TEACHER’S NOTES

AND
ANSWER KEY

Comprehension
Skill-Boosters
 Comprehension Skill-Boosters
➜

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Cover Design: Image Quest, Inc.

Three Watson
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Copyright © 2006 by Saddleback Educational Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of

this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
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ISBN 1-59905-003-X

Printed in the United States of America

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 TO THE TEACHER
The READ•REFLECT•RESPOND series has been specially designed
to improve the comprehension skills of students working at or just below
level. The very short, high-interest reading selections are both manageable
and appealing—even to students who say they don’t like to read. The
exercises that follow get right to the point. After exploring their own
experience, opinions, and prior knowledge, students are asked to respond
to a variety of traditional comprehension questions and to think critically
about the material they just read. The brevity of each lesson is intended to
promote a “can do” attitude and reinforce a sense of accomplishment.
Experience has proven that students steadily gain confidence through
many such small successes.

You can extend the effectiveness of the READ•REFLECT•RESPOND

lessons in several ways:

• Reinforce acquisition of new vocabulary by having students write

original sentences that demonstrate the new words’ meanings.

• Provide students with an opportunity to develop their oral reading skills

by having them take turns reading the selections aloud to the class or a
small group.

• Improve critical-thinking skills by using the REFLECT questions as a

springboard for class or small-group discussion.

• Make a group activity of the “Look it up in a reference source” questions.

This enables your least-apt students to practice reference skills with the
support of their peers.

