Wednesday your child will be taking the Reading STAAR Test (State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness).

He/she has been preparing for this test the entire year. Below are some tips to remember when taking the test. Take time to go over each one. Also, remember: Get a good rest tonight Eat a healthy breakfast Wear comfortable clothing _____1. You need to survey the text first. Look at titles, headings or sub-headings, charts, pictures, and captions. Label all of the text features. Underline your title, bracket your first and last paragraph, and identify the main idea. _____2. Read the entire passage. Then, read the questions to become familiar with what they are asking. Box key words in the question, and write a job sentence. _____3. Remember to read all answer choices and prove your answer by underlining your text evidence. It may be a word, phrase, or sentence. Mark what you feel best answers the question. Dont forget to write the number of the problem next to where you underlined. _____4. Passages will not all look like a story. It may be a letter, newspaper, recipe, directions, etc. Every graph, title, and picture is important. _____5. When you are trying to figure out the definition of a word, look to see if it has a prefix or suffix.
Prefixes Prefix AntiBiDisImInInterMidMisPreReSubUnSuffixes Suffix -ful -ish -less -like -ment -ward -y Against Two Not Not Not Between Middle Not Before Again Under Not Meaning More Like Without Resembling State of being In the direction of Like or resembling Meaning Example Antislavery Bicycle Dislike Dislike Improper International Midnight Misspell Preview Repaint Subway Untie Example Fearful Childish Mindless Ladylike Astonishment Outward icy

_____6. If there is no prefix or suffix, check to see if it is a compound word. _____7. Use context clues to figure out the meaning of a new word by Reading the sentence with the new word (answer choice) Reading the sentences before and after the sentence Taking a guess at what the word probably means Try writing your answer by the word in the passage. Does it make sense? _____8. Remember some words have more than one meaning. Be sure to look to see which meaning makes the most sense in the passage. Ask yourself how the word is used in the passage. Is it a noun? Verb? _____9. For fact and opinion questions, a fact can be proven. An opinion will contain opinion words such as: like, good, pretty, important, think, probably _____10. If you must decide the order in which things happen, look for key words such as first, last, before, and after. If there are no sequence words, read the sentences before and after the event described in the question. _____11. With main idea questions, ask yourself what the paragraph or section was mostly about and try to say it in one sentence. The main idea is usually Who? Did What? The details are why or how. _____12. A summary will tell you what the passage was about, but will probably be longer than a main idea and will contain important details. Also, the summary has information from the beginning, middle, and end. REMEMBER TO USE PARAGRAPH NUMBERS! _____13. Patterns of Organization: Description -the author explains characteristics of something or gives examples. It may be one main idea and its details. Signal words: for example, for instance, most importantly, it looks like, and characteristics are Sequenceshows the order that things happened in. Signal Words: first, second third; first, next, last, finally, since, before, in the end

Comparison-compares how things are alike and different. Signal Words: Differs, similar, on the other hand, both, although, but, alike Problem/Solution-author states a problem and one more more solutions to get the outcome.

Signal Words: Differs, similar, on the other hand, both, although, but, alike Cause/Effect- explains why or how something happened. Remember the cause happens first in real life and then the effects happen second. Signal words: Ifthen, Because of, Since, in order to, As a result of, why _____14. Sometimes a question will ask you to read between the lines or infer. Remember the answer will not be in the passage, but you need to use the information and main idea of the passage to decide which answer makes the most sense. _____15. Authors write passages for many reasons. Stories or poems are written to entertain or humor us. Reports and newspaper articles are written to give us information Sometimes newspaper articles and letters are written to persuade or convince us to do something. Sometimes recipes or articles are written to explain how to do something or a process. Sometimes an article or poem is written to express feelings on a topic. _____16. Theme is the central idea or message of a piece of fiction. It is usually the message the author wants you to get from their work. It can be a lesson you learned. _____17. Point of view is who is telling the story. First person is the character is telling the story from her or her view. Signal words would be I or we. Third person is a narrator or person not involved in the actual story. This includes tehe thinking and action of all characters. Signal words he, she, or the characters names. _____18. Drama is a play that tells a story through dialogue. The characters have parts that tell the plot, setting and theme. The actions of the characters and setting are often in italic print. ______19. Poetry is a way for an author to express their feelings about topics. Narrative poetry: tells a story. It can have a setting, conflict, characters, and a resolution. Lyrical poetry: have figurative language, creates vivid images and mimics songs Humorous poetry: it makes you laugh, its funny Free Verse: no rhyme or rhythm _____. 20 Poetry has many elements. Repetition- keeps repeating Rhythm- has a beat, like a song Rhyme- the word endings match

Meter- pattern of rhyme Stanzas-group of lines together, like a paragraph Line breaks- space between stanzas Couplet- 2 lines together _____21. Figurative Language-when the author uses language to paint a picture in your head. Simile- using like or as to compare 2 things [Link] bed was as soft as a cloud. Metaphor: comparison that say one thing is something Ex. His heart was a stone. Personification: giving an object humanlike qualities. Ex. The sun smiled down on me. _____ 22 . Check over all of your work. Go back and look at how you proved your answers. _______________________ ________________________ Student Signature Parent/Guardian Signature