Worksheet Set - Reading Comprehension Level 6

SKILLS COVERED:
Reading Comprehension
Word Meanings

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 Elephants Reading
Comprehension Level 6
STORY 1

STORY 1
Elephants Reading Passage

When Cynthia Moss goes to work, she drives out to the water hole. What will she do out there?
Look for elephants! Ms. Moss has been studying elephants for more than 30 years. She wants
to learn all she can about how elephants live. She watches where elephants go and what they do.
Ms. Moss loves elephants. Even when she isn't working, she sometimes sits and watches
elephants!

Cynthia Moss didn't plan to spend most of her life with elephants. She was born in New York
state. After she finished college, she worked at a magazine. She wrote articles about the plays
in theatres. But then she went on a long trip to East Africa. She loved it there. She decided to
move to Africa to study elephants.

Why are elephants so interesting? Cynthia Moss and other scientists learned many things that
people didn't know before. For years, people saw elephants traveling in herds. But they didn't
know that the herds are elephant families.

An elephant family is made up of a group of female elephants and their babies. Males live on their
own, or in small groups with other male elephants. The only spend time with the family when it is
time to mate.

Female elephants teach their families many things. They need to teach their babies how to use
their trunks to carry water to their mouths. The babies also use their trunks to hold onto the
tails of their mothers.

The oldest female elephant is the family leader. Ms. Moss learned that the leader has an
important job. The leader remembers where to find food and water. She guides the whole family
in its travels.

At first, Cynthia Moss worked with other elephant researchers. Then she set up her own project.
She studies elephants in a park in Kenya. With her helpers, Ms. Moss gathered information on
every elephant in the park. They tracked families as they moved from place to place. Now there
is a database of about 1,000 elephants!

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 Elephants Reading
Comprehension Level 6
STORY 1

STORY 1 (continued)
Elephants Reading Passage

By following elephants, Ms. Moss learned a lot about what they like to do. Elephants are very
social. They spend a lot of time with their families. They eat together and bathe together. They
play together by wrestling with their trunks. They even talk to each other!

Elephants talk by making many different kinds of sounds. They trumpet, squeal, grown or rumble.
Elephants get excited when a member of the family comes back after being away. They spin
around, squeal, and flap their ears to greet their friend.

Elephants have close friendships with other elephants in their family groups. If one elephant
gets hurt, the others try to help. All the elephants celebrate when a new baby is born. And if a
baby loses its mother, other females in the family look after it.

Ms. Moss thinks that elephant friendships are one of the things that make elephants special.
Not many other animals have such close families.

Ms. Moss also works to protect the elephants of the world. She tries to show people how
interesting they are. She has made three films about the life of elephants. She wants to show
people elephants the way she knows them. Elephants are not so different from us. They are
smart and caring. And they have friendships just the way we do.

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 Elephants Reading
Comprehension Level 6
STORY 1 - COMPREHENSION

1. Read the story and circle the correct answers.

1. Where is the most likely place to find a group of elephants to watch?

a) in a herd
b) near water
c) near a male elephant
d) near an elephant that is hurt

2. The author of this story and the researcher, Cynthia Moss, have something in common.
What do they have in common?
a) They both want people to see how interesting elephants are and to care about them.
b) They both live and work in Kenya.
c) They both have observed how elephants live in Africa.
d) They both write articles about plays and films.

3. The article about Cynthia Moss and elephants does not give complete information about elephants.
From this list of headings pick FIVE for which there is NO direct information.
a) Fun and Games
b) Habitat (where they live)
c) Shelter
d) Leadership
e) Threats (dangers)
f) Communication
g) Food (what, how they get it, how much)
h) Family Life
i) Adaptations (special ways they have of surviving their habitat and threats)

4. Cynthia Moss works very hard to reach her goals. Identify four sentences that support this statement.
a) Ms. Moss gathered information on every elephant in the park.
b) Ms. Moss has been studying elephants for more than 30 years.
c) After she finished college, she worked at a magazine.
d) She has made three films about the life of elephants.
e) Ms. Moss thinks that elephant friendships are one of the things that make elephants special.
f) Even when she isn't working, she sometimes sits and watches elephants!

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 Elephants Reading
Comprehension Level 6
STORY 1 - TRUE or FALSE

Read each sentence then circle TRUE or FALSE.

The family leader remebers where to find food and water.

TRUE / FALSE

Elephants trumpet, squeal, moan and mumble.

TRUE / FALSE

Elephants ignore each other when they meet.

TRUE / FALSE

Female elephants guide the family in its travels.

TRUE / FALSE

Elephants are too busy to play.

TRUE / FALSE

If a baby elephant loses its mother it is left on its own.

TRUE / FALSE

Elephants wrestle with their trunks.

