• Practice for every day of the school year • Help students prepare for standardized testing

DAY
5
Tell students they will practice both the 
Cause and Effect 
and 
Fact and Opinion 
skills. Then read 
the instructions at the top of the page aloud. Remind students of the 
Visualization
strategy, and 
tell them to make mental pictures as they read. Say: Sometimes you can use your mental pictures 
to understand what causes something to happen. Model by reading the last two sentences of the 
second paragraph: I picture an elephant using its trunk a lot to feed itself. The elephant’s trunk 
is busy; that’s the effect. The trunk is busy because the elephant needs a lot of food; that’s the 
cause. Have students read the passage. When students have finished, direct them to complete the 
skill and strategy practice activities. Review the answers together.
Cause and Effect
Students practice the skill by looking for what happens (the effect) and 
why it happens (the cause). 
Fact and Opinion
Students determine whether parts of the passage can be proved (facts) or 
represent what someone thinks or feels (opinions).
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5/6/10 3:59 PM

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Name: 
© Evan-Moor Corp. • EMC 3453 • Daily Reading Comprehension 
53
WEEK 8
DAY 1
READ THE PASSAGE
Look for how a volcano causes an island to form.
How an Island Is Formed
Most islands are located in oceans. Many of these islands are the tops of huge 
volcanoes. The volcanoes go all the way down to the bottom of the sea. But they 
began 
under
the ocean floor. The ocean floor is part of a layer of Earth called the 
crust
.
It is very hot underneath the crust, so the rocks there are soft. Those hot, 
soft rocks rise through cracks in Earth’s crust. That action is the beginning of an 
underwater volcano. 
When hot rocks rise through the crust, they hit the water. The water cools the 
rocks and hardens them. As more hot rocks spill out of the cracks, layers of rocks 
build up. Over a long period of time, the layers can get higher and higher. As a 
result, the underwater volcano might rise out of the ocean. The top of that volcano 
is an island.