This page shows questions in the ELA 5 2025 Practice Test public release module at MSDE. 5th Grade ELA
"ELA 5 2025 Practice Test"

Read the passage. Then answer the questions.

Two Places to Call Home

by Jody Kapp

1 Goodbye, bedroom, cozy and small. Goodbye, picture books and stuffed animals. Today I’m going home, to the place my family comes from.

2 Mama and I are going to Ghana. Ghana is a small country on the west coast of Africa. It is where my mother was born. This will be my first time meeting my grandmother and grandfather and my first time flying on an airplane!

3 Up, up we go, sailing high over the Atlantic Ocean. Outside my small window the bright blue water slowly disappears under a carpet of fluffy white clouds. The airline attendants push carts of pretzels and drinks up and down the tiny aisles. They give us bags of sweet-smelling lotion, eye masks to help us sleep on the long flight, and headphones. When I plug the headphones into the special arm of my seat, I hear music playing—a symphony above the clouds.

4 Slowly we land in the night. My mother and I step out and breathe in our country. As the warm, moist air greets us, Mama sighs, “Ah, what sweetness!”

5 We climb aboard a rickety old bus and travel to my grandparents’ home. The dust from the road swirls up through the open windows and dances around our heads. Grandfather is waiting for us outside the cattle fence. He calls out to me, “Tall boy, you’ve grown faster than the trees in my yard.”

6 He reaches down and wipes the dust from my sandals. He’s wearing an outfit that looks like a dress. It’s called a kente cloth. This is a special kind of clothing the people of Ghana wear whenever there’s something to celebrate. But it’s much more interesting than a suit jacket or a fancy dress. It’s a book you wear! Every shape and color on the cloth is chosen to tell a story to those who see it.

7 For my visit, Grandfather has made a special story cloth to wear. He’s chosen a pattern of gold squares and black zigzags. In kente, the color gold stands for strength, and black means family. When gold and black are woven together in a dress, they tell all who see it how important the strength of a family is. Grandfather winks at me as I run my hand over the bright cloth. He thinks I’m important, too.

8 Grandmother hears our voices. She rushes out of her round mud hut and greets me with a big bear hug. She’s spent all morning preparing a welcome meal for us called tee zed, which means “hot food.” First she ground rice, corn, and peanuts into flour. Then she rolled the flour into little balls and cooked them in boiling water until they thickened like oatmeal that has been left sitting in a pan. She shows me how to dip the balls into a stew of yams, onions, and goat meat. I’ve never eaten goat meat before. At first I’m afraid to try it, but I’m glad I do. It has a nice sweet flavor.

9 The next day Grandmother buckles me into her little white van and we head for Accra. Here there’s a big market where she’ll sell the plump red tomatoes she’s grown in her garden. It’s a busy place. My ears are filled with the sound of plantains frying on an open grill and the happy shouts of boys and girls playing soccer.

10 It’s fun watching the women with their big hats and baskets weave through the maze of bicycles like brightly colored toy tops. They smile at me and say, “Maakye,” which means “hello.” Grandmother takes my hand in hers and swings it back and forth as we walk along. She tells me, “Beautiful boy, we’ll remember these moments for many years.”

11 The week has passed too quickly, and the time has come to say goodbye. At the airport Grandmother gives me an extra long hug for the extra long trip. Grandfather kneels down and hands me a small package. It’s my very own kente cloth scarf to wear at home! He’s woven little hearts onto a black background to tell me and everyone who sees it the story of my family’s love. I’ll think of Ghana often. It’s good to have two places to call home.

12 Goodbye, warm yellow huts and shiny tin roofs. Goodbye, bold red skirts and gentle dirt beneath my feet. Today I’m going home, to the place I come from.

"Two Places to Call Home" by Jody Kapp, Copyright 2014 by Ladybug. Reproduced with permission of Ladybug via Copyright Clearance Center.

What is the meaning of the phrase breathe in our country as it is used in paragraph 4?

Part A

Which word best describes how the narrator’s mother feels about being back in Ghana?

