Selection: F-15

F-15

Grade level: 6

Word count: 1649 words

Author: Mike Buchanan and Diane Lang

Synopsis: A student visits Honduras, where the water is clear and the people are friendly.

Excerpt: Before a group of classmates and I were to set foot on Roatan, many different cultures had lived there. The most famous early inhabitants of the Bay Islands (as Roatan and its neighbor islands of Guanaja and Utila are called) were the Maya, but other people (called the Paya and Lenca) lived there as well.

In the early 1500s, Christopher Columbus sailed into the area and landed on Guanaja. This was tragic for the gentle native people, who had no defense against the diseases that the explorers brought over from Europe.

For many years, Britain and Spain struggled for control of the Bay Islands, but there was another interesting group of people who lived there. Pirates had stayed on the island we were visiting.

In the following decades, people from the Cayman Islands settled on Roatan. Many of them knew how to fish and found the reefs off the coast of Roatan to be prime fishing areas.

Question: Put the following in the order in which they came to Honduras, starting with the earliest.

1. The Maya settled there.
2. Columbus landed there.
3. Pirates visited there.
4. Cayman Islanders fished there.

Selection: F-3

F-3

Grade level: 6

Word count: 1579 words

Author: Travis J. Best

Synopsis: Jeremy Lin's road to stardom on the basketball court is unique.

Excerpt: Gie-Ming would take Jeremy and his two brothers to the local YMCA to run drills every day after school. He made them practice the same things over and over to perfect them. Bird's picture-perfect jump shot. Magic's kickout passes. Kareem-Abdul Jabbar's famous overhead skyhook, something very rare for a guard to perfect. Gie-Ming pushed them hard, but the boys were game; they could not wait to hit the gym and keep getting better.

Question: Which saying characterized the training Lin received from his dad on the court?

1. Practice makes perfect.
2. First things first.
3. Nice guys finish last.
4. It's what on the inside that counts.

Selection: F-4

F-4

Grade level: 6

Word count: 1740 words

Author: Kelley Sachs

Synopsis: Some scientists believe life could exist on planets outside our solar system.

Excerpt: No excerpt is available for this question.

Question: This selection is mainly about astronomers and

1. how they are learning about newly discovered planets.
2. why they are sure life cannot exist outside our solar system.
3. when they think space travel to exoplanets will be possible.
4. what they are doing to prove all planets revolve around suns.

Selection: F-1

F-1

Grade level: 6

Word count: 1577 words

Author: Tamara Ellis Smith

Synopsis: A new idea for sneaker soles was inspired by a household item.

Excerpt: At that time, six people died while mountain climbing in the Swiss Alps, which was partly due to their improper footwear. This inspired a friend of the climbers to create a new shoe sole.

Two years later, he patented his invention of a rubber sole that resisted abrasion and provided superb traction on all sorts of surfaces. In 1954 the first successful climb of K2, the second highest mountain in the world, was made by hikers wearing shoes with these soles.

Question: Based on this selection, which shoe characteristic is most important for mountain-climbers?

1. traction
2. length
3. price
4. warmth

Selection: F-31

F-31

Grade level: 6

Word count: 1716 words

Author: Karen Berman

Synopsis: Maurice Sendak was an author who created strange-looking characters to accompany his imaginative stories.

Excerpt: In high school, he illustrated a book that was authored by his biology teacher. He also drew backgrounds for the then-famous comic strip, "Mutt and Jeff." Upon graduation, he was hired as a window dresser with F.A.O. Schwartz, the toy store. At night, he took classes at the New York Art Students League. Then the store's children's book buyer introduced him to a famous children's book editor. She liked Sendak's artwork, hiring him to illustrate several children's books by distinguished authors.

Question: Put the following jobs Sendak held before he became a famous author in order from first to last.

1. He illustrated a book authored by his biology teacher.
2. He was hired as a window dresser for a toy store.
3. He took night classes at the New York Art Students League.
4. He was introduced to a famous children's book editor.