De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Illinois Pioneers and Prairies [Pdf]

"Illinois Pioneers and Prairies" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about life in the prairies of Illinois for the early settlers including their hard work, setting up governments, building schools, and making laws. It is followed by constructed-response questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it includes: drawing conclusions and making predictions which are supported by text. This passage aligns with Common Core Anchor Reading Standards 1 and 2 requiring close reading, textual evidence, main idea, and summarizing.