Grade 5 Reading Study
Guide for the Mid-Year Exams
Unit 1: Inventive
Thinking
Essential Question:
How has inventive
thinking, as revealed in fiction and nonfiction, changed our world?
Book read for the Unit: Thomas Edison
You should know the setting, genre, characters, plot, main
events, central idea, author’s purpose, mood, and theme of the story.
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Reading Vocabulary Notebook
fiction, nonfiction, innovator, intricate, invention, genre, creativity, canal,
cautious, eager, engineer,
plead, curious, chores,
chemistry, laboratory, telegraph,
locomotive, objection, cellar,
lunge, grimace, chaotic,
dilemma, sarcastic, option
Concepts to Know:
Know how a biography is different from a novel.
Literary Techniques: setting of a story (time and place),
characterization used in a story, plot of a story (organization of events in a
story), central idea of a story, theme of a story, author’s point of view,
genre
The events of Thomas Edison’s life as described in the book that
you read.
Possible Essay Question:
The theme of Unit 1 is “inventive thinking”. In your essay, be
able to discuss the following questions:
1a. Describe Thomas Edison’s life (what were some of the
important events in his life).
b. How did he become interested in inventing?
c. What are some of his inventions?
d. How did these inventions make our lives easier?
___________________________________________
Unit 2: Exploration-Real or Imagined
Essential Question: What
do people, real or imagined, learn from exploring their world?
Book read for the Unit: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
You should know the setting, genre, characters, plot, main
events, central idea, author’s purpose, mood, and theme of the story.
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Reading Vocabulary Notebook
homophone, metaphor, nonsense literature, symbol,
exploration, soliloquy, antipathies,
curiosity, croquet, respectable,
commotion, tale, solemn,
timid, entangle, crimson, inquisitively, hoarse,
melancholy, contempt, moral,
startle, quarreling, pardoned,
verdict
Concepts to Know:
Know what the difference between fiction and nonfiction.
Literary Techniques: setting of a story (time and place),
characterization used in a story, plot of a story (organization of events in a
story), central idea of a story, theme of a story
Know the different events of Alice’s adventures in wonderland.
Possible Essay Question:
1. Alice in Wonderland is full of metaphors and nonsense
language. Answer the following question
based on information you read in the story.
a. Who was Alice?
b. What genre is Alice in Wonderland?
c. Describe Wonderland and some of its characters?
d. What are some things about Wonderland that appear
nonsensical?
e. How does the story end?
_____________________________________________
Unit 3: Playing with Words
Essential Question: How
and why do we play with language? How can words be used in different ways? Do
words have more than one meaning or a “hidden meaning”?
Book read for the Unit: Dr. Seuss
You should know the setting, genre, characters, plot, main
events, central idea, author’s purpose, mood, and theme of the story.
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Reading Vocabulary Notebook
dialogue, literal
language, figurative language, theme, exaggerate,
illegal, manufacture, editor,
illustrator, brewery, amendment,
Prohibition, doodle, alliteration, biography, homonym,
simile, onomatopoeia, activists
Concepts to Know:
Know the difference between literal and figurative language
Literary Techniques: setting of a story (time and place),
characterization used in a story, plot of a story (organization of events in a
story), central idea of a story, theme of a story
Know the events and details of Dr. Seuss’ life
Possible Essay Question:
1a. Who is Dr. Seuss?
b. What is he famous for writing?
c. Name some of his famous works.
d. Describe the important events of his life.
_____________________________________________
Grade 6 Reading Study
Guide for the End of Year Exams
Unit 1: I Won’t Grow Up
Essential Question:
How can we learn from the
characters and the authors who wrote about them?
Book read for the Unit: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
You should know the setting, genre, characters, plot, main
events, central idea, author’s purpose, mood, and theme of the story.
