8th Grade Daily Language Practice (Pdfdrive)

8th Grade
IP 612-3
Use It! Don’t Lose It!

DAILY LANGUAGE PRACTICE
By Marjorie Frank
Use It ! Don’t Lose It !
LANGUAGE
Daily Skills Practice
Grade 8
by Marjorie Frank
Thanks to Erin Linton
for her assistance in researching topics,
checking facts, and tracking down trivia.
Illustrated by Kathleen Bullock

Cover by Geoffrey Brittingham
Edited by Jill Norris
Copy edited by Cary Grayson
ISBN 978-0-86530-653-0
Copyright © 2006 by Incentive Publications, Inc., Nashville, TN. All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without written permission from Incentive Publications,
Inc., with the exception below.
Pages labeled with the statement © 2006 by Incentive Publications, Inc., Nashville, TN are intended for
reproduction. Permission is hereby granted to the purchaser of one copy of USE IT! DON’T LOSE IT!
LANGUAGE DAILY SKILLS PRACTICE 8 to reproduce these pages in sufficient quantities for meeting the
purchaser’s own classroom needs only.
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 09 08 07
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

www.incentivepublications.com
Don’t let those language skills get lost or rusty!
As a teacher you work hard to teach language skills to your students. Your students
work hard to master them. Do you worry that your students will forget the material as
you move on to the next concept?
If so, here’s a plan for you and your students—one that will keep those skills sharp.
Use It! Don’t Lose It! provides daily language practice for all the basic skills. There
are five language problems a day, every day for 36 weeks. The skills are correlated to
national and state standards.
Students practice all the eighth grade skills, concepts, and processes in a spiraling
sequence. The plan starts with the simplest level of eighth grade skills, progressing
gradually to higher-level tasks, as it continually circles around and back to the the same
skills at a little higher level, again and again. Each time a skill shows up, it has a new
context—requiring students to dig into their memories, recall what they know, and
apply it to another situation.
The Weekly Plan —Five Problems a Day for 36 Weeks

Monday – Thursday ................• one vocabulary or other word skills item
• one spelling or mechanics item (capitalization,
punctuation)
• one grammar or language usage item
Monday and Wednesday .........• one reading item

• one literature item
Tuesday and Thursday ............• one writing item

• one research /information skills item
Friday.......................................• one longer reading comprehension passage

with questions
• one writing task
Contents
36 Weeks of Daily Practice, five problems a day........................................... 5–112
Scope and Sequence Charts of Skills, Concepts, Processes ......................... 113–117
(all the details of what’s covered, where, and when)
Answer Key ........................................................................................... 118–127
How to Use Daily Skills Practice
To get started, reproduce each page, slice the Monday–Thursday lesson pages in half or
prepare a transparency. The lessons can be used . . .
• for independent practice—Reproduce the lessons and let students work individually
or in pairs to practice skills at the beginning or end of a language class.
• for small group work—Students can discuss and solve the problems together
and agree on answers.
• for the whole class review—Make a transparency and work through the problems
together as a class.
Helpful Hints for Getting Started
• Though students may work alone on the items, always find a way to review and discuss
the answers together. In each review, ask students to describe how they solved the
problem-solving problems or other problems that involve choices of strategies.
• Allow more time for the Friday lesson, as these tasks may take a little longer. Students can
work in small groups to discover and discuss their answers.
• Provide dictionaries and other resources that may be helpful to students as needed. There
will not always be room on the sheet for some of the longer writing tasks.
• Many of the writing tasks can be expanded into full writing lessons. When you have time
to do so, extend the activity to work on all or various stages of the writing process. Find
time for students to share and enjoy their written products.
• The daily lessons are designed to be completed in a short time period, so that they can be
used along with your regular daily instruction. However, don’t end the discussion until
you are sure all students “get it,” or at least until you know which ones don’t get
something and will need extra instruction. This will strengthen all the other work students
do in language class.
• Keep a consistent focus on thinking skills for reading comprehension activities. Allow
students to discuss their answers, particularly those that involve higher level thinking
skills such as drawing conclusions, inferring, predicting, or evaluating.
• Find ways to strengthen the knowledge and use of new vocabulary words students learn
in the daily practice. Keep a running list of these words. Use them in classroom
discussions and activities. Find ways to share and show off knowledge of the words.
Encourage students to include the new words in their writing.
• Take note of which items leave some or all of the students confused or uncertain. This will
alert you to which skills need more instruction.
• The daily lessons may include some topics or skills your students have not yet learned. In
these cases, students may skip items. Or, you might encourage them to consider how the
problem could be solved. Or, you might use the occasion for a short lesson that would get
them started on this skill.
MONDAY WEEK 1 __________________________________ LANGUAGE PRACTICE
Name
1. Circle letters that should be capitalized.

national football league player walter 5. Which statements are opinions?
payton ran more than 16,000 yards in his
a. A golf ball has more than
13-year career with the chicago bears.
400 dimples.
2. What literary term matches this definition? b. Ice dancing is more pleasant
a series of events related to the action of a story to watch than ice hockey.
c. Racquetball is the most physically
________________________________________
demanding racquet sport.
3. Circle the prefixes that mean not. d. A football field is 100 yards long
atypical imperfect nonsense expel without the end zones.
inactive disapprove illegible unfair e. A basketball player cannot score

more than three points with any one
4. Which sentence is complete? successful basket attempt.
a. Although the World Cup tournament is held
every four years.
b. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world.
c. The only soccer player allowed to handle the ball
TUESDAY WEEK 1 _________________________________LANGUAGE PRACTICE

Name
1. What part of speech is the word fly?

The crowd cheered when Gracie caught the fly ball. 5. Add correct punctuation to the sentences.
________________________________________ Circle words that should be capitalized.
when the new york yankees
2. What is the most precise word for the sentence?
headed for california they
When Max, the team’s best player, chose to skip
the big game, his teammates were ____________. flew out of the john f kennedy
amused bothered irate airport did they fly over the
3. Number the words in alphabetical order. grand canyon or the rocky

___ service ___ score ___ scoring mountains on their way
___ scoreboard ___ serve ___ scored
4. Circle the words which are synonyms for indignant.

peeved detached autonomous
indecent piqued incensed
©2006 Incentive Publications, Inc., Nashville, TN

5 Use It! Don’t Lose It! IP 612-3
WEDNESDAY WEEK 1 ______________________________ LANGUAGE PRACTICE
Name
1. Identify the rhyme

Throw, throw, throw the ball
pattern in the poem.
Toward the catcher’s mitt. 5. Circle the sentence that is out
of sequence.
Let the umpire make a call,
At the beginning of the second
And hope it’s not a hit!
quarter, the Comets were
behind by seven points. Abe
scored six points in the third
2. Circle the correctly spelled words.
quarter to give the lead to the
greif reign sleigh conciet beleive
Comets. By half-time, the score
3. What is the meaning of the bolded word? was tied. The Grizzlies pulled
ahead by eleven points in the
I heard this game has been sold out for weeks,
fourth quarter.
so how did you manage to procure seven
tickets today?
4. Which sentences use who correctly?

a. To who should I give these tickets?
b. She’s the one who bought the tickets.
c. Who is the player on third base?
d. For who are you saving this seat?
THURSDAY WEEK 1 _________________________________ LANGUAGE PRACTICE

Name
1. Add the correct ending punctuation.

Watch out for that golf ball 5. Cross out the unnecessary words in
this passage.
2. An alphabetical list at the end of a book that helps
In my opinion, I think the game
locate information in the book is
was a disaster. The two 16-year
a bibliography a table of contents old teenage quarterbacks could
an index a preface share a prize for the worst, most
awful plays of the night. I am
3. Circle the complete subject. sorry that I spent seven dollars for
Jackie, wearing number ten, dribbled the ticket. I feel my money was
the ball all the way down the court. wasted. Hopefully, I wish for a
better game next week.
4. What is the meaning of the word morose?
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
Use It! Don’t Lose It! IP 612-3 6 ©2006 Incentive Publications, Inc., Nashville, TN
FRIDAY WEEK 1 ________________________________________ LANGUAGE PRACTICE
Name
Read:
1. Identify the genre (type of writing) for each example.
2. What is the main idea in passage F?
3. Circle an example of hyperbole.
4. Which examples are expository?
5. What is the tennis coach’s name?
Write:
1. Write a headline for example A.
2. Write a title for example C.
3. Write the missing lines for the limerick E.

MONDAY WEEK 2 ______________________________________ LANGUAGE PRACTICE
Name
1. Circle the proper nouns.

Shamu Atlantic Ocean sailor 5. What can you tell about the bias of
lifeguard Agate Beach Bay Bridge the person who wrote this sign?
2. Put commas where they are needed.

After swimming we picked up shells ate
lunch put on sunscreen and napped on
the beach.
3. Circle the compound words.

seaside submarine undertow
shipshape sandwich waterlogged
sunburn seaweed underwater
4. From this passage, can you tell how many circuli

would indicate that a fish is three years old?
A fish’s scales give a clue to its age. The scales
have growth rings called circuli. These rings form
in clusters called annuli. Each annulus (cluster)
shows a year of age.
TUESDAY WEEK 2 _____________________________________LANGUAGE PRACTICE

Name
1. Which is the denotation of the word, pirate?

one who robs on seas or oceans 5. Which are examples of
a dangerous person with an eye patch and a persuasive writing?
wooden leg who sails a black ship and steals gold a. recipe for salmon-broccoli
ice cream
2. Circle the correctly spelled words. b. brochure advertising a
raucous recklis fearsome fishing boat
c. essay warning teenagers
terrorize protectshun explosion
about tattoos
insurence despicible dangereous d. tall tale about a boy who rode sharks
e. directions to get to the lighthouse
3. Name five first person pronouns.
_____________ _____________ _____________
_____________ _____________
4. The word beachcomber

would be
found on page _____.
Name
1. Which is the simple sentence?

The Indian Ocean is the world’s smallest, 5. What is the author’s purpose
youngest, and most complex ocean. for writing this?
It is 6,200 miles wide and covers a
28,000,000 square mile area.
The deepest point, off the southern coast
of Java, is the Java Trench.
2. Circle the antonym for malevolent.

nefarious wholesome
sullen furtive
3. Capitalize the book title correctly.

twenty thousand leagues under the sea
4. Circle the cause. Draw a box around the effect.

Because the pirate ship sank in a wild
storm, the treasure ended up at the
bottom of the ocean.

Name
1. Give three different meanings of the

word charge.
5. Examine the picture. Predict what
will happen next.
2. Correct the misspelled words.
lisence excape
weird jeopardy
cafateria whail
3. Which sentence has correct pronoun use?

a. Whose yacht is next to the pirate ship?
b. Do you know who’s run into the pier?
c. No, but I know who’s life rafts are missing.
4. Rob is ready to write a paragraph that gives

details about a ship, The Maine Clipper, that
crashed into rocks during a storm on Halloween
night. Write a topic sentence for this paragraph.

Name
Read
1. What time must a visitor leave the beach on March 4?
2. What can you infer about the water temperatures?
3. What general conclusions can you draw about this area
from reading all the signs?
4. Are picnics permitted on Red Rock Beach?
Write
The structure of these sentences has confused the meaning.
Rewrite each sentence to clarify the meaning.
1. Mom whistled to her dog driving a dune buggy on Lost Creek Beach.
2. Alex and I laughed a lot when we had Sam for lunch on the beach.
3. Relaxing on my sailboat, a storm came in.
4. The blue swimmer’s beach towel got washed away by a wave.
5. Lucy dropped into the ocean the new goggles she had bought
by mistake.
6. Todd caught fish and served them to the girls seasoned with
salt and pepper.
7. Paddling the raft to the shore, the picnic looked inviting.
8. While waiting on my surfboard, a jellyfish stung me.
9. Shakira saw a shark in her bathing suit ready to go into the water.
10. Tired and hot from running on the beach, the water looked good to us.
Name
1. A story begins like this:

I have the honor of being the man with the
world’s longest beard. Let me tell you how
I came to have this much hair on my chin.
What is the point of view?

________________________________________
2. Does this sentence use an apostrophe correctly?

That girl’s fingernails are long enough
to set a record.
3. Which word means to cause to feel terror?

terrible terrify
terrific terrorism
5. Does the author have enough
4. Circle the correct word to complete the sentence.
information to draw the conclusion
Excited fans, eager to watch the marathon, written in the last sentence?
(line, lines) up early to buy their tickets.
TUESDAY WEEK 3 ____________________________________ LANGUAGE PRACTICE

Name
1. Rewrite the sentence to show more action.

With 13 balanced spoons, Jonathan Friedman 5. Choose and circle the correct word
is the world record-holder for balancing spoons for each sentence.
on his face.
a. (Anyway, Anyways), I can’t
2. A record-holding juggler was showing off to believe you balanced all those
his friends by juggling 20 kitchen utensils. spoons.
Was he flaunting or flouting his skills? b. I found some broken plates
3. Which key word or phrase is best to use for (beside, besides) the
an encyclopedia search for the world’s juggler’s van.
longest tunnel? c. What’s the difference (between,
tunnel length world among) juggling balls or plates?
manmade structures longest d. Who holds the record for (setting,
sitting) in a tree the longest?
4. Correct the spelling of any misspelled words.
lafter ghastly chemist jiant
gnome riggle shure skwirt

Name
1. What is the meaning of this sentence?

While Kate has been doing that project, she has 5. Max got these books at the library.
been burning the candle at both ends. Examine the titles. What can you infer
2. Insert the correct punctuation. about Max’s interests?
So my question is this Did you know that the

longest tongue in the world measures 3.7 inches
and belongs to Stephen Taylor (UK)?
3. Write a possessive phrase meaning the peel

of one banana.
__________________________________________
4. To which sense does this description appeal

most strongly?
The bubble-blowing championship was a
melodious chorus of smacking and cracking,
rhythmically swaying with whooshes and hisses,
and pleasantly punctuated by regular pops!

Name
1. Correctly spell the plural of each word.

monkey box record 5. Write a caption for this picture of
hoof penny pailful Tanya, the person with the longest hair
in the state. Add any details or facts
2. Circle the word that does not belong. you wish to the description.
waffle heiress pneumonia
gnome knight kneel
3. Circle the verbs that are in past tense.

swam juggle broke
argued leapt rise
4. Which reference source is a dictionary of

geographical terms and places?
almanac periodical ___________________________________
atlas gazetteer ___________________________________
thesaurus quotation index ___________________________________
Name
It Takes A Group
Read Number of
Record Date Location
Participants
1. How many of the
Longest
records were set in Aug 23, 1989 Eastern Europe 2,000,000
Human Chain
the 20th century?
Largest
Apr 23, 2004 Canada 5,117
2. How many records were Group Hug
not set in North America? Largest
May 6, 1995 UK 6,748
Circle Dance
3. If the snowball fighters Largest
joined the musical chair Jun 22, 2003 UK 4,372
Dog Walk
players, how large
Largest
would the group be? Jan 18, 2003 Switzerland 2,473
Snowball Fight
4. How many groups had Largest Pajama-
Feb 1, 2003 Virginia 1,045
fewer participants than Sleepover Party
the group hug? Largest Game of
Aug 5, 1989 Singapore 8,238
Musical Chairs
5. Which event do you Longest Human
suppose took up the Sept 30, 2000 Singapore 9,234
Domino Line
most space or distance?
Write
Think of yourself as a radio reporter covering one of the record-setting events above. Write a brief
report that you will give, describing the event to your audience. Use your imagination to elaborate
on what you think it might be like to watch the event.

Name
1. Choose the correct literary device.

Huffing and puffing, the old locomotive 5. Write a summary of this story.
complained grumpily as he trudged up the hill. The Great Train Robbery of 1963 took
onomatopoeia irony place north of London. Robbers fixed the
personification foreshadowing train signal to turn red and stop the train.
Then 15 holdup men wearing masks,
2. Circle the objective pronouns. gloves, and helmets took 120 mailbags
We waited an hour for them at containing 2,600,000 British pounds. Two
the train station and gave them accomplices helped by providing train
a rousing welcome. information and a hideout. There were no
guns used in the robbery.
3. Write the past tense of each verb. After the robbers left fingerprints at a
speed fight read hideaway, twelve of the robbers were
catch hurry loosen caught and sent to prison. One robber,
Ronnie Briggs, escaped from prison in
4. Could an attempt to rob a train 1965 and fled to Mexico. At age 71, he
turn into a debacle? Explain. returned to Britain and was put in prison.
The stolen money was never recovered.

Name
1. Write the plural of each noun.

sister-in-law cactus tooth radio 5. Edit this passage for spelling,
engineer watch knife mystery punctuation, and capitalization.
the strang man, on the trane
2. Which statement is true?
plattform pulled his green hat
Fiction is organized alphabetically by titles. down to sheeld his face And
Biographies are arranged alphabetically turned up the coller on his long
by the name of the author. baggy trench coat? he lingered
The Dewey Decimal System is used to in the shadows furtively
organize nonfiction. sneeking out and darting back,
to his hiding place behind a
3. Add correct punctuation to the sentence.
post, it wasn’t long befor other
Officer, whispered the lady in the fur coat,
passengers, began to notise his
that man’s behavior is very suspicious. surreptitious behavour.
4. What is the meaning of surreptitious in item 5?
Name
1. What is the main idea of this passage?

Bobbie Jo meant to rob the train. He had a mask 5. Replace each incorrect homonym.
and a gun. The mask was ripped off his face
when it got caught on Mrs. Leevy’s hat pin, and
nobody was fooled by the squirt gun. When he
stood up, intending to yell, “Get on the floor and
empty your pockets,” it came out like this:
“Empty the floor and spit on your pockets!”
2. Circle the words that need capital letters.

dr. charles ryder bought pepsi cola
before boarding the starlight express to
portland, oregon.
3. What kind of sentence is this?

Give me all your money.
declarative imperative
exclamatory interrogative.
4. What is the tone of the passage in 1?

