6th Grade Nonfiction for November 8, 2013

Read the article "The Mystery of the Maya" and then answer Numbers 1 through 8 in the Answer Section.

The Mayan Indians lived in Mexico for thousands of years before the Spanish arrived in the 1500s. The Maya were an intelligent, culturally rich people whose achievements were many. They had farms, beautiful palaces, and cities with many buildings. The Mayan people knew a lot about nature and the world around them. This knowledge helped them to live a better life than most people of that time, because they could use it to make their lives more comfortable and rewarding. Knowledge about tools and farming, for instance, made their work easier and more productive. In ancient Mexico there were many small clearings in the forest. In each clearing was a village with fields of corn, beans, and other crops around it. To clear the land for farms, the Maya cut down trees with stone axes. They planted seeds by digging holes in the ground with pointed sticks. A farmer was able to grow crops that produced food for several people. But not every Maya had to be a farmer. Some were cloth makers, builders, or priests. The Maya believed in many gods, including rain gods, sun gods, and corn gods. The people built large temples to honor the Mayan gods. Skillful workers built cities around these temples. It was difficult for them to construct these cities, because they had no horses to carry the heavy stone they used to build with. Workers had to carry all of the building materials themselves. Today, many of these ancient Mayan cities and temples are still standing. Although the cities that the Maya built were beautiful, and the people worked hard to build them, very few of the people lived in them. Usually, only the priests lived in the cities. The other people lived in small villages in the forests. Their houses were much simpler than the elaborate structures in the cities. They lived in small huts with no windows. The walls were made of poles covered with dried mud, and the roof was made of grass or leaves. Most Maya lived a simple life close to nature. Measuring time was important to the Maya, so they developed a system for measuring it accurately. Farmers needed to know when to plant and harvest their crops. Mayan priests made a system to keep track of time. They wrote numbers as dots (...) and bars (-). A dot was one and a bar was five. The Mayan priests studied the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets. They made a calendar from what they learned. The year was divided into 18 months of 20 days each with five days left over. The Mayan calendar was far more accurate than the European calendars of the time. Around the year 800, the Maya left their villages and beautiful cities, never to return. No one knows why this happened. They may have died from an infectious disease. They may have left because the soil could no longer grow crops. Archaeologists are still trying to find the lost secrets of the Maya. They are still one of our greatest mysteries. Now answer Numbers 9 through 16. Base your answers on the article "The Mystery of the Maya."  1. Read this sentence from the story. The Maya were an intelligent, culturally rich people whose achievements were many. What is a synonym for the word achievements?   mistakes   successes   skills   roads 2. The Maya lived in Mexico   only after the Spanish arrived.   at the same time as the Spanish.   only for a few years.   thousands of years before the Spanish. 3. Many Mayan cities and temples are still standing today because    they were so well built.   they are not very old.   they have been rebuilt.   there is never any bad weather in Mexico.  4. How is the Mayan calendar the same as or different from our current calendar? Use details from the article to support your answer. 5. What is the main idea of this article?   The Mayan calendar was more accurate than the European calendar.   The Maya were excellent farmers.   The Maya were a culturally rich, advanced society.   The Mayan cities were difficult to build. 6. MOST Maya lived   in beautiful cities.   in huts made of poles, mud, and leaves.   in caves.   in stone temples. 7. How do we know that the Mayan civilization was an intelligent and cultured one? Use details from the article to support your answer.  8.  Read this sentence from the story. Their houses were much simpler than the elaborate structures in the city. What does elaborate mean?   small   plain   fancy   old Part 2      For centuries, people have been playing kicking games with a ball. The game of soccer developed from some of these early games. The English probably gave soccer its name and its first set of rules. In European countries, soccer is called football or association football. Some people believe that the name "soccer" came from "assoc.," an abbreviation for the word association. Others believe that the name came from the high socks that the players wear. Organized soccer games began in 1863. In soccer, two teams of eleven players try to kick or head the ball into their opponents’ goal. The goalie, who tries to keep the ball out of the goal, is the only player on the field who is allowed to touch the ball with his or her hands. The other players must use their feet, heads, and bodies to control the ball. Every four years, soccer teams around the world compete for the World Cup. The World Cup competition started in 1930. Brazil is the home of many great soccer players, including the most famous player of all, Pelé. With his fast footwork, dazzling speed, and great scoring ability, Pelé played for many years in Brazil and then later in New York. During his 22 years in soccer, he scored 1,281 goals and held every major record for the sport. People in more than 140 