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Reading Vocabulary Notebook
setting, sequel, prequel,
repulsive, beckoned, colossal,
absurd, youth, corridor,
envious, environment, eager,
genre, pandemonium, yacht,
interview, shun, eldest, clever, despicable,
verdict, peculiar, shutters,
unresolved, emotion
Concepts to Know:
Know the difference between a prequel and sequel
Literary Techniques: setting of a story (time and place),
characterization used in a story, plot of a story (organization of events in a
story), central idea of a story, theme of a story, author’s point of view,
genre
Possible Essay Question:
The theme of Unit 1 “I Don’t Want to Grow Up, is described in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Write an
essay by using the following questions as a guideline.
1a. Describe Charlie and the type of life he lives.
b. What is the setting of the story?
c. What is the problem in the story?
d. How does Charlie decide to resolve the problem?
e. Explain why Willy Wonka wanted to leave his Chocolate factory
to a child rather than an adult, and why does he choose Charlie over the other
four children?
___________________________________________
Unit 2: Folklore: A Blast from the Past
Essential Question: How
is folklore simultaneously revealing and limiting?
Book read for the Unit: Percy Jackson’s The Lightning Thief
You should know the setting, genre, characters, plot, main
events, central idea, author’s purpose, mood, and theme of the story.
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Reading Vocabulary Notebook
plot, pourquoi tale, carnage,
camouflage, distracted, illusion,
pulverize, intrigued,
skeptical, chaperone, restrain, polytheism, legend,
myth, quest, destiny,
talon, contaminate, archery,
opponents
Concepts to Know:
Know what the difference between fiction and nonfiction.
Literary Techniques: setting of a story (time and place),
characterization used in a story, plot of a story (organization of events in a
story), central idea of a story, theme of a story
Possible Essay Question:
The Lightning Thief is based on Greek mythology. Write an essay
using the following questions as a guideline.
1a. Who
were the “big three”? What did they each get when they took over the world?
b. What
oath did Zeus and Poseidon make with Hades after World War II? Who broke the
oath? What happened?
c. Discuss
what happened when Percy was on border patrol at the creek.
d. How did
Percy finally find out the identity of his father? Who is it? What did it mean
for Percy?
_____________________________________________
Unit 3: Embracing Heritage
Essential Question: How
can we learn to appreciate our similarities and differences through literature?
Book read for the Unit: Escape from Saigon
You should know the setting, genre, characters, plot, main
events, central idea, author’s purpose, mood, and theme of the story.
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Reading Vocabulary Notebook
negative, reaction, trait,
donor, immune, prevalence,
transfusion, legacy, epilogue,
lore, realism, culture,
immigration, traditional
literature, heritage
Concepts to Know:
Literary Techniques: setting of a story (time and place),
characterization used in a story, plot of a story (organization of events in a
story), central idea of a story, theme of a story
Possible Essay Question:
Escape from Saigon: Be able to answer the following questions in
order to write on an essay heritage.
1a. Who are the main characters? Who is narrating the story?
What point of view is the story written in?
b. Why does the author, Andrea Warren, decide to write this
documentary? Why did she decide to tell Matt Steiner’s story, rather than the
story of her adopted daughter?
c. Tell Long’s story before he arrived in America.
d. How was his family/life different in America?
_____________________________________________________
Grade 7 Reading Study
Guide for the End of Year Exams
Unit 1: Characters with Character
Essential Question:
What makes characters in
historical fiction believable?
Book read for the Unit: My Brother Sam is Dead
You should know the setting, genre, characters, plot, main
events, central idea, author’s purpose, mood, and theme of the story.
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Reading Vocabulary Notebook
decent, protagonist, injustice,
epidemic, dishonorable, plot,
lawlessness, bayonet, theme,
livestock, deserter, surveyor,
armory, disarm, rebellion,
ciphered, agitator, patriots, rebels,
loyalists, treason, antagonist, endurance, dialogue, feat, musket
Concepts to Know:
Explain how authors make historical fiction believable
Literary Techniques: setting of a story (time and place),
characterization used in a story, plot of a story (organization of events in a
story), central idea of a story, theme of a story, author’s point of view,
genre
Possible Essay Question:
What makes historical fiction believable?
Use your answers to the following questions as a guide to write
an essay about My Brother Sam is Dead.