Part B

Which sentence from the passage best supports the answer in Part A?

Which phrase from paragraph 6 explains why the author describes his grandfather’s kente cloth as a book you wear?

In paragraphs 8 through 9, five details are highlighted. Select the two details that show that Grandmother is excited to see her grandchild.

Part A

At the end of the trip, the narrator describes his grandparents’ house as “warm” and “yellow.” However, at the beginning of the trip, the narrator describes the house as

Part B

Why did the narrator’s description of the house most likely change?

Read the sentence from paragraph 10 of the passage.

Why does the narrator compare the women to toy tops?

Which sentence describes how the narrator’s point of view influences the end of the passage?

Part A

Select the sentence that best describes a theme of the passage.

Part B

Which quotation from the passage best supports the theme in Part A?

Read the passage “Elephant Talk.” Then answer the questions.

Elephant Talk

by Jack Myers

1 Elephants are highly social animals. In Africa they live together in groups of related females with their calves, often led by the grandmother of the family. When the males reach their teens, they become independent. Adult males live in separate bachelor herds, or alone, or visiting with many families.

2 Scientists naturally expected that animals living so closely together would have a lot of communication. They had listened to sounds of an elephant herd. But until recently no one had heard what could be called elephant talk.

3 Katy Payne is a scientist in the Bioacoustics Program of the Laboratory of Ornithology at Cornell University. The laboratory is famous for its study of birds. The program was started to study bird songs but has gone on to many other animal sounds. That’s the bioacoustics part.

4 Katy had been studying the songs and other sounds of whales. She was curious also about other big social animals and was excited when she got a chance to spend a week with elephants of the zoo in Portland, Oregon.

5 She spent every day of that week watching and listening to elephants. “Elephants may not have been the only interesting animals in the zoo, but I had eyes, or ears, only for them,” she wrote later.

6 She also learned from the keepers, who told her about some of the things elephants had done. She began to think of those elephants as individuals, each with its own personality.

7 Katy had gotten hooked on elephants. On her way home from that first experience, she realized how little she had learned about elephant talk.

8 Could it be that the elephants were talking in sounds that her ears couldn’t hear? Some whales are known to do that. And she remembered several times in the elephant house when she had felt a throbbing in the air—something she felt but couldn’t hear.

Infrasound

9 When she got home Katy told other scientists of the program about her idea. They encouraged her and found equipment she could use to record infrasound—sound below the frequency that human ears can hear.

10 In a few months Katy and two friends were back at the elephant house with special microphones and tape recorders. While the recorders were running, the researchers watched and kept records of what was going on.

11 In the laboratory they played back the tapes, but at ten times the recording speed. That increased the frequency of the recorded sounds so people could hear them. Now there was a lot to hear—Katy says it sounded something like a bunch of cows in a barn. She had learned how to listen to elephant talk.

12 Now that Katy had learned about infrasound, she wondered how wild African elephants actually talked to one another. That question took her to East Africa and the Amboseli Park of Kenya.

13 There she teamed up with two other scientists, who knew each of the several hundred elephants of the park. By watching elephants while recording their sounds, the team was able to figure out several different calls.

14 When two related elephant families met, there was a lot of excitement, with trumpeting, screaming, and special rumbles of greeting. There’s a let’s-go call used by an elephant that seemed to want the family to get moving. There were contact calls used by an elephant that had wandered off and wanted to locate her family. In response there were answering calls from the family.

15 Katy could hear the calls of nearby elephants because they included some higher-frequency sounds. These calls don’t travel as far as infrasound does.

16 She also recorded many distant, low-frequency calls. She guessed that the elephants relied upon these infrasonic calls for long-range communication.

17 To find out whether the guess was right, the team reversed procedure. They used loudspeakers mounted on a truck to play back elephant recordings while they watched a group of elephants from a tower at a watering hole.

18 When an elephant heard a distant call, it had a special “listening” response. It stood still, spread its ears, and moved its head from side to side as if locating the direction of the call. By moving the loudspeakers to different locations, the researchers found that elephants stopped to listen to calls played back from more than a mile away.

