Chapter 2: Finding The Main Idea (Evidence, Tracks and Trails)
Part 2: Breaking Down and Explaining Text
II. Finding The Main Idea (Evidence, Tracks and Trails)
An essential component to finding the main idea in text is the ability to take it apart. By doing this, you, the reader, are able to examine its different aspects more closely to better get the gist of the material. As you perform this task, it is important that you look for key pieces of evidence that address the over-all theme and central idea relevant to the subject matter. These pieces of evidence are known as the evidence, tracks and trails of the content. Like an investigator looking for clues at a crime scene, your task will be to uncover the clues in the text this will help you to arrive at the most logical conclusions to help you to make sense of what you read. If you follow this process during your examination of the ensuing 14 passages that have been designed to help you to develop this skill, you will discover that the challenge of finding the main idea will no doubt be a breeze. Furthermore, you will become more competent at explaining content you read.
Chapter 2
Bread Crumbs Open matching workbook questions
Little children can be such messy eaters, especially when they are given food that crumbles and falls to the floor with one bite. Although this can often result in a clean-up activity undesirous of adults, it appears to be an exciting pastime for these tiny crumb-leaving monsters. When I was a child, I enjoyed eating coconut tarts, coconut cakes, banana bread and other tasty Bahamian tidbits. Although crumby, these home-made treats are known to get more and more yummy with every bite. You can ask my mother, she, too, can tell you about the mess that I, too, once made as a little child.
The Dilly Fight Open matching workbook questions
Growing up, I can still recall those days during the summer months when my friends and I would go dilly picking in Fox Hill. We would take large brown paper bags or boxes and fill them up with huge, brown, juicy ripe dillies to take home for our usual dilly feast. During one of our dilly-picking adventures, the dilly’s that we spent hours in the hot sun picking never made it home.
After eating our bellies full while picking, we carried about two dozen bags and boxes full of dillies on to my grandmother’s front porch. Grandmother had every fruit tree imaginable in her yard, especially dilly trees. No one in the Fox Hill area had more dilly trees than she did. Many Bahamians looked forward to dilly season. It was a special treat to eat the dillies from Grandmother’s dilly trees. They were bigger, better, sweeter and more delicious than everyone else’s dillies in Fox Hill. People from all over the island would come to Grandmother looking for dillies as soon as dilly season arrived.
Well, as we waited for my grandmother to drop us home. One of my friends, Jan, took three dillies from one of the bags and started to juggle them. Jan was quite the show off, so she took two more dillies out of the bag and tried juggling all five. While Jan juggled, she kept tossing the dillies higher and moving her hands faster. Moments later, one of the dillies flew from her grasp and hit her brother Jim square in the face. Before Jim could say anything, a second dilly smacked him in the mouth. Then, a third dilly greeted my right cheek with a smash. Before Jan could pause to apologize, I grabbed one of the two remaining dillies from her hand and slam dunked it into her hair. Jan yelled and threw the last remaining dilly from her hand like a basketball player’s pass into my nose. Suddenly, we all started reaching into the bags and boxes. Just like that, dillies were being tossed back and forth like two little children on a seesaw, hanging on for dear life.
Let me tell you. My grandmother’s porch and yard were one big dilly mess. While we ran, screamed and laughed, we threw dillies into each other’s faces, all over each other’s clothes and everywhere else you could imagine. As we threw the dillies, some flew through the windows of Grandmother’s house, staining her curtains and carpet. Unfortunately, even Grandmother felt the wrath of dillies that day. Guess what? Like a flash, Grandmother, too, join the dilly fight. In all my life, I never knew that my grandmother had such a straight hand. In quick succession, she rained a barrage of dillies on Jan, Jim and myself. Dillies came at us with the fury of a boxer’s fists – two, four, six eight. Excitedly, we all laughed as we continued hurling dillies back and forth. Despite the cleanup that followed from the dilly mess we all made, that was one dilly fight in Fox Hill none of us would ever soon forget.
Jeff the Clever Chef Open matching workbook questions
On the island of Exuma, there are many great chefs but none as good as Jeff. Just like his mother and grandmother, Jeff has a knack for cooking meals that other chefs could only dream of preparing. You might not believe this, but from the age of 5, Jeff knew how to bake bread, cookies and tarts. By the time Jeff was 7, he was able to cook a full-course meal, using some of his mother’s and grandmother’s homemade recipes. At the age of 10, Jeff was experimenting and using some of his own original recipes that later became the cornerstone of island cuisine. When Jeff was 12, his cooking became so popular, people from all over the island came to seek him out to taste his famous island dishes.