Name
1. A book about a person’s life that is written by the

subject of the book is a(n) __________________
5. Add a detail to the passage.
2. Circle the conjunction in this sentence. Before You Board The Train
When two high-speed trains pass each The first thing you must remember
other, they must slow down so that their when you are taking a train trip is to
windows do not break. buy your ticket. Also, be sure that your
suitcase is not too heavy to lift up the
3. Correct the spelling in these words.
train steps. Take along some spending
celloes _________________________ money to buy lunch on the train.
potatoe_________________________
________________________________
avacado _______________________
echoe __________________________ ________________________________
Above all, get to the train station
obo____________________________
on time!
saprano ________________________
4. Finish the analogy
artisan : art :: traveler : ________________
travel timetable train travelogue
Name
Read
1. What is the purpose of the example?
2. If Mr. Smoots misses the 5:36 train out of Blythe headed for Newberry,
where will he have to spend the night?
3. About how long is the Westbound trip between Silverton and Newberry?
4. Which two cities are probably closest together?
5. Where is the end of the westbound line?
GOLD COUNTY TRAIN SCHEDULE

Train A (Eastbound)
City: Gulch Jewel Silverton Vista Blythe Tomas Newberry
arrival 7:33a 8:46a 10:30a 10:59a 11:14a 12:10a
departure 6:20a 7:36a 8:49a 10:35a 11:03a 11:19a
arrival 10:22a 11:36a 1:37a 2:27p 11:44a 12:39a
departure 8:55a 10:25a 11:46a 1:45p 2:30p 2:47p
arrival 2:10p 3:21p 5:00p 5:29p 6:50p 7:30p
departure 12:56p 2:13p 3:22p 5:05p 5:36p 6:55p
Train B (Westbound)
City: Newberry Tomas Blythe Vista Silverton Jewel Gulch
arrival 8:17a 8:46a 9:24a 10:16a 11:35a 12:46p
departure 7:15a 8:30a 8:50a 9:30a 10:20a 11:39a
arrival 2:22p 2:37p 3:07p 3:50p 5:11p 6:20p
arrival 4:10p 4:28p 5:05p 5:57p 7:22p 8:35p
Write
Finish the comparisons.
1. A ride on a train is like _____________________________________________________________.
2. That old steam engine sounds as _________________________ as ________________________.
3. The food on the train tasted like _____________________________________________________.
4. _______________________________________________________is as loud as the train’s whistle.
5. The bullet train is faster than _________________________________________________________.
6. The noise of the train on the rails reminds me of ________________________________________.
7. ___________________________________________is as thrilling as a ride on a high speed train.
8. The swaying of the train is like ______________________________________________________.
Name
1. Circle examples with correct hyphen use.

roller-coaster one-half 5. Give the indicated tenses for
French-fries stomach-ache each irregular verb.
ex-president brother-in-law
present – rise
2. Which word does not belong? past – ______________________
exuberance ardor past participle – _____________
enthusiasm exorbitance future – _____________________
3. Which is an example of imaginative writing? present – begin

a. a science fiction story about a 25th century past – ______________________
amusement park past participle – _____________
b. an article about the history of theme parks future – _____________________
c. a biography of the man who holds the world’s present – grow
record for time on a roller coaster
past – ______________________
4. Fact or opinion? past participle – _____________
Roller coasters are the most future – _____________________
thrilling rides at any amusement park.

Name
1. Michael recommends that Ralph avoid riding

The Terminator roller coaster. Is Michael
giving advice or advise?
2. Give the comparative and superlative forms

of the adjective thrilling: 5. Tell three things you could learn from
reading this encyclopedia entry.
3. One word shows up twice in this sentence. Ferris Wheel, history
Explain both meanings of the word.
The first Ferris Wheel was designed
Brie said, “I’ll pass on the potatoes, but before by George Washington Gale Ferris.
long, she hollered, “Pass the fries!” Thirty-six cars carried riders. Twelve
different steel companies took part in
4. Cross out words in the sentence that are not
the construction of the wheel, which
needed to convey the meaning.
cost $350,000. It towered 264 feet
When we finish our rides, let’s meet high, weighed 1,200 tons, and held
under that triangular sign that has 2,160 passengers at a time. The Ferris
three sides. Wheel made its public debut at the
World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893.
It proved to be a very popular ride.

Name
1. What words or phrases create sensory appeal?

Waves of warm buttery popcorn-air 5. The Scream Machine ride begins
wrapped around us and pulled us with a 200-foot fall followed by
toward the popcorn stand. three hills and three steep dips
and a screeching left hairpin turn.
2. Give an antonym for the word plummet.
At the top of the fourth hill, the
______________________________________ cars wind down a tight spiral
track that leaves every rider with
3. Choose the correct word for the sentence. a spinning head. The ride finishes
With their steep drops, these rides
after nine more hills, twelve sharp
curves, and nine dips.
(appeal, appeals) to most teenage
visitors at the theme park. On this ride, what happens just before
the cars climb the fourth hill?
4. Correct the capitalization
and punctuation in the
heading of this letter.

Name
1. Use each of these words as a part of two

compound words. Make it the beginning of one
5. Tell what mood is set by this selection.
word and the ending of another.
Identify words or phrases the author
light book over board used to set the mood.
Afraid she would miss the ride,
2. Which example shows correct usage? Annie raced past the Haunted
a. To whom shall I give this cotton candy? Village, dashed across the food
b. Whom shall I say is calling? court, and elbowed her way
urgently through the crowded
3. Circle the correctly spelled words. walkway. Just in time, she
darted under the rope and tore
silliness fancyful worrysome
around the side of the track.
pennyless terrifying justified “Thanks for saving my place!”
she panted as she scrambled into
4. Which information can be found in a dictionary? the front car of the roller coaster.
a. word histories b. word meanings
c. word pronunciations d. synonyms
Name
Read
1. Which selection is most convincing to you? Tell why.
2. Describe the main idea of each selection.
3. Describe the bias found in each selection.
4. Circle one fact in each selection.
5. Circle one opinion in each selection.
6. A rider in the back seat gets more airtime.
Make an inference about the reason for this.
Take A Back Seat Go For The Front Seat

The very best seat in a roller coaster is Run as fast as you can to get in the front
the last seat. As the coaster climbs each seat of the roller coaster. This is the spot
hill, you have the fun of watching each for the greatest thrills. Here, you will feel
of the other cars disappear over the edge, the greatest force of the wind as the
and you get the longest time to anticipate coaster tears down the hills and around
the drop. Beyond that, this is the spot for corners. It is only in the front that you can
the greatest speed. As that last car drops enjoy the unrestricted views and that
over the top, the roller coaster is going its amazing, terrifying feeling of being utterly
fastest, and you get the tail end of that alone at the steepest points of the ride.
tremendous speed. In the back seat, you After the train of cars chug-chug-chugs to
also get the longest airtime. This is the the top of the hill, only front riders get to
time that you fly up out of your seat, feel that heart-stopping anticipation of
feeling weightless, because of inertia. dropping over the edge first. There is
And that’s not all! You hear all of the nothing ahead but empty space and the
screams along the ride, and the ride hope that there is, indeed, a track. No
seems longer because your car pulls into other seat in the coaster offers the same
the station last. combination of dread and excitement.
Write
Write a short summary of one or both of the selections.

Name
1. What is the meaning of the bolded word?

After 18 days on the trail, Teryl was getting 5. What kind of terrain is traveled by a
hungry because of a dearth of food. thru-hiker on the Pacific Crest Trail?
2. Which examples contain linking verbs?
a. Eric is a hiker on the Pacific Crest Trail.
b. By dinner time, he feels famished.
c. If he’s lucky, he might cover 20 miles today.

migrant accidant negligent
distant observent vigilent
4. What literary technique is used in this example?

A loud crash and a grinding crunch echoed from Eric Ryback is generally agreed to be the first person
just around the bend on the trail. Lee stopped to thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail. He carried an
dead in his tracks. When ear-splitting cracks and 80-pound pack as he completed the 2650-mile trail,
which winds over mountain passes through canyons
snaps followed, he dropped his pack and
and forests, and crosses three states.
sprinted in the opposite direction.

Name
1 Is the punctuation correct?

The Pacific Crest Trail passes through: three 5.
national monuments; 24 national forests;
32 wilderness areas; and seven national parks.
2. Underline the indirect object.

The Pacific Crest Trail offers
hikers a unique challenge.
3. Circle the correct word for the sentence.

Yesterday’s hike was so long and hard;
Write the dictionary page number on
today, Simone was (loath, loathe) which each words would be found.
to get out of her tent. ____ A. adventurous _____ D. aerial
4. Correct the punctuation and capitalization. ____ B. ad-lib _____ E. admire
maomi vemura was the first man ____ C. adorn _____ F. advertise
to reach the north pole alone this
japanese explorer arrived at his
goal on april 29 1978
Name
1. What is the meaning of this word’s root?

vitality 5. Identify one or more effective writing
techniques used by the author.
_________________ __________________
root meaning An aggravated bear, fiercely
roaring, bolted down the trail
2. Circle the effect in this example. straight into the path of the hikers.
Each time the hiker ran out of food, They froze. Their hair stood on
she was forced to forage something end. Bodies quivered. Muscles
to eat from her natural surroundings. shivered. No one could move—no
one but the bear, that is. Claws
3. Rewrite this sentence to show correct use of a throwing up clods of earth, mighty
negative. weight smashing branches, breath
Scarcely nobody has completed the Pacific Crest steaming rhythmically like a well-
Trail yet this year. fueled locomotive—the bear kept
moving closer, closer.
4. Capitalize and punctuate the sentences correctly.
watch out for the falling rocks yelled
Rod to the hiker behind him Samantha
hollered back I see them

Name
1. Which means freedom from punishment?

indictment impunity 5. Rewrite each sentence in active voice.
impertinence illicit A. Joe seemed miserable with
his mosquito bites.
2. Write a word that contains a silent letter that fits
each definition. B. That bear is really close!
chocolate candy apparition pack animal C. Tom is probably on the wrong trail.
giggle mute pen name D. Does it appear to be thundering?
3. What part of a book lists, in outline form,
the information contained in the book in
the order in which appears?
4. Circle the preposition. Draw a box around

the object of the preposition.
Her blisters were so painful that Brooke
could only hobble along the trail slowly.

Name
Read
1. Could someone travel by water from Diamond Lake to Rainbow Campsite?
2. What bodies of water are crossed by Paradise Trail?
3. About how long is Last Chance Lake?
4. Which campsite is farthest from North Fork Creek?
5. What direction is Agate Butte from the ranger station?
Write
Write clear directions that a hiker could follow
to get from Three Fork Campsite to Agate Butte
passing through Redwood Grove.
Name
1. Write a homonym for each word.

fowl carrot pour 5. Identify two similarities of and two differences
symbol toad rap between free diving and scuba diving.
There are two basic kinds of underwater
diving outside of a protective vehicle.
When they went for a liesurely swim, Although both kinds of diving allow people to
niether Al nor Sal noticed the wierd enjoy the wonders of life below the surface,
creature floating along the shore. they are quite different. The simplest and
3. Circle the correct pronoun. oldest form is called free diving. Divers use a
mask, a snorkel, or possibly a wet suit. They
Few divers were disappointed by the must hold their breath and can only descend
sights (he, they) saw. about 30 or 40 feet. They must come to the
surface in a minute or two. Scuba diving is the
4. A writer uses these words and phrases to set a second basic kind of diving. Scuba-diving
certain mood in a passage. What is the mood? equipment allows divers to go much deeper.
The breathing apparatus supplies air so they
drowsy eyelids _________________________
do not have to hold their breath. The usual
languid music __________________________ equipment includes a mask, tank, wet suit,
hose, and regulator.
sluggish steps __________________________
meandering dreams _____________________

Name
1. Explain the meaning of the sentence.

Even though the water was cold, I was 5. Finish the poem.
sweating bullets as I got ready for my first
deep sea dive. Shipwrecked on her maiden voyage
2. Correct the capitalization and punctuation. The Golden Princess lies
did you know that the biggest canyons in the
world are under the bering sea off the coast Deep beneath, in murky sand
of Alaska navarin canyon is 60 miles wide
thats six times wider than the grand canyon _____________________________________
3. Which are features of a clause? She gives a home to stealthy fish

a. a group of related words Within her timbers, torn apart
b. missing a subject, predicate, or both
What secrets does The Princess keep
c. has both a subject and a predicate
4. Number these words to show _____________________________________
alphabetical order.
watery wetsuit waterlogged
wetter water whack

Name
1. Should you get into an altercation

with a barracuda?
5. Make an inference about what
2. Place parentheses correctly in the sentence. happened to the author.
After the incident with the shark the one As I explored the sunken ship
with the mean look on his face, Georgia A flash of silver caught my eye—
was wary of scuba diving. A slinky shark was sneaking by,
A creature thrice as big as I,
3. Circle the appositive in each sentence.
A creature looking mean and sly.
a. Jacques Cousteau, famous
oceanographer, was one of the This morning I can testify
inventors of scuba equipment. The crusty, rusty sunken skip
No more’s the highlight of my trip.
b. Let’s get a picture of Will the first
diver to get back to the boat.
c. That skin diver, the one with the string
of freshly-caught fish, is my brother.
4. Identify the rhyme pattern of the poem

in problem 5.

Name
1. Finish the analogy.

audacious : timorous :: deride: ________ 5. Can someone get a diving lesson and
ridicule fearful honor belittle a sale price on a wetsuit on the same
day at Sam’s Scuba Shoppe?
A wistling wich took an ocean voyage
with a corus of clever kemists.
3. Circle the intransitive verb.

The barracuda swam away
before I could take a picture.
4. Rewrite the passage to give it more

sensory appeal.
On her first snorkel trip, Lois was amazed by
what she saw beneath the surface. The coral
reef was full of underwater life.
Name
Read
1. What parts of the passage give clues 4. What is the purpose of this passage?
to the author’s bias? 5. What is the audience for which this
2. Circle a statement that is an opinion. was written?
3. Draw a box around a statement 6. In what situations can nitrogen
that is a fact. narcosis occur?
The Dangers of Diving Under Water

Underwater diving offers a unique view of a world that is otherwise not easily
accessible. Thousands of people take up the sport each year, eager to see the
wonders of life deep beneath the ocean’s surface. But the thrills of this adventure
are outweighed by the many risks to human life and health.
Beneath the water, pressure increases by about a half pound per square inch
for each foot of depth. If the pressure inside the body is not equal to the outside
water pressure, a diver’s lungs can be squeezed and severely injured. This
condition is called barotraumas or squeeze.
While using compressed air from a tank, a diver absorbs considerable amounts
of nitrogen into the blood. If a diver ascends to the surface too quickly, bubbles of
nitrogen form in the blood and can make the diver ill. This condition is known as
the bends (decompression sickness) and can be deadly.
Another serious condition, called air embolism, can occur during ascent. As a
diver rises toward the surface, air in the lungs expands because the air pressure
outside the body lessens as the depth of water decreases. This pressure can tear
the lungs apart and push air into the bloodstream. This condition can be crippling
or deadly.
Another risk is the danger of oxygen poisoning. A diver who breathes from a
tank that has a high level of oxygen can become very sick or can even die. When
breathing compressed air at great depths, a diver can also become drugged or sick
from nitrogen narcosis.
Of course, in addition to these dangers, there are the risks of accidents,
malfunctioning equipment, or attacks by underwater creatures. As you can see,
underwater diving is the most dangerous of all sports.
Write
1. Rewrite this beginning for an underwater adventure. Make it grab the reader’s attention.
The weather looked good as the divers prepared for their dive.
2. Write an attention-grabbing beginning for an essay to convince someone to try scuba diving.

Name
1. Identify the mode of writing in 5.

imaginative expository 5. What is passage’s main idea?
narrative descriptive A television travel channel selected
personal-expressive persuasive the Seiad Valley Café (California) as
one of the best places in the world to
2. Insert necessary commas and apostrophes. “pig out.” This is undoubtedly due to
Have you met Jeremy Mark and the Pancake Challenge that the café
Carlos the men who took the worlds offers. Thru-hikers on the Pacific
longest taxi ride? Crest Trail can get a free pancake
breakfast if they can eat the giant
3. Give the meaning of the bold words. stack of pancakes in one sitting. It
I’ve got great photographs from my safari. I take may sound easy, but this is a huge
the most pride in the pictures of the lion pride stack. So most eaters end up paying
we saw sleeping by the river. the bill!
4. Circle the predicate noun.

The Radiance is a solar car that holds
a record for the longest trip of any
vehicle of its kind.

Name
1. You want to find a weather forecast for a city that

you will visit tomorrow. The city is 2,500 miles
away. What reference source will you consult?
2. Which pairs of words are antonyms?

5. Add a title to this passage.
abhor – revere churlish – grumpy
urban – urbane mediocre – exemplary
___________________________________
3. Which phrase means the wheels of more
than one bus? On June 12, 1979, a man named
a. the bus’s wheels c. the buses wheels Bryan Allen did something no one had
b. the busses’ wheels d. the busses’ wheel ever done before. He pedaled an aircraft
across the English Channel. The craft,
4. Spell the plural of each word. called the Gossamer Albatross, looked
itinerary __________________________________ like a bicycle with wings and weighed 75
pounds. During the 35 km trip from
chief _____________________________________
England to France, Bryan had to pedal
rodeo ____________________________________ non-stop to keep the craft several feet
yacht_____________________________________ above the surface of the water.
Name
1. Cross out any unnecessary words.

The first flight attendants, they had to 5. Does the passage give enough
be unmarried nurses who weighed information to allow you to make a
115 pounds or less. prediction as to whether or not Wilma
will catch her plane?
2. Choose the correct literary device. Wilma’s Day So Far
Once in a blue moon, Ruben takes a long The taxi did not show up to take her
trip on his unicycle. to the airport. She caught a slow bus
a. an idiom b. irony c. hyperbole instead. When she finally arrived at
the ticket counter, Wilma had a hard
3. Correct the misspelled words. time finding her passport. There were
benifit emergency labratory very long lines at the security
restaurant memorise allthough checkpoint. Wilma discovered that
she had not taken her fingernail
4. What is the connotation of the word travel? scissors out of her purse. Finally she
got through security. By then, she
_________________________________________ was so hungry that she just had to
stop and get a sandwich.

Name
1. Correctly capitalize this book title:

ten places I’ll never visit again 5. Tell which bit of trivia interests
you most, and why.
2. Cross out words that are not compounds.
passport discontinued suitcase Travel Trivia
passenger overbook seventeen · At any given hour in the United

States, 61,000 people are up in
3. Which example contains object pronouns? the air in airplanes.
Leave the ticking to him and me. · In 1987, American Airlines
He and I will be glad to buy your tickets. eliminated one olive from each
salad served in the first class
4. What part of speech is the word globetrotter? cabin, saving $40,000.
globe · trot · ter (glob trot r) n. One who · At the busiest airport in the world,
an airplane lands or takes off
travels often and widely. – globetrot v,
every 37 seconds.
globetrotting n & adj
· In 1961, it became illegal to
hijack an airplane.

Name
Read
1. Circle an alliterative phrase.
2. What is the meaning of the word tight

in line 9?
3. Circle an example of rhyme.
4. Circle an example of repetition.
5. What is the main idea of the poem?
6. What is one of the discomforts

described in the poem?
7. To what common experiences does

the poet compare the distresses of
some travel locations?
Write
Finish this diary entry. Begin
by finishing the topic sentence
with the name of a place you
don’t want to visit. Then add at
least three supporting details
or examples.
Name

I (compliment, complement) you 5. Read and follow the directions to make
on your skiing! a snowflake.
2. Fix any capitalization errors. 1. Start with a 6- or 9-inch
Ice Sailing began in holland, spread across square of white paper.
northern europe, and became a Russian 2 Fold it in half, then fold in
Pastime. half again.
3. Underline any adjectives and draw a box around 3. Fold this in half on the
any adverbs. diagonal to form a triangle.
If Charlie had not been such a skillful ice 4. Round off the wide end of
sailor, the accident could have been deadly. the triangle.
4. Which does not include personification? 5. Cut a V shape from the top
edge toward the point.
a. Ice climbers scale icicles as sharp and
slippery as daggers. 6. Cut wedges and triangles
along the folded edges.
b. “Come play with me,” the powdery snow
called out to eager sledders. 7. Open the finished
snowflake.
c. An icy wind reached its fingers under the
edges of Julia’s hat and bit her ears.

Name
1. What is the meaning of the bold word?

