P r a c t i c e M a k e s P e r f e c t

Preparation for

state readingassessments

P r e s t w i c k H o u s eI n c o r p o r a t e d

P .O . B O x 658 • C l a y t O n , D e l a w a r e 19938

Copyright ©2012 Prestwick House, Inc. All rights reserved. No portion may be reproduced without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.

ISBN 978-1-62019-012-8

Senior editor: Paul Moliken

Author: Anne Deinert and Alexandra Lander

editor: Darlene Gilmore

Cover deSign: Larry Knox

ProduCtion: Jeremy Clark

P. O . B O x 6 5 8 • C l ay t O n , D e l aw a r e 1 9 9 3 8

t e l : 1 . 8 0 0 . 9 3 2 . 4 5 9 3

F a x : 1 . 8 8 8 . 7 1 8 . 9 3 3 3

w e B : w w w. p r e s t w i c k h o u s e . c o m

P r e s t w i c k H o u s e , i n c .

Ta b l e o f C o n t e n t s

4 Introduction to the Student

6 Model Passage

10 Wood Ducks

12 Too Silly for Grownups

14 A Dream of Unity: The Story of

Tecumseh

16 Learning + Fun = Preschool

18 The Legend of Valentine’s Day

20 USS Monitor

22 Young Inventors

24 Bowling

26 Rails to Trails: 20,000 Miles of

Recycling

28 Atlas

30 Brain Power

32 Jim Henson: The Man Behind Kermit

34 Full of Hot Air

36 Largest Living Things on Earth

38 Making Friends with the Blank Page

40 Mountain Biking

42 The Master Showman

P r a c t i c e M a k e s P e r f e c t

Preparation for

state readingassessments

44 Juvenile Diabetes

46 National Parks: America’s Treasures

48 Ohno, Here He Comes!

50 Pasta

52 Petrified Wood

54 Minds in the Making: The

Montessori Method

56 The Columbia Gorge: Playground

and Power Source

58 Driving Toward the Future

60 The Run for the Roses

62 Plant Food

64 The Extinct Anasazi

66 Seventeen Years Underground

68 Atoms

70 Tsunamis

72 Nest of Voices: The Return of the

Hawaiian Language

74 Those Annoying Ants

76 Summer Anticipation

78 Weird Universe

Introduction to the Student

How to Take a Reading Comprehension TestTaking a reading comprehension test does not have to be stressful. The fol-lowing tips and methods can help you better understand how to answer the questions correctly.

FOCUS:When you read a comprehension passage, you should try to identify the fol-lowing:

main idea author’s attitude toward the subject author’s purpose

Many questions want to see if you know what the author is trying to say and why he or she is saying it. Think about whether the author has an opinion on the topic: Does he or she agree or disagree with the subject of the passage? Or, does the author give you just the facts? What clues show the author’s attitude? While you read, think about the following:

What is the subject of the passage?

What information is important?

What questions might you write about the passage?When you come across a point that stands out, remember it. Ask yourself

why the author included it. Information that seems to have a special purpose often shows up in the questions.

TIPS:To find an author’s attitude about the subject, look for words that show opin-ion, such as sadly, horrible, surprisingly, amazing, etc. Words like these show an author’s views on the subject of the passage. Simple words tell you a lot about the author’s feelings. Some of the articles in this book contain only facts, but some show the author’s beliefs. It’s up to you to see the difference.

Often, you have to identify the main idea in a passage. These types of ques-tions do not always ask, “What is the main idea?” They may ask for the best title for the passage or what the author would most likely agree or disagree with. Pick the answer that is true for most of the passage.

You will also see questions that ask for the definition of a word. These ques-tions check to see if you can find a word’s meaning by looking at how it is used in a sentence. Sometimes, it might seem like there’s more than one right

Preparation for

state readingassessments

P r a c t i c e M a k e s P e r f e c t

P r a c t i c e M a k e s P e r f e c t

1 0 W o o d d u c k s

YOu are FeeDing the ducks at the pond in your local park, and you

notice that one of the ducks is very different from the others. As he swims toward you, his head bobs back and forth. He is much more colorful than the brown and green mallard ducks. This duck looks like a hand-painted wood carving. His feathers are colored in blocks of reddish-brown, tan, and white. The iridescent feathers on his head and back appear to be green, but as he turns in the sunlight, you see flashes of blue, gold, and red. White stripes neatly outline his eyes, the crest on his head, and the blocks of color on his body.

You are looking at a wood duck. The wood duck is probably the most color-ful of all North American ducks. They live in wooded areas near freshwater swamps, marshes, ponds, and creeks. A pair of wood ducks builds a nest in a hole in a tree near the water. These nests are usually very high above the water, some-times nearly 300 feet up a tree. Wood ducks are different from other ducks be-cause they have claws on their feet that allow them to perch up in the trees.

The female wood duck lays between seven and fifteen eggs at a time. After about thirty days, the brown ducklings hatch. In just one day, they are ready to find their own food. They line up at the hole in the tree, jump, and glide down! They are able to land safely even from a very high nest.

Building the nest over the water helps to make the landings soft, but the ducklings can even land unharmed on the ground.

These beautiful ducks were once hunted so that people could have color-ful feathers for their hats. The meat of the duck was considered a deli-cious dinner. As more and more ducks were

hunted, they began to disappear. People began to fill in wetland areas in order to build new towns and roads, and places for ducks to live also disappeared. In the early 1900s, laws were passed to limit how many wood ducks hunters could shoot. Other laws limited the amount of wetlands that humans could use. People began to make home-made nest boxes as well and put them up in forests near water. Soon, the number of wood ducks began to climb again. Fortunately, these beautiful animals are still around for you to enjoy at the local park.

