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TEKS UPDATE—Reading, UPDATE—Re ea ading, Gr GGrade
ra ade 6
“G “Great,” reat,
eat, ” DDavid
avid mutter muttered. ed. HHe
e looked at M
Mike, ike, who shr shrugged ugged good-natur good-naturedly. edly. . “I’
“I’ll ll help help,” , ”
MMike
ike offer
offered. ed.
“ “Thanks, Thanks, man.
man.” ” DDavid
avid smiled. M
Mike ike was a good friend, and he could use the help help. . Who
kne knew w what was in this fridge?
II’ve
’ ve
been pr
promising romising omising D
Dad ad II’d
’d d d clean cle clean it for at least six months months, , he
thought guiltily guiltily. uiltily y. . I can can’t ’t t r rreally
really eally blame blame him him for for putting putting his his foot foot do
do down. wn.
“Hey,
, hav have e yyou
ou alr already eady finished y yyour
our pr project oject for the science fair?” D
David avid asked e
M
Mike. ike.
HHe
e was sor sort t of hoping MMike
ike was in the same pr predicament edicament he was.
MMike
ike looked pr proud. oud. “ “Yeah. Yeah. eah. I m made a model of S SSamuel
amuel M
Morse’s orse’
s telegraph transmi transmitter. itter
IIt
t can can send send rreal
real
messages!”
“S “Sounds ounds rreally
really
cool,” cool, ” David
rremarked
emar
ked thoughtfully thoughtfully. y. . “H
“How o
w long did it take yyou
ou to build?”
“I “It t wasn wasn’t wasn’
t too bad,” bad, ” Mike Mike
ike said, said, using using his his fingers fingers to to count, count, t, in in days, days, D DDavid
David
assumed assumed, d, ho how
long long the the pr
project project
oject had taken. “O
“Only nly about four four months, months, , on and and off
off
off.” f. . ”
DDavid,
avid, looking star
startled, tled, nodded.
Uh-oh Uh-oh, h-oh,
he
e thought.
BBig
ig g uh-oh uh-oh. . e.
The bo
boys ys rreturned
eturned to the task at hand,
, and D DDavid
avid opene opened ed the fridge warily warily. y. H
He e began b
rremoving
emoving
ving items one b
by y one, looking ng at e expiration dates and
d sor
sorting ting the items into “keep “keep” keep”
and aand
“ “toss” toss”
” piles. M
Mike ike grabbed the garbage bag age can for the “ “toss” toss”
item items. ms.
“ “Whoa, Whoa, a, dude, watch out!” M
MMike
ik ke yyelled
elled as DDavid
avid lifted o out the next item. “ “What Wha What hat is that?”
DDavid
avid was s equally mystified. . A
fuzzy zzy mountain sat on the plate plate befor
befor
before e them. An An alie alien? DDavid
avid
grabbed grabbed a a for
for fork k and poked
d it it. i it. H HHe
e w was genuinely intrigued. intrigued intrigued.
SSuddenly,
uddenly nly, , it dawne dawned ned on him. A
At t the center of the fuzz h he pl.
spied somet something ething that looked
suspiciously sly like the th the he half of a hot dog he he’d put in the fridge months befor
before e and forgotten
about.
“S “So?” o?” MMike
M Mike
pr pressed. essed. “ “What What IS t this thing?”
“A A st study tud dy on S all.S
long-term mold gr
growth, ro
of course,” m’
m’d
m” DDavid
avid vid rreplied
eplied confidently confidently. y. . H
He e grinned at
MMike,
ike, w who
o suddenly blinked in understanding.
nderstanding.
“O “Oh, h, h man, mman,”
” MMike
ike cr crowed. o “Genius!”
Wait ait t ‘til ‘ ‘til ‘ t til D DDad
ad gets a load of this this, David avid thought thou thought with satisfaction. E EEverything verything
ything was coming
together
r after a after all. amd
aavid
D ought a aa
o
began le l
SS SS SS SS SS SS
Sa SSam SS SS SS
SS
Sa Sa Sa SSa
Saam
am aam
am am amp mm
mm
mmp
mp mp mmp
mp mple mm
mm
mmp
mm
mp mmp
mp mm
mpp
pl pl pp
pp
pp
ppl
pl pl ll
lle
lle
le ll
ll
le ll
ee
ee
we
of course,
“G
aenaw
Sawth,
Sed.
S,
Sanius!”
52 © ECS Learning S SSystems,
ystems, IInc.
nc.
©ECS Learning Systems, Inc. TEKS Update Student Practice Books for Reading—Sample Pages, Grades 3–8
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