countries around the world play soccer. It is the national sport of most European and Latin American countries. Soccer is definitely the world’s most popular sport! James Naismith, a physical education teacher in Massachusetts, invented basketball in 1891. Naismith’s boss asked him to invent a game that students could play indoors during bad weather. He wanted to find a game that wasn’t as physically rough as soccer, football, or wrestling. Naismith attached peach baskets to a railing ten feet above the floor at either end of the gym. The players used a soccer ball. A person sat on a ladder next to each basket at either end of the gym, and threw out the balls that landed in the baskets. Naismith decided that having only five players on each team would keep the game from getting too rough. Two years later, metal hoops with net bags replaced the peach baskets. Officials pulled a string on the nets to release the balls that went in. In 1894, Naismith added the backboard behind each net and changed to a larger ball. In 1913, people began using the bottomless nets that are used today. During a basketball game, two teams of five players each throw the ball into two baskets at opposite ends of a court. Players bounce, or dribble, the ball to the basket or pass the ball to teammates. A team scores points by getting the ball into their team’s basket. The team with the highest score wins. By the 1900s, basketball was the most popular indoor sport. Athletes in approximately 130 countries play the game. Basketball is especially popular in the United States, China, and Puerto Rico. Baseball began in the United States in the early 1800s. Some people believe that Abner Doubleday invented the game. Others think that baseball came from an old British sport called rounders. Baseball and rounders are very similar. However, in rounders the field players throw the ball right at the runner. If the ball hits the runner, he or she is out. In baseball, a field player just touches the ball to the base or the running player to get the player out. Today’s baseball players use special equipment to help prevent injuries. Field players wear baseball gloves to protect their hands. The catcher wears a metal mask, a chest protector, and shin guards. Batters wear plastic helmets to protect their heads. Every spring in the United States, people of all ages play baseball at local baseball fields. It’s no wonder that baseball is called the national pastime of the United States. Now answer Numbers 1 through 8. Base your answers on the article "Popular Sports Around the World." 1. Which of the following events happened first?   basketball was invented World Cup competition was invented baseball began in the U.S. organized soccer games began 2. Pelé is a famous     soccer player. baseball coach. basketball player. baseball player. 3.   Read this sentence from the story.   With his fast footwork, dazzling speed, and great scoring ability, Pelé played for many years in Brazil, and then later in New York. What does dazzling mean? amazing funny light difficult 4.  What conclusion can you draw from this article?   Sports are more popular in Brazil than in the U.S. Most sports involve kicking a ball. Sports can be very dangerous. Sports are popular in many different countries. 5. Write a brief summary of the article, using only the most important details.   6.  Read this sentence from the story.   Field players wear baseball gloves to protect their hands. What is an antonym for the word protect? save harm cover fit 7.  Which of the following is an opinion?   The rules of soccer state that goalies are allowed to touch the ball with their hands. Basketball was first played with peach baskets attached to railings. Because it is popular in so many countries, soccer is the sport that is the most fun to play. In baseball, a player can touch the ball to the base or to the runner to get the runner out. 8. Is the author’s purpose in writing this article to entertain the reader, inform the reader, or both?   Use details from the article to support your answer. Part 3 Read the article "Amazing Black Holes" and then answer Numbers 1 through 8.        How many things can you see in the night sky? A lot! On a clear night you might see the Moon, some planets, and thousands of sparkling stars. You can see even more with a telescope. You might see stars where before you only saw dark space. You might see that many stars look larger than others. You might see that some stars that look white are really red or blue. With bigger and bigger telescopes you can see more and more objects in the sky. And you can see those objects in more and more detail. But scientists believe there are some things in the sky that we will never see. We won't see them with the biggest telescope in the world, on the clearest night of the year. That's because they're invisible. They're the mysterious dead stars called black holes. You might find it hard to imagine that stars die. After all, our Sun is a star. Year after year we see it up in the sky, burning brightly, giving us heat and light. The Sun certainly doesn't seem to be getting old or weak. But stars do burn out and die after billions of years. As a star's gases burn, they give off light and heat. But when the gas runs out, the star stops burning and begins to die. As the star cools, the outer layers of the star pull in toward the center. The star squashes into a smaller and smaller ball. If the star was very small, the star ends up as a cold, dark ball called a black dwarf. If the star was very big, it keeps squashing inward until it's packed together tighter than anything in the universe. Imagine if the Earth were crushed until it was the size of a tiny marble. That's how tightly this dead star, a black hole, is packed. What pulls the star in toward its center with such power? It's the same force that pulls you down when you jump — the force called gravity. A black hole is so tightly packed that its gravity sucks in everything — even light. The light from a black hole can never come back to your eyes. That's why you see nothing but blackness. So the next time you stare up at the night sky, remember: there's more in the sky than meets the eye! Scattered in the silent darkness are black holes — the great mystery of space.   