The Cool Evenings

19 They also found that elephants do most of their calling in late afternoon or early evening. At that time the ground is cooling. The air above forms a cool layer close to the ground. That layering of air creates a kind of “sound channel” that can carry sounds for great distances. Then calls probably can be heard by elephants even as far as five miles away.

20 The curiosity and hard work of Katy Payne has led to the beginnings of an understanding of how elephants talk to one another. Now she is really hooked on elephants.

“Elephant Talk” by Jack Myers. Copyright 2015 by Highlights for Children. Reproduced with permission of Highlights for Children via Copyright Clearance Center.

Why does the author include paragraphs 1 and 2 in the passage?

The phrase hooked on elephants is used in paragraphs 7 and 20 to show that Katy

What do the first picture and the information in the passage best help the reader understand?

From the four highlighted definitions in the dictionary entry, select the one that best matches the use of the word communication in paragraph 16.

Based on the passage, which factors are related to when elephants do most of their calling?

Which two statements best describe how Katy Payne’s research at the zoo led to her discovery in Kenya?

From the list, select the four sentences that best summarize the process Katy took to learn about elephants.

Key Details for a Summary of the Passage

• Katy Payne is a scientist who became interested in elephants while observing them at the Portland Zoo.

• Katy began recording the zoo elephants and discovered that elephants use infrasound, which humans cannot hear, to talk to one another.

• Katy’s laboratory is famous for its study of birds.

• Katy went to Africa to find out if wild elephants communicate with one another in the same ways as the zoo elephants.

• Katy noticed that adult male elephants live separately from the herd.

• Katy’s discovery has helped increase understanding of elephant talk.

Part A

How do paragraphs 3 through 11 mainly contribute to the overall structure of the passage from Dear Mrs. Ryan?

Part B

In paragraphs 3 through 11, six sentences are highlighted. Select the two sentences that best support the answer to Part A.

Today you will read a passage from Dear Mrs. Ryan, You’re Ruining My Life as well as a passage from Courage for Beginners. You will answer questions and then write a response.

Read the passage from Dear Mrs. Ryan, You’re Ruining My Life. Then answer the questions.

from Dear Mrs. Ryan, You’re Ruining My Life

by Jennifer B. Jones

1 We easily made it to our seats before the bell rang.

2 Mom slipped quietly into our room during morning announcements.

3 “Harvey, would you like to introduce your mother to us?” Mrs. Perkins asked after we said the pledge.

4 Not really, I wanted to say. We’d been working on character education all year, so it was only natural that an honest response popped into my head. But I’ve learned there are times when honesty is not the best policy. If adults want kids to be honest, they need to be careful what they ask.

5 “I think everybody knows my mom,” I said politely.

6 “I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting her,” Mrs. Perkins said. Mrs. Perkins was new in town and finishing the school year for my regular fifth-grade teacher, who had moved away when her husband was transferred.

7 “Sorry,” I mumbled and stood up by my desk. “Mom, this is Mrs. Perkins. Mrs. Perkins, everybody, this is my mom, Leslie Ryan, the author of The Skunk Who Came for Dinner and all that other stuff.”

8 “Well, Harvey,” Mom said, grinning, “you don’t have to sound so pleased.”

9 Everybody laughed. I smiled and bobbed my head around, pretending to be amused.

10 “Harvey is right. All of you have probably heard me speak at least once. Instead of speaking to you today, I thought we’d try something a little different.”

11 Different? I thought. Uh-oh. What’s she going to throw at me now?

12 “Today,” she was saying, “I’d like you to talk to me. Tell me what it is you like about the books you read.”

13 Nobody said anything for almost a full minute. I guess they were surprised Mom wasn’t there to entertain them. She wanted them to do some thinking. Mrs. Perkins started to look embarrassed as the time stretched on, but not Mom.

14 “What book are you all reading as a class right now?” she finally asked.

15 “Skinnybones!” everyone shouted all together.

16 “Wow!” Mom took a step backward as if they’d surprised her. “It sounds as if you like it. Why?”

