Into Reading 3.

2 Week 15 Study Guide

Timeless Thomas: How Thomas Edison Changed Our Lives

● Genre- Biography
● Author’s purpose- to inform the reader about how Thomas Edison
● Main idea- talks about how Thomas Edison’s invention changed our lives in a good way
● LESSON- don’t give up and always try again
● Invention factory- Menlo Park, New Jersey - where his team worked together to make
inventions
● 2nd lab- West Orange, new Jersey - bigger and busier
● Present day / Edison’s lab - tells how we use Edison’s inventions now and how they were
created long ago
● Phonograph- first device to record sound and play it back
● Battery- created to power an electric car, but there was no electric car - he used it for
buoys, boats and submarines, trucks, rural homes, and railroad cars and signals
● Vote recorder- how we vote
● Fluoroscope- used as xray
● Kinetograph- first motion picture camera
● Movie studio (Black Maria) - open roof for light
● Kinetoscope- first projector to show movies with sound
● Telegraph- send messages on wires

A Bumpy Ride
● Genre- Informational text
● Author’s purpose- to inform the reader about the invention of bikes
● Main idea- history of bikes in time order
● 1818- Karl von Drais made a sit-on scooter
● 1821- hobbyhorse with handles with more power to make it go faster (mail carriers used
it)
● 1839- Kirkpatrick Macmillan built the first real bicycle
● 1861- Pierre Michaux made hobbyhorses easier but had metal tires (very shaky)
● 1870- “ordinaries” - front wheel was bigger, but needed smooth road, if bumpy, you
would fall off
● 1881- quadricycles (4 wheels) and tricycles (3 wheels) for safety
● 1885- “Rover” - safety bike- fast, safe, and less expensive - rubber tires, so still bumpy
● 1889- wrapped hose around wheels (with water = bad, without water = good) / the first
modern tire was made
● 1890s- bikes became popular! / doctors thought it might cause bicycle face / women
fashion - started to wear puffy pants
● 1975- riders got helmets to protect their head
 Into Reading 3.2 Week 15 Study Guide

Rosie Revere, Engineer

● Genre- Narrative poetry (tells a story using poetry)
● Author’s purpose- to entertain
● Main idea- Rosie trying to invent a plane for grandma
● LESSON- never give up and keep trying , you only fail if you quit
● Characters - Rosie, uncle Fred, great-great-Aunt (Rose)
● Rosie’s dream- great engineer / loved gadgets and gizmos
● Rosie made Uncle Fred a hat, but he laughed, so she kept her dreams to herself (didn’t
tell anyone about her inventions or dreams)
● Great-great aunt Rose wanted to fly up in the sky
○ Made the helio-cheese-copter
○ Was able to fly, but crashed to the ground
○ She laughed and said it was a success because it flew
○ She encouraged her to try again for the next!
● You only fail if you quit!
● Taught her classmates to not give up and to continue working

Edison’s Best Invention

● Genre- Opinion Text
● Author’s purpose- to persuade the reader that the lightbulb was the best invention / to
inform about Edison’s inventions
● Main idea-
● Kinetograph
○ First motion picture camera
○ TV, camera, cellphones, movies, videos
● Phonograph
○ First device to record sound and play it back
○ Able to have voicemail, audiobooks, and recordings of speeches
● Lightbulb
○ Most popular and important invention
○ Flashlights, car headlights, electric signs, electricity
○ Inspired the inventions of many electrical lights
○ Life wouldn’t be the same without the lightbulb and electricity