1a. Describe the historical setting of the story (time and
place).
b. Name the main
characters in the story and briefly describe them.
c. What is the main conflict in the story?
d. What happens to Life Meeker after he is abducted by the
Patriots?
e. Discuss the tragedy that befalls Sam. What is so ironic about
Sam’s death?
___________________________________________
Unit 2: Perseverance
Essential Question: How
do characters, real and fictional, use words, and actions to demonstrate
perseverance?
Book read for the Unit: The Voyage of Patience Goodspeed
You should know the setting, genre, characters, plot, main
events, central idea, author’s purpose, mood, and theme of the story.
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Reading Vocabulary Notebook
biography, maroon, linger,
arrogant, taunt, extraordinary, infer,
incite, mishap, perseverance,
unaccustomed, frigid, diligent,
agitation, autobiography, diction, solace, carcass, diminish, stoic, morale, unpredictable, oblivious
Concepts to Know:
Know what it means to persevere. Also, know some famous people
or fictional characters that have persevered.
Literary Techniques: setting of a story (time and place),
characterization used in a story, plot of a story (organization of events in a
story), central idea of a story, theme of a story
Essay Questions:
1a. Discuss Patience’s resistance to going whaling with her dad.
b. Describe what life was like on the ship.
c. Explain how her relationship changed with her dad during the
voyage.
d. Discuss how she got took control of her dad’s boat from
Bridgewater and rescued her dad,
brother, and crew that were marooned on an island.
_____________________________________________
Unit 3: Survival in the Wild
Essential Question: What similarities and
differences exist among characters that survive in the wild?
Book read for the Unit: Call of the Wild
You should know the setting, genre, characters, plot, main
events, central idea, author’s purpose, mood, and theme of the story.
Vocabulary: All definitions can be
found in the Reading Vocabulary Notebook
flashback, anthropomorphism, irony, figure of speech, foreshadowing,
point of view, puns,
synonyms, antonyms, constellation, sophisticated, innovation,
aviation, pertinent, preservation
Concepts to Know:
Know how flashbacks are used in a story
Literary Techniques: setting of a story (time and place),
characterization used in a story, plot of a story (organization of events in a
story), central idea of a story, theme of a story
Possible Essay Question:
1. In the novel Call of the Wild:
a. Explain why Buck loves John Thornton so much.
b. Explain how Buck got three cracked ribs while saving John
Thornton’s life.
c. Explain how the near-drowning incident, the fight in the
saloon, and the sled-pull tell the readers about Buck’s character.
______________________________________________________________________
Grade 7 Social Studies
Study Guide for the Mid-term Exams
Unit 1: Our Colonial Heritage- Beginnings-1500
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Social Studies Textbook or Classwork
/ Vocabulary Notebook
Migration, Ice Age, totem,
Mayans, Aztecs, Incas,
culture, Olmec, environment,
Iroquois League, Bering Land
Bridge, mosque, Ghana, Mohammed,
Mansa Musa, Socrates, Plato,
Aristotle, classical, Republic,
Direct Democracy, Feudalism, Crusades, Marco Polo, Black Death,
Renaissance, Johannes Guttenberg
Concepts to Know:
Geographic factors affected the settlement patterns and living
conditions of the earliest Americans.
Possible Essay Questions:
1. Describe how some people became slaves in West Africa, and
why did the value of slaves as an export increase over time?
2. Explain the difference between the Republic and a Direct
Democracy.
3. Explain how changes in climate led to migration in America.
_______________________________________________
Unit 2: New Empires in the Americas 1400-1750
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Social Studies Textbook or
Classwork / Vocabulary Notebook
Vikings, Vasco Da
Gama, Christopher Columbus, Line of Demarcation, Treaty of
Tordesillas, Ferdinand Magellan, circumnavigate, Columbian Exchange, conquistador,
Montezuma, Hernando De Soto, Alvar Nunez Cabeza, Ponce De Leon, Pizarro,
Cortes, Encomienda System, plantation,
Protestant Reformation, Henry
VIII, Sea Dogs, Spanish Armada, John Cabot,
charter, Northwest Passage, immune,
Middle Passage, Africa
Diaspora, Triangular Trade
Concepts to Know:
Exploration in the New World
Trade, Economics
Possible Essay Questions:
1. Explain how the growth of the Spanish Empire affected Native Americans.
2. Explain how the voyages of Columbus lead to a dispute between
Spain and Portugal.