17 And answers flew from all directions. “It’s funny. It’s about baseball. It’s short.” Mom laughed at that last one.

18 “ When did you first know you were going to like Skinnybones?”

19 Some people said, “On the first page.” Others said, “Right at the beginning.” Without meaning to I blurted out, “Right from the very first sentence.” I looked around quickly, but no one was paying attention to me.

20 “Yes,” Mom nodded. “That’s why the beginning is the most important part of a book.”

21 Then she asked more questions about the books the kids were reading on their own. And except for Bethany not wanting to shut up about a book she was reading about the royal family, things went well. I looked at the clock and realized Mom would have to leave in a few minutes so we could go to our morning special. I was home safe.

22 Then I heard Mrs. Perkins say, “Perhaps Mrs. Ryan would answer a few questions before she leaves.”

23 Mom nodded, and several hands shot in the air.

24 The first couple questions were, “ How long does it take you to write a book?” and “ How much money do you get?”

25 Stuff everybody wants to know, right? And her answer to both was, “It varies.”

26 Please go home now, Mom.

27 But Mom called on Bethany. “Where do you get your ideas?” Bethany asked.

28 “My best ideas come from real life, from things that happen to me, or to people close to me.”

29 I couldn’t believe she said it. But she did it every time. See, the main characters in all Mom’s books are always boys my age. It only takes a bear with very little brains to figure out which people close to her give her the best ideas. I could feel the kids turning to look at me.

30 Bethany was grinning as if she’d just sold a best-seller herself. “Do you ever put things that Harvey has done in your books?”

31 There it was, the question I’d been dreading. Everybody already knew the answer, but they had to ask anyway. I felt my face getting warm, and I hoped I wouldn’t barf and make everything worse.

32 Seal tried to rescue me. “Come on, guys. Harvey’s life isn’t that interesting.”

33 Everyone laughed. I looked at Seal. Our eyes connected, and I gave her a grateful nod.

34 But Bethany wasn’t through yet. She was waving her whole arm around and didn’t wait to be called on before blabbing out, “But Mrs. Ryan, didn’t Harvey catch an intruder in your house by throwing a load of wet laundry down the stairs on top of him, just like in your book That Wraps It Up?”

35 I groaned. I wanted to slide right under my desk, right out of the room and right off the face of the earth.

36 Mom laughed. “No, thank goodness,” she said. “But that story is a perfect example of how truth can be turned into fiction.”

Dear Mrs. Ryan, You're Ruining My Life by Jennifer B. Jones. Copyright 2004 by Walker & Company. Reproduced with permission of CLA, the Copyright Licensing Agency, LTD via the Copyright Clearance Center.

Today you will read a passage from Dear Mrs. Ryan, You're Ruining My Life as well as a passage from Courage for Beginners. You will answer questions and then write a response.

Read the passage from Courage for Beginners. Then answer the questions.

from Courage for Beginners

by Karen Harrington

1 I don’t know much, but I do know people stop to look at unusual things. People slow down to look at car accidents. People pull out their cameras to snap pictures of orange sunsets. People lie on the grass in the dark if a news reporter says you might spot a meteor shower after midnight.

2 Maybe I look unusual right now. I probably do, but then, how could I stop to look at myself? That would be a trick.

3 I could be a painting in a museum. Girl Who Sits by a Window.

4 Museumgoers in colorful summer sandals would walk by my picture frame and say, Here is an odd red-haired girl sitting by her window. What is she waiting for? What is she looking at? What are we looking at?

5 In school I learned that if you are really quiet, people will think you are smart. This is another trick. I’m not smart. I just can’t stop thinking.