Amy is my most jocose friend—just the right 5. Write a brief summary
person to invite to join our snowball fight. of this passage.
competitive playful Ski lift operators were the
petulant timorous first shovel racers. When the
ski lifts closed at the end of
2. Write the past tense of each verb. the day, the operators were
think know speak left at the top of the hills.
Shovels were the handiest
lay raise snow
things available, so they used
3. Circle the participial phrase. them as sleds and raced each
other down the ski hills. Now,
The shovel racer, traveling 50 mph,
shovel racing takes place all
barely avoided running into that tree.
around North America.
4. Which of these words would be found Racers travel at speeds of
on a dictionary page with guidewords up to 60 mph.
skier and snowy?
swat skewer snowplow
skid skimpy slippery
Name
1. What punctuation belongs after this greeting

in a business letter?
5. What is the main idea of this selection?
Dear Dr. Fracture
A Breath-Taking Sport
2. Could you find a horde at an Olympic Pair skating is one of the most
skiing event? beautiful of the figure skating
disciplines. But it is also the most
3. Which example shows correct pronoun use? dangerous kind of figure skating.
a. May Dan and me watch you skate? This is because the sport involves
the man lifting the woman high in
b. She and Lisa are going to the Olympics.
the air, throwing her in spinning
c. It was her that won the competition. jumps, and swinging her around so
that her head almost touches the
4. Which are examples of descriptive writing?
ground in the daring “death spiral.”
letter telling about all the sights from a ski lift The moves take great strength,
encyclopedia entry about sled dogs courage, and a whole lot of practice.
poster telling what a missing sled dog looks like
tall tale about extreme winter weather

Name
1. Circle the prefix meaning away from.

mistake parallel detract 5. Edit the capitalization, punctuation,
prologue anterior telegraph spelling, and grammar.
Each year thousands of People
2. Describe the difference between fiction
enjoys taking a polar bear swim
and nonfiction.
well maybe they don’t actually
________________________________________
enjoy it but they sere like
________________________________________ Bragging about it once they’ve
done it! a polar bear swim is an
3. Which example shows correct usage?
event where people jumps into
a. You look well after your polar bear swim.
freezing cold bodies of water in
b. It’s well that you didn’t freeze your toes off!
the winter Lakes Rivers or
c. Didn’t I do a good job on the snow fort?
Oceans they stay in the water
4. Add ed, ing, or ness to each word to make a new for only a few seconds polar
word. Spell the new word correctly. bear swims are a very popular
horrify monkey worry new years day activity.
silly lonely ice
Name
Read
1. What would be the cause of someone having a ski lift ticket taken away?
2. What color and shape symbols are found on hills suitable for moderate ability skiers?
3. What do rules ask skiers NOT to do?
4. Make an inference about what time the ski hill closes.
5. Draw a conclusion about what a sitzmark is and how one is formed.
Write
Collect words, ideas, and phrases for a description of a day on a ski hill.
Gather your ideas in the following categories:

MONDAY WEEK 10 _____________________________________ LANGUAGE PRACTICE
Name
1. What is the meaning of the word desiccated?

The desert travelers came across a small dead 5. Write a brief summary of this passage.
animal so desiccated by the heat of the sun
The Sahara Desert is one of the
and lack of water that only hardened skin and
world’s largest and driest deserts.
bones remained.
It may surprise people to learn that
this was not always so. Nine
2. Correct the misspelled words. thousand-year old cave paintings
found in the heart of the Sahara show
sissors Cristmas sqeeze
people herding in an area of lush
neumonia jiant cammel swamps, fields, and rivers.
3. Write the past perfect tense of the verb drink.
_________________________________________
4. What is the audience of the following selection?
_________________________________________
TUESDAY WEEK 10 ____________________________________LANGUAGE PRACTICE

Name
1. Add correct punctuation and capitalization.

hey everybody shouted the guide look at 5. Make an inference about the meaning
this 700-foot high sand dune. of the name El Desierto Pintado.
The Painted Desert
2. Circle the error in this sentence.
I. Location, size
Roadrunners are so fast that it can catch A. 200-mile long plateau
a moving rattlesnake. B. North-central Arizona
C. Along Little Colorado River
3. Which word completes the analogy?
II. History
humid : sultry as __________________ : avarice A. Discovered by Spanish explorers
a. glee c. greed B. Named El Desierto Pintado
III. Features
b. scruple d. parched
A. Formations – buttes, mesas,
4. Edit the sentence for grammar errors. pinnacles
B. Colors –
A roadrunner he is a desert bird whom
1. Yellows, reds, blues
actually belongs to the cuckoo family.
You should of seen that roadrunner 2. Cause – iron oxides, limonite
move at 17 miles per hour! 3. Most brilliant at sunrise, sunset
WEDNESDAY WEEK 10 _____________________________LANGUAGE PRACTICE
Name
1. Underline the simple subject.

Circle the simple predicate. 5. Evaluate the passage. How successful
Rainfall in the Atacama Desert was the author at accomplishing
measures about three-hundredths the purpose?
of an inch per year. So you want to climb a sand dune? It
won’t be easy—because sand just
2. Write an antonym for each word. doesn’t stay put. Every time you take
torrid parched secluded a step upwards, your feet will sink
into the sand. You will stumble
3. Add the endings. Spell each new forward and slide backward. It is very
word correctly. hard to make progress. Climbing on
regret + ed = true + ly = sand takes a lot of time and energy.
Besides the sinking and sliding
nap + ing = red + ish =
difficulties, the sand may be very hot.
4. What literary techniques are used in It can burn your feet and hands, so
this sentence? be careful!
Like a thousand angry cats, the blowing
sand scratches at my eyes and slices
through my sleeves.
THURSDAY WEEK 10 ________________________________LANGUAGE PRACTICE

Name
1. Write and define a homonym for each:

duel flea hail 5. Write a good headline for the story.
2. Add apostrophes where they belong. Travelers on a desert caravan
reported a strange site last weekend.
one deserts cold temperatures
A group of 30 tourists riding across a
two camels humps portion of the Sahara Desert stopped
three lizards tails for a rest at a small oasis. According
to the statements of all members of
3. Rewrite the sentence to clarify the meaning. the party, the water of the oasis was
Carla rode on a camel wearing a red scarf glowing and emitting music. A team
to keep the sand out of her eyes. of researchers has been sent to
examine and verify the phenomenon.
4. Number these words to show
alphabetical order.
____ Caesar ____ camouflage
____ cactus ____ Cairo
____ cahoots ____ cache

FRIDAY WEEK 10 _______________________________________LANGUAGE PRACTICE
Name
Read
1. What is the theme of the passage?
2. What is the point of view?
3. What is the setting?
4. What event in the story is the climax?
5. Circle an example of sensory appeal.
6. What clue does the title give you about the story?
Whispers in the Desert

“Strange things can happen in the desert.” These are the words the twins heard before they left
for a two-week expedition. They gave little thought to the old woman’s words until now. A wild
sandstorm had surrounded the group quickly. The fierce winds, stinging sand, and blackening
skies sent them to huddle beside the camels. By the time the sand cleared, it was dark. Tom and
Tim dug themselves out and found they were alone. Their guide and the other travelers were
nowhere in sight. All they could see for miles in each direction was empty sand. They had no food,
little water, and no idea what to do.
For what seemed like hours, they sat together in fear, consoled only by the steady breathing of
the sleeping camel. Suddenly a little crooked spiral of sand scuttled past, whistling and
whispering: “Trust the camel.” Again, the whirlwind circled. “Trust the camel,” a voice repeated.
Tom and Tim looked at each other in wonder.
Strange as the voice in the wind seemed, its message made sense. Tom and Tim scrambled up
onto the camel and prodded him awake. Slowly, the sluggish camel struggled to its feet. After some
hesitation, he began to move. Trudging through the sand following some unknown inner compass,
he moved confidently toward some destination that Tom and Tim did not understand. They just
kept remembering the whisper: “Trust the camel.” When, at last, the shapes of other camels and
people appeared on the horizon, the twins breathed the biggest relieved sigh of their lives.
Write
Write an ode to a cactus. Use the beginning given here,or
create a new beginning. Here are some words and phrases
to help you get started.
barbs tender, moist flesh
spikes succulent insides
bristles sweetness beneath the spines
prickle like a huge coat rack
cantankerous a sturdy silhouette against desert sky
irksome soft-hearted or rough and rude?
Name
1. Which sentence shows correct usage?

a. Tony Hawk is the skate boarder whom has 5. What is the setting in this passage?
won many X-Games championships. When the math teacher saw that his
b. Whoever wants to learn about the sport of eighth grade students were losing
skateboarding, ask Tony. interest in the geometry lesson, he put
away the textbooks. “Here’s a problem
2. Place a hyphen where it belongs in the sentence. for you,” he said. “Skateboarder Jan
I really did beat Tony Hawk in a skateboarding does 12 shuvits in a row and
competition not that I could ever convince you skateboarder Stan does 3 cabs. What
is the difference in the number of
of that.
degrees the two have turned?”
3. Make four compound words.
sand__________ ___________print
__________back look___________
4. Moe goes to the sale with $80. Can he afford a

skateboard that had a regular price of $165?
TUESDAY WEEK 11____________________________________ LANGUAGE PRACTICE

Name
1. Where might a skateboarder find a contusion?

on a leash in the refrigerator 5. Read the encyclopedia entry. Tell one
on a pizza on his elbow way in which wakeboarding is similar
in his bank account under a rock to skateboarding and one way it
is different.
2. Circle the correct word.
Wakeboarding is a waterbased
Gina plans to become a professional
version of skateboarding. The board
skateboarder when she finishes
is narrower than a skateboard and,
(collage, college).
unlike the skateboard, has mountings
3. Which example contains an essential clause? that hold the feet. A rider is towed
behind a boat, riding sideways on the
a. We interviewed the skater that was
board. Wakeboarders do tricks that
wearing the orange hat.
are similar to skateboard tricks. They
b. The skateboard, which was lost yesterday, jump off or over obstacles and leap,
was worth $500. twist, and spin in the air. The sport is
steadily increasing in popularity.
4. Write two phrases about skateboard
tricks that will create a visual image.

Name

The new skateboard idea did not work well, 5. What is the main idea of this passage?
so the designers had to go back to square one.
All skateboards have essentially the
2. Identify the direct object in the sentence. same components. The platform on
which the boarder stands (the deck)
I’d give up my whole allowance to ride
is made of wood, fiberglass, or plastic.
your skateboard for an hour.
The board has a tip (front) and a tail
a. allowance b. skateboard c.hour (back). The sides are called rails. A
set of trucks (axles) is attached to the
3. Correct the spelling of each word.
bottom, one near the front and one
acrabatic thurough dynomite near the back. Two sets of wheels are
eleet trackshun simaltanously mounted to each truck.
4. Which examples are similes?

Joe’s a streak of lightning on that board.
Riding a skateboard is as thrilling as Christmas.
The skateboarders look like shooting fireworks.

Name
1. Add correct punctuation.

Though there are many theories on 5. Identify the bias in the selection.
the subject no one is certain about the Then write a conclusion for the essay.
origins of skateboarding
City Council Members, open your
minds and lengthen your sights.
2. Circle the indirect object.
Your hasty dismissal of the proposed
Susie’s dad gave her wakeboard
skateboard park says, “We’re not
lessons for her birthday.
listening” to the voters who gave you
your jobs.
3. Which word does not belong?
Town surveys show that 80 percent
defiance bedlam
of voters want boarders of all ages to
chaos turbulence
have a safe, confined place to practice
4. Lisa is at the library. She wants to find a book their sport. A designated skating area
that will describe different extreme sports. will keep skateboarders off city
Which kind of search should she do in the streets and sidewalks, set rules and
library catalog? limits, and encourage a healthy
activity for the city’s youth.
subject title author
Name
Skateboard Mishaps, Wipeouts, and Narrow Escapes

Road Rash: This is the name for the scrapes, cuts, scratches,
Read and other abrasions that result from falls. You are most likely
1. What is the purpose of to get road rash on your arms, elbows, knees, and back.
this selection?
Snakebite: A snakebite is the injury you get when the
2. What is the intended skateboard rolls into your ankle. This can be mild or serious,
audience? depending on how hard the board hits you.
3. Which is probably the most
Credit Card: This one hurts. When the skateboard flips the
common (frequent) kind of
wrong way and smacks you on your bottom, you have been
skateboard injury?
credit carded.
4. What part of the body is
injured by a snakebite? Runout: If you get started on a trick, and you know you’re
going to fail, sometimes you can run out of the trick and
5. Is a runout a mishap, escape the fall. If you are going very fast, you might not be
a wipeout, or a
able to run out of it.
narrow escape?
Battle Roll: This maneuver will reduce injuries to your
shoulder when you fall. If you are thrown forward, instead of
taking the impact on the shoulder entirely, tuck and roll right
back up onto your feet.
Write
A couplet is a set of two lines that rhyme.
1. Finish each of these couplets.
What a thrill to watch her go!
What a sight when head meets snow!
___________________________________
__________________________________
The skater jumps, the skater spins,

2. Write two more couplets
about skateboarding,
____________________________________
in-line skating,
snowboarding,
wakeboarding, surfboarding,
or any other sport or activity.
“Sure, it’s safe!” claimed boarder Peg He left the ground; he caught some air!
______________________________________ ____________________________________

Name
1. Circle the silent letters.

rhubarb wrinkle hymn 5. Draw a conclusion about how Susan is
wedge muscle heiress feeling about her upcoming jump.
Susan recently started taking
2. Which sentences show correct usage?
skydiving lessons. She has been
a. She and he are expert parachutists. reading, studying, and watching
b. Did Matt and her find parachutes? videos to prepare for her first jump.
c. Who took the picture of the girls and I? Today at school, her friend Dana
d. Lessons cost my parents and me $100. notices that Susan is very distracted
and fidgety. Dana is surprised to see
3. Circle suffixes that mean one who. that Susan has become a nail-biter all
adulthood jumper parachutist of a sudden. She is not so surprised,
then, to learn that Susan will do her
sailor resident piracy
first jump this afternoon.
4. Which piece of writing would be in
narrative mode?
step-by-step account of your first sky dive
essay about the thrills of hot air ballooning
poster advertising hang gliding lessons

Name
1. Add correct capitalization and punctuation to

this title of a magazine article.
the youngest balloonist crosses
the continent
2. Underline the prepositional phrase(s).

Circle the preposition(s).
On November 1–12, 2003, Jay Stokes 5. Edit the passage for punctuation,
made 534 jumps with a parachute. capitalization, spelling, and grammar.
High Wire Walkers entertained Circis
crowds for years sometimes the best
3. What is the denotation of tourniquet?
performers would walk, without a net
below the wire. now many has taken
4. Which is the best key word to use in an the Act outside the Circis tent. Jay
encyclopedia search on the topic of the cochrane holds the World record for
history of hot air ballooning? the hiest and longest high wire act he
history sports crosst the qutang gorge in china, 1350
hot air ballooning Feet above the yangtze river.
WEDNESDAY WEEK 12 ____________________________ LANGUAGE PRACTICE
Name
1. Write the plural form of each of these.

scissors valley bridesmaid 5. Circle two opinions in the passage.
country horsefly great-aunt Underline one fact.
More than 20 years ago, skydivers
2. Jay Cochrane is an expert began jumping with a surfboard.
high-wire performer. They did this because they discovered
Is he a neophyte in his sport? they could get more time in the air if
they were lying on a flat surface.
3. What does the ellipsis in this sentence Many new tricks have evolved over
tell the reader? the years as sky surfers have pushed
The instructor had told her, “You the limits of their sport. A sky surfer
should have known . . . I’ve told you can travel at speeds of up to 120 mph.
not to practice alone.” It is the most thrilling of all variations
of skydiving, and it is only attempted
4. What stereotype is reflected in this passage? by the most daring of people. Of
course, only expert skydivers should
Anyone with any sense would not choose to
try this sport.
bungee jump. I know for sure that all bungee
jumpers have a death wish. Otherwise, they
would never try the sport.

Name
1. Write the past tense of each verb.

plunge take
surf use
5. Write a topic sentence for the article.
fly hurry
am bring _________________________________
_________________________________
2. Maxie’s mom stopped her from taking skydiving
lessons. Did this stymie or stump Maxie’s _________________________________
progress at learning the sport?
Eleven-year old Victoria Van Meter
3. Add -ance or -ence to each word. crossed the North American continent.
She did all of the flying and
Spell the new word correctly.
instrument reading during the flight
attend insure rely from Maine to California. The 4,640
occur accept absent kilometer flight lasted three days.
Victoria is several years younger than
4. Which reference source would you use to find the the previous person holding the record
current population of Portugal? of the youngest female to fly alone
dictionary almanac thesaurus across the continent.

Name
The Amazing Stretching Mr. McCoy

Read Stretch McCoy is the greatest bungee jumper alive.
1. What genre (type) He has defied death thousands of times. People say
of writing is this? that his legs are actually rubber bands. They are so
stretchy that he doesn’t need the usual bungee cord.
2. What feat is described
Once, he leapt from the top of Mr. Everest, dropping
after the bungee jump
all the way to the base of the mountain where he
with a barbeque grill?
scooped up a can of snow, mixed it with cola, and
3. Circle two examples guzzled it down before being snapped back up to the
of hyperbole. mountain top. Another time, Stretch jumped from a
4. Draw a line under bridge in the Amazon. He hurtled straight down into
a simile. the mouth of a crocodile. He bounced up and down
5. Draw a box around five times, in and out of the croc’s jaws. On the last
three examples of trip down, he wrestled the crocodile in a move as swift
as a sneeze and left it exhausted on the riverbank.
active verbs.
Stretch has been known to bungee jump while
hula hooping, while barbequing a steak, and while
playing a piano. It’s amazing how he can carry that
hoop, or grill, or piano right along with him. You can
guess how strong he is. He is so strong that . . . well
now, that’s another story, isn’t it?
Write
Give your personal response to the
passage above. Your response might
answer questions such as these:
• What did you like best?
• What techniques did the
author use that made the
writing effective?
• What surprised (or shocked, or
disappointed, or amused) you?
• What do you think of the ending?
• What words or phrases
were interesting?
• What would you like to say
to the author?
• What do you think about
the character?
Name
1. What kind of sentence?

The number of bacteria in each quart of 5. Make a prediction about something
backyard soil is 30 times the world’s population. related to the duke’s party.
interrogative imperative declarative It rained for three weeks. The duke
was so worried that the rain would
2. Add correct capitalization and punctuation
spoil his garden party. When the rain
to the sentence.
stopped the morning of the event, he
why are you digging holes in your back was greatly relieved. There was
yard george asked his neighbor enough sun so that the blades of
grass were no longer wet. Servants
3. The main meaning or idea of a written hauled eight heavy tables and 40
selection is its chairs, and put them out on the lawn.
mood setting bias theme When all the dishes were set out, they
went inside to spend the last few
4. Circle the homonyms that hours preparing food.
were used incorrectly.

Name
1. Circle the correct spelling for each word.

terrane terriane terrain terraine 5. About how long are the hedges on the
disgise disgeyse disguies disguise south side of the yard? (1 cm = 10 ft.)
2. Which verb is intransitive?

The yard looked too big to mow
in one day.
3. Why would these be classified together?

vitality revival vibrant
vitamin viable vivacious
4. Cross out unnecessary words in the sentence.

I think that it is never not a good
idea to mow the lawn in bare feet,
in my opinion.

Name
1. Which examples show correct noun-verb

agreement?
5. Number the poem’s lines to put them in
a. Several brands of squirrel-proof birdseed correct sequence.
is on the market.
_____ This thing isn’t a bird!
b. Pepper coating on the seeds deter squirrels.
_____ A birdwatcher, Bertie McBain
c. Squirrels don’t like the heat of the pepper.
_____ It’s a miniature flying plane!”
2. What is the purpose of the written selection in 5?
_____ He exclaimed, “Oh my word!
3. Which pairs of words are synonyms?
_____ Tracked a bird from Ohio
upbraid – rebuke query – emulate
to Maine
callow – mature brusque – abrupt

foreign height deceive shriek

Name
1. Put these words in alphabetical order.