READ•REFLECT•RESPOND 3
 ANSWER KEY
LESSON 1: Dinners Long Ago (pp. 6–7)
REFLECT:
1. Answers will vary.
2. POSSIBLE ANSWERS: burping, throwing
food on the floor, eating while
lying down, eating with one’s fingers
3. POSSIBLE ANSWERS: mead, frumenty,
eel pie, boar’s head, peacock,
swan, dormice
RESPOND:
1. c 2. a 3. b 4. a
5. POSSIBLE ANSWERS: Both ate mainly with
their fingers and washed their hands
after each course.
6. POSSIBLE ANSWERS: Romans burped to
show their appreciation and ate
while lying down. Some medieval
diners had tasters and they threw
bones and food to dogs.
7. c 8. b
9. an alcoholic drink made with honey,
water, malt, and yeast
10. broth made from simmered vegetables,
meat, or fish, often used as a basis for
gravy, sauce, or soup
11. vegetables
LESSON 2: Two Pirates (pp. 8–9)
REFLECT:
1. The crew takes over command of
the ship from the captain.
2. Answers will vary.
RESPOND:
1. noun 2. verb 3. c 4. a
5. POSSIBLE ANSWER: Probably not. In the
pirate business, it helps to look
intimidating.
6. POSSIBLE ANSWER: They hadn’t caught
any pirate ships, so they wouldn’t
be paid.
7. off the coast of America
8. Teach/Blackbeard 9. Kidd
10. robbery and murder
11. POSSIBLE ANSWER: He might not have had
trouble with his crew.
12. POSSIBLE ANSWER: Probably not. His lifestyle
was very dangerous.
4 READ•REFLECT•RESPOND
13. In return for a delay in his execution, Kidd
offered to reveal the whereabouts of his
hidden treasure. His offer was refused.
No treasure has ever been found.
14. He let Blackbeard set up bases on
the South Carolina coast from which
to attack ships.
LESSON 3: Movie Bloopers (pp. 10–11)
REFLECT:
1. POSSIBLE ANSWER: on TV, DVD, VHS, and PSP;
on pay per view
2. POSSIBLE ANSWER: Moviemakers often
use computer-generated special
effects instead of actual stuntwomen
and men.
RESPOND:
1. blockbuster = a big hit
flawless = perfect
inscription = writing
interrogation = questioning
clearly = obviously
2. a 3. b 4. c 5. b 6. b 7. b
8. a lighting expert on a movie set
9. moves scenery and sets up where
a camera shot will go
LESSON 4: Jobs in Victorian England
(pp. 12–13)
REFLECT:
1. POSSIBLE ANSWERS: pesticides and other
unhealthy chemicals; harmful fats
and sugars; genetically engineered
products
2. POSSIBLE ANSWER: They might be eliminated
by technology.
RESPOND:
1. c 2. b 3. b 4. a 5. a 6. b
7. POSSIBLE ANSWER: a shy person, or someone
who didn’t like to talk
8. POSSIBLE ANSWER: someone who liked
excitement, working with animals,
and killing rats
9. POSSIBLE ANSWER: that his pies contained
cat or dog meat
10. POSSIBLE ANSWER: The ferret could fit
inside a rat hole.
11. a 12. c 13. 64 years
LESSON 5: Letters to the Editor (pp. 14–15)
REFLECT:
1. Answers will vary.
2. POSSIBLE ANSWER: in newspapers and
magazines, both online and in print
3. POSSIBLE ANSWER: They want to express their
views on certain subjects.
RESPOND:
1. a 2. b 3. a 4. c 5. c
6. POSSIBLE ANSWERS:
•whether or not there should be a
ban on pit bulls
•whether or not pit bulls are inherently
a dangerous breed
•whether the dog itself or the irresponsible
owner is responsible for the attack
7. What happened was a tragedy.
8. b 9. a 10. a 11. O 12. O 13. F
LESSON 6: Different Times,
Different Homes (pp. 16–17)
REFLECT:
1. POSSIBLE ANSWERS: TV, computers, DVD & CD
players, MP3 players, video games
2. POSSIBLE ANSWERS: hot and cold running water,
furnace, stove, electricity, refrigerator,
telephone
RESPOND:
1. b 2. c 3. reading or charades
4. from pumps in the street
5. heated water quickly 6. c 7. a 8. b
9. b 10. b 11. a 12. c 13. a
14. 1850: Millard Fillmore
1930: Herbert Hoover
LESSON 7: Maya Lin and “The Wall” (pp. 18–19)
REFLECT:
1. CIRCLE: black, engraved, v-shaped, large,
granite
2. CIRCLE: awesome, stirring, memorable,
touching, provocative
3. Answers will vary.
RESPOND:
1. c 2. d 3. a 4. b 5. b 6. a 7. b
8. inappropriate 9. a student
10. had a second memorial built
11. came to see it every year
12. Answers will vary.
13. civil rights movement
LESSON 8: Shoeless Joe (pp. 20–21)
REFLECT: Answers will vary.
RESPOND:
1. b 2. a 3. a 4. declared innocent
5. punished severely to show what can