TRUE / FALSE

Baby elephants use tusks to hang onto their members.

TRUE / FALSE

The leader of an elephant family is the biggest male.

TRUE / FALSE

Elephant herds are families.

TRUE / FALSE
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 Elephants Reading
Comprehension Level 6
STORY 1 - PHONICS

Read each sentence then circle TRUE or FALSE.

All these words from the story have the vowels i and e side by side.
In which word can you hear the the separate sounds of both vowels?
a) babies
b) scientists
c) families
d) tries

Which four words have the sound of sh as in sheep?

a) scientists
b) social
c) researchers
d) information
e) friendships
f) special
g) teach

Which ea vowel pairs have the sound of long e as in sheep? Pick three.
a) east
b) learned
c) researcher
d) leader
e) eat

Which noun does NOT need a capital leer?

a) database
b) east africa
c) kenya
d) new york
e) cynthia
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 Elephants Reading
Comprehension Level 6
STORY 1 - PUNCTUATION

Read each sentence then circle TRUE or FALSE.

Type in the missing punctuation. Use commas, periods,

question marks or quotation marks.

Elephants trumpet __ squeal __ groan and rumble__

Do you think Ms__ Moss recorded these sounds on her films__

Ms__ Moss answers__ I did tape the sounds__ You can tell how
an elephant is feeling by the sound it makes__

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 Elephants Reading
Comprehension Level 6
STORY 1 - WORD MEANINGS

Match each event (cause) with its effect.

information kept
celebrate in a computer

social rejoice, show happiness

research observe and study to learn

more about something

special
unusual

database
safeguard

protect
enjoy company

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 Elephants Reading
Comprehension Level 6
STORY 1 - WORD MEANINGS 2

Read each pair of sentences and circle the sentence in which the
underlined word is used with the same meaning as its meaning
in the story.

Her project was completed after much work and time.

Its trunk can project almost two metres from its face.

Its trunk can suck in water and then spray water to keep cool.
The trunk in the aic contained old photographs.

This article is about elephants.

This article of clothing is new.

The train went off its track.

When you track an animal be very quiet.

When I move too fast I get tired.

When you move to a new place, you have to pack many boxes.

I will guide you to the end of the trail.

My guide knew the trail really well.

She watches how they behave.

All watches tell time.

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 Roller Coaster Reading
Comprehension Level 6
STORY 2

STORY 2
Roller Coaster Reading Passage

Wind rushes past your face. Your stomach feels like it has dropped to your knees. You scream.
The roller coaster zooms down a hill at top speed. What an exciting ride!

People have enjoyed the thrill of roller coasters for hundreds of years. Roller coaster rides began
in Russia. Over 300 years ago, people made slides out of wood and ice for winter festivals. A
slide could be as tall as an 8 storey building. At first, people carved seats into ice blocks to make
slippery sleds. Then they climbed up a set of stairs at the back of the slide. It was a wild ride. The
ice blocks had no brakes. Sand at the boom of the slide helped to slow them down.

People wanted to have the fun of riding the slides all year round. Someone thought of making cars
with wheels. Several roller coasters were built in France. They were the first coasters where the
cars were locked to a track. Even so, early roller coasters were quite dangerous. There were many
accidents.

The Switchback Railway was built at Coney Island, New York, in 1884. To ride it, people climbed a
tower. At the top, they got into a small train. It took them for a ride down a slope for about 600
feet (almost 200 metres). At the boom, passengers got out, and the driver took the train
back up to the top. It wasn't much of a thrill ride. Its top speed was only six miles (10 kilometres)
per hour. But people had never seen anything like it. Roller coaster rides sprang up in many places.

As more roller coasters were built, there were many improvements. New wheels stopped the cars
from leaving the track. Safety chains kept the cars from rolling backwards. On turns, the track
was tilted, or banked, for a faster, smoother ride.

Today, roller coasters come in all shapes and sizes. One of the fastest is the Top Thrill Dragster
in Cedar Point, Ohio. It can reach speeds of 120 miles (190 kilometres) per hour. However, it
may not be the fastest for long. Amusement park owners are always thinking ahead. Each new
coaster is faster and more thrilling than the last.

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 Roller Coaster Reading
Comprehension Level 6
STORY 2

STORY 2 (continued)
Roller Coaster Reading Passage

Designing a new roller coaster can be tricky. The roller coaster has to be safe. It also needs to be
fast, with twists, loops and surprising drops. The track is planned carefully. All roller coasters
depend on the force of gravity to keep them moving. A roller coaster train, perched at the top of
a hill has a store of potential energy. It helps to think of potential energy as energy that is
waiting to be used. As the first car coasts over the top of the hill, gravity pulls it downward. The
pull of gravity releases the potential energy changing it into kinetic energy. The cars whoosh
down the track.

