Excellent Tool for Standardized Test Preparation! • Latin and Greek roots • Figurative language • Reading comprehension • Fact and opinion • Predicting outcomes • Answer key Reading Grade 6 Frank Schaffer Publications® Spectrum is an imprint of Frank Schaffer Publications. Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher, unless otherwise indicated. Frank Schaffer Publications is an imprint of School Specialty Publishing. Copyright © 2007 School Specialty Publishing. Send all inquiries to: Frank Schaffer Publications 8720 Orion Place Columbus, Ohio 43240-2111 Spectrum Reading—grade 6 ISBN 978-0-76823-826-6 Index of Skills Reading Grade 6 Numerals indicate the exercise pages on which these skills appear. Vocabulary Skills Drawing Conclusions 3, 7, 17, 23, 25, 29, 31, 33, 41, 43, 47, 51, 61, 65, 75, 79, 87, 89, 93, 95, 97, 99, 101, Abbreviations 5, 11, 15, 27, 39, 59, 61, 69, 79, 81, 103, 107, 109, 113, 117, 121, 123, 127, 133, 135, 111 139, 143, 151 Affixes 3, 9, 21, 29, 35, 51, 59, 65, 71, 77, 89, 95, Fact and Opinion 7, 31, 45, 53, 71, 83, 99, 115 109, 111, 117, 123, 125 Facts and Details all activity pages Antonyms 13, 31, 45, 53, 61, 67, 83, 91, 105, 135, 141 Fantasy and Reality 39, 57, 125, 143 Classification 5, 21, 41, 55, 125, 137, 151 Formulates Ideas and Opinions 103, 107, 131, 143, 149, 151 Compound Words 7, 15, 19, 23, 25, 45, 51, 71, 75, 79, 83, 95, 99, 127, 133, 139, 145 Identifying the Theme 85, 141, Frequently Used Foreign Words 87, 103, 131, 149 Main Idea 5, 11, 27, 39, 47, 53, 61, 91, 101, 113, 131 Homographs/Multiple Meaning 19, 23, 37, 47, 49, 85, Mood and Tone 19, 25, 71, 101 107, 113, 115, 139, 143 Persuasive Text 45, 73, 87 Homophones 11, 19, 31, 43, 47, 57, 75, 87, 99, 107, Predicting Outcomes 3, 11, 19, 25, 35, 41, 43, 49, 57, 117, 123, 133 71, 77, 79, 89, 101, 107, 117, 127, 147, 151 Idiomatic and Figurative Language 3, 11, 13, 25, 37, Prior Knowledge 15, 17, 45, 61, 107, 63, 71, 85, 89, 93, 97, 123, 129, 137, 147 Purpose for Reading 9, 67, 87, 103, 111, 119, 123, Latin and Greek Roots 81, 91, 93, 101, 115, 135, 141, 133, 139 145, 151 Recognizes Story’s Problem 13, 19, 25, 55, 63, 85, 127 Multisyllabic Words 13, 23, 35, 41, 57, 67, 83, 105, Recognizes Features of Familiar Genres 7, 15, 27, 37, 137 47, 55, 57, 61, 69, 79, 91, 97, 117, 119, 141, 151 Possessives 17, 27, 43, 49, 55, 63, 73, 93, 119, 131, Sequence 5, 15, 19, 27, 39, 51, 59, 75, 77, 89, 93, 143 127, 137 Sight Vocabulary all activity pages Shows Comprehension by Identifying Answers in Text Synonyms 17, 29, 33, 45, 53, 63, 67, 73, 91, 97, 113, all activity pages 141 Summarizing 21, 37, 59, 65, 87, 99, 111, 121, 135 Word Meaning from Context all activity pages Understand and Identify Simple Literary Terms 13, 25, 31, 41, 43, 49, 71, 75, 83, 85, 93, 97, 109, 115, 117, Reading Skills 123, 127, 133, 143 Author’s Purpose 5, 15, 23, 33, 43, 51, 63, 73, 81, 87, 95, 105, 113, 121, 149 Study Skills Cause and Effect 3, 5, 17, 19, 21, 23, 27, 29, 35, 39, Charts, Graphs, and Maps 5, 75, 101, 147 41, 43, 45, 49, 51, 53, 55, 59, 61, 63, 67, 69, 73, 75, Dictionary Use 7, 9, 25, 39, 59, 69, 77, 83, 89, 109, 79, 81, 85, 87, 89, 91, 93, 97, 99, 107, 109, 111, 117, 125, 145 119, 123, 125, 131, 137, 143, 145, 147, 149, 151 Following Directions all activity pages Character Analysis 11, 29, 37, 47, 61, 79, 83, 103, 115, 119, 141, 151 Life-Skills Materials 33, 103, 113, 121, 137 Comparing and Contrasting 3, 7, 9, 21, 23, 33, 45, 57, Parts of a Book 15, 87, 129 65, 67, 69, 73, 83, 85, 91, 97, 101, 107, 109, 115, Reference Materials 41, 55, 65, 95, 127 125, 127, 129, 137, 139, 141, 145 Context Clues 3, 9, 17, 27, 35, 43, 45, 65, 69, 85, 99, 105, 125, 129, 149 Spectrum Reading Grade 6 Index of Skills ii Table of Contents JBall. 2 A Stinging Surprise . 92 Yakyu. 4 Curious Creatures . 94 Experimental Appetites . 6 Catching a Wave . 96 Bonsai . 8 Wave-Sliding . 98 A Schoolyard Garden . 10 The Father of Modern Surfing . 100 A Growing Plan . 12 It’s All Academic. 102 What’s Cooking? . 14 Tune in to History . 104 Garden Gourmet . 16 Moving Images . 106 A Shriek in the Night . 18 A Reservoir of Memories . 108 Night Flyers . 20 Blocking Water. 110 A Beacon of Light . 