READTHEORY Name Date Your Teeth You eat food every day. This means that you use your teeth every day too! You have four different types of teeth in your mouth: incisors, canine, premolars, and molars. Each kind of tooth has its own special way of helping you chew your food. The first type of teeth are your incisors. Your front teeth are incisors. There are four incisors on the top of your mouth and four on the bottom. Your incisors are flat and sharp. You use them for cutting, chopping, and biting into food. For example, when you eat an apple, you use your incisors to bite into the apple. The next type of teeth are your canines. Your canines are the pointy, sharp teeth next to the incisors. You have two canines on the top of your mouth and two canines on the bottom. They are your longest teeth. You use your canines to tear up food. The third kind of teeth are called the premolars. You have four premolars on the top of your mouth and four on the bottom. Your premolars are bigger and stronger than your canines. Unlike your canines, they do not come to a point. Instead, they have rough, ridged tops. They are used to crush up food into small pieces. The final kind of teeth in your mouth are called your molars. The molars are the biggest teeth of all. They are located all the way in the back of your mouth. Adults have a total of twelve molars. Molars are wider and stronger than your premolars. They also have more ridges. They grind up the food into even smaller pieces. Each kind of tooth has a special shape and a special task. Their special shapes help them to get the job done. They all work together to help you chew your food. The next time you enjoy your favorite food, thank your teeth for all of the hard work that they do! 1) Imagine your friend Jed walked into a door. He knocked out his front teeth. Which teeth is Jed missing? A. his incisors B. his canines C. his premolars D. his molars 2) Which teeth do you use when you tear up a tough piece of meat? A. incisors B. canines C. premolars
D. molars 3) How many premolars do we have in total? A. 3 B. 4 C. 8 D. 12 4) In the final paragraph, we learn that "Each kind of tooth has a special shape and a special task." Based on the way it is used in this paragraph, we can understand that the word task belongs to which of the following word groups? A. height, weight, size B. color, shade, hue C. taste, flavor, spice D. job, duty, mission 5) The title of this passage is Your Teeth. This title is too general. It needs to give people a better idea of what the passage is about before they read it. Imagine the author wanted a better title for this passage. Which of the following would be the best new title? A. How Your Teeth Help You Chew B. Incisors are for Biting! C. Why Brushing Your Teeth is Important D. How Many Teeth Do You Have? 6) What do premolars and molars have in common? What makes them different? Be sure to use information from the passage to complete your answer.
Answers and Explanations 1) A Core Standard: Integration of Knowledge In paragraph 2, the author writes: Your front teeth are incisors. If Jed knocked out his front teeth, he is missing his incisors. Therefore (A) is correct. The passage does not provide evidence to support choices (B), (C), or (D). Therefore they are 2) B Core Standard: Key Ideas and Details In paragraph 3, the author writes: You use your canines to tear up food. Since canines are the teeth you use for tearing, you use your canines to tear up a tough piece of meat. Therefore (B) is correct. The passage does not provide evidence to support choices (A), (C), or (D). Therefore they are 3) C Core Standard: Key Ideas and Details In paragraph 4 the author writes: You have four premolars on the top of your mouth and four on the bottom. If you have four premolars on the top and four on the bottom, you have eight premolars in total. Therefore (C) is correct. The passage does not provide evidence to support choices (A), (B), or (D). Therefore they are 4) D Core Standard: Craft and Structure task (noun): a piece of work to be done or undertaken; a job, chore, mission, or assignment. In the final paragraph, the author writes: Each kind of tooth has a special shape and a special task. We can use context clues hints from known words or phrases around the unknown word or phrase to help us figure out what the word create most nearly means. The author tells us that the teeth s special shapes help them to get the job done and then adds that the teeth all work together to help you chew your food. According to the author, the teeth work together to accomplish the job that needs to get done. The special shape of the tooth helps them to get the task done. This context tells us that a task is something that you need to get done. Based on this information, we can tell that we are looking for words that mean job or duty. Therefore (D) is correct.
Based on the above information, we can tell that we are looking for words that mean job or duty. Height, weight, and size do not mean job or duty. Therefore (A) is Based on the above information, we can tell that we are looking for words that mean job or duty. Color, shade, and hue do not mean job or duty. Therefore (B) is Based on the above information, we can tell that we are looking for words that mean job or duty. Taste, flavor, and spice do not mean job or duty. Therefore (C) is 5) A Core Standard: Integration of Knowledge The title of a passage usually gives readers a good clue of what the passage is about. Sometimes titles are catchy or funny. Sometimes they just give a very short summary of the main idea. In order to find the main idea of the passage, it is often a good idea to look at the first and last paragraphs. In the first paragraph of this passage, the author writes: Each kind of tooth has its own special way of helping you chew your food. In the final paragraph, the author writes: Each kind of tooth a special shape and a special task. Their special shapes help them to get the job done. They all work together to help you chew your food. Based on this information, we can tell that the main idea of this passage is that the different kinds of teeth in your mouth work together to help you chew your food. The title How Your Teeth Help You Chew gives readers a good idea of what the passage is about. It would be a good title for this passage. Therefore (A) is correct. Although paragraph 2 does tell us that incisors are for biting into food, Incisors are for Biting would not be a good title for this passage. The fact that you use incisors to bite is a small detail in this passage. It is not the main idea. It does not give readers a good idea of what the passage is about. Based on the above information, we can tell that the main idea of this passage is that the different kinds of teeth in your mouth work together to help you chew your food. Therefore (B) is Although brushing your teeth is indeed important, the passage is not about brushing your teeth. It is about how your different teeth help you chew. Why Brushing Your Teeth is Important would not be a good title for this passage. Therefore (C) is Although the passage does tell us how many of each kind of teeth there are in our mouths, the title How Many Teeth Do You Have? would not be a good title. The number of teeth in your mouth is not the main idea of the passage. Based on the above information, we can tell that the main idea of this passage is that the different kinds of teeth in your mouth work together to help you chew your food. Therefore (D) is