happen when rules are broken
6. b 7. c 8. b 9. c 10. Answers will vary.
11. Landis was the baseball commissioner who
banned the White Sox players for life.
LESSON 9: A Backstage Dresser at
a Fashion Show (pp. 22–23)
REFLECT: Answers will vary.
RESPOND:
1. b 2. a 3. c 4. whips, hustle, grabs
5. hurried, crowded, bustling, tense
6. The Big Apple
7. a hairstylist in a high-fashion
New York modeling agency
8. as a step toward her goal 9. a 10. b
11. The model might have slipped
on the runway.
12. It’s almost time for the model
to walk down the runway.
LESSON 10: Get Your Sleep! (pp. 24–25)
REFLECT: Answers will vary.
RESPOND:
1. a 2. b 3. c 4. b
5. every 90–100 minutes 6. 5–30 minutes
7. heart slows down, breathing slows down,
muscles relax
8. 30 9. beneficial 10. Answers will vary.
11. b 12. a 13. b
14. episodes during sleep where a person
periodically stops breathing for a short
time—perhaps up to 10 seconds
LESSON 11: Mary, Queen of Scots (pp. 26–27)
REFLECT: Answers will vary.
RESPOND:
1. outraged 2. revolt 3. overthrow
4. rally 5. alarmed 6. implicate
7. 3 8. 1 9. Elizabeth I and Darnley
10. SEQUENCE: 4, 3, 1, 5, 6, 2
11. CIRCLE: determined, bold, religious
12. Mary’s half-brother.
13. He was strangled and then his house was
blown up to cover the murder.
READ•REFLECT•RESPOND 5
LESSON 12: Gaming 101 (pp. 28–29)
REFLECT: Answers will vary.
RESPOND:
1. a 2. c 3. a 4. b 5. b 6. a 7. c
8. O 9. F 10. F 11. O 12. b, c
13. POSSIBLE ANSWER: They’ve grown up playing
games, so they’re the real experts. They’ll
make games that will sell.
14. POSSIBLE ANSWERS: designer (game, environment,
characters, stories, sound), artist
(environment, character, texture, graphic,
FX, technical), programmer (game, AI, UI,
animation, environment, visual effects),
tester, animator, modeler, writer, composer,
digital cinematographer, scripter, game
boss
LESSON 13: Ketchup (pp. 30–31)
REFLECT:
1. CIRCLE: salsa, mustard, honey, soy sauce,
mayonnaise, tartar sauce, pickle relish,
horseradish, chutney
2. Answers will vary.
RESPOND:
1. c 2. a 3. c 4. a
5. SEQUENCE: 4, 1, 3, 2, 5
6. O 7. F
8. POSSIBLE ANSWERS:
•Ke-tsiap was made with pickled fish
and spices, while the main ingredient in
today’s ketchup is tomatoes.
•Today’s ketchup is pre-cooked and
bottled.
9. POSSIBLE ANSWER: Men weren’t involved in
making ketchup.
10. mustard 11. Answers will vary.
LESSON 14: Eliot Ness (pp. 32–33)
REFLECT: Answers will vary.
RESPOND:
1. c 2. a 3. c 4. b 5. a 6. a
7. CIRCLE:
He tried his luck with several
businesses. He was the leader of the
“Untouchables.” He was Cleveland’s
head of public safety.
8. b 9. c
10. An illegal place to buy liquor.
11. They made and/or sold illegal liquor.
6 READ•REFLECT•RESPOND
LESSON 15: HyperActive Bob (pp. 34–35)
REFLECT:
1. POSSIBLE ANSWER: to prevent theft
2. POSSIBLE ANSWERS: salads, fruit, yogurt
3. Answers will vary.
RESPOND:
1. c 2. a 3. b 4. c 5. a 6. b 7. c 8. c
9. computer system 10. before 11. waiting
12. used 13. stressful 14. coming to
15. WHERE: Dallas, Texas; WHEN: 1921
LESSON 16: The Amazing Microwave (pp. 36–37)
REFLECT: Answers will vary.
RESPOND:
1. T 2. F 3. F 4. T 5. T 6. T 7. F 8. T
9. It heats the pie from the outside to the
inside.
10. The molecules turn so their charges line
up with the microwave’s charges.
11. Friction is caused when objects rub
against each other.
12. The positive charges line up with negative
charges, and the negative charges line up
with positive.
13. microscopic 14. differences
15. POSSIBLE ANSWER: The cup has no water and fat,
so its molecules are not affected by the
microwave.
16. to kill harmful bacteria
LESSON 17: Whale Hunting (pp. 38–39)
REFLECT:
1. – 2. Answers will vary.
3. POSSIBLE ANSWERS: electricity, wind, gas, coal,
oil, sunlight, hydrogen, nuclear energy
RESPOND:
1. stop 2. frightened 3. snap 4. finally
5. spear 6. board 7. fat 8. b, c 9. a
10. b, c 11. a, c 12. a, b 13. c
14. NAME OF NOVEL: Moby Dick; YEAR PUBLISHED: 1851
LESSON 18: Simon Wiesenthal:
Nazi Hunter (pp. 40–41)
REFLECT: Answers will vary.
RESPOND:
1. a 2. b 3. a 4. c 5. b 6. b 7. b
8. F 9. T 10. F
11. POSSIBLE ANSWERS: Communists, homosexuals,
