Fact and Opinion Skateboarding

Name Chapter 5: Comprehension Skills Date Skill Test: Fact and Opinion

Directions: Read the passage. Then answer the questions that follow. You may take notes and mark the passage as you read it.

Skateboarding: Then and Now

Drive slowly down the streets of a idea of draining a swimming pool to ride typical U.S. neighborhood. You won’t have on its cement curves. This led to all kinds to travel far before a skateboarder slices of flips and other wall tricks. Some skaters the scene. Skateboarders are everywhere. practiced in empty cement rainwater Some skate for simple pleasure. Others washes. Many built wooden launch ramps in view the sport as a serious form of their neighborhoods. No one thought much competition. Still others ride skateboards about pads or helmets back then, though, just to get around town. Everyone should and people got hurt. own a board! When the public realized how dangerous Surprisingly, skateboarding is still a the sport can be, there was a slump in recent part of mainstream America. Way its popularity. Insurance issues arose, back in the early 1900s, people attached too. Skateboard manufacturers began to roller-skate wheels to planks of wood (or consider safety issues, and boarding slowly wooden crates). They added handlebars for came back. Today, new skate parks are steering. The first skateboards looked a lot springing up all over the country. like today’s scooters. They didn’t perform Throughout the ups and downs of its very well. popularity, skateboarding has grown into a The modern skateboard didn’t become very exciting sport. Competitions are thrilling popular until the California surf craze of the to watch. Skaters flip and fly from enormous 1950s. Surfers named the sport “sidewalk ramps while spectators hold their breath. surfing.” After the Roller Derby Skateboard A skater named Alan Gelfand invented came out in 1959, though, the fad spread the “ollie” (no-hands aerial) in 1978. Pro way beyond the beach. Over 50,000,000 boarder Tony Hawk has since become the skateboards were sold in just three years! king of tricks. He retired at the age of 31 The first skate contest took place in 1963, when he met his goal: Hawk landed the first- and new ways to ride began to develop. ever 900 (two and a half mid-air spins) at It wasn’t long before people were pool the 1999 X Games. Don’t try that one skating. A group of boarders had the clever at home!

Directions: Read questions 1–5 and choose the best answer for each.

You won’t have to travel far Over 50,000,000 1. Read these sentencesbefore afrom skateboarder the passage. slices 4. Read these sentencesskateboards from thewere passage sold in the scene. just three years! Sentence 1: Sentence 1: Everyone should own a The first skate contest took board! place in 1963, and new ways They didn’t perform very well. to ride began to develop. Sentence 2: Sentence 2: The modern skateboard Throughout the ups and didn’t become popular until downs of its popularity, Sentence 3: the California surf craze of skateboarding has grown Sentence 3: Sentence 4: the 1950s. into a very exciting sport. A skater named Alan Gelfand invented the “ollie” (no-hands aerial) in 1978. Sentence 4: Which sentence is a fact? Sentence 1

Sentence 2 Which sentence is an opinion? Sentence 3 Sentence 1 Sentence 4 Sentence 2 Sentence 3 2. What is the author’s opinion of Tony Hawk? Sentence 4 He admires Hawk’s skateboarding skills. He considers Hawk’s skate tricks 5. What is the difference between a fact too dangerous. and an opinion? He believes Hawk was too old to do A fact can be proven, but an opinion skate tricks. cannot. He thinks Hawk retired from A fact sounds more believable than skateboarding too soon. an opinion. A fact has been true for a longer period 3. Which of these words is a clue to an opinion? of time than an opinion. valid A fact is related to a more important topic than an opinion. should DONE! accurate Number Percent authority x 20 = Correct Score

x 20 = %