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Read Works: Good Bye to Xochimilco
[Free Registration/Login Required] This is a fictional passage about growing up near the canals of Xochimilco and spending weekends watching the bumper car-like traffic jams on the canals. It is followed by a comprehension question set.
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Read Works: The History and Process of Voting
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage focuses on the American federal voting process including its history and how the process works. It is followed by a comprehension question set.
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Read Works: Secrets of Survival: The Ancient Utah Juniper by Mimi Jorling
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage explains how the Utah Juniper has adapted to the harsh desert climate and maintain an average lifespan of 400-750 years. It is followed by a comprehension question set.
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Read Works: Safe at Any Speed by Pearl Tesler
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage focuses on a new kind of driving school that teaches young drivers a different and more effective way to drive and to drive defensively. It is followed by a comprehension question set.
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Read Works: The Legend of the Goddess Tin Hau, or Mazu
[Free Registration/Login Required] This fiction passage focuses on Mazu and her power to guide her brothers to safety from a terrible storm at sea while weaving quietly in her house. Can she save them? A comprehension question set and a...
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Read Works: The Dino Express
[Free Registration/Login Required] Paleontologists in Colorado recently discovered more and different types of dinosaur tracks along the path known as the Dinosaur Freeway in Colorado and nearby states. This passage is followed by a...
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Read Works: The Club of the Century by Karen Kasland
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage is about people who live to be 100 or older (Centenarians), including the rising numbers of them, and what they have in common that could have impacted their life expectancy. It is followed...
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Read Works: Buried Treasure
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage focuses on archaeologists in Egypt who found a 4,500-year-old boat near the Great Pyramid. It is followed by a comprehension question set.
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Read Works: The What and Who of Elections
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage focuses on the election process in the United States of America including the federal offices, the laws on voting, and the registration to vote. It is followed by a comprehension question set.
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Read Works: When Trees Get Thirsty by Mimi Jorling
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage explains that trees need water everyday and how scientists believe they get that water using their roots. It is followed by a comprehension question set.
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Read Works: A New Tail
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage is about Winter, a dolphin who got caught in a crab trapline and lost his tail, and how they made a prosthetic tail for him so he could swim. A comprehension question set and a vocabulary...
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Read Works: Bug Power
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage focuses on social insects: honey bees, ants, and termites. A comprehension question set and vocabulary are provided.
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Read Works: When Will We Have Flying Cars? By Linda Ruggieri
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage is about the possibility of flying cars in the future. A comprehension question set and a vocabulary worksheet are also provided.
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Read Works: Oceans, Rivers, and Lakes by Linda Ruggieri
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage focuses on bodies of water including oceans, rivers, and lakes including explaining how the oceans get salty. A comprehension question set and a vocabulary worksheet for the word "vent" are...
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Read Works: Stuck in the Icy Ocean by Kate Paixao
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage is about Ernest Shackleton's expedition to Antarctica, the problems he faced, and how he solved them. A comprehension question set and vocabulary information for the words courage, rescue,...
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Read Works: Jumping Grasshoppers by Linda Ruggieri
[Free Registration/Login Required] This passage describes grasshoppers and explains how they can walk, hop, and fly. It is followed by a comprehension question set and a vocabulary worksheet for the word "insects" is provided.
![De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: A Great Digger a Fable [Pdf] Activity](https://d15y2dacu3jp90.cloudfront.net/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: A Great Digger a Fable [Pdf] Activity")
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: A Great Digger a Fable [Pdf]
"A Great Digger: A North American Fable" is a one-page fable about Benny the Badger who dug holes for all the other animals in the plains. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to provide evidence from...
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Read Works: Passages: "Patrick Cleburne's Proposal to Arm Slaves"
[Free Registration/Login Required] In this letter from January 2, 1864, Patrick R. Cleburne, a Confederate commander, writes to a Confederate general proposing that black soldiers be added to their ranks as they were in grave danger of...
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Read Works: Passages: "The League of the Iroquois" by Matthew Dennis
[Free Registration/Login Required] This article "The League of the Iroquois" by Matthew Dennis focuses on the 17th and 18th century "The League of the Iroquois" which united six Iroquois Nations: the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas,...
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Read Works: Passages: The u.s. Constitution
[Free Registration/Login Required] This is the Constitution of the United States; a vocabulary worksheet is provided for the words "favor" and "right."
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: The Sat Reading Test: Information and Ideas
The Information and Ideas category of the SAT Reading Test includes questions that focus on what the passage says (directly or indirectly). To interpret the author's message, you'll need to consider both what's stated and what's implied...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: A Better Community [Pdf]
"A Better Community" is a one page, fictional reading passage that focuses on recycling. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it includes skills such as sequencing,...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: I Like Plants [Pdf]
"I Like Plants" is a one page, realistic fiction, reading passage about a person who loves plants and became a botanist; now she teaches her college students about plants and ecology. It is followed by constructed-response questions...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Economic Connections [Pdf]
"Economic Connections" is a one-page nonfiction passage about the economics of importing and exporting goods among countries to get what people need. It is followed by an open-ended question that requires students to provide evidence...