Get Ready to Read

Think about the questions below or discuss them with a partner.

• Do you have a good memory? How do you know?
• What do you do to remember information?
• Describe a time when you really wanted to remember something but couldn’t.

Think about the title Memory Magic. Which of these words do you think will be in the text?

• attention
• circus
• senses
• focus
• hurricane
• short-term
• long-term
• bullfrog
• chunk
• visualization
• vampire

Reading Strategy

Readers check their understanding of a text while they read. One strategy is to ask questions while you read, and then look for the answers. What do you wonder when you read the sentence below?

Dave Farrow is a Canadian recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records for Greatest Memory.

You might wonder, “What did he do to set this record?” Continue reading with this question in mind. Asking questions and looking for answers helps keep your brain thinking while you read.

Try this strategy as you read Memory Magic.

Vocabulary

Find these words in the text. Use the context to choose the best meaning.

1. ___________________ is a condition that makes it hard for a person to read, write, and spell.

2. ___________________ is a deep blue colour.

3. ___________________ is a deep purple colour.

4. A person someone is romantically involved with, runs a business with, or does an activity with is called their ___________________.

5. ___________________ means happening all the time or very often over a period of time.

6. To ___________________ is to learn something so well that you can remember it perfectly.

7. ___________________ means to remember something.

Check Your Understanding

1. What’s the main idea of paragraph four?

2. What’s the main idea of paragraph five?

3. What’s the main idea of paragraph six?

 4. How does the brain remember information? Put these steps in order.

a. The information goes into your short-term memory.

b. You think about the information over and over.

c. Your brain takes in information through your senses.

d. The information goes into your long-term memory.

e. Your brain pays attention to the information.

Something is incorrect in each of these sentences. Cross out the incorrect words. Add the correct words.

5. Your long-term memory only holds information for a few seconds.

6. Your short-term memory can hold about 15 things at a time.

7. Dave recommends breaking big tasks into smaller tasks, working hard for short periods of time, and taking short breaks to help your mind remember.

8. Roy G. Biv stands for red, orange, yellow, green, brown, indigo, and violet.

9. The text suggests that you memorize an address or vocabulary words in chunks.

Spelling

If a word ends with silent e, drop the e before an ending that starts with a vowel.

become + ing = becoming

choose + ing = choosing

amaze + ing = amazing

share + ed = shared

Keep the silent e before an ending that starts with a consonant.

late + ly = lately

safe + ty = safety

use + ful = useful

sincere + ly = sincerely

These words break the rules:

argue + ment = argument

true + ly = truly

Arrange a date to be tested on your ability to spell these words.

Practice the pattern. Spell each word correctly after adding the suffix to the word.

1. write + ing

2. come + ing

3. care + ful

4. wise + ly

5. change + ing

6. use + less

7. surprise + ing

8. hope + ful

9. safe + ly

10. make + ing

11. excite + ment

12. have + ing

13. drive + ing

Commas with Transition Words

Fill in the commas in the paragraph below.

Are humans smarter than other animals? Well there are a lot of things that only humans can do. First we can survive in all sorts of environments. In fact we can survive in extreme environments like the desert, the Arctic, and outer space. Second we can write down information, so that it can easily be shared with lots of people. Third we can make art, stories, poetry, and music. Finally we can invent really complicated things. For example we can build airplanes and computers. In conclusion humans may be the smartest animal in the world.

Run-On Sentences

Turn each run-on sentence into a compound sentence.

1. People say this diamond is cursed for all its owners have suffered illness or death.

2. Tim Horton was a hockey player in the NHL he is better known for his donut shops.

3. There are over 1,000 kinds of bees all over Canada some can even be found in the Arctic.

4. My phone isn’t charged I need to plug it in.

5. We could fly to Calgary or we could get there by bus.

Turn each run-on sentence above into two simple sentences.

Writing

A narrative paragraph tells a story. It should:

• Have a beginning, middle, and end
• Include details about:
  • Who is in your story
  • What happened
  • Where it happened
  • Why it happened
  • How it happened
• Tell the events in the order they happened
• Use linking words to connect your sentences: first, then, next, finally

Below is an example of a narrative paragraph.

The Bus Ride Home
The bus ride home from school usually started out well enough. First, the bus would happily rumble from pothole to pothole down the winding country roads. On a hot summer day, all the windows would be down, blowing the children’s hair wildly in all directions. The kids all seemed to talk at once in their outdoor voices. There was only one thing that could quiet them down. The bus would turn around a big bend as we neared my house. Next, the sweet and sour stink of pig manure would pour through the windows. The excited chatter turned into groans of disgust. Then the bus would screech to a standstill at the end of my laneway, as though the smell was so thick the bus couldn’t bear to carry on. Finally, my brother and I would have to stand up and walk past the rows of eyes scowling at us from above shirt collars that had been yanked up over offended noses. The two of us would walk down our long dirt laneway in silence. Only one thought brought me comfort in that moment: the smell of pig manure was nothing compared to the smell of chicken manure that awaited that bus farther down the road.

Attributions

Playing cards
Image by gepharts3d is in the public domain.

School bus
Image by richoz  is in the public domain.