but it was the train that birthed him.

The summary of this passage is:

Character development is

Mrs. Travers was worried that her students were not understanding what she was teaching in class. She decided she would work late after school every single night trying to create the best lessons for her students. She even started coming in early in the mornings as well. Because of this, she started to see a huge increase in her student's grades, and eventually this led to her earning a "Teacher of the Year" award!

What experience did Mrs. Travers have that helped her develop throughout the story?

Mr. MacKinnon wanted to find a way to seem more "hip" and "cool" so that his friends would like him more. He went and got a fresh new haircut, some cool new clothes, a drone, and a PS4.

He then invited all of his friends over to his house to hang out and try out his new stuff. Everyone came and they had a good time, but they were curious to know why he bought all of the new stuff, and changed his style. He admitted that he wanted them to think he was cool. His friends told him he didn't need to buy new things to be their friend. They liked him for who he was. Mr. MacKinnon was pleased to hear this.

What experience did Mr. MacKinnon have that helped him develop throughout the story?

Poison ivy and poison oak are woody plants that grow in almost any habitat and are very similar in appearance. Both poison oak and poison ivy have berrylike fruit and brown stems. But poison ivy acts more like a vine than a bush and can grow high in trees. The fruit of poison ivy is gray and smooth. On the other hand, poison oak acts more like a bush than a vine. The fruit of poison oak is hairy instead of smooth.

How are poison ivy and poison oak different?

Reptiles have scales and their toes have claws; amphibians have moist skin and their toes do not have claws. Both reptiles and amphibians lay eggs. However, reptile eggs have a thick hard shell and are laid on land, but amphibian eggs have no shell and are laid in water. Young reptiles are miniature replicas of their parents and are born with lungs, but young amphibians start out with gills. Once amphibians have matured to adults they have lungs.

When comparing reptiles and amphibians:

The Tanner put some animal hides in the bottom of a stream to soak. Several hungry dogs noticed the hides but realized that the water was so deep that they couldn't reach the hides from the bank. So they came up with a plan. They decided to drink the water from the river until it uncovered the hides.

All of the dogs began drinking the water as quickly as they could. Regardless of their effort, the water remained as high as ever. They drank and they drank and they drank until they burst.

Which statement best describes the theme of the story?

An ox came to a pond to drink. As he was splashing in the water, he accidentally crushed a young frog into the mud. Soon afterward, the frog's older sister missed him and asked her brothers and sisters what happened to him.

"It was a terrible accident!" one replied. "A great big monster stepped on our brother," said another. "So, this monster was quite big?" replied the sister frog, puffing herself up. "Was he as big as this?" "Much bigger!" they responded. So the sister frog puffed herself up some more. "Surely, he can't be much bigger," she said. But her brothers and sisters declared that the monster was much bigger. So the sister frog continued to puff herself up more and more until finally, she burst.

Which statement best describes the main theme of the story?

A wolf watched a flock of sheep day after day but was unable to get enough to eat because of the shepherd's presence. One night, the wolf found a sheepskin that had been discarded. The very next day, the wolf covered himself with the sheepskin and walked into the pasture where the sheep grazed. Soon, a lamb that was following him was taken away to be slaughtered.

That evening, the Wolf once again entered the fold with the flock, looking for tasty meal. The Shepherd was also hungry for mutton and taking a knife, he went into the field. There the Shepherd, thinking the wolf was a sheep, grabbed the wolf and killed him.

What is a good theme for this story?

The stage was bordered with colorful lights but otherwise dark, yet in the center was a single spotlight, and in the center of that was microphone stand. I slowly walked across the stage with my hands by my side. The crowd murmured. I grabbed the microphone from the stand and cleared my throat. Then I held it a few inches from my face and said, "Greetings, my fellow Thunderhawks. Are you ready to get excited for the pep rally?" One guy clapped slowly.