edHelper.com
The 1970's

Making Sense from a Computer

Making Sense from a Computer
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   6.5

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    banned, exclusive, interpretation, programmers, mathematical, demonstration, musician, presented, hero, plots, entire, intelligent, public, purpose, history, exchange
     content words:    Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Kent Evans, Harvard University, Steve Ballmer, Popular Electronics, New Mexico, In November, Microsoft Company, Now Bill Gates

Print Making Sense from a Computer
edHelper.com subscriber options:
     Print Making Sense from a Computer  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
     Quickly print reading comprehension
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on Making Sense from a Computer
     Leave your feedback on Making Sense from a Computer  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

Making Sense from a Computer
By Jane Runyon 		  
1     Bill Gates wasn't a sports hero as a kid. He wasn't much of a musician, either. He wasn't like all the other kids he grew up with. Then how is it that he became the richest person on earth as an adult? Bill Gates was in the right place, at the right time, with the right interests, and a brilliant mind.
 
2     Computers had been around for years when Bill Gates was growing up. But very few people knew much about them. The general public thought of computers as huge machines that only a few people were smart enough to understand. They were mostly right about that. Computers were very large. One computer might take up all the space in a very large room. It took mathematical geniuses to create programs for the computers. These programmers worked in an entirely new language. Their codes for data were complicated and the end results had to be translated into everyday words.
 
3     Some people, like Bill Gates and his friends, were drawn to the mysteries of the computer. Gates attended a very exclusive school in Seattle, Washington. It was there that he became friends with other young men who shared his interests in mathematics and technology. Paul Allen, Ric Weiland, and Kent Evans were three of these friends. They spent time in school and after school learning all they could about computers and how they worked. They seemed to sense that computers were going to become important in the future. One of the group's plots to get free computer time backfired. As a result, they were banned from using a computer center for an entire summer.

Paragraphs 4 to 8:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Copyright © 2008 edHelper