___ lawn ___ lantern ___ lawless
5. Revise the sentences for clarity.
___ laryngitis ___ land ___ landscape
a. While eating my lunch, a squirrel
2. Correct the sentences. hopped up on the railing and
chattered at me.
Hardly no one has squirrels in their garden.
b. We were surprised after the
No chipmunks live there neither.
barbeque by the squirrels.
3. Could brawn be an advantageous c. A storm came up suddenly
characteristic for a landscaper? mowing the lawn.
d. When I came out the back door,
4. Circle any misspelled words. Give the
I saw a chipmunk eating something
correct spelling.
out of the orange girl’s backpack.
The word squirel comes from two Greke
words which mean large butshy trail.
Squirrells, like other rodants, have teeth
which are purfect for nawing and
grinding seeds or nuts.
Name
Read
1. Read the descriptions of the
folks who attended the duke’s Count Pompous is
backyard garden party. strutting about the
great yard with a
2. Circle a phrase in each
frilly hat and silver-
example that represents an Lady Columbine
toed, high-heeled
effective use of words. brashly shows off her
boots. He will
beauty and grace. She
3. Give a brief response to probably keep his
just knows that you’re
each character, telling why nose in the air the
gazing at her, and have
you would or would not want entire evening.
eyes for no one else. But
to meet the person.
if you are not a young,
4. Draw a picture of your handsome, and wealthy
favorite character. Judge d’ Éclair is a prince, she won’t waste
terribly important man. her time on you.
Little Prince Mischief is so small He hovers close to the
that the guests hardly notice him. plentiful food displays
He lurks under tables and behind at these lavish parties. Look quickly! There’s
curtains, eavesdropping and spying. Oh, how he loves to Dowager La-de-da! How
Occasionally, he slips a gooey cream eat! If you stop to chat honored you should be to
puff inside a lady’s shawl or tucks a with him, do bring come into the presence
crudité into a tall hairdo. along a pastry or two. of this rich grand dame.
Be sure you say nothing
rowdy or risqué in her
Countess Dainty dances blithely across the lawn. presence. She has no time
She needs no partner. I swear she floats just above for foolishness.
the surface with her light step. Everything about her
seems silky soft, sweet, and sincere. Is she for real?
Write
Think of a character that would make an
interesting addition to the backyard party.
(It can be someone you know, someone
you don’t know, or even a fictitious
character.) Write a short character sketch
to add to the group of sketches above.
Describe your character in such a way that
other people would like to meet him or her.

Name
1. What literary device is used?

Sweet, slow drops of purple juice dripped from 5. Write an antonym for each of these
the corners of his mouth and flowed in little comments made about a buffet dinner.
blueberry rivers down to his chin.
alliteration consonance imagery
2. Write the plural form of each noun.
tortilla sundae soufflé cheese
3. Which shows correct usage?
a. Let me alone to eat my dessert.
b. Will you leave me do this by myself?
c. Don’t you wish they’d let us alone?
4. What is the main idea
of the advertisement?

Name
1. Put the correct punctuation in the blank.

The average person will eat about 5. Summarize this passage.
60,000 pounds of food in a lifetime____
Patrick Cunnade of England set a
that’s the weight of 30 school buses.
world record for doughnut-eating
when he ate twenty 4-ounce
2. What is the meaning of the root of these words:
doughnuts in six minutes. Others
graduate and gradual?
have eaten record-winning amounts
3. Count the common and proper nouns. of this delicious pastry, too. An
American ate forty-five 51⁄2 -ounce
A Frenchman named Michel Lotito has perhaps
doughnuts in 171⁄2 minutes, and a
the strangest diet in the world. He eats two
fellow countryman ate twenty-two
pounds of metal a day.
11⁄2 -ounce doughnuts in 11⁄2 minutes.
common _________ proper _________
4. Would the word nourish be found on a dictionary

page with the guide words notch and nougat?
yes no
Name
1. Add the ending to each word.

Spell the new word correctly.
5. Follow the directions.
pay + able = carry + ing =
a. Get a sheet of 81 ⁄ 2 x 11” paper.
pray + ed = fancy + ful =
b. Draw a cone in the bottom third
2. Name the underlined clause. of the paper.
That Joe could eat 20 doughnuts in a minute
c. Draw and color a scoop of
worried his mom.
strawberry ice cream on top
noun clause verb clause adverbial clause of the cone.
3. A recipe for a salami mousse would most likely be d. Draw 2 scoops of orange sherbet
written in which mode? on top of the strawberry scoop.
descriptive expository e. Put 4 more scoops on the cone.
narrative personal-expressive Make every other one chocolate.
4. Write the meaning of the underlined word. f. Draw a cherry on the top
of the cone.
When the main course arrived, it was so
malodorous that the princess gasped, covered
her nose with her napkin, and ran away.

Name
1. What reference source is a listing of

synonyms for many words?
5. Write a beginning for this passage
2. Add apostrophes where needed. Take A Bite of The Largest Cake
Its a good idea to limit the
_________________________________
childrens intake of doughnuts
in the morning, isnt it? _________________________________
This record-breaking cake is a

3. Finish the analogy. birthday cake. It took 20 bakers over
gourmand : eating 700 hours to bake the cake and 14
more hours to put it together. With
as detective : ____________________________
the 34,000 pounds of icing, it weighs
130,000 pounds. So, step right up and
4. Find the phrases in the sentences.
have your share of the 23 million
Eating pizza is a favorite American pastime. calories! By the way, does anyone
Americans eat over 75 acres of pizza in a day. know whose birthday it is?
gerund phrase ____________________________
prepositional phrases ______________________
_________________________________________
Name
Read
1. How many desserts are less
expensive than the custard?
2. How much would a customer pay

for six doughnuts, a mousse, a
piece of pie, and a cappuccino?
3. Which menu item appeals

to you most? Why?
Write
Write a phrase to describe each menu item. Try to include phrases that show appeal to all five senses.
Souffle _________________________________ Eclair ______________________________________
Trifle ___________________________________ Mousse ____________________________________
Fluffs ___________________________________ Custard ____________________________________
Pot-Au-Creme ____________________________ Turnover ___________________________________
Cream Puffs _____________________________ Flan _______________________________________
Pie ____________________________________ Napoleons _________________________________
Cake __________________________________ Cappuccino ________________________________
Name
1. Write a possessive phrase that means

a. the tricks of a clown _______________________ 5. Which examples contain puns?
a. That clown is as cool as an ice
b. the trick of a clown ________________________
cube.
c. the trick of three clowns ___________________ b. It’s high time for the tightrope
walking act to begin.
d. the tricks of three clowns __________________
c. Pass the popcorn and pepper,
please.
d. My stomach is asking for more
when the lion tamer hollered look out pizza.
sam was so startled that he dropped e. Is it true that the lion-tamer’s name is
Ibenin Jaw?
his fire sticks
f. That trapeze artist stretches like
a rubber band.
3. In the sentence above, Sam the fire-eater dropped
g. The contortionist can’t make it to the
his fire sticks. What caused this? show today. She’s all tied up.
4. The trapeze act is just h. I hear the elephant trainer packed
his trunk and left the circus.
about to begin. Is the
act imminent or eminent?

Name

exaggerate diffrence immediatly 5. Write three questions you would ask
managable outrageus irregular the dentist who performed the dental
work on Spike.
2. Circle the independent clause. The largest dental caps ever made
A circus train has several kinds of cars, were for a patient named Spike (an
some specially designed to hold animals. Asian elephant). The 19-inch long
steel caps were designed to repair
3. What is the connotation of lavish? Spike’s cracked tusks. The surgery
to repair the tusks took 31 ⁄ 2 hours.
_________________________________________
4. Which information would not be found

in an encyclopedia?
facts about elephants
the history of circuses
climate in Asia
today’s weather in Africa

Name
1. Circle each prefix. Write the meaning.

a. precaution ___________________________ 5. Write a short summary of the passage.
b. forewarned __________________________ Visitors to the 1952 Bertram Mills
c. contradict ____________________________ Circus in London saw an amazing and
unique performance. It was during
2. Add capital letters where necessary. this circus tour that Randy Horn (UK)
The world’s largest animal orchestra is became the first person to throw six
the thai elephant orchestra which gives cups and saucers with his feet, catch
concerts in lampang, thailand. founders them on his head, and add a teaspoon
of sugar—all while riding a unicycle.
of the orchestra organized the concerts to
benefit conservation of asian elephants.
3. Write the correct form of the adjective noisy.

Lulabelle is the ______________________________
of the three elephants.
4. Stanley is writing a get-well card. What is the

audience for this kind of writing?
__________________________________________

Name
1. Make necessary corrections in language usage.

That there escape artist, she got out of the 5. Edit the passage for capitalization,
handcuffs too quickly. Someone should of punctuation, and grammar.
made the locks more complicated. The ringling brothers-Barnum &
bailey circus depends on its circus
2. What part of a book is an alphabetical listing of trains to move performers, animals,
terms used in the book, along with the definitions? and equipment. The Circus travel
about 16,000 miles each year and
3. Circle the words that are spelled correctly. moving the circus is a major ordeal.
brutal candle classical Each Train has a trainmaster whose
job it is to keep the trains running
mobel shrivle legel well and operating on schedule.
The Trains can be 50–60 cars long:
4. One word in the sentence has meanings there are cars for performers staff
other than the one used. Give another meaning. maintenance crews technicians and
Look at the huge collar on the clown costume! animals after the train reaches its
destination it takes 16 hours to
__________________________________________ unload the Trains and set up
for the shows.
__________________________________________
Name
Read
1. How long after the first circus in America did the Greatest Show on Earth begin?
2. How many years passed between the first circus parade and the discontinuation of the
Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Bailey parades?
3. Jumbo the Elephant was killed by a freight train three years after she came to New York City.
What year was that?
4. How many years ago was cotton candy invented?
5. Give the names of two famous animal circus performers.
Write
Choose a job in a circus that you would like to try. (This can be an imaginary situation.) Write a
business letter to a fictitious circus applying for a job. In the letter, present a good argument as to
why you are qualified for the job. Create an address for the letter.
Possible jobs:
ringmaster
elephant trainer
clown
lion tamer
trapeze artist
high wire performer
acrobat
trainmaster
animal feeder
fire-eater
costume designer

Name
1. The point in a story plot where the conflict is

solved is the
5. What is the main idea of the notice?
climax mood
NOTICE:
resolution exposition
To All Gym Members
2. Circle the subject of the sentence.
Due to the increased costs
Did you know that humans spend
of utilities, we can no longer
a third of their lives sleeping?
supply towels free of charge.
3. Add correct punctuation and capitalization
New Fees For Towels
to this opening and closing of a business letter to
a dentist: One-Day Use - $1
dear dr drill
Week Use - $5
yours truly
Unlimited Use - $45/yr
4. Give a synonym and an antonym for
the word arduous.
synonym _________________________________
antonym _________________________________

Name
1. Use your dictionary to help answer the question:

Should you hire a wraith to be your 5. Add a title and a topic sentence to
personal trainer at the gym?
the article.
________________________________
2. Tell the part of speech for each bold
word in the sentence. ________________________________
Strangely enough, the strongest This amazing feat took place in Los
muscle in the human body is Angeles in 1998. The Chinese man
the tongue. lifted a column of bricks that was
suspended from a chain attached to
3. What is the meaning of impeccable? his ear. The bricks weighed 110
pounds, making Li Jian Hua the new
a. indelible c. immature
record-holder in this strange sport.
b. hostile d. inedible

mosquito echoe canoe altoe
tornadoe banjo cello oleo
Name
1. Put commas in the correct places.

On September 30 2001 a team of body 5. Number the sentences to arrange them
builders in Kenosha Wisconsin pulled a in a sensible sequence.
36620-pound truck over three miles
_____ Then he put the car on his head.
setting a world record.
He balanced it for 33 seconds to
set a record.
2. Are there any linking verbs in the sentence?
_____ He set another record in 2001.
They may look easy when I do them, but
one-arm pushups are really hard. _____ In 1999, John Evans took the
engine out of a mini car.
3. What is the meaning of the sentence? _____ This time, John stacked 96
Those pushups you did don’t milk crates on his head and
amount to a hill of beans. balanced them.
_____ This reduced the car’s weight
4. An advertisement for a new brand
to 352 pounds.
of barbells is an example of
expository writing persuasive writing
narrative writing imaginative writing

Name
1. Write a homonym for each word.

lone miner naval 5. Edit this selection for capitalization,
packed taught side punctuation, and usage.
2. Does the pronoun in this sentence agree some people such as Fuatai Solo
with its antecedent? climbs coconut trees for fun
Isn’t she the weightlifter that set a when he broke the tree climbing
new world record? record in Sukuna park fiji fuatai
was so excited that he climbed
3. In which section of the Dewey Decimal system the tree a second time this time
will you find biographies? as he climbed he held the prize
money in their teeth
_________________________________________
4. Write the present tense of each verb.
hid ________________ chose________________
lay ________________ rung _________________
threw ______________ rose _________________

Name
Read
1. Who sponsored the chin-
up competition?
2. Make an inference about
why Uma Glass was able
to beat Susie Fisher.
3. At what point in the race
did Uma pass Susie?
4. What interrupted Lester
during his event?
5. How long was the Lester M. Quivver was well on
his way to a win in the City
distance of Uma’s race?
Gym Chin-Up Competition. He
6. Compare the information had done 57 repetitions when
in the two captions and he was interrupted and lost his
their pictures. Draw a rhythm. He took third place.
conclusion about a
similarity in the
two situations.
There was a close finish in the

10-K benefit run. In second place
until the last 29 seconds of the
race, Uma Glass overtook Susie
Fisher and won by 0.8 seconds.
Write
Write the missing captions. Use your imagination to decide what is happening, then write an
explanation to inform the readers.
Name
1. Edit the sentence for correct punctuation.

The smallest muscles length, is 5. Which sentences contain metaphors?
five hundredths, of an inch long. a. My toaster plays a game of hide-
and-seek with my toast.
2. Classify the sentence.
b. Her eyes were purple velvet pools.
Motor neurons are the longest cells in
c. Muscleman Matt mashes melons
the human body it’s amazing to learn that
they can be over four feet long.
many Mondays.
a fragment run-on complete d. Life is a gift waiting to be opened.

e. The doctor’s words were unsolvable
3. Ninety-nine percent of J.J.’s body is covered puzzles.
with tattoos. Would it be accurate to say that
f. Your desk is a small version of the
his tattoos are ubiquitous?
Bermuda Triangle; things go into it
4. Each year for the last ten years, Julianna has and are never seen again.
added one more tattoo to her body than in the
previous year. In 1998, she got seven new tattoos.
Predict the number she’ll add in 2006.

Name
1. Circle the interrogative pronouns.

who all most 5. Play this game with compound words.
whom what this In each box, write a word that finishes
which several their a compound for the previous word
and begins a compound for the word
2. Rewrite the sentence with an active verb. to follow.
Al’s leg bone was cracked by the fall.
A. board way
3. Circle two words that could serve as guide words
on a dictionary page for the word gallbladder. B. show stairs
gallery — gait gag — galavant
C. over ache
galleon — gale gaff — gambit
D. foot game
4. Write the contractions.
should + have = __________________________ E. blue bleed
they + are = ______________________________
F. green boat
will + not = ______________________________
it + would = ______________________________
Name
1. Capitalize this book title correctly.

how i endured 970 surgeries 5. Identify the rhyming pattern in the
and lived to tell about them poem. (Use letters such as a, b, c, d,
etc. to describe the pattern.)
2. What can you infer about the person who
wrote the book in problem 1?
3. Which is not an antonym for churlish?

sullen amiable
irascible grumpy
4. Circle the participial phrase. Draw a box

around the preposition.
A doctor measuring sneezes found mine
to be faster than 100 miles per hour.

Name
1. Correct the usage mistake.

Several scientists says that the femur is 5. Revise the passage so that it flows
the longest bone in the human body. more smoothly, eliminates unnecessary
words, is grammatically correct, and
2. Add correct capitalization and punctuation. has a clear meaning.
at age 111 james henry brett jr A woman from England had a habit
had a successful hip transplant of swallowing things such as hair and
making him the oldest person on she swallowed the largest object
record to endure a surgery this removed from a human stomach on
record. Having swallowed so much
took place on November 7 1960.
hair that doctors removed a five-
3. Finish the analogy: pound hairball from her stomach
setting a record for the largest object
physician : cardiologist
surgically removed from a stomach
as scientist : ____________________________
chemistry physicist science medicine
4. What key word or phrase would be best for

an encyclopedia search on the human body’s
protections against disease?
Name
Write
Revise the essay. Use the editor’s checklist to guide you in improving the selection.
Write your final version on a separate piece of paper.
Read
1. What literary technique serves as the basis for this essay?
2. What does the author do well?
3. What part of the essay is most catchy, funny, or interesting to you?
4. Circle a phrase or sentence that has a strong sensory appeal.
Headackes
I am glad to be a headake. A headacke never has a problem finding a home.
A toothacke has to wait for a holey moler. Imagine how confining it is to be a
toothacke traped inside a bicuspid! An earacke has to wait for a cold day to
chase down hatless children. Even if an earacke is lucky enuf to catch an ear
he still has cramped quarters to live in.
Neither has as much room as I have. I dont have too put up with either bad
breath or sticky wax. I can find a home in any head that has a problem and
most people have plenty of problems! Would you beleive that I have lived in
some of the best heads in the world. I have known movie stars presetints and
queens and profesional athlaletes personally. I have met more people than
any other acke I kno but the person I wish I hadn’t never met is the person
whom invented aspprin.

Name

Isnt the largest shopping mall 5. What gemstones decorate the dice?
in the world the one in Edmonton In 1988, a jeweler in San Francisco
Alberta Canada created a special Monopoly game. Its
cost is $2,000,000. This is due to the
precious stones and metals used in
Your expensive new high-density TV is the board and pieces. The board is
as tall as a skyscraper. made of 24 carat gold and the dice are
personification alliteration studded with diamonds. The houses
hyperbole an idiom and hotels are made of solid gold
enhanced with rubies and sapphires.
3. Choose the meaning of the underlined word.
Andy has a proclivity for shopping.
large budget deep spite
aversion natural tendency
mouse ox
antelope studio
chief father-in-law

Name
1. A collection of maps bound in a book form is a(n)
__________________________________________ 5. Identify each phrase (I for infinitive;

G for gerund, PR for preposition,
2. Correct the spelling of these words. and PA for participial)
rythm anser casle _____ a. We wandered all day inside

lafter lama ziper the biggest shopping mall.
_____ b. Marathon shopping is his

3. Choose the most precise word favorite sport.
to complete the sentence.
We were privileged to view the world’s _____ c. We heard about three shoppers
most expensive diamond in the world. fighting over a TV.
The gem was so ________ that it took my
_____ d. Getting the best bargain is
breath away.
important to Juan.
a. nice b. exquisite c. fine d. pretty
_____ e. She lives to shop.
4. Circle suffixes meaning pertaining to.
artistic clarify rivalry magical
Name

The chairman of the Chelsea Football 5. Label each statement as fact (F) or
Club paid $29,884 for a slice of turf from
opinion (O).
London’s Wembley Stadium. This was the
(site, sight) of the 1966 world cup final. ____ A. A person should spend no more
than 20 percent of his income
2. Choose the correct word.
on rent.
(Who’s, Whose) shopping bag is this
one with the diamonds? ____ B. The most expensive comic book
sold cost $350,000.
____ C. Abe Lincoln was the writer of the
contageous courteus glamereous
highest-priced letter ever sold.
malishus genious anonymus
____ D. Joe Pytka paid too much to buy the
4. Which literary technique is used here? most valuable edible fungus.
Merchants love the jingling of coins and the ____ E. Antique clocks are more valuable
swish, swish of credit cards swiping through
than new clocks.
their machines.