6 I sit here motionless and still. Thinking. There is nothing else to do.

7 Most people aren’t stuck inside their boring houses all the livelong day.

8 I am. That alone makes me unusual.

9 Dad is at work and Mama is in her room with the door closed and I have no idea about Laura. Mama just painted her walls Seafoam Green in preparation for another mural, and I wouldn’t want to be in there if I was her, because of the fresh paint smell. But Laura is probably sidled up next to Mama on her bed, discussing whether the new mural should be a tree or teddy bears at a picnic or teddy bears at a picnic under a tree. As for me, I told Mama to quit changing the mural scene on my wall. I’m just fine with her version of the Mona Lisa, which we call the Faux-na Lisa. So far, she’s left it there. She is starting on a forest in the hallway. For once in my life, I’m thankful none of my friends come over. Actually, that my one friend doesn’t come over. There is only one. But I would die a thousand deaths of embarrassment if he saw all Mama’s paintings. A portrait of SpongeBob is displayed over the hallway toilet. How do you explain that? Maybe it’s just another unusual thing about my life.

10 The thing to do is move away from the window and stop looking at the street. It’s getting hot, and I can already tell this August afternoon is going to be a heat-down, beat-down. It’s my turn to water the backyard vegetables. They are probably screaming for me now. Help! Help us! If vegetables could scream, that is. But I have to wait for Woman Who Goes Somewhere to walk by our house. I need to take her picture and solve the mystery of where she is going before I get in trouble again.

11 Around the Fourth of July, I’d gotten the grounding of my life for taking pictures of Woman Who Goes Somewhere. Every flip-flop day of the summer, this woman has walked past my house, slow and steady and always in some weird outfit. Long baggy pants. Neon-yellow shirts. A parka! Let me tell you this: No one in Texas needs a parka. Nothing about this woman says she’s a professional walker. And I know what they look like. There are two power walkers on our block who wear black-and-green warm-ups and put their hair up in tight ponytails. That is what they are supposed to do. Not Woman Who Goes Somewhere. Her hair is usually wild and disorganized. She doesn’t carry a purse. She doesn’t have anyone with her. She strolls to the beat of her own music. Where is she going? I have my theories. There are a lot of things going on in the big, wide world. Dangerous things. Adventurous things. Unusual things.

Courage for Beginners by Karen Harrington. Copyright 2014 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Reproduced with permission of Hachette Book Group, Inc. via the Copyright Clearance Center.

Select from the lists of choices to complete the sentence about the passage from Dear Mrs. Ryan.

In paragraph 36 of Dear Mrs. Ryan, what does Mrs. Ryan mean when she says the story about the intruder is a perfect example of how truth can be turned into fiction?

Part A

Based on paragraphs 10 and 11 of Courage for Beginners, how does the narrator most likely feel about Woman Who Goes Somewhere?

Part B

Which quotation from the passage best supports the answer in Part A?

In paragraph 11 of the passage from Courage for Beginners, the narrator says Nothing about this woman says she’s a professional walker. This means that the woman

In the passage from Courage for Beginners, the author thinks about what it means to be “unusual.” Read the three themes related to being unusual or different. Select one quotation for each theme and move it to the correct box.

Select from the lists of choices to complete the sentence about the passage from Dear Mrs. Ryan and the passage from Courage for Beginners.

Both Harvey in the passage from Dear Mrs. Ryan and the narrator in the passage from Courage for Beginners are embarrassed by their parents. Write a response that explains how the narrators react differently to when their parents embarrass them. Be sure to use details from both passages to support your ideas.

Today you will read the passages “High-Flying Simone Biles” and “Dancers on Wheels.” Then you will answer questions about the passages and write a response in which you analyze both texts.

Read the passage “High-Flying Simone Biles.” Then answer the questions.

High-Flying Simone Biles

by Marty Kaminsky

1 The crowd stirs as 16-year-old gymnast Simone Biles mounts the balance beam at the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Belgium.

2 The beam is 4 feet high, 16 feet 5 inches long, and only 4 inches wide. Walking across its surface would be a challenge for most people, but Simone must do far more than that to earn a gold medal. During her 90-second performance, Simone must leap high in the air, spin completely around on one foot, and execute handsprings and flips without falling off the beam or landing awkwardly.