The Journey Open matching workbook questions
Travel from one part of Nassau to the next can be quite arduous, especially when it is done on foot. Although the island is only 7 miles wide by 21 miles long, it would be almost impossible to walk the entire length and breadth of the island in one day. With this understanding, it is important to prepare both physically and mentally prior to engaging in such a tedious activity. To ensure that your journey is a successful one, you need to assemble a team of walkers along with a few medical personnel as well as have an emergency vehicle on standby in the event that someone passes out from the heat or gets hurt. In addition, it is important to take lots of water, healthy snacks and first aid kits with you on the trip. These are vital for you to prevent dehydration, hunger and to meet your medical needs if needed at any point during your walk.
Bowe the Bahamian Book Worm Open matching workbook questions
Many would agree that books are homes to unending knowledge and amazing secrets. Fortunately, Bowe discovered this priceless treasure for himself. At a very tender age, while growing up in Inagua, his passion and love for reading books were cultivated. Wherever Bowe went, he was always seen carrying a book under his arm and holding another in his hand. During recess, Bowe always found pleasure in spending time in the library reading and learning new things. Because Bowe was such an avid reader, he read everything from science to history, fact to fiction, taking special interest in the dictionary and encyclopedia.
Like a true patriot, Bowe was particularly fond of reading books about Bahamian culture. Every day he would borrow one or two books from the library to take them home for his usual reading routine. Bowe had a memory like a sponge, and he read books so effortlessly. Amazingly, he was never caught reading the same book more than once. His teachers and classmates all admired his dedication to literacy. As a result, Bowe always came first in his class, earning countless awards for his brilliance.
Pulling Teeth Open matching workbook questions
Oh, Johnny! oh Johnny! When will you ever learn to listen to your mother? You are such a naughty and stubborn little boy. Trying to get you to do the right thing is like pulling Wisdom teeth in the dentist chair. Before I left home this morning, I told you not to go anywhere near the kitchen. Now look at what you’ve done. Look at this place, it is in one big mess. Lord, what should I do? All of my cupboards that were once filled with beautiful bottles of home-made mango, tamarind, pineapple and mulberry jams are broken into hundreds of pieces all over the floor, walls, cupboards, windows and appliances. I am so mad at you Johnny. Look at your hair, your face, your clothes, your hands and your feet, they’re all covered in jam. If I didn’t know any better, I would call you Jam Monster, a suitable replacement name for your birth certificate. Unfortunately, not even a good spanking could fix this disaster. Before I begin this arduous task of cleaning up this place, it’ll probably be best to begin with you. Johnny, come with me outside, so I can hose you off.
No! Not You This Time! Open matching workbook questions
Everyone always says that you’re not the innocent little girl I’ve always thought you to be. For some reason, whenever I see you, it’s the first impression that I get. it’s that charming smile, that well-behaved child, that look of an angel you wear like the picture-perfect saint you are at home. Admittedly, I guess it’s the father within me that won’t allow me to see Daddy’s little girl as anything but an angel. Like little girls often do, you surely had me wrapped around your fingers. Oh, How could I ever resist that adorable smile.
When I received a call from Principal Shakes with a complaint about my little Sarah, I found it so hard to believe. While he stammered, he told me about the messy classroom incident that she was involved in, I could not bring myself to accept the truth. Not my little Sarah, I thought to myself. She would never, ever, turn over desks and chairs, throw books and pencils on the floor, dance around her classroom, write funny messages on the chalkboard or put pieces of chewing gum on her teacher’s chair. After listening to Principal Shakes five-minute rant, I hung up the phone, jumped in my car and headed to Sara’s school.
When I arrived, I quickly headed to the principal’s office, where I found Sarah along with her classmates Twitch, Lenny, Katie, Dexter, Patty and Paul waiting. When Sarah saw me approaching, she shot me a “ sorry Dad glance” and hung her head real low to avoid my heart-broken gaze. Moments later, when the other parents arrived, Principal Shakes beckoned all of us to look at the surveillance screen on the back wall of his rather opulent-looking office. As he rolled back the footage to the scene of the event, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Yes, there she was, my little Sarah and all of her classmates wreaking havoc on her classroom. Even worse, Sarah was the one who started it all and her classmates joined in to help her make the mess. Truthfully, I was so embarrassed. At the moment while still in shock, all I did was turn to my darling Sarah and say, “No, not you this time!”