Name
1. Add correct capitalization.

garth’s gold specialties company made a 5. Are these fiction books organized in
gold mousetrap for dr rodenz’s wife. the correct manner to be found on a
library shelf?
2. Circle the pairs of words that are synonyms.
plethora – scarcity veritable – true
acrimony – bitterness timorous – shy
3. Circle the participle in the sentence.

Exhausted shoppers headed home early.
4. Edit for capitalization.

Who would pay $350 for a yo-yo?
In 1998, Thousands of people paid this
much for the gold fusion yo-yo. it won
the coveted toy craze of the year award.

Name
Read
1. Give a good title to each selection.
2. Compare the two
selections by Shopping Tale #1
describing each A simple shopping trip for a birthday present turned into a colossal
of these features fiasco. Jojo took his little brother Scott along to find the perfect yo-yo for
for #1 and #2: sister Allie. They had a plan to search three different toy stores and
game stores. Oh, they made it to all three, all right. But they didn’t last
• Point of View long in any of those stores.
• Theme At “Toys For Kids,” Scott squealed with delight at the tiny action
figures and the real swimming pool. All the action figures in the entire
• Mood store are now in the bottom of the pool. The brothers were asked to
leave. The manager at “Toys Galore” is still boiling over the missing hair
• Literary Techniques on all the dolls. However, she’s in far better shape than Gretta, the
manager at “Games, Etcetera.” Gretta is still tied to the video game
machine with yo-yo string.
Word spread quickly among stores. No toy store or game store would
admit the two brothers. Now Jojo and Scott are home in their bedroom,
frantically cleaning up some of Jojo’s old yo-yos to wrap up for Allie.
Shopping Tale # 2
Don’t ever take your little brother shopping! Believe me, you will be sorry. A
little brother in a toy store is like a cyclone on the loose, a runaway train, or an
underfed orangutan. No toy, human, animal, or display is safe. He can turn any
establishment into an environmental hazard faster than you can sneeze. You
may think your little brother is a darling, but don’t be fooled. Just walk in the
door of any store, any store at all. Things will break; things will fall; people will
scream; store managers will call their security guards. Be warned! Be warned!
Write Write a summary of both selections.
Name
1. Circle the conjunction.

Lou had the winning score even though 5. What is the main idea of the passage?
he made some mistakes in two dives.
The first Water Polo World
Championships were held in 1973,
2. Cross out the word that does not belong.
when they were added to the World
submerge insensitive championship
Swimming Championships. Since
extract cooperate mistake then, only four countries have won
antitrust descend semicircle the title twice. These countries are
Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, Italy,
3. Which literary technique is used here? and Spain.
Cute Katie can’t kick her chronic hiccups.
A. consonance C. pun
B. assonance D. satire
4. Which examples show incorrect hyphen use?

twenty-three well-groomed over-whelming
foot-print all-knowing U-turn
one-half all-together forget-me-not

Name
1. Does the sentence show correct usage?

Do not say nothing about the diver’s funny cap. 5. At this point in the race, how many
swimmers are ahead of the swimmer
in lane four?
rasberries babboon negligence
eventually exuasted hopeless
3. The missing words look alike but do not

sound alike. What are the words?
At the last _________________ , the judges
made a ___________________ adjustment

(tiny)
in the swimmer’s score.
4. Put these words in alphabetical order.

_____ swimmer _____ swam _____ sword
_____ sweetheart _____ swatch _____ swallow

Name

lifeguard : ___________ :: attorney : defend 5. Which selections would be examples
_____________________________________ of imaginative writing?
a. a list of winners in diving events

2. Circle the transitive verb(s). Draw a box
around the intransitive verb(s). b. a tall tale about a swimmer with the
George did so well that the judges ability to hold her breath for several
hours at a time
gave him the highest marks for his dives.
He wore the medal proudly. c. a diary entry describing a
swimmer’s day
3. Greg Louganis (US) won five world titles in diving
d. an essay explaining how to
and four Olympic gold medals. Is it logical to
do the butterfly stroke
infer that Greg won almost every diving
competition in which he participated?
4. Change this sentence into a sentence

with a direct quotation.
After practicing for their ocean swim
competition, Joe asked Max if he had
ever heard a whale wail.

Name
1. What is the meaning of the underlined word?

After a sloppy performance, Cynthia’s coach 5. Could the information in the passage
harangued her for an hour, recounting all lead to the conclusion that the
the mistakes made in her dives. swimmer covered an average of
2. Correct any misspelled words. about 70 miles a day?
A Long Swim
leiutenant ________________________________
The farthest distance anyone has
decieved _________________________________ swum at one time is 2,360 miles. This
record, verified in the Guinness Book
counterfiet ________________________________
of World Records, was set in 2001.
neighborly ________________________________ Martin Strel of Slovenia swam the
length of the Mississippi River from
3. Circle the appositive in the sentence. its source to its mouth in the Gulf of
The Italian Water Polo Team, winner Mexico. This swim took 68 days.
of the 1978 World Championships,
won the title in 1994.
4. What is the topic sentence in question 5?
Name
Read
1. How many of the first ten channel
swimmers were not from the UK?
2. What is the difference between the fastest
and slowest times?
3. During what four-year span did seven out
of the ten make their swims?
4. American Florence Chadwick was the first
woman to swim the channel from England
to France. She did this on September 11,
1951. How much later was this than the
first female channel swimmer (G. Ederle)?
5. Make a generalization about which
months are the best months for swimming
the channel.
6. Make a generalization about the difficulty
of swimming in the two different directions.
7. What is the mood of the diary entry
below?
Write
What would you like to say to the author of
this diary page? Write a few comments to
her. Also, give Jana some suggestions for
revisions in sentence structure and variety.

Name
1. Insert correct punctuation.

We ate appetizers salads and pasta 5. Predict what will happen next.
then fish rice and vegetables and The ground-breaking ceremony for the
finally cake pie and ice cream. new game arcade began quietly. The
ceremony was solemn, with builders,
2. The sentence below is bankers, and investors making nice
a. simple c. compound speeches about the value of the arcade
for the community. Twelve kids had
b. complex d. compound-complex
been invited to break the ground. They
When Val was a little girl, she fell into waited with their shovels. The signal
the goldfish pond at the May Day party. came for the first boy to dig a shovelful
of dirt. He dug; but he could not resist
3. Is benign an antonym for macabre?
tossing the dirt high into the air so that
4. A lady tells a story about events at the World’s it fell on the next kid in line. There were
giggles from the young people and
Largest Maple Syrup Festival. She narrates the
glares from the adults. The next person,
story as an outside observer. The point of view is
Ellie, stepped up and dug a chunk of
a. first person dirt, her eyes twinkling.
b. second person
c. third person

Name
1. Does the pronoun agree with its antecedent?

Each of the clowns at the event enjoy 5. A dictionary lists these meanings for
the cream puffs. a word. What is the word?
2. What is the meaning of fete? 1. A social gathering for pleasure
Someone held a lavish fete at the country club. or amusement n.
2. A group of persons gathered
3. Correct any misspelled words.
together for an activity n.
chaos frawd pauper 3. A political group n.
eloquint beerd lepard 4. To celebrate v.
4. Edit the punctuation and capitalization.

cuban dancers thrilled the Spectators at
the World’s largest dance festival over
4000 dancers entertained for ten days
at the festival in canta catarina brazil
Name
1. Add correct capitalization.

my favorite days of the year are the 5. What is the main idea of the passage?
fourth of july, halloween, valentine’s day,
any saturday, and any day in july. “Did your snail win the race at the
Snail Festival?” Henry asked Amy.
2. Circle the correct word for the sentence. “Oh!” answered Amy, “It was a
I’m (confident, confidant) that Julianna’s disaster!” She continued, “Sammy
party will be a smashing success. practiced that race 100 times, but . . .”
“But, what?” Henry prodded.
3. What is the case of the underlined word, Reluctantly, Amy told the story.
nominative or objective? “When the bell rang, he turned and
Right after the fireworks, the orchestra crawled in every direction but the
started playing classical music. right one.” She finished, “Finally, he
headed toward the center of the ring.
4. What is the meaning of this sentence? But by then, the race was over.”
You must try eating a whole garlic at the World
Garlic Festival. So you don’t like garlic?—just
bite the bullet and eat it!

Name
1. Everyone praised the dancers’ performance.

Were they complemented or complimented?
5. What was unusual about Chef Ibbet’s
2. Write the plural of each noun. behavior?
radio ______________________________
donkey _____________________________
buzz _______________________________
charity ______________________________
3. Circle the misplaced modifier.

On the morning of the Frog Legs Festival,
Erin went into her backyard and found
an escaped frog still in her pajamas.
4. Write a memorable ending for a tale about a

monkey buffet prepared for 2,000 monkeys.

Name
The Chinese New Year is one of the most

spectacular and colorful of the world’s
Read celebrations. The festival begins on the first
day of the Chinese calendar and lasts for 15
1. What does the Chinese Dragon symbolize?
days. This occurs near the beginning of
2. How long does the Chinese New Year last? February. The celebrations of the Chinese
New Year include parades with colorful
3. What is the meaning of the word revered
costumes, banners, and wonderful, long
in the last sentence?
dragons.
4. What does the passage say that would
The Chinese Dragon is called Gum Loong,
help you answer this question: Is the or Golden Dragon. He is a symbol of
Chinese Dragon a creature that actually great power. The dragon comes at the end
existed in history? of the parade to wish everyone good
5. Make an inference about what the Chinese luck, peace, and prosperity. The dragons
proverb in the last sentence means. are highly-respected, mythical creatures
in Chinese culture. The dragon is so
revered that the Chinese have a proverb:
I hope the child will become a dragon.
Write
Examine the paper dragon illustration. Think about how you would make
a dragon similar to this one. Write step-by-step instructions that explain to
someone how to make a paper dragon.
Name
1. What is the meaning of the root that these words

have in common?
5. Which reason is most convincing or
vitality revival vibrant viable interesting to you? Tell why.
2. Which sentence has a predicate adjective? Some people are mesmerized by the
lions; a force seems to draw them
a. Doesn’t that gorilla seem sick?
ever closer to the lion cage. As for me,
b. Which monkey is a trickster? I stay far away. Here are my reasons
to keep your distance.
1. A lion can’t be trusted.
absence importence
2. The teeth are huge.
sequence evidance 3. A human arm or fingers may
allowence insurence look like a snack to a lion.
4. A lion has a powerful swipe.
4. Karin is writing a moment-by-moment report of His paws might sneak through
events at the World Camel Wrestling Festival. the bars of the cage.
This kind of writing is 5. A lion’s roar can scare you
imaginative expository to death.
persuasive narrative 6. Lions have bad breath.
descriptive personal-expressive

Name
1. Are the pronouns in this sentence used correctly?

Do you think that parrot will talk to you and I? 5. Write a short paragraph that tells
about the noisiest animal in your
2. Patsy says her pet pig is docile. What does this experience.
word mean? Many animals make noise. Birds
chirp and screech, cats snarl, dogs
3. Insert commas in the correct places. growl, pigs squeal, and squirrels
Popeye the oldest snake on record chatter. The world’s noisiest land
animal makes sounds far more
died in Philadelphia Pennsylvania on ear-shattering than these. It’s a
April 15 1977 at the age of 40 years howl that can be heard up to three
miles away. Found in Central and
3 months and 14 days. South America, this noisy animal
has an appropriate name—the
4. Number these words to show alphabetical order. howler monkey!
____ gorilla ____ goose
____ gore ____ gosling
____ governor ____ gorgeous

Name

quaint quarel quirkey 5. How well does the author of the
quandary quality quoteint passage communicate the main idea?
How do most gorillas communicate?
2. Which is not a synonym for urbane?
Hang around a zoo and you might get
suave refined some clues. You will see, in person, the
logical genteel short low grunts, loud chest-beating,
and screeching shouts demanding
3. Is the pronoun himself intensive or reflexive?
food. One famous gorilla learned
The pet shop owner himself is responsible another way to communicate. The
for letting the African Grey Parrot escape. story of Koko is well known. A trainer
taught this gorilla to express herself
4. Which examples include similes?
well in sign language. When asked if
a. My dog is as graceful as a bulldozer.
she was an animal or a person, Koko
b. Ear-splitting cries echoed across signed, “Fine animal gorilla.”
the gorilla cage.
c. As fast as a shooting star, the boa
snatched the rat.
d. Bats blackened the sky like a thundercloud.

Name
1. A new book describes the tricks and travels of an

amazing performing poodle whose tricks include
5. Choose one of the following topic
untying knots and playing the piano. This book
sentences for a paragraph. Then write
is probably
three details that you would add to
fiction nonfiction biography the paragraph.
2. What is the meaning of this sentence? A. There are several reasons why a
The lion made a beeline for the poodle. porcupine would make a good pet.
B. Having a porcupine for a pet is a

terrible idea.
what does the parrot think about the
expression a birds eye view Details
4. Circle the direct object. 1. _________________________________

Bats detect obstacles
2. _________________________________
with their ultrasonic
echolocation ability.
3. _________________________________
Name
Read
Follow the directions to make a frog out of a dollar
bill. Start with a crisp dollar bill.
1. Fold the top left corner over to the right edge
of the bill. Crease the fold and unfold.
Repeat with the right corner folded to the left
side. Unfold.
2. Fold the top down so the two corners are
even with the bottom points of the diagonal
creases. Crease tightly and unfold.
3. Make an inverted fold on each side along
the dotted lines of the two side triangles that
show in figure 2. When you are done, your
dollar should look like figure 3.
4. Fold the top down so the dollar looks like a
house with a pointed roof.
5. Fold the pointed left bottom corner of this flap
up toward the center.
6. Fold this same flap in half so that the tip
points over to the left.
7. Repeat step 6, this time with the
right-hand flap.
8. Fold the sides into the center.
9. Fold the bottom up.
10. Fold this bottom flap down at the center.
11. Set the frog, flat side up, on a surface.
Glue some eyes on the front.
Green is _____________________ and _____________________

Write The color of _________________and ______________________
Green is a color associated _________________________is green.
with frogs and dollar bills.
Finish this green poem Green is the smell of __________________________________
by filling in the And the taste of _______________________________________
missing lines
__________________________________________sounds green.
and phrases.
I feel green when______________________________________
My favorite green place is ____________________________

Name
1. Give the meaning of the prefix of each word.

autobiography circumnavigate 5. Describe similarities and differences in
midlife unicycle the two passages.
2. Show correct use of an apostrophe: The story of St. Brendan’s voyage,
A. to show something belongs to Joe ___________ 1000 years before Columbus, has been
told since Medieval Times. He claims to
B. to form a possessive phrase meaning the
have sailed the seas in a leather boat,
ends of two journeys ___________________
experiencing many adventures. His
3. Add the present perfect tense of dread to tale of a large island with huge
the sentence. gemstones and fruit fascinated his
Philip’s wife _____________________ every listeners. Many searched for the island.
bathtub-sailing trip he has taken. Though some thought it was a hoax, a
modern-day Englishman did cross the
4. Identify the bias of the poem in problem 5. same route in a leather boat. And both
fruit and gemstones are found in
many places around the world—
so why not St. Brendan’s island?

Name
1. Circle the words that should be capitalized.

fbi civil war 5. Edit the passage for punctuation
east coast middle ages and capitalization.
kleenex geometry lesson Two Brothers from the U.s.a.
hold a record for the longest
2. Choose the correct word for the sentence. team Motorcycle ride chris and
Joe’s bathtub sailing trip took him ______ erin ratay rode 101322 miles
the Panama Canal.
through the Continents of asia,
Africa, north America, South
though thorough through
america, Europe, and Australia
3. The denotations of criticize and ridicule they left morocco on May
are similar. Explain how their connotations 21,1999 and ended their trip in
are different. New York city on august 6 2003.
4. On which dictionary page

would voyage be found?
Name
1. Correct the usage:

Where did the skateboard journey start at? 5. Write a brief summary of the passage.
_________________________________________ People will try amazing trips in order
to get into the record books. They will
2. What is the meaning of preposterous? travel by bathtub, lawn mower,
wheelchair, surfboard, garbage can—
_________________________________________ or even in beds on wheels. One person
set a record riding nonstop on the
3. Circle the participial phrase.
rear wheels of his wheelchair. This
I have some good news about the was a six-mile trip. If the trip is
young man traveling across the strange enough and long enough,
country on a skateboard. they probably will succeed in setting
a record.
4. What is the rhyming pattern of the poem?
_____ Kurt Osborn took an awesome ride
_____ Across the country, so they say.
_____ Three thousand miles, he biked with pride,
_____ Doing a wheelie all the way.

Name

wiley shifty 5. Choose the most precise word to
complete the sentence.
luckey apathy
C. J. walked 20 miles carrying a milk
crate full of bowling balls under each
2. Which pairs of words are antonyms? arm. He never stopped. This was a
furtive – futile doleful – cheerful _________________ feat.
hard thorny herculean
debase – shame truncate – extend
difficult trying perplexing
3. Circle the independent clause.
By the time the storm hit, the bathtub
sailors were safe on the shore.
4. Which part of a book shows the author,

publisher, and title?
cover index copyright page
title page spine table of contents

Name
Read
1. Zoey’s itinerary is all mixed up. Number the segments of her trip in the order
in which they will occur.
2. What can you infer about Zoey’s personality or interests?
3. On the tractor trip, Zoey will ride five days, then rest two days. How many
miles will she travel per day?
4. Tell what else you would take along on two of the Chicago legs of the trip.
5. On which leg of the journey would you like to join Zoey? Tell why.
Zoey Zach’s Travel Itinerary
things to take along

Jun 2 – 7 Galt to Chicago deliver pizza by taxi, 2,150 mi good music
May 1 – 7 L.A. to Sacramento skateboard ride, 7 mi clean socks
Jun 9 Across Chicago run backwards, 12 mi elbow pads
May 20 Lodi to Galt turn constant cartwheels, 7 mi aspirin
Jun 15 – 17 Chicago to Kenosha push a bed on wheels, 70 mi ear plugs
May 12 – 13 Sacramento to Lodi ride in rolling trash can, 45 mi nose plugs
Jun 30 – July 28 Kenosha to L.A. ride a tractor, 2,020 mi thick pillow
May 10 Across Sacramento walk on hands, 3 mi blister ointment
Write
Choose one of the journeys
above (or any wacky journey
you can invent). Write a short
argument convincing someone
that this would be an important
(or exciting, or dangerous, or
wonderful) journey to make.
Use strong, convincing words
and arguments.
Name
1. Create ten compound words that have off as the

first or last part of the new word.
5. What is the main idea?
2. Correct the misspelled words. When I look into the sky and see a
streaking light, I always call it a
An astronaut in nickers had a sceme to
shooting star, but these streaks are
rite a book under a seudonym. not usually stars at all.
Some of the streaks are meteors.
3. Circle the common nouns.
Thousands of tiny particles of dust
The first space tourist took a trip to the and rock broken from asteroids fall
International Space Station aboard a into Earth’s atmosphere. They burn
up in the atmosphere and streak
Russian Soyuz rocket. The trip cost him
across the sky. A person might see
20 million dollars. ten of these a day from Earth.
Some of these streaks could be
4. What is the theme of the
comets—snowballs of ice and dust
passage in 5?
that can be miles wide. As a comet
orbits the sun, the ice melts into a
streaming tail of water vapor, making
it look like a shooting star.