Wood Ducks

P r e P a r a t i o n f o r S t a t e r e a d i n g a S S e S S m e n t S • l e v e l 4

W o o d d u c k s 1 1

Q U E S T I O N S

1. The author’s main purpose for writing this passage is probably to

A. persuade people to save wood ducks.

B. tell a story about brave baby ducks.

C. teach people to take care of ducks.

D. inform people about a special kind of duck.

2. You would not find a wood duck nest

A. in a forest.

B. near an ocean.

C. next to a pond.

D. along a stream.

3. What would be the best title for this article?

A. Saving a Special Duck

B. Building Wood Duck Homes

C. Wood Duck Nests

D. A Beautiful Duck

4. As used in the passage, iridescent most likely means

A. turning in the sun.

B. many colors shining.

C. painted by hand.

D. feathers standing up.

5. Based on the passage, which of the following is true?

A. New laws saved wood ducks from disappearing.

B. Building nest boxes helps the environment.

C. Wood duck babies are as colorful as their parents.

D. Ducklings can fly when they are born.

6. Answer the following question using complete sentences:

If you wanted to help wood ducks by building a nest box, what would you do to

make it work best for the ducks?

P r a c t i c e M a k e s P e r f e c t

2 6 r a i l S t o t r a i l S — 2 0 , 0 0 0 m i l e S o f r e c y c l i n g

Rails to Trails—20,000 Miles of Recycling

There was a time when railroads were the most important form of

transportation in the United States. They carried people and goods to all parts of the country and helped Amer-ica grow as a nation. Why, then, were so many railroads abandoned by the mid-1970s? In this article, we will find out why the railroads shut down. We will also learn how their tracks were turned into something that is now used for both health and enjoyment.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the automo-bile became the most common form of transportation for most people. They no longer depended on railroads for travel or trade. To keep from going out of business, many small railroads joined and became larger companies, each one controlling thousands of miles of track. When this happened, the lesser-used lines were shut down for good.

Rather than let the old railways go to waste, people decided to re-use them for bicycle trails. They knew that cy-clists would be safer on these trails than on busy roads. Families would be able to ride together. On February 1, 1986, the Rails-to-Trails group began in Washington, D.C. Soon, groups cre-ated connecting bike paths along old rail lines all over the country. These

new bike paths provided safe, scenic areas in which to ride.

When bike paths are built, Rails-to-Trails must first make sure the rail lines are no longer in use. Then, the group removes the old metal train rails and the wooden ties and replaces them with pavement. In some towns, volun-teers beautify the trails by putting art-work or gardens alongside them.

These rail-trails are not just for cy-clists, but also for walkers, runners, skaters, horseback riders, and even cross-country skiers in winter. Some people even use bike paths to travel to and from work or school. The trails protect wildlife and historical places where the railroads once were. They also help tourism and local businesses. Along the bike paths, you might find little inns, cafes, or stores, which have been built especially for cyclists who come through a town.

Today, there are more than 20,000 miles of rail-trails all over the coun-try. Thousands of miles of additional trails are waiting to be built. The old railroads might be gone, but at least they are being “recycled” into some-thing new: a different way to go from one place to another, one that will of-fer better health for the people who use them.

P r a c t i c e M a k e s P e r f e c t

6 4 t h e e x t i n c t a n a S a z i

The Extinct Anasazi

When arChaeOlOgists first discovered the remains of the ancient people

called Anasazi, it appeared as if these Na-tive Americans had simply vanished. Pottery bowls, jugs, baskets, and other household items were still in their cliff-side homes, as if the owners had left for only a few hours, not for-ever. Who were these peo-ple? Where did they go?

The Anasazi were the ancestors of the modern-day Pueblo people of Arizona and New Mexico. They farmed corn and squash from about 200 to 1300 A.D. in the southwestern area of what would become the United States. The word Anasazi comes from a Navajo word meaning “ancestors of foreigners”; the Pueblos were unfamiliar neighbors of the Navajo people at the time.

These Pueblos were originally a wan-dering group of hunter-gatherers. Even-tually, they settled and became farm-ers, artisans, and creators of some of the most advanced architecture in their time period. Their abodes were made up of sectioned-off rooms and pits, separated by stone walls. Hundreds of these rooms were built into the sides of large cliffs and caves. The cave overhangs provided shade in the summer and shelter from rain and snow in the winter. Many archaeologists also believe that the dwellings were high up on mesas to defend against attacks

from unfriendly neighbors.Much of what archaeologists learned

came from the Anasazi’s garbage! Food scraps, broken pottery, and other unwanted items were thrown down the side of the cliffs into a trash heap, which was dug up and studied hundreds of years later. The ancient Pueblos specialized in painted pottery and hand-woven baskets, two traditions that carried into modern-

day Pueblo culture.The most popular theory explaining

why the Anasazi left this ideal community of safe homes above abundant farmland is that changes in climate caused their crops to fail, so they had to move farther south into present-day Arizona and New Mexico to find new food sources. The household items were likely left behind because they were too big and heavy to carry or unnecessary.

In 1906, Congress protected the Anasazi cliff dwellings in southern Colorado by creating Mesa Verde (Spanish for “green table”) National Park. The dwellings, which resemble a sort of ancient apartment complex, still exist today. Visitors to Mesa Verde can take a ranger-guided tour and hike directly through the caves to experience what it was like to live in the ancient cliff dwellings of the disappeared Anasazi.