Reading Tutor:
Inventions
By
maureen Betz
COPYRIGHT © 2004 Mark Twain Media, Inc.
ISBN 978-1-58037-888-8
Printing No. 1623-EB
Mark Twain Media, Inc., Publishers
Distributed by Carson-Dellosa Publishing Company, Inc.
The purchase of this book entitles the buyer to reproduce the student pages for classroom
use only. Other permissions may be obtained by writing Mark Twain Media, Inc., Publishers.
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
Reading Tutor: Inventions
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1
Introduction 2
You Ought to Be in Daguerreotypes: Comparing and Contrasting
3Mechanical Man: Preparing an Outline
5
It Looks Like a ...: Writing Descriptions
6
Be Specific: Reading for Details
8
How the World Turns: Sequencing
9
Just in Time: Reading a Time Line
10Take Me Out to the Stick and Ball Game: Diagramming
12The Greatest: Writing an Editorial
14That Daring Young Bareback Rider: Writing a Newspaper Lead
15Extra! Extra!: Writing Newspaper Headlines
16
Can You Hula hoop®?: Conducting an Interview
18
Success at the Drop of a Spring: Writing Word Pictures
19
Does It Grab You?: Writing Advertising Copy
20
Invention Convention: Letter Writing
21
Watch Out for Flying Discs!: Identifying Nouns
22
Famous Words: Writing Dialogue
23The Edison Key: Identifying Key Words
24
Call Me Shorty: Writing Acronyms
25
Dot to Dot: Reading a Braille Alphabet
27
Genius Not Required: Using Context Clues
28Many Moons: Using Context Clues
29
Charge It: Defining Settings
30
Can I Borrow Your Flea Remover?: Defining Main Character
31
How I Changed the World: Writing an Autobiography
33
What Is It?: Reading Directions
35
It Started at the Circus: Using a Thesaurus
36
Whatsits: Using Reference Sources
37A Stitch in Time: Using Reference Sources
38
Bag It: Using a Dictionary
39
Where in the World?: Using an Atlas
40A Gift of Shoes: Reading a Table of Contents
41
Who Invented Chewing Gum?: Using an Encyclopedia
42
Stranger Than Fiction: Using the Card Catalog
43
Just for Fun: Riddles
44
Check It Out!
45Answer Keys
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ii
Reading Tutor: Inventions
You Ought to Be in Daguerreotypes
Name:
Date:
You Ought to Be in Daguerreotypes
To compare two
items means to
look for the ways
in which they are
alike.
To contrast two
items means to
look at the ways
in which they are
different.
The first popular and affordable method of photography
was not invented by a scientist. A 48-year-old French painter
named Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre perfected the
daguerreotype, named for him. The daguerreotype was a camera
image printed on a light-sensitive metal plate in just three minutes.
The daguerreotype varied in size. Some were no bigger than a
postage stamp.
One hundred years later, 19-year-old physicist Edwin
Herbert Land experimented with light. He separated or polarized
light into positive and negative charges. This research led to a
new kind of photograph using a special plastic to polarize light
passing through it. When used in Land’s Polaroid Land Camera®,
it created a photograph in seconds. With every photograph the
same size, the affordable camera became a best seller.
Daguerreotype
Frame
Polaroid Land Camera®
Directions: Circle the ways in which the men and their inventions
were alike. Underline the ways in which they were different.
1. occupation
2. age of inventor
3. size of photographs
Polaroid
Picture
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4. developing time
5. used a camera
6. affordability
Reading Tutor: Inventions
Mechanical Man
Name:
Date:
Mechanical Man
An outline is a
summary of the
main ideas of an
article. It contains headings
and subheadings organized
into related
groups.
Modern agriculture owes thanks to Cyrus Hall McCormick
from Virginia. In 1831, he invented a machine to gather and cut
grain.
McCormick called his machine the mechanical reaper.
Before his invention, farmers hired workers who could cut and
bundle two acres of grain per day. McCormick’s machine, pulled
by a horse, could do the work at least four times faster with only
two people. Farmers could plant bigger fields.
The horse-drawn reaper worked in several steps. One
person rode on the reaper to steer the horse as the cutter bar at
the front of the machine cut the standing grain in the fields. The
four reels pushed the cut grain onto a platform. A second person
took the grain from the platform and tied the bundles.
McCormick was also a good salesman and marketer. He
brought the reapers to the farmers’ fields to demonstrate how
fast and efficient they were. In addition to offering a guarantee
on his machine, he allowed farmers to buy on a payment plan.
© Mark Twain Media, Inc., Publishers
Reading Tutor: Inventions
Mechanical Man
Name:
Date:
Mechanical Man (cont.)
Directions: Complete the outline below using the information from page 3.
McCormick and the Mechanical Reaper
I.
Cyrus McCormick
A. born in
B. became an inventor
C. invented mechanical reaper in
II.Advantages of the McCormick Reaper
A.
B.
III. Description of the McCormick Reaper
A.
B.
C.
D.
IV.McCormick’s Secrets of Success
A.
B.
C.
D.
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