De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Changing the Ecosystem: Q & a [Pdf]

"Changing the Ecosystem: Q & A" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about how the loss of the prairie to farming and population growth impacts the ecosystem. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it includes: determining main idea, underlining supporting text, drawing pictures to depict the information in each paragraph, answering the multiple choice quiz, and writing a paragraph summarizing the timeline of population growth and its impact on the prairie. This passage aligns with Common Core Anchor Reading Standards 1 and 2 requiring close reading, textual evidence, main idea, and summarizing.