Name
1. Is the clause essential or nonessential?

The closest black hole, which was discovered in 5. Read the encyclopedia entry about
2000, is 1600 light years from Earth.
black holes to find out why nothing
2. Use the context to decide the meaning of the can escape from one.
underlined word.
black holes
Al gave sensible and clear details as he described
A black hole is an area of space made
his abduction by aliens. Although some of it
of extremely dense matter. The
seemed believable, I came to the conclusion that
intense gravitational force of the
it was a specious tale.
matter pulls everything in. Nothing
3. Write a topic sentence to begin a paragraph can escape, not even light. A black
that will describe the landing in Atlanta of hole is formed when a giant star dies
a large meteorite. and explodes in a supernova. What is
left of the star gets very small, with
4. Insert parentheses correctly.
so much gravitational pull that all of
After the space trip which by the star’s matter is pulled inside itself.
the way departed by accident
the space tourist had a long
spell of dizziness.

Name
1. An astronomer sees that the moon has been

getting more full each night for the past week.
5. What conclusion can you draw about
Is the moon waxing or waning?
the life or mindset of the people to
whom the passage refers?
2. Circle the pronouns that are not indefinite.
Long ago, the sight of a streaming,
neither somebody ourselves itself burning entity in the sky alarmed
whom anything most yours people.
The “fire in the sky” terrified and
3. Circle the correctly-spelled words. mystified them.
fourty people allready Some feared that the streak of fire
enough carosal cemetary was a signal that something
disastrous was about to happen.
4. Choose the correct literary device. When a meteorite hit the ground,
The meteorite was a dragon attacking there was even more fear. Some
with fiery claws. thought these falling rocks were
fire-breathing dragons sent by angry
hyperbole irony
gods to punish people on the earth.
alliteration imagery

Name
1. Give two meanings for the word novel.
_________________________________________ 5. Add correct punctuation and

capitalization to this business letter.
_________________________________________
2. Make corrections in the usage.

Scarcely nobody isn’t impressed
by the launch of a rocket.
3. If you are writing an essay and need a source

to provide a wide range of synonyms, what
reference source would you choose?
4. Revise the sentence by replacing each verb

with a more active, interesting word.
Interested onlookers saw the launch of
the rocket and yelled with delight as it
went into space.
Name
Animals In Space Timeline

Read 1946 • Fruit flies are the first animals to travel in space.
1. How long after the 1948 • Albert I is the first monkey launched in a rocket.
launch of Albert I 1949 • Albert II is the first monkey to reach outer space.
did the Soviet
monkeys set their 1950 • The U.S. launches a mouse into space.
endurance record? 1957 • Laika, a Soviet dog, is the first living being to orbit Earth.
2. When did the first 1959 • Able and Baker, two monkeys, become the first living beings
insects go into to successfully return to Earth after traveling in space.
space? 1961 • The Soviets send guinea pigs and frogs into space.
3. What year did
1963 • Felix is the first cat launched into space.
frogs first travel in
space? 1966 • A U.S. biosatellite takes fruit flies, wasps, and beetles into space.
4. Which went into 1968 • Flies and worms accompany the first turtle in space.
space first, dogs or 1970 • Two bullfrogs orbit Earth in a satellite.
turtles?
1972 • The first fish head into space along with the first spiders.
5. What animal was
1989 • Soviet monkeys Zhakonya and Zabiyaka set the monkey-in-
launched for the
space endurance record for almost 14 days in space.
first time in 1972?
2003 • The last flight of the space shuttle Columbia carries spiders,
silkworms, bees, ants, fish, and other animals on its mission.
________________________________________________ Write
This selection is the middle of a space
Two hours after takeoff, things had settled tale. The beginning, ending, and title
down. All of the animals were asleep, except for
are missing.
Mario the chimp who was trained to pull levers.
Mario was bored. So he pulled a lot of levers. 1. Write a smashing beginning
One of them released the locks on all the animal for the tale.
cages. The fruit flies buzzed into Maximilian the
cat’s ears. Max got annoyed and pounced on the 2. Write a memorable ending.
mice. The frogs ate the beetles, and the wasps
3. Write an eye-catching title.
chased the guinea pigs. Although the intelligent
monkeys tried to shoo all the creatures back into
their cages, they could not. Eventually, the
squealing and howling, scratching, and chirping
woke Julius, the German shepherd dog.

Name
1. Insert commas in the correct places.

Underneath the picnic blanket the ground 5 In the last sentence, the company
is thick with bugs rocks worms and sand. president shows some ambivalence.
Why do you think she is wavering?
Everybody began to notice the
basketful ____________________________________ stranger who lurked near the grill at
family _______________________________________ the company picnic. He held a huge
platter of raw hamburgers, but seemed
banjo________________________________________
to have no interest in grilling them. No
3. Finish the analogy. one from the office recognized him. He
talked to no one. He appeared to have
jovial : solemn :: punctual : ____________________
come alone. The rest of the picnickers
tardy punctuate timely somber
began whispering and sneaking
glances at him. The strange overalls
4. Which word best describes the mood
and large hat only increased the
of the passage in 5?
mystery. The company president
a. fearful c. suspicious wavered between confronting him
b. silly d. celebratory and looking for a security guard.

Name
1. Circle the adverbs in the sentence.

Yesterday, the baseball team gobbled 5 Rewrite each sentence with an
their picnic lunch greedily. Seldom have active verb.
so many hot dogs been eaten so fast.
a. Ants were all over my cupcake.
2. Correct the misspelled words. b. Where is Janie’s potato salad?
The ogers at the monster picnic practised some c. Don’t those baked beans
bizzarre rules of etaquete by playing kazzoos as seem spoiled?
they ate their hamburgers. d. A wild thunderstorm was here
during our picnic.
3. For each meaning, write a word with a prefix.
not regular ________________________________

above earth _______________________________
beyond sound _____________________________
one tone __________________________________
4. The book on the right is probably

fiction nonfiction biography
Name
1. Identify the technique(s) used in the poem.

He slurped and swallowed 5. Follow the directions to place things on
And guzzled it up. the picnic tablecloth.
He slurped down the milkshake Draw a cupcake on each of 4 gray
And then gobbled the cup. squares in a diagonal row.
rhythm rhyme Draw a hamburger that covers 3 gray
onomatopoeia metaphor and 2 white squares.
2. What is the meaning of audacious? Draw a hot dog that stretches across
some of 3 gray and 3 white squares.
3. Punctuate and capitalize
this article title.
what to do after eating the
world’s largest watermelon
4. Correct the usage mistake.

Those ants they
are everywhere!

Name

When I told Abby my story about the aliens, she 5. Write a brief description of the scene
swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. in this picture.
I just realised that I promiced to bring
cupcakes to the picnic. To my surprize, I
forgot! I apologise.
3. Write a possessive phrase that means

A. the seeds in a watermelon
B. the handles on two picnic baskets
C. the smell of several onions
4. Cross out unnecessary words.

The abdomen of an ant it contains two
stomachs. One stomach is a stomach for
his own food. The other stomach is a
stomach holding food to share.

Name
Read
1. What step comes just before baking the beans?
2. Read the description below. What words are
used to describe the texture (feel) of the beans?
3. What two ingredients have equal amounts?
4. What metaphor describes the cheese topping?
5. What techniques has the author used in
describing the bean dish that appeals to
your senses?
Is your mouth ready for a sweet but tart wake-up?

Let your taste buds be startled and delighted by these
incomparable baked beans! Dig your spoon through
the cloud of bubbling cheese that hovers over the top
of the dish. Dig it down, deep into the caramel
smoothness below. Then, with your eyes closed,
mound the creamy, honied mixture onto your tongue.
Let the maple-mustard-pepper harmony flavors ooze
over your tongue and trickle down your throat.
Write
Choose your favorite picnic
food. Write a recipe, giving
clear directions for making
the food. Then, write a
tantalizing description of
the food.
Name
1. What do these words have in common?

climb kneel gnash psalm sword 5. Circle the cause in each example.
A. During the landslide,
2. Give the part of speech of each underlined word.
hundred year-old trees
The largest landslide recorded in history
were snapped like twigs.
moved down Mt. St. Helen’s at speeds of
up to 150 miles per hour. B. The eruption was triggered
by a 5.1 earthquake.
3. Correct the spelling errors.
C. Fifty-seven people died as
mistakes twelth a result of the eruption.
unique lisence D. Mudslides destroyed the
remedie trubble foliage which had grown
on the mountain for years.
4. What literary technique is used
in this sentence?
“I’ll race you to the bottom
of the hill,”the little landslide
challenged the big landslide.

Name
1. Write the correct form of the adverb deadly

for the sentence.
5. Add another detail to the paragraph.
Though 57 people were killed by the eruption, The party of ten climbers
Mt. St. Helens is not the _______________ volcano. prepared for a two-day climb.
They carefully planned and
2. What information can be found on the packaged each day’s food.
spine of a book? Sleeping pads and warm
clothes were packed tightly into
3. Capitalize and punctuate the sentence. stuff sacks.
Just before leaving, each hiker
a group of Spanish tourists led by
rechecked the ropes and other
guide laroux visited mt st Helens climbing gear. They said their
after the eruption goodbyes to friends, and were
on their way to a great
4. Which words are synonyms for inundated? adventure.
wandered overwhelmed
derided flooded
frenzied superstitious

Name
1. Does this show correct pronoun use?

Who will climb this mountain with you and me? 5. What genre (kind) of literature is
shown in this example?
2. Which words have a suffix meaning Steaming mountain
having the nature of? Shuddering mountain
childish comical Your trembling
Starts my bones trembling.
failure golden
Your rumbling
ashen explosion Rumbles in my stomach.
Your creaking and groaning
3. Circle the correctly spelled words. Send my feet flying
convience efficeint Back down the path.
Toward my van.
foreign mischievous
hygeine reign
4. Read the passage in problem 5.

Predict what will happen next.

Name
1. Capitalize the phrases correctly.

outback steakhouse 5. What was the height change in the
my aunt and uncle mountain due to the eruption?
pvt. james cohen Mt. St. Helens Eruption
a geography lesson I. The event
nashville chamber of commerce A. Date & time: 5/18, 1980, 8:32 am
B. Cause: 5.1 earthquake beneath
2. Write a homonym for each word. C. Force and temperature
descent higher current II. Effects
A. Ash
3. What kind of a phrase is the underlined phrase? B. Deaths
Proper training is important for a climber. C. Landslides, floods
D. Damage to land
4. Edit for capitalization and punctuation. III. Changes
The Mountains eruption created an A. Height changes
80,000 foot Ash cloud in 15 Minutes 1. before 9677 ft
2. after 8363 ft
some ash circled the earth
B. New lava dome
Name
Read
1. What is the meaning of the word elusive in the title?
2. Where do sightings of the Yeti occur?
3. How do people describe the creature?
4. Describe the author’s bias on this topic.
5. Circle an opinion in the selection. Draw a box around a fact.
You may know this creature as the Abominable Snowman—the large ape-like creature
that supposedly lives in the high Himalayan Mountains. The local people call him the Yeti,
which means little man-like animal or troll. For hundreds of years, natives in the
Himalayan Mountains have told stories about a tall, upright primate-like, long-haired
creature that roams the mountains. In the 1880s, guides described large footprints left by
the Yeti. Reports became more frequent in the twentieth century, with many explorers
searching for the Yeti. Interest in this creature increased when a well-known climber
photographed large footprints in the snow on Mt. Everest at about 20,000 feet altitude.
Many climbers have reported footprints and sightings of the creature. Others have
reported hearing strange calls.
Although one expedition did result in the finding of an unidentified ape-hair, most
scientists have concluded that the Yeti does not exist. No pictures or other solid evidence
has been gathered. Still, an Italian mountain climber says he came face to face with a Yeti
in 1997. And strange happenings are unconfirmed by scientists—especially in places as
remote as the cold, high Himalayan Mountains. The idea of the Abominable Snowman
continues to be alive and well and mesmerizing. The Yeti inspires countless movies,
books, TV shows, rumors, tales, and fireside stories. Certainly something that arouses so
much interest and is reported with such frequency must exist.
Write
1. Give your personal response to the selection about the Yeti. Tell what you think, what you
wonder, what you would like to see, what you believe. Describe the information that interests
you most.
2. Draw a picture of a Yeti.

Name
1. Choose the correct word for each sentence.

a. (Whose, Who’s) the inventor of the pretzel? 5. Write a summary of the passage.
b. Are you the one (whose, who’s) working Potato chips were invented because of
on an electric fork? a persnickety customer at a
c. I’d like to meet (whoever, whomever) the restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New
person is that thought of the safety pin. York. This cranky customer refused
d. (Who, Whom) gets the credit for the an order of French fries because the
invention of the stop light? potatoes were too thick. Chef George
Crum made thinner fries, but the
2. Identify the setting of the selection in 5. customer was still not satisfied.
Finally, in disgust, the chef cut the
3. What is the difference between
potato into paper-thin slices and fried
an inventor and an itinerant? them to a crisp. He thought this
would teach the customer a good
lesson. Instead, the customer loved
My favorite inventions are
these potato “chips.” The word
these the zipper marshmallows
spread, and soon many customers
electric toothbrushes and trains
were asking for the hard, thin chips.

Name
1. Spell each of these words correctly.

omited embarass horid 5. Edit the passage.
memmory stacatto paralell It is said “that the popsicle was
invented by axcident.” Eleven-
2. Circle the simple subject.
year old Frank epperson was
Popsicles, sandwiches, and potato chips
trying to make his own Soda
were all invented by accident.
pop. Frank he mixed soda
powder and water in a bucket
3. Tom’s invention is outlandish. Louie’s invention
the mixture was left outside in a
is ordinary. Are these words antonyms?
small bucket, with the wooden
4. What key words would be best for an stiring stick standing in the
encyclopedia search on the invention liquid. The next morning the
of the Popsicle? liquid was frozen Frank picked
inventions pop it up by the Stick, tasted it, and
frozen foods Popsicle loved it He began to sell
“Epperson Icicles” for a nickel.
Eventuly, he changed the name
of the treat to “popsicles.”
Name
1. Explain the difference between illicit and elicit.
2. Edit the sentence. 5. Write your impressions about how the

author communicated her idea.
Is it true asked Jason that the waffle was
invented when someone wearing a metal The history books show that chocolate
suit sat on a pancake? chip cookies were invented by mistake—
and what a wonderful mistake! Sweet
3. Which mode of writing is shown in problem 5? morsels of chocolate nestle in soft cookie
dough. When the cookies came out of
narrative persuasive
the oven, the chocolate chunks were
descriptive expository
solid, not melted. They were elegant
imaginary personal-expressive in-between warm, creamy nougats that
became best friends with the tongue.
4. Which includes a present tense verb?
The chips started softening in the oven,
They discovered. but finished melting in the warmth of
He is discovering. your mouth. Thank goodness for Ruth
We discover. Wakefield’s 1930 accidental invention
back at the Toll House Inn in Whitman,
They will be inventing.
Massachusetts!
It had been invented.

Name
1. Replace each underlined word with a more

interesting or colorful word.
5. Which examples have linking verbs?
Sylvester McClean’s new invention is causing
big trouble. The loud noise has angered a. Charlie’s invention looks comical.
his neighbor. b. This invention cracks me up!
2. Write two sentences containing the word charge, c. Which of these contraptions works?
each showing a different meaning of the word. d. That seems like a mistake.
e. Is the lollipop maker a new idea?
resturant peopel intresting freind
4. A dictionary entry for the word unique has

this section: [French, from Latin unicus meaning
only, sole]. What does this tell about the word?

Name
Read
1. Number the headlines to show the order in which they occured.
2. Which discoveries or inventions seem to have happened accidentally?
3. What discovery do you think was connected to the falling apple?
4. What might the 1930 invention have been?
5. What might the 1920 discovery have been?
Write Write a headline for each article.
Morning News, 1849 Morning News, 1846 Morning News, 1956

______________________________ __________________________ __________________________
Walter Hunt, a mechanic from New Surgery will no longer be painful, A new invention makes it easy to
York has patented a new invention. thanks to a wonderful new fix mistakes. A Dallas secretary
The builder of America’s first sewing invention. American dentist mixed up a batch of liquid paper
machine has invented the safety pin, a William Morton has discovered a (known as “mistake out” or “white
fastening pin that can hold many way to put patients to sleep while out” and created a substance that
things together with ease. Hunt is the they undergo medical procedures. can cover up mistakes made on a
inventor of many gadgets, including a Medicines called anesthetics, put typewriter. The concoction is a
knife sharpener, artificial stone, ice patients into a sleep-like state mixture of paint that can be
ploughs, and a street car bell. where they do not feel the pain. brushed over the mistake.
Name
1. Change this into a complete sentence.

The world’s largest Popsicle, containing 5. A. Which headline refers to an
enough liquid to make 250,000 ice cubes event that has not happened yet?
and weighing 17,450 pounds.
B. How long after the cheese ball
2. Create six compound words that contain incident did the milkshake
the word over. flood occur?
3. Write the plural of each noun.
pizza fox goose jealousy
veto wife child trousers
4. The atmosphere or feeling that a writer

creates in a story is the
plot theme point of view
setting mood characterization

Name
1. What does this sentence mean?

The prizewinner seemed like an upstanding 5. Eliminate any unnecessary
citizen, but we heard that he had some words or phrases.
skeletons in his closet.
A Pasadena, California donut
2. Punctuate the sentence correctly. maker created the world’s
largest biggest donut. Winchell’s
Joe took one look at the
House of Donuts in Pasadena,
worlds largest donut and
California baked a giant apple
yelled I want a bite
fritter that weighed 5000
3. Circle the subordinate clause. pounds in weight and measured
95-feet diameter across the
To measure the largest dog biscuit
center of the donut.
I will need something longer than
a ruler.
4. Are these words in alphabetical order?

Name
1. Give the meaning of the root of each word.

inedible rotisserie dormitory 5. Read the phrases in 4. Examine the
topic, word use, structure, and effect.
A gentelman from India husked a A. Describe two things that the
phrases have in common.
cocanut with his teeth. The shaggy
fruit had a curcumferance of B. Tell one way the structure of C is
30.7 inches and wieghed different than the structure of A.
4.744 kilagrams. C. Describe a difference between
A and B.
3. Does the subject agree with the verb? D. Which phrase is more active?
The heaviest of all pineapples weigh 17 pounds.
4. Identify the sense to which each phrase appeals.

a. warm, moist gingerbread
b. kitchen thick with cabbage steam
c. tart lemon juice brings tears to my eyes

Name
1. Identify the tense of each verb in the sentences.

Bernard wondered if his pumpkin would 5. Add a topic sentence.
break any records. He still wonders.
2. Insert commas where they belong.