Jail Break Open matching workbook questions
Yesterday evening while watching Eye Witness news, I couldn’t believe my ears when it was reported that three prisoners had escaped from prison. According to the report, Boxhead, Tallman and Lockpick, well-known criminal aliases to the police had escaped from police custody. To tell you the truth, these men were no light weights. During their time on the streets, these three men racked up a list of arm robberies, car thefts, house burglaries and other crimes as long as about 3 swimming pools. Now they are on the run again, no one around here is safe anymore.
Based on the report, officers Gringo Stuart and Calico Leadon were on duty last night when the jail break occurred. Further information revealed that one of the officers was found chained, gagged and blindfolded in a prison cell and the other was discovered in the parking lot unconscious, holding a bunch of keys. Both officers Gringo and Leadon were later taken to the Princess Margaret Hospital by ambulance for medical care. As investigation into this escape is launched into this most unfortunate incident, I am puzzled as to how such breaches of security could have taken place. All things considered, could the chain of events that unfolded been planned? Were the officers on duty apart of a bigger conspiracy? We’ll have to wait and see what the investigator’s report uncovers. Stay tuned.
Disgruntled Danny Open matching workbook questions
All Danny ever do is complain, nothing ever makes him happy nowadays. When growing up, the Danny I once knew is no longer the same. Sometimes I wonder what could have gone wrong in his life. As far as I know he has a lovely wife and two beautiful children. Yet, he is always sad and appears to be lonely. Danny has a well-paying job. He wears the best suits and drives the best cars. But whenever, we talk, he never has anything positive to say about his life. Yesterday, I saw Danny at 700 Wines and Spirits, a popular seller of alcoholic beverages in The Bahamas. He was sweating profusely as he reeked of alcohol. As we chatted, he seemed teary-eyed but didn’t shed one tear. “How’s the family?” I asked. “The children are well.” He responded. “And the Madam, how is she?” “If I knew, I would tell you.” He said apathetically. From his response, I realized that all wasn’t well at home. “Guess things are going well on the job?” I inquired. “That is a place, I’d rather not be.” He exclaimed. “The money is good, but the environment stinks.” He retorted with a frown on his face. All I could do was give him a pat on the back and tell him that everything would work out in the long run. Admittedly, this encouragement brought Danny very little comfort. All he did was turn his head and uttered the words, “if you say so, my friend.” Then, with a sad look on his face and his shoulders slumped, he jumped into his car and drove away.
The Lazy School Teacher Open matching workbook questions
Look at that teacher, you can tell by her slow walk, her idle talk and the lack of enthusiasm in teaching that she is lazy. Whenever she has work to do, she complains that it is too much. Even though she has transitioned to a much smaller school having less children to teach, she still complains that the work is too much. Over the years, I have learned from my affiliations with her that she is not as trustworthy as I once thought.
What a lazy teacher, many would say. Some would stop and stare while passing her way. It appears that she is oblivious to the ongoing gossip and mockery made of her every day, mistakenly believing all are her friends when they are not. Quite often, her colleagues make fun of her dirty clothing and nonchalant style of dress. As far as being organized and prepared, that too is a major problem. Admittedly, she loves to eat, has very little desire to work and always finds herself at the butt of her colleagues’ jokes.
Bahamians Wear Your Seat Belts Open matching workbook questions
When driving on the streets of The Bahamas, Bahamians, please wear your seatbelts. How many times must you be warned to exercise this precautionary measure? Admittedly, Bahamians are very stubborn people. Many of them are not proactive at all. They would rather wait for something to happen and then react to it. This is a very bad practice. Bahamians please wear your seatbelts. It is not wise for you to go speeding around unrestrained. Imagine if an accident happened, do you know that wearing a seatbelt could help save your life? Whether you’re young or old, rich or poor, you are not above the laws of The Bahamas. As you think about the advice being given, you need to also be mindful of those little passengers that you carry around. Before you venture out on the very busy streets of Nassau, make sure that their seatbelts are securely fastened. When they stand up and the vehicle is moving, tell them to sit down. Never mind the crying and complaining. It is your responsibility to look out for their safety. Remember, they cannot protect themselves. You might think that it’s okay for you to disregard the seatbelt laws of your country every once in a while, it is not. You should never let your guard down. Protect yourself and others as you drive the extra mile.