3 To start her routine, the 4-foot-8-inch athlete pirouettes on one foot two and a half times, then pulls off a flawless split leap. The audience gasps with each move, but Simone is calm as she dances on the beam. She completes her routine with a full twisting double back. After flying high through the air, Simone lands on her feet, and the crowd roars.

4 The judges are impressed, too, rewarding Simone with her first All-Around title.

Making Her Mark

5 Since then, Simone has taken the gymnastics world by storm. She is the first female to win three straight All-Around World Championships, earning a total of 14 medals, 10 of them gold. Now, at age 19, she is the most decorated American female gymnast in World Championship history.

6 At the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Simone added five medals to her total: golds in team, individual all-around, vault, and floor exercise, and bronze on beam.

Talent at a Young Age

7 Life was not always easy for Simone. Her birth mother was unable to care for her children. Simone’s grandparents, Ron and Nellie Biles, adopted Simone and her younger sister, Adria. Their new dad and mom moved the girls from Ohio to their home in Texas.

8 Simone loved to climb their five-foot-high mailbox and somersault to the ground. On a field trip with her daycare class, six-year-old Simone was introduced to her sport at Bannon’s Gymnastix. In no time flat, she started copying the gymnasts, drawing the attention of the instructors.

9 “I loved the idea of flipping around, and the center saw something in me, so they sent home a letter to my parents encouraging me to join,” Simone explains. “Right from the start, I was fearless and willing to try anything and everything.”

10 Simone advanced quickly. At age seven, she began performing competitively. In 2011, she placed first on vault and balance beam at the American Classic. Her debut as an international gymnast was in March 2013 at a World Cup event.

Bubbly and Genuine

11 Simone is known for her power and upbeat personality. She often plays to the crowd, flashing a big smile as she performs in the floor exercise.

12 In order to master the variety of skills needed to excel at the four events in her sport, Simone trains five to six hours a day, year-round.

13 Simone’s coach, Aimee Boorman, appreciates her hard work and personality. “Simone is bubbly. She loves to laugh, is genuine and real. When she wins and is given flowers on the medal podium, she searches out the shyest child in the crowd and gives her the flowers.”

14 How does Simone handle the pressures of life as an athlete? “It is important to embrace the moment,” she says. “Remember to have as much fun as you can, but keep in mind, win or lose, you still have your whole life ahead. You can achieve anything that you put your mind to.”

“High-Flying Simone Biles” by Marty Kaminsky. Copyright 2016 by Highlights for Children, Inc. Reproduced with permission of Highlights for Children, Inc. via Copyright Clearance Center.

Today you will read the passage “High-Flying Simone Biles” and the passage “Dancers on Wheels.” Then you will answer questions about the passages and write a response in which you analyze both texts.

Read the passage “Dancers on Wheels.” Then answer the questions.

Dancers on Wheels

by Janeen R. Adil

1 Annie had her first dance lesson when she was 9 years old and in third grade. The students watched her come in, and even the grownups looked at her. She heard people whisper, “That girl can’t dance. She can’t even walk.”

2 Annie knew they were wrong, and so did her teacher. They knew that dancing, just like painting or playing music, comes from the heart. Annie didn’t need to move her feet—she could dance by moving her strong arms and body. Her wheelchair would become part of the dance.

3 Every week, Annie went to her dance lesson with Miss Karen. First Annie warmed up her muscles by stretching up and down and side to side. Then her teacher put on some music. When the music was fast, Annie loved to twirl, spinning her wheelchair in circles. When the music was slow, Annie moved her arms like a graceful swan.

4 Annie practiced for months to get ready for a dance show. She picked out her own music and costume. When the big night finally came, Annie was nervous but excited, too. When it was her turn, she gave Miss Karen a happy smile and thought proudly, “I am a dancer!” Then Annie wheeled out onto the stage and began to dance.

5 Kitty Lunn is someone who understands Annie’s experience. She was 8 when she decided to be a dancer. By the time she was 15, Kitty was dancing with the New Orleans Civic Ballet. She studied with famous teachers and danced in widely-known ballets such as Swan Lake and The Nutcracker. When she was older, Kitty moved to New York City, where she worked as an actress and a dancer. She was getting ready to perform in her first Broadway show when her life changed forever.

