PORTALS TO READING - Perfection Learning

REPRODUCIBLES
PORTALS TO READING
Reading Skills Through Literature
Perfection Learning ®

Table of Contents
Meet the Author. .......................................4
The Story in Brief .......................................5
Word Attack Skills
Short Vowels .......................................6
Compound Words ....................................7
Consonant Sounds ...................................8
Base Words ........................................9
Rhyming Words. ....................................10
Comprehension Skills
Cause and Effect ....................................11
Homophones ......................................12
Language Fun ......................................14
Thinking About the Story ..............................16
What’s the Order? ...................................17
What’s the Story?. ...................................18
Roman vs. Greek Gods ............................19
Creativity
You Were There . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Make Your Own Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Kings of Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Answer Key ..........................................23

Name _____________________________
Short Vowels
Read the words in the word box.
Think about the short vowel
sounds you hear. Then choose a
word that makes sense in each
sentence. You will not use all the
words.
Example: Ancient Rome
INSIDE ANCIENT ROME
existed
between 753 B.C. and 476 A.D.
1. Artifacts from ancient Rome have been .
2. Archaeologists and other scholars make educated
about ancient civilizations.
3. The wolf stood guard over the twins until a and
his sheep came along.
4. Romulus began his city on April 21, 753 B.C.
5. It was to keep togas in place.
6. women wore Indian cotton and Chinese silk.
7. Everyone wore wooden in the bathhouses.
8. People carried in water from fountains.
9. Children and played outside before the volcano
erupted.
10. Caesar to crucify his captors.
wealthy existed laughed
discovered couple shepherd
public building clogs
difficult threatened guesses
Now write your own sentence about Inside Ancient Rome. Use
the word that is left in the word box.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
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Name _____________________________
Base Words
INSIDE ANCIENT ROME
Read the underlined word in each sentence.
This word has been made by adding a suffix to
the base word. Write the base word on the
blank line after the sentence.
Example: The story of Rome’s creation is a legend.
1. Romulus and Remus were the rightful heirs to the throne.
create
2. Surely the twins would drown, starve, or freeze to death.
3. The basket reached safety in the shallow pool.
4. The Greeks lived nearby in southern Italy.
5. Rome was the most powerful city on the Mediterranean Sea.
6. Doctors relied upon trial and error to help patients.
7. Romans spread vast amounts of information across their empire.
8. Children in Rome did many of the same things kids do today.
9. Families held special services to keep the gods happy.
10. People panicked when Mt. Vesuvius began to erupt.
© 2002 Perfection Learning ® Corporation
9

Name _____________________________
Cause and Effect
INSIDE ANCIENT ROME
Read each sentence and answer the
questions about what happened and why it
happened.
1. Amulius would do anything to be king, so he tried to kill the princes.
What happened? _______________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Why did it happen? _____________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
2. After Caesar died, his nephew, Octavian, took over as the ruler of
Rome.
What happened? _______________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Why did it happen? _____________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
3. Romans wore clogs in the bathhouses so they wouldn’t burn their feet
on the hot floors.
What happened? _______________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Why did it happen? _____________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
© 2002 Perfection Learning ® Corporation
11

Name _____________________________
Thinking About the Story
Read the questions below. Think about what
happened in Inside Ancient Rome. Write your
answers on the lines below the questions.
1. How did Remus and Romulus know where to build their city?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
2. What does the famous saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day” mean?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
3. Why is the city of Pompeii considered “lost”?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
4. Why was Julius Caesar killed?
INSIDE ANCIENT ROME
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
5. How do we know what it was like in ancient Rome?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
6. How did the floors of the bathhouses stay warm?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
16 © 2002 Perfection Learning ® Corporation