Alfred J. Cobb grower of the
heaviest cucumber won an
award in September 2003.
This giant popcorn ape was created
3. A reference book of interesting
to honor the 70th anniversary of the
and important statements is
original King Kong film (released in
a thesaurus a glossary 1933). It is not surprising that this
an almanac a quotation index 13-foot tall, 9-foot wide sculpture
of the Hollywood icon set a new
4. Sam can’t stop cultivating huge vegetables. world record.
He just loves watching them grow. Is this a
mania or a phobia?
Name
Read
1. What is the main idea of the selection?
2. What is the intended audience?
3. What is the purpose of the selection?
4. Circle an example of personification.
5. Approximately how many scoops of
ice cream were used per mile?
• Four and one-half miles long

• 6,000 scoops of double vanilla ice cream
• 24,000 fresh, sliced, bananas
• 24,000 soft, red maraschino cherries
• 1,000 pounds of crunchy walnut pieces
A delight of icy cream drizzled with

streams of chocolate sauce, proudly
wearing puffy hats of sweet
marshmallow cream, sprinkled with
nuts, decorated
with plump, mouth-watering cherries.
One spoonful for each visitor
Made with loving care by the residents

of Selinas Grove, Pennsylvania
April 30, 1988
Stretches all along Market St.
Write
Think of a record-setting creation that you would like to see (or eat). Use the banner to write about
the wonders of this food. Write words, phrases, or short sentences to show off the food.

Name

backboard : board :: __________________ : storm 5. Number the lines in a logical sequence
with an abcb rhyming pattern.
2. Circle letters that should be capitals.
the boston celtics is the national ___ She dribbled back and forth
basketball league team that has and back
won the most championships.
___ And shot it through the hoop.
3. Circle the predicate nouns. ___ Around the back and down the side
Shaquille O’Neal is a talented
player. For years he was an ___ Ran around a loop.
L.A. Laker. On the court, ___ Across the court and up the center
he looks massive.
___ She ran in circles, ran in squares,
4. An editorial giving reasons that the city should
___ She doubled back and
build a new basketball arena is
charged inside
imaginative writing persuasive writing
narrative writing expository writing ___ She dribbled near and far
and wide.

Name
1. Choose a synonym for the underlined word.

The new guard on the team has attended the 5. Give the dictionary page for each of
requisite number of practices. these words.
minimum required greatest drama dowse dribble dread
That player is admirable, commendable,
lovible, reliable, and sensibal.
3. Rewrite the sentences with active verbs.

After the game, Veronica felt proud.
All the coaches seem annoyed.
4. Write a good introduction for an interview

with the man who holds the world record for
spinning the most basketballs at one time.
Name

A Romanian-born basketball player who 5. Make an inference about what has
is 91 inches tall is the tallest man to play happened to cause the mood or
in the National Basketball League behavior of Player Number Eight.
2. Circle the direct object(s). Draw a box Player Number Eight sat alone on the
end of the bench. He had a towel
around any indirect object(s).
draped over his head; his shoulders
After we shouted cheers and
drooped, and he wore a sullen glare.
built a human pyramid, we
His teammates on the floor were
threw our pompons into
performing spectacularly. They stole
the crowd. the ball over and over, scoring 12
points in a row. Still he sat, almost
3. What are the meanings of the two
motionless. Now and then he gave a
bold words in the passage in 5?
pretense of excitement for the team
4. Write an alliterative sentence using by clapping weakly. For the most
some of these words. part, however, he stayed in his
gloomy mood for the rest of the game.
bumbling basket Bruno
ball barely beat
buddies Boston bruised

Name
1. Add – ed to each word.

mystify envy pay 5. Give the part of speech for each
defy worry play underlined word in the story.
A strange thing happened at the
2. Find a pair of homonyms to complete Rosebury High School basketball
the sentence. game last night. Just before half time,
Did the ___________________ __________________ the lights went off. They were not off
(body part) (get better) very long. But when they came back
before the championship game? on, every basketball in the gym had
disappeared. Officials, players,
coaches, and students searched
3. Abby read about a basketball player who had
under the bleachers. Referees
shoes that enabled her to leap 20–30 feet into hurriedly unlocked the equipment
the air. This tale is probably room to get more balls. There were
fiction nonfiction biography none to be found.
4. Write a great title for the story described

above in problem 3.

Name
Read
1. What is the area of a basketball court?
2. Describe three different ways a player could score 12 points.
3. What would probably happen if there were 13 players on the floor at one time?
4. Describe the purpose and the likely audience of the selection.
5. At what point does a player “foul out”?
Some Basketball Facts

• A basketball basket is a bottomless white cord net suspended from a circular metal rim.
• The rim is 18 inches in diameter.
• The basket is suspended ten feet above the floor.
• The backboard of the basket is a fiberglass or wood rectangle.
• A basketball court is about 50 feet wide and 92 feet long.
• The floor is usually made of hardwood.
• During the game, players use an inflated ball made of leather or rubber.
• The object of the game is to score points by shooting the ball through the basket while
keeping the other team from scoring.
• Each team has five players on the floor at one time.
• Players may dribble the ball as they move and shoot toward the basket or
pass the ball to one another.
• Players may not run with the ball or kick the ball.
• Points can be scored by field goals (two points or three points) and by free throws
(one point per successful throw).
• A game has quarters or halves, with the total time being 32–40 minutes of play.
• Players may not push, shove, or grab other players. Certain kinds of contact between
players can result in a foul on a player or team.
• When a player is fouled by another player, the player fouled gets to shoot a free shot
from the foul line.
• When a player gets five fouls (six in the NBA), he or she is out of the game.
Write
1. Collect words that you can use to write a rhyming poem about basketball. Make one list that
rhymes with each of these words: gym, ball, team, win, hoop, toss, drop, run, score,
lose, game.
2. Write lines ending in these words and move them around until you have created a poem of
four lines or more.
Name
1. Which word does not belong?

staccato ricotta 5. What conclusion can you draw about
legato piano cello James Kirkman from this passage?
2. Circle the prepositions in the sentence. In 1987, James Kirkman bought a

If you search around the world for the music manuscript at Sotheby’s
largest jukebox, you will find it in Tokyo. Auction in London, UK. He paid
$4.1 million for a volume of nine
3. Spell these words correctly. complete Mozart symphonies. These
were certified to have been written
annaversary anonamous
in Mozart’s own handwriting. This
Antartica archatect was the highest price ever paid for
a music manuscript.
4. Everyone who listens to rock music is a bad
influence. They all dye their hair orange, and get
many piercings and tattoos. Without exception,
they lead unhealthy lifestyles.
The above passage is an example of
metaphor narration personification
stereotype irony foreshadowing

Name
1. What is the meaning of the underlined term?

Had he not been assured that the manuscript 5. Ricky Brown of the U.S. holds an
was a bona fide Mozart original, the buyer would interesting musical record. He is the
never have paid four million dollars for it. world’s fastest rapper. In 2005, he
recorded a rap called “No Clue.” For
2. Circle letters that should be capitals. this, he rapped 723 syllables in 51.27
seconds. That’s about 14 syllables
shania twain is sometimes called a second!
the queen of country music.
Her album, come on over,
sold 30 million copies.
3. Circle the infinitive.

Julia decided to buy
the Legend album.
4. What is the purpose of an encyclopedia entry

about electric guitars?

Name
1. The country tune elicits visions of cowboys

and broken hearts. Does it invoke or
5. What is the rhyme pattern of this lyric?
evoke images?
I walk around the house to find
Your boots aren’t on the floor.
2. Choose the correct word for the sentence. I search the basement and garage.
Her mother’s warnings to turn down the The facts I can’t ignore.
volume had no (affect, effect) on
Your clothes are gone, your car is gone
Gina’s behavior.
You’re not just at the store.
I cry because you left me,
3. Circle the misplaced modifier. Re-write the
Then I hear you at the door.
sentence to clarify the meaning.
I’m running toward the door!
By mistake, Joe dropped the music
he had written in the garbage can.
4. What is the main idea of the poem

in problem 5?

Name
1. Punctuate the sentence correctly.

Legend a music album by Jamaican Bob 5. Is it true to say that Jerry Garcia’s
Marley is the best-selling reggae album guitar sold for almost $200,000 more
of all time than the total of the other items?
2. Is this the connotation or the denotation
of the word music?
the science or art of ordering tones
in succession and in combination to
produce a composition having unity
3. Which examples show correct usage?

A. That drummer plays badly.
B. It’s too bad that the drummer is sick.
C. Is the drummer feeling badly today?
D. The whole band played bad today.
4. Edit the capitalization, punctuation,

and spelling in problem 5.
Name
Read
1. Describe the audience
for whom this program
was written.
2. Describe the purpose of the
songs’ selection.
3. How many acts perform
before the Lava-Ettes?
4. Charlie arrived at the
concert at 11:15 pm.
Is it likely that he missed
Rocky & The Marbles?
5. Describe your reaction to
this concert schedule.
Write
1. Design a CD cover for a live
album from the concert.
2.Write a short biography for
one of the performers.

Name
1. Circle the words containing a silent letter.

The reporter stood dumbstruck looking at a 5. Why are the cows in the treetops?
scene of houses on the ledge of a chasm
and gnarled trees wedged between blocks
of a shattered bridge.

The weather service jumped the gun when it issued
the tornado warning.
3. Choose the correct label for this sentence.

When tornado season arrives, we put flashlights in
the basement and stock up on food and water.
compound complex
compound-complex Thursday’s tornado actually picked
up a herd of cows and left them
4. A reporter stands in front of a TV camera describing stranded in trees. Thankfully, the
everything that is happening as the camera films a treetops were sturdy enough to
hurricane swirling around the reporter. What is the hold the cows.
point of view of this report?

Name
1. Circle letters that should be capitals.

colombian coffee 5. Rewrite the passage to eliminate
mother nature excess ideas or words.
renaissance art There is an area in the United States
sir frances frieze named “Tornado Alley.” This is called
“Tornado Alley” because the
2. How many adjectives are in the sentence? conditions in the area are just right
for spawning tornados. In the U.S.,
The fastest winds in the solar system
tornados form in places where there
blow fiercely at 1,500 miles per hour.
is a lot of moist, wet warm air in huge
3. What is the meaning of the word adroit? amounts from the Gulf of Mexico.
That is what is necessary for a
4. Which words would be found on a dictionary tornado to form.
page with guide words tornado and toss-up?
torment topiary torpedo
torrid total torque
Name
1. Which words are antonyms for monumental?

infinitesimal obstreperous miniscule 5. Label each sentence in the paragraph
F for fact or O for opinion.
2. Circle the clause in the sentence.
Tell what kind of clause it is. Tornados form where there are large,
quickly-rising swells of warm, moist
That’s the worst storm that I air. The movement of the air upwards
have seen in this area so far. causes a rotation. When the air rotates
intensely, it turns into a tornado—a
3. Correct the misspelled words. spiraling, whirling mass. If you are
decision musichian smart, you will have removed yourself
frivolus ingeneous from the area before this happens. In
fact, if you are really smart, you will
4. Which examples contain a simile? stay completely away from areas
a. My little brother is a raging tornado. where tornados can develop.
b. I’m buried in a blizzard of homework.
c. Taking a math test is like having a
tooth pulled.
d. Writing a poem is like trying to
stand up in a windstorm.

Name
1. Write the sentence correctly.

I don’t know of no area that gets more 5. Where is the best place to be outdoors
snowfall than Mt. Rainier, Washington. during a tornado?
2. Write a word (with a prefix) meaning
A. to act between
B. not typical
C. having equal sides
3. Correct the capitalization and punctuation.

The greatest depth of snow measured
was found at tamarac California usa the
measurement was taken in march 1911.
4. Write a paraphrase of the information in 5.

Name
Read
1. What percentage of the continent of Australia gets less than ten inches of rain a year?
a. about 10% b. less than 50% c. more than 50% d. exactly 50%
2. Is the east coast of Australia one of the wetter or drier areas of the continent?
3. Which cities receive more rain in a year than Sydney?
4. Draw a conclusion about the amount of rain in the northern part of the continent
(in comparison to the southern part).
5. What is the meaning of the stripes on the map?
Write
Write a short weather comment in each of the talk
balloons. Use hyperbole as a part of all the reports.
Name
1. Find a pair of homonyms to fill the blanks.

This is the ______________________ time the 5. Follow the directions to make a hat
newspaper carrier has ventured ________________ from a newspaper page.
(out)
in a blizzard. A. Place the newspaper on a table
with the longest edge up and down.
2. Does the pronoun agree with the antecedent?
B. Bring the top edge down to fold the
Both the milkman and the paper carrier are late
page in half.
today. I wonder if the storm is holding him up.
C. Fold the top right corner in to make
3. The approach a writer takes toward a topic or the a triangle. Repeat with the top left
attitude the writer has toward a topic is the edge.
mood theme tone D. Fold the bottom flap up to touch
the bottom edge of the triangles.
4. Finish the chart to show the tenses.
E. Flip the shape over and fold the
other bottom edge up.
F. Use markers or crayons to add
decorations to the hat.

Name
1. The reporter gave evidence that the mayor’s

claims about a new bridge were not justified. Did
5. Can you tell how many puzzles are
the reporter refute or deny the mayor’s claims?
included in this newspaper?
2. Insert commas in the correct places.
The editor on the other hand argued in Puzzle Index
favor of the plan for a new bridge. Thursday, Nov. 30
I. Crossword puzzles
3. Give the case of the underlined noun. A. Easy, p. 17
B. Hard, p. 35
A reporter interviewed all nine
II. Ciphers
candidates for the mayoral position.
A. Quotations, p. 35
4. Rearrange the passage to make sense. B. Puns, p. 12 and 19
After finishing both crossword puzzles, C. Tongue Twisters, p. 19
Anne decides to try the tongue twister. III. Anagrams, pgs. 17 and 44
When she finishes the pun cipher, she IV. Word search, p. 44
starts on the first crossword puzzle.
Anne does all the puzzles in the paper
every day.

Name
1. Circle correctly-spelled words.

radical vessle frugel legel 5. Write a headline for the article.
candel spiral cynicle model
2. Write possessive phrases to show

A. the clues of one puzzle
B. the clues of two puzzles The world’s largest crossword
C. the paper of one wife puzzle was recently unveiled.
This gigantic puzzle contains
D. the paper of more than one wife
82,951 squares and a total of
3. Tell the meaning of the suffix in each word. 12,489 clues. So far, there have
American earthen lifelike been no estimates of the time it
would take to complete the
4. In a piece of literature, the discrepancy record-setting crossword puzzle.
between what appears to be true and In any case, this a long way
what really is true is
from the first crossword puzzle,
metaphor irony assonance published in 1913.
hyperbole pun imagery

Name
1. What does garrulous mean?

The garrulous nature of the reporter charmed 5. Which word is the most precise choice
her editor. for the context?
2. Does the example use a semicolon properly? When Alexander decided to read the
comic section of a newspaper in class,
Please hand me the newspaper; it’s on the
the history teacher gave him a harsh
coffee table.
a. oration c. talk
3. Circle the prepositional phrase. b. response d. admonishment
The newspaper reporter is so sneaky that
he writes his column under a pseudonym.
4. Which reference source would you use

to find out who said this:
“It’s not over till it’s over.”
Name
Read
1. What is different about this crossword puzzle?
2. What is the theme of the puzzle?
3. Find three words in the puzzle that could be verbs.
4. Find a word that could be a noun or a verb.
5. Find a word that has two or more meanings.
Tell two of the meanings.
Write
This puzzle has the answers, but is missing the clues.
Write the clue for each word that has a number on the
clue list. Do your best to make each clue relate to the
theme of the puzzle. (Some words are not included on
the clue list.)

Name
1. Sue uses these words when describing the

wakeboard tricks. Spell them correctly.
5. What is the main idea of the passage?
exemplery ecxiting exquiset
What a crazy idea! People actually fix
extremly exeptional excotic up wheelbarrows with headlights and
taillights. Then they race with them!
2. What does the underlined word mean?
This is not just any short little
While ice climbing, Jolene exacerbated afternoon race, either. They race 100
her shoulder injury. kilometers. They race all weekend,
pushing wheelbarrows along the long,
3. Circle the subordinate clause in each example.
varied terrain through city streets and
A. Since we were running out of air,
along country highways. Who would
we gave up on our search for the cave.
want to do such a strange thing?
B. It was essential that we get
back to the surface quickly.
C. Everyone returned safely because
we started our assent in time to
avoid danger.
4. In example 5, what bias does the author show?

Name
1. Write a synonym for altercation.

5. Rewrite the passage to include more
2. Does the sentence show correct pronoun usage? interesting, colorful, active, or precise
Who wants to come to the guinea pig words or phrases. Pay special attention
races with her and me? to replacing the underlined words.
Now here’s an unusual recreational
activity: a person is on a bed of sharp
3. Add correct ending punctuation.
nails at the same time concrete blocks
What an exciting finish to are broken on his chest. The 21 blocks
the lizard race had a total of 692 pounds of weight.
Others used 16-pound sledgehammers
to break the blocks while Chad
4. Which information can be found in a Netherland lay on the blocks.
world almanac?
results of the latest Olympic games
recent population statistics for a country
names of leaders of world countries
current weather forecasts around the world
Name

Let’s race our camel at the Geelong Camel 5. Find the pun in each example.
cup Carnival Sam suggested to Sara we
A. Jude cracked his shin in the
could win a thousand dollars egg-throwing competition.
2. Finish the analogy. B. I hear you’re a shoe-in
to win the boot-throwing
noisy : clamorous :: _______ : superb
contest.
raucous clamor
C. If you’re trying to win a
subtle splendid
cow-riding race, the most
3. Circle the interjection. important thing is to keep
moo-ving.
Oh, no! Our camel is racing
D. Count deDough is the judge
the wrong way! for the contests at the Penny
Collecting Festival.
4. Replace the verbs with words that are
E. All eyes are on the winner at
more specific and interesting.
the Potato Carnival, because
At the Millthorpe Murphy Marathon, she is wearing such an
racers carry 50 kg of potatoes as appealing outfit.
they run 1610 meters.

Name
1. Give the two different meanings of the

two homographs in the sentence.
5. Revise the passage to make it flow
Abigail went to the judges to contest more smoothly, and to give it more
the results of the contest. variety in sentence length and structure.
2. What kind of phrase is underlined? Some people race lizards. They get
together in Eulo, Queensland. They go
The object is to toss the egg
to a race track that is specially built,
without breaking it.
built just for racing lizards. They take
3. Correct any misspelled words. their lizards along. The event begins
A riegning beauty queen and with a lizard auction. Then they race
her decietful, concieted nieghbor their lizards in five different events.
teamed up to compete in the local They can win prizes if their lizard
egg-throwing contest. wins a race.
4. Al has borrowed a book on extreme sports.

He wants to find the definitions of the ice-climbing
terms used in the book. Where (in the book)
should he look?