3. How did the Columbian Exchange and the Slave Trade affect the
economics of Europe, Africa, and the Americas?
____________________________________________
Unit 3:
The English Colonies
1605-1774
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Social Studies Textbook or
Classwork / Vocabulary Notebook
Jamestown, John
Smith, Pocahontas, indentured servants, John Rolfe,
tobacco, headright system, Bacon’s Rebellion, Toleration Act, Georgia,
immigrants, slave codes
Concepts to Know:
To understand how the American colonists immigrated to America,
and made it their permanent home
Possible Essay Questions:
1. Describe how John Smith improved conditions in Jamestown and
explain what events led to a conflict between the Jamestown settlers and the
Powhatan Confederacy.
2. Compare and contrast the colony of Jamestown and the colony
of Maryland.
3a. Why were indentured servants necessary in Virginia?
3b. Compare and contrast Indentured Servants and Slave Labor.
_____________________________________________________________________
Grade 8 Reading Study
Guide for the End of Year Exams
Unit 1: Urban Settings in America: “It Happened in the City”
Essential Question: How
does the urban setting contribute to the selected story?
Book read for the Unit: The Great Fire
You should know the setting, genre, characters, plot, main
events, central idea, author’s purpose, mood, and theme of the story.
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Reading Vocabulary Notebook
urban, metropolis, rural,
connotation, conflagration, ominous,
ferocious, cacophony,
desolation, escalate, embers,
endeavored, engulfed, altercation, perish, discord, calamity,
epiphany, stifling, alliteration,
advocate, trivial, composure,
immobilized
Concepts to Know:
Difference between urban and rural
Literary Techniques: setting of a story (time and place),
characterization used in a story, plot of a story (organization of events in a
story), central idea of a story, theme of a story, author’s point of view,
genre
Possible Essay Question:
1a. How does the urban setting contribute to the Great Fire?
b. Discuss the origin and events surrounding the fire.
c. Who was questioned by the police?
d. Discuss events that happened after the fire, such as the
rebuilding of the city, the inquiry, and the O’Leary’s.
_______________________________________________
Unit 2: Rural Settings in America: It Happened in the Country
Essential Question: How
does the rural setting contribute to the selected story?
Book read for the Unit: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
You should know the setting, genre, characters, plot, main
events, central idea, author’s purpose, mood, and theme of the story.
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Reading Vocabulary Notebook
climax, conflict, agrarian, despicable, genre,
apprehensive, hamlet, acrid,
aloof, placid, languid,
feign, condone, emphatic, prejudice, prevail,
lynched, indignant, despondent,
despondent, subtle,
proprietor, engrossed, ransacked,
retrieve, tenant farmer
Concepts to Know:
Compare and contrast urban and rural settings
Literary Techniques: setting of a story (time and place),
characterization used in a story, plot of a story (organization of events in a
story), central idea of a story, theme of a story
Possible Essay Question:
1a. Discuss what the bus driver did to the black children
everyday as they walked to school.
b. How did the black children feel when this happened?
c. Explain what Cassie, Stacey, and their brothers did to get
their revenge.
c. In the last chapter, why does Cassie cry for T.J, even though
she never liked him?
_______________________________________________
Unit 3: Looking Back on America
Essential Question: How
does learning history through literature differ from learning through informational
text?
Book read for the Unit: The Boys’ War
You should know the setting, genre, characters, plot, main
events, central idea, author’s purpose, mood, and theme of the story.