22 The Eighth Wonder of the World . 112 Lighthouse Life . 24 Book Fair Brainstorming . 114 Lighthouse on the Move . 26 Book Fair Funds . 116 Keeping the Light . 28 A Writer’s Life. 118 A Picture Perfect Day . 30 So, You Want to Be a Writer? . 120 Point and Click . 32 A Lone Adventure . 122 Talking Photos . 34 The Real Crusoe . 124 The World of Ansel Adams . 36 A Desert in Bloom . 126 Photographing History . 38 A Dry, Hot Land . 128 Reality Check . 40 Calling Nowhere . 130 An Exotic Dilemma . 42 A Paper Surprise . 132 The Everlasting Beauty Fascinating Folders . 134 of the Everglades . 44 Seeing Differently . 136 It’s a Bird’s Life . 46 Looking Into the Eye . 138 A Bird Excursion . 48 Eyes on the Ends of Your Fingers. 140 Bird Garden . 50 The Quarreling Colors . 142 An Ancient Migration . 52 An Arc of Light . 144 A Trip to the Smithsonian . 54 Island Roots. 146 The Mega-Museum . 56 A Slice of Sea Island Life . 148 Always Have Hope . 58 The Art of the Islands . 150 Flying into History . 60 Answer Key . 152 A Move to Safety . 62 Home, Sweet Home . 64 Moving Mountains . 66 Watery Giants . 68 Creatures of the Night . 70 Going Batty . 72 A Natural Bath . 74 A Hot Topic . 76 The Little Giant . 78 Rolling to Victory . 80 The Racing Gloves . 82 A Reason to Run . 84 Getting Up to Speed . 86 A Mysterious Glow. 88 Living Lights. 90 Spectrum Reading Grade 6 Table of Contents 1 JBall Have you ever been to a baseball game in 11 Mrs. Ito nodded, “I forget that Americans another country or watched one on television? don’t have cheerleaders for baseball games. It also probably seems unusual that they’re all 1 Alex and Emily Godfrey had been in Japan with their parents for nearly a week. They were men. That’s just one of the differences between there to visit their mother’s old college American and Japanese baseball culture.” roommate, who had moved to Japan after 12 Once the game began, Emily and Alex college to teach English. She had planned to became quickly engrossed. The game itself come home after a few years, but she had fallen didn’t seem much different at all from the in love with the country and with the man who American baseball games they had attended. would eventually be her husband. They were surprised, though, to see people waving American flags from time to time. 2 “What’s our plan for the afternoon?” asked Alex after lunch one day. 13 Mr. Ito explained, “Japanese teams are each allowed to have three foreign players. When 3 “Well,” said Mr. Ito, “we have tickets for a 4:00 baseball game. How does that sound?” American players come up to bat, their fans show support by waving your country’s flag.” 4 “I had no idea baseball was popular in 14 Japan,” replied Alex. In between innings, Mrs. Ito bought Alex and Emily a snack. Some vendors sold pretzels, 5 “Dad takes us to professional games a few popcorn, and hot dogs, but Alex and Emily times a year at home,” said Emily. “Alex and I decided to try one of the Japanese alternatives. keep a list of cities we’ve visited where we have With Mrs. Ito’s help, they selected yakisoba, had a chance to go to a game. I had no idea that noodles flavored with ginger and soy sauce. Tokyo would ever be on our list!” 15 At the end of the game, the Godfreys and the 6 The Itos and the Godfreys prepared for the Itos piled back into the car to head home. Alex afternoon’s events. Just a few hours later, they and Emily were tired, but their minds were found themselves standing inside the stadium racing with all they had seen that day. among a crowd of excited fans. 16 “Did you have a good day, kids?” asked Mrs. 7 “What are the names of the teams that Godfrey, turning to Alex and Emily. are playing today?” asked Alex, looking 17 around curiously. They nodded. “I wish we could go to JBall games at home, too,” said Emily. “After today, I 8 “The home team is the Yakult Swallows. have a feeling that American baseball may never They will be playing the Hiroshima Toyo Carp,” be quite as interesting again.” said Mrs. Ito. “Baseball isn’t my cup of tea, but this promises to be a good game.” 9 The two families found their seats in the bleachers. Alex and Emily grinned as they listened to all the noisemakers around them.