Name
Read
1. Identify the mode of this selection (expository, narrative, imaginary, persuasive,
or personal-expressive).
2. Circle an inference made by the author of this selection.
3. What is the difference between Katie’s winning spitting distance and the world record?
4. Which event at the Bug Bowl would you most like to watch (or NOT watch)?
5. What precaution does a cricket spitter need to take when getting ready to spit the insect?
Imagine putting a dead bug on your tongue—not just once, but many times a day. “Why,” you
wonder, “would anyone do that?” Just ask teenager Katie Herrnstein, cricket-spitting competitor at
Purdue University’s 1998 Annual Bug Bowl. Katie won the competition for the second year in a row
to become the Junior World’s Champion. She spit a cricket 16 feet, 2 inches to win this title. The honor
received so much attention that Katie was invited to fly to Paris to show her cricket-spitting skills on
French television.
Another cricket-spitting champion is even better known for this unusual talent. Danny Capps of
Wisconsin holds the world record (as certified for the Guinness World Records). He spit a cricket 30
feet, 1.2 inches to set a new record. Like Katie, Danny has had a long interest in insects, and is not
the least bit bothered by the practice of holding dead bugs on the tongue.
How does someone spit a cricket far enough to win a competition or set a record? According to
Katie Herrnstein, you place the cricket (dead, of course) in the center of your tongue near the front.
Then you take a deep breath, being careful not to swallow the insect. Finally, you exhale as hard as
you can—just as if you were spitting a watermelon seed or a spitball.
Cricket spitting is just one of the insect activities that draws visitors to Purdue University every
April. Thousands of people also pet insects in a petting zoo, watch cockroach races, enjoy many
insect exhibits, and taste foods cooked with insects or honey. The popularity of these events shows
that many people beyond Katie and Danny are comfortable with bugs.
Write
Create a brief “How-To” manual that teaches the reader how to do some unusual sport
or activity. For example, explain how to. . .
win a bathtub race
train a slug to race
train a lizard to do tricks
throw and catch an egg without breaking it
toss a boot a winning distance
win a bubble-blowing contest
eat 20 doughnuts in one minute
peel a banana in record time
Name
1. What punctuation is missing?

parentheses colon 5. Identify each sentence as
ellipsis semicolon D (declarative), IN (interrogative),
“I’d like to loan you my tent,” said Will, “but IM (imperative), or E (exclamatory)
the last time you borrowed it _____ remember
____ A. Did you bring bear repellant?
what happened?”
____ B. I forgot the freeze dried food.
2. The part of the story that tells about the campers’
escape from the bear and safe journey home is ____ C. Swat that mosquito, please.
probably the story’s ____ D. Look out for the poison ivy!
resolution exposition ____ E. Don’t touch that plant!
setting climax
____ F. Paddle the canoe that way.
3. What is the connotation of campfire?
4. Identify a cause and an effect.

George’s terrible blisters are the price he’s
paying for not breaking in the new hiking
boots before the camping trip.

Name

Lulu brout chocalate, mosquitoe 5. Write the correct pronoun in each
repellaint, and a fishing lisence blank.
along on the hike.
interrogative ________________
2. What is the meaning of the root that
possessive __________________
these words have in common?
formula reform conform intensive ____________________
formulate formation deformity
demonstrative ______________
3. Eliminate excess words. indefinite ____________________
The hikers they totally and completely
panicked at the sight of the bear they reflexive ____________________
just saw along the trail.
whose mine yours
4. What reference book is a collection of articles myself that it

telling about the lives of people and their this which everybody
accomplishments, arranged alphabetically?

Name

who was it that said I hear a bear 5. Give a general summarizing statement
heavily breathing outside this tent about what the signs are saying.
2. Circle the appositive.

I found something we need,
dry firewood.
3. Find a pair of homonyms to complete

each sentence.
A. On the hike up the mountain, did you get a
__________________ at the __________________?
(look) (apex)
B. I don’t want to see that ________________
(animal)
_______________ his teeth at me.
(expose)
4. Which sign in 5 shows alliteration?

Name
1. Which word does not fit into the same

classification as the others?
5. Rewrite this poem as prose.
rascal ransack rattle
A campground’s full of dirty stuff.
ramble rankle ratify
The campfire adds more grit.
2. Correct this sentence. Sooty pots and grimy pans—
I could of brought marshmallows You can’t get away from it!
if you would of told me you It’s all around the campsite
needed them.
Dust here, grime everywhere
3. Which words are spelled correctly? On your skin, inside your bags
parenthetical peculierly On everything you use and wear.
simultaneously orthadontist If you’re going to be a camper

Forget that nice clean shirt
4. Would information about the Pacific
Make friends with dust, and grime,
Crest Hiking Trail be found on an
and soot
encyclopedia page with the guide words
Just get used to all the dirt.
penicillin and Pyrenees Mountains?
Name
Read
1. Which example uses onomatopoeia?
2. Circle two examples of personification.
3. Identify a phrase that is effective in creating suspense.
4. What image is created by example 2?
5. To which sense or senses does example 3 appeal?
We were telling jokes around The wind howled like a wounded

the campfire, never dreaming what animal and shook the tent with angry
was lurking out just beyond the claws. Three terrified campers huddled
rim of light from the fire. It was inside, slightly consoled by the faint
not until the fired died down that glimmer from the last flashlight.
the dreadful rasping, gasping,
choke . . . choke . . . choke echoed
through the campsite.
The girls should have

made it to the campsite before
“Stop that moaning,” snapped Jack. “It dark, but the wind’s strong arms
isn’t funny!” pushed against their canoe, and
“I’m not moaning,” Tom replied. the paddling was slow. Just at
“Well, who is?” Tom and Jack looked at each dusk, they were nearing shore.
other, suddenly realizing that the sound was not Just at dusk, something was
coming from inside the tent. Just at that moment, waiting for them at the
the zipper of the tent began an upward slide—
campsite—something they
without the help of either boy. A hand slithered
had never seen before.
its way through the open slit.
Write
Choose two of the ghost stories to finish.
Choose words and phrases that will
accomplish the purpose of making the
listeners tremble. Pay special attention to
the ending of your story. You will want
the listeners to be very apprehensive!

Name
1. What is the correct punctuation to place after the

greeting in a business letter?
5. Why would the solar still be an
2. Tell the part of speech of each underlined word important factor in the Steven
in the sentence. Callahan’s survival?
A person can survive as long as twelve days In January 1982, a man named Steven
without water if the temperature is not higher Callahan set sail for a trip on a boat
than 70º F. he had built. After six days at sea, the
boat sank and he was left with only
3. What is a charlatan? an inflatable raft. He had a little food,
some water, and a solar still for
4. What literary technique is shown with the use of removing salt from seawater. Steven
the words drip, drip, drip and kerplunk? was able to stay alive for 76 days,
Adrift in the raft, he was awakened by the drip, even though his raft sprung leaks. He
drip, drip of rainwater on the rim of his hat and drifted 1800 miles in the raft before
the kerplunk of fish jumping just beyond his feet. he was rescued. Steven believes that
the solar still was a major factor in
his survival.

Name
1. Find a synonym for fracas.

5. How many February days did not
2. Peyton spent four days wandering around have a shark-sighting?
the woods trying to find his way back to the Jan 8 – set sail from St. Croix
campsite. Did he loose or lose his way?
Jan 14 – boat sank
Jan 30 – ran out of food
3. Is the verb transitive or intransitive?
During his time adrift on the sea, Feb 4 – saw 3 sharks
Steve Callahan fought off sharks.
Feb 7 – saw 1 shark
Feb 11 – saw 2 sharks
4. Choose the most precise word
to complete the sentence below. Feb 16 – raft sprung a leak
Feb 19 – saw 6 sharks
To conserve food the marooned sailors
_________________ each morsel slowly. Feb 29 – saw 2 sharks
devoured ate nibbled Mar 1 – got rescued
tasted licked savored
Name
1. What word could be combined with each of these

to form a compound word?
5. Circle the effect in each example.
arrow light line a. She was rescued after she
egg band letter waved down a passing ship.
2. Add -ing and -ed to each word. b. The skier got lost because of
monkey worry say muddy the blinding blizzard.
3. Which examples are correct? c. Steven was able to drink
a. Bethany is the swimmer who survived. pure water because he had
b. Was it Bethany whom survived the attack? a solar still.
c. Who is it that was attacked? d. When the elevator cable was
d. Was it the same shark whom attacked Greg? severed, the elevator car fell
75 stories.
e. Someone locked the door
The surfers were tossed like rag dolls, tumbling
early, leaving Bev stuck in
in a frothy mixture of foam and seaweed.
the store overnight.
imagery metaphor
simile hyperbole
alliteration pun

Name
1. Which words need capital letters?

former olympic hockey player eric 5. Tell what should be changed to correct
lemarque got lost on his snowboard the usage in each example.
and survived seven days in califorina’s
a. It is well that you survived the fall.
sierra nevada mountains.
b. I’m surely she was lost 10 days.
2. Circle antonyms for survive. c. He fell very quick after Jim.
succumb subsist persist d. The surfers were real scared
endure perish resist of the sharks.
e. Should you lay down when you
3. Edit this sentence. meet a cougar?
On july 28 1945 Betty lou oliver survived f. I think you should have risen up
a 1000 foot fall in an elevator at the your arms when you met the bear.
empire state building in new york city g. That grizzly behaved bad when
new york I met him on the trail.
4. Alphabetize these words.

survive survival surrender
surplice surplus surreptitious

Name
Read
1. What is the theme of these selections?
2. Circle an opinion in one of the selections.
3. Circle a fact in one of the selections.
4. Which ordeal lasted the longest?
5. Tell which ordeal you think would be the hardest one to survive (and why).
(2003) Bethany Hamilton, a 15-year old surfer, survived a

shark attack in the waters off a beach in Hawaii.
(1972) An unnamed cat survived eight days, trapped in the rubble of a

building that collapsed during an earthquake.
(1942) Poom Lim survived 133 days along on a raft adrift in the Atlantic Ocean.
(1945) Betty Lou Oliver survived an amazing plunge in an elevator. An elevator

in the Empire State Building fell 75 stories when its cables were severed. Ms.
Oliver was inside that elevator and lived to tell about it.
(1988) Kively Popa John survived six days trapped in an elevator.

Fortunately, she had just been to the market and had a bag of fruit,
vegetables, and bread along with her.
(1986) A two-year old girl, Michelle Funk, survived 66 minutes

underwater in a creek. She made a full recovery after her rescue.
(1972) Vesna Vulovic fell 33,333 feet inside a section of an aircraft. She is the
survivor of the longest fall (without a parachute) on record.
(1954-1994) Charles Jensen endured 970 surgeries.
Write
1. Write a title for this group of
selections.
2. Write three questions you would
like to ask each survivor.
Name
1. Give correct capitalization to

the book’s cover.
5. Number the events in a
reasonable sequence.
2. Circle the complete predicate.
____ The next time up to bat, she struck out.
Mario skidded about half
the distance between the ____ Maria slid to first.
two bases. ____ Then she got two strikes in a row.
____ It was Maria’s first turn to bat.
3. What is the meaning of the underlined word?
____ Maria passed third base on her way
It was a daunting task to try to get a strike
to home plate.
out of Spike Malone. The pitcher tried again
and again, and just couldn’t do it. ____ The first two pitches were balls.
____ She hit the ball past third base.
____ On Jana’s hit, she stole second.
In the game today, Lucy was a tiger
every time she got up to bat.
personification irony
simile metaphor

Name
1. Correct the usage error in the sentence.

How come you didn’t stop at second base? 5. Rewrite the sentences to make the
sentences more interesting and the
2. Circle the correctly spelled words. verbs more active.
citazen oppisit occurence a. The umpire said, “Strike three!”
as the ball whipped past the
advertize busness arithmatic batter’s head.
b. Running around the bases, Ramon
3. Finish the analogy. looked like a streaking meteor.
blush : embarrassment :: fume : _________________ c. The wind at the ballpark

was piercing.
4. Which key word should you use to find

information about famous hitters (such as
Babe Ruth) in baseball history?
history Babe Ruth players
hitters major league baseball

Name
1. The enthusiasm for the winning team is spreading.

Is the enthusiasm contagious or infectious?
5. What is the main idea of the passage?
2. Insert apostrophes correctly. For many years, fans at baseball
Youve got to remember that its games sang “Take Me Out To The
only Toms first time at bat in his Ballgame,” to the accompaniment of a
whole life. baseball park organ played by a live
organist. The tradition began in 1941
3. What literary technique is used here? when the Chicago Cubs had an organ
Thick sheets of silver rain separated brought into Wrigley Field just for one
the fans from the field. day. Soon, organs were popping up in
all the fields. But in early 2005, the Los
4. Circle and identify the verbal in each Angeles Angels became the last major
sentence (gerund, infinitive, or participle). league team to let its organist go.
a. Screaming made my throat sore. Organ music is still played at some
b. The screaming fans waved banners. ballparks now and then, but, for the
most part, the ballpark organist is a
c. Jim was the last one to scream. thing of the past.
d. Fans screaming at the top of
their lungs drove me away from
the ballpark.

Name
1. Explain the meaning of gaffe.

Fans said the player made a gaffe. 5. Write a caption for the picture.
2. Circle the direct object(s).

The same man who invented baseball
fired the first shot for the Union in the
American Civil War.
3. Could a tale about a baseball game played

in the 25th century be a nonfiction book?
yes no
4. Correct the spelling.

thesuarus beerd
coogar drowght
angwish boisterous
Name
Read
1. What is the point of view in this poem?
2. Give a brief oral or written summary. Tell what the author is trying to say.
3. Describe what you believe the poet really feels about the broken window.
4. Make an inference about the relationship between the baseball player and
the person who is receiving the apology.
Title ______________________________
Write
Line 1
Have you ever apologized for
What I did ______________________________
something for which you were not truly
sorry? Think about it. Make a list of Line 2
such events (real or imaginary). Why it’s a problem ______________________________
Then follow the form of the poem
Line 3
above to write an apology poem.
(Look in your library or on the Internet Some words or phrases
for a copy of the poem This is Just to that give the apology ______________________________
Say by poet William Carlos Williams. Lines 4-5
This poem was modeled after Mr.
Williams’ famous apology poem.) A hint as to why you ______________________________
are not truly sorry
______________________________

Name
1. Circle the words that are spelled correctly.

attendence abundence consequence 5. Read each title and make an inference
assurence nuisance transferance about what you might find in the book.
2. Write a synonym for paucity.
3. For each example, tell if the verb is

an action verb or a linking verb.
a. The Sears Tower looms above other
buildings in Chicago.
b. Elevators rise at 1,600 feet a minute.
c. The tower’s cost was over $150 million.
4. What literary technique is shown here?

The traffic light winked its yellow eye at me.

Name
1. The city’s mayor warned people about

the discovery of noxious substances.
5. Edit the passage for punctuation,
What does she mean by noxious?
capitalization, and spelling.
2. Does the sentence show correct Middletown Connecticut is a
use of parentheses? small city of 45000 people
The city of Seoul (South Korea’s situated in a pleasent spot
capital) has a population along the connecticut river. In
greater than that of Australia. resent years the city is growing
and becoming a particulerly
3. Rewrite this to clarify the meaning. attractive setting for new
I learned that the population of Sao Paulo, busnesses. Thirty five busnesses
Brazil increases by 2,000 people a day from have opened in a downtown
reading an almanac. mall called the main street
market, other additions are
4. Think of five words that could be found on two new Golf Corses and a
a glossary page with the guide words new 12-screen movie
causeway and city. theater complex.
Name

Todd and his friend were on top of the world 5. Compare the two lists. What do
because they won a trip to Paris. you notice about the similarities
2. Circle the silent letters. and differences?
an honest ghost
Most Common
a whimpering gnome
U.S. City Names
a psychic knight Most Common
1. Fairview
a gourmet wrestler U.S. Place Names
2. Midway
1. Fairview
3. Does the subject agree with the verb? 3. Oak Grove
2. Midway
4. Franklin and
San Francisco, my favorite of all cities, 3. Riverside
Riverside
have many beautiful bridges. 4. Oak Grove
5. Centerville
5. Five Points
4. True or false? 6. Mount Pleasant
6. Oakland
Expository writing is writing that 7. Georgetown
7. Greenwood
informs, teaches, or explains. 8. Salem
8. Bethel and Franklin
(Includes cities and
other places such as
parks, airports, etc.)

Name
1. Give the meaning of each root.

lunar mortal dissect 5. Eliminate unnecessary words.
portable dynamite dormant The city of Liverpool, England,
a city in England, is famous for
2. Capitalize and punctuate the sentence.
the number of musicians who
Venice a city in italy has the distinction of call it home. There have been
being the worlds most waterlogged city more number one top of the
chart hit singles by people from
3. What reference source is an alphabetical list of
Liverpool, in relation to the
items or information, found in a book, magazine,
number of people in the
or set of publications?
population, than from any
4. Is the underlined clause an essential clause? other city in the world.
Las Vegas, a city set in the desert
of Nevada, is the wedding capital
of the world.

Name
Read
Examine this picture of the “goings-on” in the apartments and stores on this city street.
1. Make an inference about each scenario (A–H). Tell what you think is happening.
2. Predict what will happen next in two of the settings.
Write
1. Write a creative title for a story about window F.
2. Write an inviting beginning for a description of the happenings in window D.
3. Write part of a conversation that is going on in window G.
4. Write a question you would like to ask one the persons in window E.
5. Write a smashing ending for a story about window A.

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8th Grade

Use It! Don’t Lose It!

Illustrated by Kathleen Bullock

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The Weekly Plan —Five Problems a Day for 36 Weeks

Monday and Wednesday .........• one reading item

Tuesday and Thursday ............• one writing item

Friday.......................................• one longer reading comprehension passage

Helpful Hints for Getting Started

1. Circle letters that should be capitalized.

inactive disapprove illegible unfair e. A basketball player cannot score

TUESDAY WEEK 1 _________________________________LANGUAGE PRACTICE

1. What part of speech is the word fly?

3. Number the words in alphabetical order. grand canyon or the rocky

4. Circle the words which are synonyms for indignant.

©2006 Incentive Publications, Inc., Nashville, TN

1. Identify the rhyme

4. Which sentences use who correctly?

THURSDAY WEEK 1 _________________________________ LANGUAGE PRACTICE

1. Add the correct ending punctuation.

©2006 Incentive Publications, Inc., Nashville, TN

1. Circle the proper nouns.

2. Put commas where they are needed.

3. Circle the compound words.

4. From this passage, can you tell how many circuli

TUESDAY WEEK 2 _____________________________________LANGUAGE PRACTICE

1. Which is the denotation of the word, pirate?

_____________ _____________ _____________

4. The word beachcomber

1. Which is the simple sentence?

2. Circle the antonym for malevolent.

3. Capitalize the book title correctly.

4. Circle the cause. Draw a box around the effect.

THURSDAY WEEK 2 _________________________________ LANGUAGE PRACTICE

1. Give three different meanings of the

3. Which sentence has correct pronoun use?

4. Rob is ready to write a paragraph that gives

©2006 Incentive Publications, Inc., Nashville, TN

1. A story begins like this:

What is the point of view?

2. Does this sentence use an apostrophe correctly?

3. Which word means to cause to feel terror?

TUESDAY WEEK 3 ____________________________________ LANGUAGE PRACTICE

1. Rewrite the sentence to show more action.

©2006 Incentive Publications, Inc., Nashville, TN

1. What is the meaning of this sentence?

So my question is this Did you know that the

3. Write a possessive phrase meaning the peel

4. To which sense does this description appeal

THURSDAY WEEK 3 _________________________________ LANGUAGE PRACTICE

1. Correctly spell the plural of each word.

3. Circle the verbs that are in past tense.

4. Which reference source is a dictionary of

©2006 Incentive Publications, Inc., Nashville, TN

1. Choose the correct literary device.

TUESDAY WEEK 4 _____________________________________LANGUAGE PRACTICE

1. Write the plural of each noun.

1. What is the main idea of this passage?

2. Circle the words that need capital letters.

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