Writing a Summary. Summary of Attack From Outer Space. The article Attack From Outer Space is about. The article concludes by informing readers about

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1 Core Skills Workout: Summarizing Writing a Summary A summary is a brief retelling of the most important parts of a story. It should include the information that someone would need to know to understand the story, without minor details or your own opinion. Directions: Complete the summary below, using the prompts in the margins to help you. 2. What event does the f irst section recount? Who or what was affected? 4. What event does the section Another Close Call describe? Summary of Attack From Outer Space The article Attack From Outer Space is about. It starts by telling about. The article then explains,, and It also describes The article concludes by informing readers about 1. Begin with a topic sentence that clearly states what the article is mainly about. 3. What three main points are explained in Rocks From the Sky? 5. The last two sections tell readers about an organization. What is it? What does it do?

2 Core Skills Workout: Main Idea and Supporting Details Show Me the Details The main idea of a story is an important idea that holds the whole piece together. Everything in the story relates to the main idea in some way. Supporting details give examples or explanations of the main idea. Directions: Read the main idea of Attack From Outer Space in the box below. Then use the hints to help you find supporting details. Explain how each detail supports the main idea. Main idea: Although we don t usually see them, space rocks are moving through space along with planet Earth, and they could someday pose a threat. Supporting Detail 1: (Hint: What happened in Chelyabinsk, Russia, in February 2013?) Supporting Detail 2: (Hint: How have people been affected by space rocks throughout history?) Supporting Detail 3: (Hint: How do we know that a very large asteroid larger than a mile across would cause massive destruction if it hit Earth?) Supporting Detail 4: (Hint: What happened in the region of Tunguska in 1908?) Supporting Detail 5: (Hint: Why did the B612 Foundation build the Sentinel satellite? What does this project show about space rocks threat to Earth?)

3 Core Skills Workout: Inferences Making Inferences An inference is something you can figure out from clues in a story, even though the story doesn t state it directly. Sometimes you can infer a simple detail, and other times you can infer an important idea or author s purpose. Directions: The chart below lists details or ideas you can infer from Attack From Outer Space on the left, and clues that help you make those inferences on the right. Fill in the empty boxes. We ve done the first one for you. What I can infer: Clues in the text that suggest this: 1 People in Chelyabinsk had no idea what was happening when the fireball exploded. The text says that people gawk, puzzled. They run outside and pull their cars over to look. The article suggests people s thoughts, saying, What was that? A missile? A plane crash? Aliens?! (p. 6) 2 The text says, In a single instant, 1,200 people are injured. They are lucky. It could have been worse. (p. 6) 3 Long ago, people thought space rocks came from some special or holy source. 4 The author wants to reassure readers that a large asteroid won t really hit Earth. 5 (Hint: Think about the main idea of the article.) The text says that if you saw a meteorite, you probably wouldn t think it was anything special and you d walk right by it. (p. 8)

4 Core Skills Workout: Text Evidence Find the Evidence This month s nonfiction article Attack From Outer Space tells the story of a huge fireball that exploded above a Russian city. In this, you ll explore information anddetails in the article. Directions: Read each question below carefully. Some will ask you to select text evidence or details in the story to support a statement. Others will ask you to respond in your own words, supporting your ideas with text evidence. 1. As the fireball approached Chelyabinsk, the citizens became puzzled. Circle the letter of the piece of text evidence that best demonstrates their curiosity: a. Zooming toward the Earth s surface, the rock gets hotter and hotter. b. An eerie trail of smoke is left behind. c. What was that? A missile? A plane crash? Aliens?! d. People are knocked to the ground. 2. In your own words, describe what a meteor is, where it comes from, and why it sometimes enters the Earth s atmosphere. Use specific evidence from the text. 3. The end of the section Rocks From the Sky discusses the dangers of asteroids. Circle the letter of the piece of text evidence that best explains how catastrophic an asteroid strike could be to Earth: a. Biot s research finally convinced scientists that rocks can and do fall from space. b. Each day, Earth is bombarded by some 100 tons of debris, most of which burns up in the atmosphere without causing any harm. c. Sixty-five million years ago, an asteroid likely led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. d. Suddenly the sky lit up, and a shock wave knocked him to the ground. Continued on next page >

5 Core Skills Workout: Text Evidence Find the Evidence, cont d. 4. In your own words, describe what happened when a space rock exploded near S.B. Semenov s farm in Circle the letter of the piece of text evidence that best demonstrates the likelihood of a space rock, like the one in Chelyabinsk, hitting Earth: a. This rock has been circling close to Earth for thousands of years. b. The last time a meteoroid caused as much damage as the one in Chelyabinsk did was more than 100 years ago by chance, also in Russia. c. The mystery inspired bizarre theories a UFO explosion, a science experiment gone wrong, a black hole passing through the planet. d. Few of today s scientists ever imagined they would live to see anything like it. 6. Explain how scientists might be able to alter an asteroid s course away from Earth. 7. What is one conclusion you could draw from the article? a. Scientists are working hard to protect the planet from asteroids. b. Asteroids and fireballs are the biggest threat to our safety today. c. Since both meteoroids hit in Russia, we can conclude that Russia is extremely susceptible to meteoroids. d. The people in Chelyabinsk could have prevented this disaster. 8. Diane Murphy, a spokesperson for the B612 Foundation, says, Right now, we re on Spaceship Earth, and we re flying through the universe without any windows. Explain why it s important to be able to see what s in space. Use examples from the article.