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Reading Vocabulary Notebook
historical fiction,
stereotype, infectious, boil,
pre-conceived notion, point of
view, insight, contagious,
epidemic, parasite
Concepts to Know:
Compare and contrast fictional accounts of historical events to informational
text
Literary Techniques: setting of a story (time and place),
characterization used in a story, plot of a story (organization of events in a
story), central idea of a story, theme of a story
Possible Essay Question:
1a. Explain
what the biggest fear the boys had that fought in the Civil War.
b. What did the soldiers do when the
fighting stopped?
c. What happened to the dead that
could not be identified?
d. Describe what happened to the
soldiers that were captured by the enemy.
e. What type of conditions did they
have to survive in? Give an account of one of the soldiers that were captured.
_______________________________________________________________________
Grade 8 Social Studies
Study Guide for the Midterm Exams
Unit 1: The Civil War
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Social Studies Textbook or Classwork
/ Vocabulary Notebook
Fort Sumter, border
states, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, blockade runners, abolitionist,
Emancipation Proclamation,
Copperheads, habeas corpus, Gettysburg,
total war, Appomattox Courthouse
Concepts to Know:
The causes and results of the Civil War
Possible Essay Questions:
1. Compare and contrast the advantages of the North and South in
the Civil War.
2. Summarize the ways in which the Union and the Confederacy
were unprepared for war.
3a. Describe the costly mistake the Confederacy made before the
Battle of Antietam.
3b. Analyze the outcome of the Battle of Antietam and the effect
it had on both the North and the South.
_______________________________________________
Unit 2: Reconstruction
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Social Studies Textbook or
Classwork / Vocabulary Notebook
Reconstruction, John Wilkes Booth, 13th Amendment, Ten Percent Plan, Black Codes,
14th Amendment,
impeachment, 15th
Amendment, Carpetbaggers, Scalawags,
Hiram Revels, Ku Klux Klan, Grandfather Clause, segregation,
Plessy vs. Ferguson,
sharecropping
Concepts to Know:
To understand how the South had to rebuild after the Civil War
Possible Essay Questions:
1a. Define impeachment.
1b. What led Congress to call for the impeachment of President
Johnson?
1c. What was the result of the impeachment trial?
2. Compare/Contrast Scalawags and Carpetbaggers.
_______________________________________________
Unit 3a:
A Growing America 1850-1914
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Social Studies Textbook or
Classwork / Vocabulary Notebook
Great American Desert,
frontier, Comstock Lode, boomtown,
Open Range, Great Plains, cattle
drive, Chisholm Trail, Pony
Express, Transcontinental Railroad, Treaty of Laramie, reservations, Buffalo Soldiers, Battle of Little Bighorn, Long Walk,
Geronimo, Ghost Dance, Homestead Act, National Grange, Interstate Commerce Act, Populist Party
Concepts to Know:
The movement West after the Civil War
Possible Essay Questions:
1a. Explain why Americans moved West in the years following the
Civil War.
1b. What led to the cattle boom in the West?
2a. What were the Populist Party’s main issues?
2b. What did the election results of 1896 say about the
Americans ‘view on the free silver debate?
Unit 3b:
The Industrial Age
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Social Studies Textbook or
Classwork / Vocabulary Notebook
Bessemer Process, patents,
Alexander Graham Bell, Henry
Ford, Wilbur and Orville Wright, Thomas Edison, corporations,
Andrew Carnegie, trust,
monopoly, strike, Knights of Labor, American Federation of Labor, collective bargaining, Pullman Strike, Homestead Strike
Concepts to Know:
The beginning of big business
Possible Essay Questions:
1a. Describe the Bessemer Process.
1b. Describe how the Bessemer Process changed the steel
industry.
1c. Analyze how the Bessemer Process affected industry in the
United States.
2a. Analyze what problem Thomas Edison faced regarding the use
of electricity and how did he solve it?
2b. Explain what effect competition had on the use of
electricity.
3a. What advances were made in communication?
3b. How do you think telephones and automobiles changed the
lives of the people that used them?
4a. Why did conditions in factories begin to decline?
4b. Explain how workers were affected by specialization and
scientific management?