Now answer Numbers 1 through 8. Base your answers on the article "Amazing Black Holes." 1. According to the article, what causes a star to die?   As its gases run out, it cools down. It collides with other stars. It can only live for about a million years. As it gets hotter and hotter, it explodes. 2.  Read this sentence from the story.   They're the mysterious dead stars called black holes. What is a synonym for the word mysterious?   ordinary bright strange common 3.  In what ways is our Sun the same as other stars? How is it different from a dead star?   Use details from the article to support your answer.  Enter a short answer in the box, approximately 8 lines. 4. Which of the following statements is NOT a fact?   Black holes are dead stars. Black holes have gravity. Black holes are invisible. There is nothing as mysterious as a black hole. 5. What happens AFTER a star dies?   It becomes invisible. It falls to Earth. It burns up all of its gases. It becomes brighter and easier to see. 6. What might happen to our Sun billions of years from now?   Describe the process using details from the article. 7. Why can't you see light when you look at a black hole?   because most black holes are so far away because the gravity of a black hole is so strong that it sucks  the light inward because as the star's gases burn, it stops giving off heat and light because as a star cools, its outer layers pull in toward its center 8.  Read this sentence from the story.   The Sun certainly doesn't seem to be getting old or weak. What is an antonym for the word weak?   thin tired strong big          8th Grade Nonfiction Article Read the article "Outer Space" and then answer Numbers 1 through 8 in the Answer Section.        From far out in space, Earth looks like a blue ball. Since water covers three-fourths of the Earth’s surface, blue is the color we see most. The continents look brown, like small islands floating in the huge, blue sea. White clouds wrap around the Earth like a light blanket. The Earth is shaped like a sphere, or a ball. It is 25,000 miles around! It would take more than a year to walk around the whole planet. A spaceship can fly around the widest part of the sphere in only 90 minutes. Even though spaceships have traveled to the Moon, people cannot visit the Moon without special suits. The Moon has no air or water. Plants and animals can’t live there either. Astronauts first landed on the Moon in 1969. After that, there were six more trips to the Moon. They brought back Moon rocks, which scientists are still studying. There are holes, or craters, all over the Moon’s surface. Scientists believe that meteorites smashed into the Moon millions of years ago and formed the craters. The Sun is the closest star to Earth. A star is a hot ball of burning gas. The Sun looks very big because it is so close. But the Sun is just a medium-sized star. Billions of far-away stars are much bigger than our Sun. The burning gases from the Sun are so hot that they warm the Earth from 93 million miles away! Even though the Sun is always glowing, the night here on Earth is dark. That’s because the Earth rotates, or turns around, every 24 hours. During the day, the Earth faces the Sun. Then we see light. During the night, the Earth turns away from the Sun. Then it faces the darkness of space. Each day we learn more about the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun. Now answer Numbers 9 through 16. Base your answers on the article "Outer Space." Why is blue the color we see most when looking at Earth from outer space?     Because most of the Earth is covered in land.   Because the Sun’s rays make the Earth look blue.   Because most of the Earth is covered in water.   Because clouds wrap around the Earth.   Read this sentence from the story.   Scientists believe that meteorites smashed into the Moon millions of years ago and formed the craters. What does formed mean?   hit   made   broke   stopped Write one fact and one opinion from the article that tells what the Earth looks like from outer space.   What causes daylight on Earth?     The full Moon causes daylight.   Daylight is caused by the Earth facing away from the Sun.   The heat of the Sun’s rays causes daylight.   Daylight is caused by the Earth facing toward the Sun. Which of the following sentences BEST describes the Sun?        The Sun looks small because it is so far from Earth.   The Sun is a ball of burning gases that gives the Earth heat and light.   The Sun is a small star.   The Sun is not as hot as it looks. Why did the astronauts bring rocks back from the Moon?        Because they didn’t know if they would return to the Moon ever again.   Because they wanted to prove that they went to the Moon.   Because they wanted to remember how the Moon looked.   Because they wanted to study them and learn more about the Moon. Describe some of the things we know about the moon.   Use the article to help support your answer. What is the main idea of the article?        Plants and animals can’t live on the Moon.   Without the Sun we would have no heat or light.   We know a lot about the Earth, Moon, and Sun, but there is still more to learn.   From outer space, the Earth looks tiny, even though it is thousands of miles around.