8.5.G
Description:
Evaluate details read to determine key ideas.
Maps to Reading Plus skills:
1A, 2A, 2A, 2B, 2B, 4B, 7C
Exemplars
1A: Recalling Explicit Details
1A: Recalling Explicit Details
Description:
Identifying explicit details including character, time, setting and speaker
SeeReader
✓ standard met
Selection:
H-8
H-8
Grade level: 8
Word count: 1818 words
Author: Tamara Ellis Smith
Synopsis: Roselind Franklin was a scientist whose contributions were ignored.
Excerpt:
Fascinated by mathematics and numbers, she spent her free time studying mathematical concepts for enjoyment. In addition, she possessed an impressive memory, excelling not only in mathematics and science in school but also in athletics. Her friends described her as being the best at everything she attempted with her hand, her brain, and her foot. This early, repetitive, and intense training of both her mind and body probably shaped her subsequent steadfast determination and dedicated work ethic.
Question:
Based on this excerpt, which two factors laid the foundation for Franklin's work ethic?
- athletic training for her body
- mathematical studies for her mind
- artistic endeavors for her creativity
- research success for her reputation
- learning from failure for her confidence
Writing
✓ standard met
Writing prompt:
Create a website for a non-fiction selection you read. Include the main idea and supporting details. Include images that would help viewers of your website better understand the topic.
Evaluator
Organization:
Certica Solutions
2A: Determining Main Idea
2A: Determining Main Idea
Description:
Determining Main Idea and Themes
SeeReader
✓ standard met
Selection:
H-11
H-11
Grade level: 8
Word count: 1830 words
Author: Ben Robinson
Synopsis: On a memorable night in Florida, Cassius Clay faces Sonny Liston, the world champion.
Excerpt:
No excerpt is available for this question.
Question:
Which of these is the best alternative title for this selection?
- Beat the Unbeatable
- Try, Try Again
- Liston's Second Chance
- From Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali
Writing
✓ standard met
Writing prompt:
List three supporting details from a selection and explain how those details helped you determine the selection's main idea.
Evaluator
Organization:
Certica Solutions
2B: Analyzing Relative Importance
2B: Analyzing Relative Importance
Description:
Determining Relative Importance
SeeReader
✓ standard met
Selection:
H-15
H-15
Grade level: 8
Word count: 1731 words
Author: Peter Kupfer
Synopsis: For ecotourists, it's all about preserving the environment.
Excerpt:
Businesses like underwater hotels, helicopter tours, and wildlife theme parks are often guilty of greenwashing. Other examples of greenwashing might be a hotel that claims to be eco-friendly simply because it uses energy-efficient light bulbs, a wildlife park that sells items made from an endangered species, or a desert resort with a golf course that needs a lot of water.
Large corporations are often the worst offenders when it comes to greenwashing. These corporations make huge profits from the development of ecotourism projects, while the local communities often get few, if any, benefits. In Nepal, for example, more than 90 percent of the money from ecotourism is sent out of the country while less than 5 percent goes to the local communities.
Large corporations are often the worst offenders when it comes to greenwashing. These corporations make huge profits from the development of ecotourism projects, while the local communities often get few, if any, benefits. In Nepal, for example, more than 90 percent of the money from ecotourism is sent out of the country while less than 5 percent goes to the local communities.
Question:
Put these greenwashing practices in order, from the most offensive and harmful to the least.
- A country, like Nepal, receives only five percent of the money from ecotourism.
- A wildlife park sells items made from an endangered species.
- A desert resort uses a lot of water to keep its golf course green.
- A hotel uses only energy-efficient lightbulbs and calls itself green.
Writing
✓ standard met
Writing prompt:
Create a Facebook fan page for a selection. Include the most important information to share with fans.
Evaluator
Organization:
Certica Solutions
7C: Interpreting Images
7C: Interpreting Images
Description:
Intepreting Images and Maps
SeeReader
✓ standard met
Selection:
H-38
H-38
Grade level: 8
Word count: 1787 words
Author: Luke Cooper
Synopsis: After parachuting into the dense jungle, the crew puts its fate into the hands of the natives.
Image:
Question:
Based on the selection, which characteristic of this plane helps to identify it as a B-24 bomber?
- long, slender wings
- propeller engines
- flat, painted tail
- wide fuselage
Writing
✓ standard met
Writing prompt:
Can an image help you understand a selection's main idea or theme? Choose two selections you have read and explain how the image did or did not help you understand the selection.
Evaluator
Organization:
Certica Solutions
2A: Determining Main Idea
2A: Determining Main Idea
Description:
Determining Main Idea and Themes
SeeReader
✓ standard met
Selection:
H-3
H-3
Grade level: 8
Word count: 1920 words
Author: Mary R. Dunn
Synopsis: Scientists hope to uncover buried secrets about dinosaurs.
Excerpt:
No excerpt is available for this question.
Question:
This selection is mainly about dinosaurs and
- what scientists are doing to learn more about them.
- how they roamed Earth during the Cretaceous Period.
- why they disappeared from the face of Earth.
- where exhibits of their skeletal remains can be seen.
Writing
✓ standard met
Writing prompt:
(Theme: change) Describe a character who underwent a major change and what happened as a result.
Evaluator
Organization:
Certica Solutions
2B: Analyzing Relative Importance
2B: Analyzing Relative Importance
Description:
Determining Relative Importance
SeeReader
✓ standard met
Selection:
H-4
H-4
Grade level: 8
Word count: 1968 words
Author: Anonymous
Synopsis: Things go wrong when Cupid wounds himself with his own arrow.
Excerpt:
Cupid prepared to obey his mother's orders. There were two fountains in Venus' garden, one of sweet waters, another of bitter. Cupid filled two vases, one from each fountain, and rushed to the chamber of Psyche, whom he found asleep. He shed a few drops from the bitter fountain over her lips, and then touched her side with the point of his arrow. At the touch she opened her eyes upon Cupid (himself invisible), who was so startled in his confusion that he wounded himself with his own arrow.
Question:
The main reason Cupid falls in love with Psyche is he
- wounded himself with his own arrow.
- was obeying his mother's orders.
- mixed up the bitter and sweet water.
- was charmed by her golden locks.
Writing
✓ standard met
Writing prompt:
Have you ever read a selection in which you felt the author "got off the track"? Describe parts of the selection that could be eliminated without affecting the overall plot.
Evaluator
Organization:
Certica Solutions
4B: Interpreting Analogies
4B: Interpreting Analogies
Description:
Interpreting Analogies
SeeReader
✓ standard met
Selection:
H-2
H-2
Grade level: 8
Word count: 1800 words
Author: Jules Verne
Synopsis: Is the mysterious object a floating island, a gigantic whale, or a creature unknown to science?
Excerpt:
In every big city the monster was the latest rage. The people sang about it in the coffee houses. They ridiculed it in the newspapers. They dramatized it in the theaters. And the tabloids found it a fine opportunity for hatching all sorts of hoaxes. In those newspapers short of copy, you saw the revival of every huge imaginary creature from "Moby Dick," that dreadful white whale, to the amazing squid that could entwine a 500-ton ship and drag it into the bottom of the ocean. They even reprinted reports from ancient times.
Question:
Based on this excerpt, how could coverage of the monster by the media be described?
- making it the current fad
- ignoring it as a news item
- presenting just the facts
- calmly studying the situation
Writing
✓ standard met
Writing prompt:
Draw five columns and label each one with one of your five senses. Find examples of figurative language from selections you have read that relate to each sense.
Evaluator
Organization:
Certica Solutions