Ready Summarizing Informational Text

Food Web:

Which of the following best states the central idea of the article?

• Both long and short food chains make up food webs.

• Food webs connect different food chains and trophic levels

• Food webs consist of many different food chains, the shortest of which involves grass, rabbits, foxes, and decomposers.

• The food chains that make up food webs stay in balance naturally as long as humans don't interfere.

Food Web:

Which statement best summarizes the central idea and important details of paragraph 3?

• A forest food chain includes leaves, caterpillars, sparrows, snakes, eagles, hawks, vultures, and bacteria is one of the longest in that ecosystem

• One forest food chain begins with caterpillars eating leaves. Then birds, snakes, and larger birds eat each other. Finally, bacteria in the soil decomposes the remains.

• A forest food chain starts with trees, eaves, and caterpillars. Birds eat the caterpillars and are eaten by snakes. The chain continues until a vulture eats a disgusting dead thing.

• One ecosystem may have many different food chains. One example of a food chain in a forest involves leaves, caterpillars, sparrows, snakes, eagles, hawks, vultures, and bacteria.

Spiders: In Pursuit of Prey

Which sentence should not be included in a summary of the article?

• It is fun to watch the spiders in the backyard.

• It is common to find spiders in outdoor areas.

• Spiders spin webs that help them catch their prey.

• Spiders are useful because they consume harmful insects

Spiders: In Pursuit of Prey

Which is the best summary of paragraphs 4 through 6?

• The garden spider weaves an elegant orb web. The web looks like a bicycle wheel. Other species also create webs with silk spun from their abdomen.

• Spiders spin silk to weave their webs. When an insect encounters the silky thread, it might become the spider's meal. Different sorts of spiders spin different types of web.

• The spider uses its rear legs to reel out its silk and then weaves a web. Spider silk is even stronger than steel. The garden spider makes two kinds of silk to trap its insect prey.

• Spider silk is made of protein. The silk creates a strong web that might have a tripwire. Spiders have oily feet. A spider's bite is full of venom.

Spiders: In Pursuit of Prey

Which of the following best summarizes the entire article?

• There are more than 36,000 different kinds of spiders. Some of them catch their food with a web, such as the garden spider with its orb web. Others, like the wolf spider, just jump on their prey, bite it, and then eat it.

• Spiders may resemble insects, but they are actually arachnids, which is a different class of animal. Arachnids have eight legs instead of six, as insects do. Other arachnids include scorpions, ticks, and daddy longlegs

• From mountain peaks to deserts to caves, the spider is found almost everywhere. Wherever spiders go, they help humans by controlling the insect population through hunting. Since spiders don't have teeth, they dissolve their prey by spitting digestive juices on it.

• Spiders are predators in a group of animals called arachnids. More than half of all spiders catch prey by building webs from silk they spin themselves. Most spiders are harmless to humans, who actually benefit from the pest control provided by these insect-eating creatures.

Which best describes what a summary is?

• The main or most important idea of the text

• A really long detailed piece of writing

• A dumb thing teachers make you write

• The entire text in your own words

A summary should including opinions and personal beliefs

• True

• False