7th Grade Main Idea Quiz

Based on the information in the passage, which of the following would be a good alternative title for the passage?

• The Coal Processors

• Wildcat Strikes

• The Colliery

• Moving Up in the Colliery

Based on the passage, what is the meaning behind the word breaker?

• A boy who separates coal from slate.

• A place where breaker boys work.

• A boss at a colliery.

• An elderly perons who could no longer work in a mine.

Read the passage and answer the main idea questions:

1. THE BREAKER BOYS WORKED FROM seven in the morning until six or seven-thirty at night.  All day, they sat hunched over the coal chutes, picking out the slate and other useless material mixed in with the coal.
2. The breaker boss watched the boys carefully.  He carried a stick or broom that he used to probe blocked coal chutes or to jab boys who daydreamed, fell asleep, talked, or performed slow or careless work. “If you let some rock go through,” said Joe Sudol, “he would poke you in the back with the stick.”
3. By quitting time, the boys’ backs ached.  The fingers of new breaker boys developed a painful condition called “red tips.”  The sulfur deposits on the coal and slate irritated the boys’ skin.  Their fingers swelled, cracked open, and bled.  After a few weeks, the boys’ skin toughened up.
4. Yet the boys managed to resist the harsh working conditions. They often teased the breaker boss by throwing pieces of rock at him when he turned his back. Sometimes they threw pieces of wood into the machinery, causing it to break down.  While men repaired the machinery, the boys played games.
5. The boys also learned the value of sticking together, and sometimes they protested by organizing wildcat strikes.  During such strikes, they refused to work until their demands were met. At one breaker, for instance, the boys struck when the coal company bosses canceled the annual winter sledding party.
6. The bosses tried to prevent the boys from striking.  If the breaker wasn’t working, the coal couldn’t be processed.  A breaker boy strike could shut down the entire colliery operation.
7. At a Pottsville breaker, the bosses blocked the doorway to stop the boys from swarming out.  Several boys climbed to the rafters and kicked coal dust down on the bosses.  A black cloud filled the air, making it difficult to see and breathe.  The boys escaped out the door.
8. At a Moosic breaker, the boys plotted to teach their mean boss a lesson. Instead of going to work one July morning, they went swimming.
9. Their boss found them at the swimming hole and ordered them to report to the breaker.  As he stood there, two boys rushed him from behind and knocked him into the water, where the other boys were waiting.  They dunked the boss again and again.  Soon the mine superintendent and another foreman found them.  They ordered the boys to stop and get to work.
10. Suddenly, the boys realized that they were in a position to bargain.  The boys refused to return to work unless their mean breaker boss was fired.  They shouted back and forth in negotiation until the bosses offered a compromise:  they wouldn’t fire the mean boss, but he would be transferred to another job, and the boys would be given a new boss.  Satisfied, the boys climbed out of the swimming hole and returned to work.
11. As the boys grew older and moved into other jobs at the colliery, they carried their militant spirit with them.  They continued to stick together in their fight for fairer and better living and work conditions.  They learned that power was found in numbers.

What is the TOPIC of this non-fiction article?

List 5 major details from the passage.

List 5 minor details from the passage.

What are some main ideas that you pulled from the passage?