When adding hills, drops and curves, the designer needs to think about forces of physics, such as
friction. The designer plans and models the coaster on a computer. Then engineers build the ride
in parts. Engineers put the coaster together at the park. It is tested over several days before it
opens to the public.

A roller coaster ride may only last a few minutes, but creating it takes much longer. It takes
about a year to design and build a new roller coaster. Right now, people are working to create
next year's thrills.

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 Roller Coaster Reading
Comprehension Level 6
STORY 2 - COMPREHENSION

Fill in the blanks.

1. The cars of roller coasters keep moving because of the force of ___________________.

2. Cars made of ice blocks slowed down when they hit sand beacuse the sand was
not smooth like the icy slide and it created ___________________.

3. To stop cars from falling off, the cars were _____________ to the track.

4. At the top of a hill a roller coaster has ________________ energy.

Circle the right answers.

5. Which statement from the story tells you that next year's new
roller coasters will outperform the ones that exist now?
a) Right now people are working to create next year's thrills.
b) Each new coaster is faster and more thrilling than the last.
c) Amusement park owners are always thinking ahead.
d) It's tested over several days before it opens to the public.

6. Which three sentences from the story show that safety is

important to people who run roller coasters?
a) New wheels stopped the cars from leaving the track.
b) The track is planned carefully.
c) It's tested over several days before it opens to the public.
d) Each new coaster is faster and more thrilling than the last.

7. Riding a roller coaster is both fun and frightening. Which word does not belong
in this list of words related to feelings on a roller coaster?
a) exciting
b) thrilling
c) surprising
d) scream
e) improvements
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 Roller Coaster Reading
Comprehension Level 6
STORY 2 - SEQUENCING
Put a number beside each sentence to show the order
they appear in the story.
Designing twists, loops and drops ____________
with safety and gravity.

Ice blocks on icy slides provided ____________

thrills in Russia long ago.

Dangerous roller coasters on ____________

wheels were built in France.

120 miles per hour is the ____________

speed to beat in Ohio.

Designers make models and ____________

engineers build the parts.

People at Coney Island climbed a ____________

tower to ride down a slope.

Safety chains and tilted tracks ____________

were new improvements.
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 Roller Coaster Reading
Comprehension Level 6
STORY 2 - CAUSE AND EFFECT

Match each event (cause) with its effect.

Because they want to

ride slides all year long someone made cars with
wheels to ride down
slides.

Because safety chains were

aached to the cars. it has to be planned
carefully.

Because a roller coaster needs

to be fast, even with it wasn't much of
twists, loops and drops, a thrill.

Because the first ride at Coney they couldn't roll

Island reached a speed of only backwards.
six miles (ten km) per hour,

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 Roller Coaster Reading
Comprehension Level 6
STORY 2 - SYLLABLES

Each word in the list has 3 syllables or beats.

Write the number of the syllable that is stressed in each word.

improvements ___________________

festivals ___________________

dangerous ___________________

gravity ___________________

kinetic ___________________

potential ___________________

amusement ___________________

passengers ___________________

accidents ___________________

engineers ___________________

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 Roller Coaster Reading
Comprehension Level 6
STORY 2 - PARTS OF SPEECH - NOUNS & VERBS

Look at the underlined word in each sentence and

then circle whether it is used as a NOUN or a VERB.

There were many twists in the track NOUN or VERB

of the roller coaster.

The roller coaster track twists and NOUN or VERB

turns along its course.

The track loops twice before it goes NOUN or VERB

uphill.

The loops in the track frighten the NOUN or VERB

passengers.

The steep climb adds suspense to NOUN or VERB

the ride.

The cars climb up a steep section NOUN or VERB

of track.

The curves in the track are tilted. NOUN or VERB

The track curves sharply and shakes NOUN or VERB

the cars.

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 Roller Coaster Reading
Comprehension Level 6
STORY 2 - HOMONYMS

Find homonyms from the story for the words below.

Write each word in the blanks below.

stares ____________

breaks ____________

write ____________

billed ____________

kneads ____________

would ____________

story ____________

daze ____________

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 Roller Coaster Reading
Comprehension Level 6
STORY 2 - BASE WORDS

What is the base word for each word below?

Write each word in the blanks below.

improvements ____________

slippery ____________

designer ____________

exciting ____________

computer ____________

amusement ____________

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 Roller Coaster Reading
Comprehension Level 6
STORY 2 - WORD MEANINGS

Use these words to answer the questions below:

potential, releases, physics, friction, kinetic

What is the name of a science that studies

energy and maer?

_____________________

What is a word to describe the result of rubbing one thing

against another?

______________________

What is a word for something waiting to be used?

______________________

What is an adjective to describe something in motion?

______________________

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