and Roma (also known as gypsies)
LESSON 19: Seesaw Science (pp. 42–43)
REFLECT:
1. Answers will vary.
2. CIRCLE: scissors, hand saw, shovel,
potato peeler
RESPOND:
1. CIRCLE: dolly, crowbar, ice cream scoop
2. no, yes 3. force 4. fulcrum
5. machine 6. lever 7. T 8. F
9. F 10. T 11. F 12. F 13. F 14. T
15. equal 16. hoisted
17. kind 18. repositioned
19. POSSIBLE ANSWERS: pulley, screw, wedge,
wheel and axle
20. Henry Ford
LESSON 20: Little-Known Facts About Our
Presidents (pp. 44–45)
REFLECT: Answers will vary.
RESPOND:
1. a 2. c 3. a 4. b 5. b 6. a
7. a, c 8. b 9. c 10. c 11. a
12. John F. Kennedy
LESSON 21: Cars with “Feelings” (pp. 46–47)
REFLECT: Answers will vary.
RESPOND:
1. b 2. c 3. a 4. b 5. b
6. CIRCLE: surprise, resentment, joy, fear
7. Answers will vary, but perhaps when a
driver allows you to go ahead of him.
8. F 9. F 10. T 11. T 12. F
13. emotions 14. creation
15. furious 16. reacts 17. 1980s
LESSON 22: Some Facts About Kissing (pp. 48–49)
REFLECT:
1. Answers will vary.
2. POSSIBLE ANSWERS: slapping hands, shaking
hands, smiling, saying hello
3. curtsy
RESPOND:
1. They were afraid they might catch the
plague.
2. You were socially superior to the person.
3. POSSIBLE ANSWER: shaking hands
4. POSSIBLE ANSWER: to protect their makeup
5. c 6. a 7. a 8. b
9. affectionate 10. inferior 11. usual
12. public 13. beneficial
14. a group of animals or plants living and
growing together
LESSON 23: Dangerous Animals (pp. 50–51)
REFLECT: Answers will vary.
RESPOND:
1. avoid 2. dusk 3. encounter
4. prey 5. a 6. b 7. b 8. a
9. POSSIBLE ANSWERS: lying down; being still and
quiet; not fighting
10. POSSIBLE ANSWERS: avoiding them; hitting them
in the face and eyes
11. b 12. d 13. a 14. c
15. •Wash the bite with soap and water.
•Immobilize the bitten area and
keep it lower than the heart.
•Get medical help.
LESSON 24: The Lottery (pp. 52–53)
REFLECT: Answers will vary.
RESPOND:
1. T 2. F 3. T 4. T 5. F 6. F 7. F
8. b 9. a 10. c 11. wager
12. submit 13. garbage
14. picture 15. celebrity
16. Both had winning tickets. Both were
worse off than before they bet.
17. F 18. O 19. F 20. O 21. F 22. F
23. one thousand times one million
LESSON 25: Gun-Control Propaganda (pp. 54–55)
REFLECT:
1. POSSIBLE ANSWERS: too lazy; too busy; don’t
think the issues or candidates are relevant
to their lives; don’t think their vote will
make a difference
2. Answers will vary.
RESPOND:
1. senseless 2. chaos 3. numerous
4. dispute 5. opponent
6. b 7. a 8. a 9. O 10. F 11. O
12. People would not be allowed to own
handguns.
13. Nothing. Things would stay the same.
14. the process of spreading or promoting
particular ideas to help one’s own cause
or to damage an opponent’s cause
READ•REFLECT•RESPOND 7
LESSON 26: How to Survive an Earthquake
(pp. 56–57)
REFLECT: Answers will vary.
RESPOND:
1. touch 2. moved 3. handle it
4. back and forth 5. catches fire
6. a, b, c 7. b 8. c 9. b 10. a 11. 8.6
LESSON 27: Another Look at Abe Lincoln
(pp. 58–59)
REFLECT: b, e, f
RESPOND:
1. legislature 2. nominate
3. piercing 4. forge 5. address
6. b 7. c 8. a, b 9. a 10. a, c 11. c
12. Four score and seven years ago . . .
SUPER LESSON: The Olympics: Mirror
of the World (pp. 60–63)
REFLECT:
1. – 2. Answers will vary.
3. POSSIBLE ANSWERS:
•WATCHING ON TV: close-up views, replays, more
comfortable seating
•WATCHING LIVE: more exciting, fun to be with
other fans
4. Answers will vary.
8 READ•REFLECT•RESPOND
RESPOND:
1. b 2. a 3. b 4. a 5. c 6. b 7. a
8. amateurs 9. scholarships
10. excluded 11. commercialized
12. billions 13. African-American
14. POSSIBLE ANSWERS: Many felt it was
inappropriate to continue the games after
such a tragedy.
15. POSSIBLE ANSWERS: Poorer athletes had to work
to support themselves. Richer athletes
didn’t have to worry about making money,
so they could devote full time to training.
16. b, d, e 17. c 18. a
19. POSSIBLE ANSWERS: In the 1988 games,
•there were many more nations
participating.
•they admitted professional athletes.
•the events were shown on TV.
•Ben Johnson lost his gold medal after
testing positive for steroids.
20. SEQUENCE: 5, 3, 1, 2, 4
21. Answers will vary.