The Life and Times of the Ant Study Guide

Comprehension Skill: Text and Graphic Features

Good readers use text and graphic features to help them make sense of what they read.
Text features:
bold print, italics, highlighted words (draw attention to important words)
captions (give more information about the picture)
headings/titles/subheadings (tell what a text will be about)
Graphic features:
timelines (give a sense of when things happened in relationship to other events)
diagrams (show the parts of something)
pictures
charts/graphs (organize data)

Vocabulary:
transport
transfers

social
chamber

obstacles
reinforces

scarce
storage

exchanges
excess

Vocabulary Skill: Suffixes able and ible

a suffix is an affix at the end of a base word that changes its meaning
both -ible and -able mean able to be or inclined to be
Examples: comfortable = able to feel comfort
edible = able to be eaten

Grammar: Participles
A participle is a verb form used as an adjective. Each verb has 2 forms that can be used
as participles.
The present participle form has ing added to the verb. (ex. jump jumping)
The past participle form usually has ed added to the verb. (ex. jump jumped)
A participial phrase begins with a participle and describes a noun.
The larvae growing in the ant nest need food. (describes larvae)
The ants make bricks out of dirt mixed with saliva. (describes dirt)
Ants crawling through the grass are in search of food. (describes ants)