Connected by Fate Open matching workbook questions
Gavin and Gabrielle were best friends since childhood. They were so close. No one could ever get between them. People would often joke that they were like two peas in a pod. It was evident that the two shared an unspoken love waiting to be expressed. As the years passed, Gavin and Gabrielle went to the same schools. Whether this was an incident or fate remains to be seen, but the two friends always stayed together no matter what.
Over the years, Gabrielle grew into a lovely, fair-skinned girl with big brown eyes and curly, long black hair. No doubt, all of the guys at Bahamian Pride High School admired her. Gavin, too, was quite good looking. He was tall, dark, muscular and rather handsome. Around school, he was quite the charmer. All of the girls loved to be in his presence, but none more than the apple of his eye, Gabrielle.
When time came for them to graduate high school, both Gavin and Gabrielle were the most sought after dates to the prom, but the two friends rejected all of the advances and requests as the two preferred going to the prom together. Although Gavin never told Gabrielle, he had fallen deeply in love with her. Likewise, Gabrielle felt the same, but she did her best to restrain her emotions. On the night of the prom, Gavin planned to tell Gabrielle just how he felt about her. Although they were best friends, he wondered if Gabrielle would reject him, considering how long they were friends.
Well, the time came and prom night arrived. As they danced, Gavin’s grip on Gabrielle grew tighter and more intense. As he looked deeply into her big brown eyes with such intangible tenderness, he drew her closer and closer to him. For a moment, it felt as if time had stood still. Then, mustering all the courage he could find, Gavin told his life-long friend that he was in love with her. With the words rolling off his lips ever so soft, he drew her face into his and kissed her with the fervor of a thousand fires and was met with the same fiery flames he had kindled. Gabrielle was always a happy girl, but this would be the very first time in her life, she would feel a deep love beyond friendship that she had been desiring for so very long.
Panhandling Pete Open matching workbook questions
On the island of Inagua, Panhandling Pete is no stranger. Unfortunately, when he was five-years-old, his parents abandoned him at a local church in the community and no one was able to find them since then. Even though some people at the church took him in and gave him a home, when Panhandling Pete was eight-years-old, he ran away and began living on the streets. To survive, Pete began panhandling to make money to buy food. This is how he got his name.
Although he was young, Panhandling Pete was a very wise little boy. He would often go to churches and soup kitchens in the area to ask for food. By doing this, Panhandling Pete was able to save his money to buy books and clothes for school. Even though he was homeless, Panhandling Pete was determined to educate himself, so that someday he would be able to rise from the sands of poverty and to make something of himself. Eventually, Panhandling Pete became so well-known to all on the island, people would just stop and offer him money.
One day, while Panhandling Pete was out with his money basket begging for money, something extraordinary happened. A very wealthy man, Mr. Quick Sands, the owner of the establishment, where he would often go to panhandle, called out to him. While they talked, Mr. Quick Sands made him an irresistible offer. If he would quit his day job of panhandling, he would give him a job to manage one of his stores, provide him a place to stay and pay for him to complete his education. Like the clever boy he always was, Panhandling Pete accepted the offer. As a result of making that good decision, he rose from the sands of poverty and stepped into the quick sands of wealth.
Softhearted Sue Open matching workbook questions
Never before in my life had I met a girl like Sue. She was so sweet, she was so kind, she was so very softhearted. Because of her kindhearted nature, people often took advantage of her. Whenever Sue stepped into any room, you could feel her presence, you could feel her warmth, you could feel her smile.
Every day at school, I would often watch Sue in amazement. During lunchtime, she would share her lunch with friends who were less fortunate. Other days, she would give it all away to friends who didn’t have anything to eat at all. On weekends, when she was home from school, Sue would go to nearby foster-care homes to read stories to little children, to assist with distributing food to the poor, or to help with the elderly. No doubt, the genuineness of her kindness could be felt by all who knew her. Sue loved giving and doing for others, and people loved her as much as she loved them.
III. Using Context Clues (Native Fruits, Plants and Animals)
In this chapter, you will learn how to use context clues. Developing this skill is important, for it broadens your understanding of words and their meanings and teaches you to make connections with the hidden clues you find in text with content that can sometime prove very challenging to understand. Throughout this chapter, you will be introduced to 10 passages about native fruits, plants and animals. That said, all of the passages you will read are carefully designed to take you on an educational journey to expand your word bank, while maximizing your ability to use context clues to aid vocabulary expansion and growth.