Wangari Maathai: How One Life Changed the World

Questions

1. Sequence Which of these happened first?

   Maathai helped equip ambulances with X-ray machines to treat soldiers in World War I Maathai became the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate Maathai started the Green Belt Movement to plant trees Maathai became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize
2. Details In what year did this happen? "Maathai started the Green Belt Movement to plant trees."

   1970 1987 2004 1977
3. Timeline math How many years passed between these two events? First: "Maathai became the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate." Later: "She started the Green Belt Movement to plant trees."

   37 5 6 16
4. Timeline math About how old was Maathai in 1971?

   43 36 31 26
5. Vocabulary In the passage, what does "erosion" mean?

   the force that pulls objects toward each other a substance that trains the body to fight a disease carefully watching something to learn about it the wearing away of soil or rock by wind or water
6. Character traits Which word best describes Wangari Maathai?

   forgetful careless courageous lazy
7. Evidence Which detail from the passage shows that Maathai was courageous?

   She kept protecting forests even when powerful people tried to stop her. She finished high school at 14 and college at 18. As a child in Chicago she was sure she would one day go to space. She sat quietly in the forest for months before the chimpanzees let her come close.
8. Main idea What is this passage mostly about?

   the life and work of George Washington Carver the life and work of Alexander Graham Bell the life and work of Ada Lovelace the life and work of Wangari Maathai
9. Text structure How does the author organize the middle of the passage?

   by comparing two people from most important to least important event as a list of steps to follow in time order, from earlier events to later ones
10. Author's purpose Why does the author end with the final paragraph?

    to list every prize the person won to tell a funny story to explain how to do an experiment to show that her work still matters today

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