6 While hurrying to rehearsal, Kitty slipped on some ice. She fell down a flight of stairs and broke her back. The accident left her a paraplegic. This means she can move her arms and body but not her legs. It also means that Kitty now uses a wheelchair to get around.

7 At first, Kitty thought her life as a dancer was over. Then she learned something important. “The dancer inside me,” she says, “didn’t know or care that I was using a wheelchair. She just wanted to keep dancing.” So Kitty found a way to continue doing what she loved.

8 In 1994, Kitty Lunn started Infinity Dance Theater. Its members are dancers with and without disabilities. They use movements from ballet, modern dance, and jazz. Like some of the other dancers, Kitty uses a special lightweight wheelchair.

9 When the 1996 Olympics were held in Atlanta, Georgia, Kitty was there. She performed a dance called “Inside My Body There Is a Dancer.” This title is a good description of what Kitty believes.

10 The Infinity dancers perform all over the world. They also help dance teachers learn to work with students who have disabilities.

11 There are many other dance companies that include both wheelchair and standing dancers. Each of them would agree with Kitty’s advice when she says, “Listen to the dancer in your heart.” There’s always a way to dance!

“Dancers on Wheels” by Janeen R. Adil. Copyright 2004 by Cobblestone Publishing Company. Reproduced with permission of Cobblestone Publishing Company via Copyright Clearance Center.

Part A

In paragraph 5 of the passage “High-Flying Simone Biles,” the phrase taken the gymnastics world by storm shows that Simone Biles has

Part B

Which detail from the passage best supports the answer to Part A?

Part A

What are two points that the author emphasizes in the passage “High-Flying Simone Biles”?

Part B

Which two quotations from the passage best support the answer to Part A?

In paragraph 3 of “Dancers on Wheels,” the phrase moved her arms like a graceful swan shows that Annie

In the passage “Dancers on Wheels,” how does the author use the stories of two different dancers to support a key idea in the passage?

Part A

What are two main ideas of the passage “Dancers on Wheels”?

Part B

Which two quotations from the passage best support the answers to Part A?

How is the overall structure in “High-Flying Simone Biles” different from the overall structure in “Dancers on Wheels”?

For each claim in the chart, select the appropriate box to indicate whether the passage “High-Flying Simone Biles” or the passage “Dancers on Wheels” supports the claim. Each claim can have only one answer. If both passages answer the question, select “Both.”

You have read “High-Flying Simone Biles” by Marty Kaminsky and “Dancers on Wheels” by Janeen R. Adil. Both authors provide information about people who use their skills in front of an audience. Write an opinion in which you identify which author does a better job at showing the commitment it takes to succeed. Be sure to use details from both passages in your response.

Today you will read a passage from Out in Left Field and a passage from The Kite Fighters. Then you will answer questions about the passages and write a response in which you analyze both texts.

In this passage from Out in Left Field, Donald has finally collected enough bottles to purchase an archery set he really wanted. This story takes place in 1947. Pat is his younger brother. Read the passage. Then answer the questions.

from Out in Left Field

by Don Lemna

1 I missed. I missed the target. I even missed the straw bales. However, I did manage to hit the chicken coop, and when the arrow collided with the back of the building, it shattered into fragments.

2 It might as well have been my right arm that I was looking at, lying in pieces on the bare earth. It hurt just as much. One shot and I’d already lost one of my precious arrows. I felt like weeping. I vowed it wouldn’t happen again.

3 And it didn’t. I started again—this time much closer to the target—and I worked my way back as I improved. An hour later I’d become fairly good at it, and I was having the time of my life.

4 Eventually Father came by to watch me in action. “Well, I’ll give you high marks for determination,” he said. Then just as he was about to leave, Pat walked into the picture. Actually, he came wheeling around the corner of the henhouse like a demented chicken.

5 “Can I shoot it?” he asked excitedly.

6 He had a big grin on his face. That is, he did until I gave him the bad news.

7 “No, you can’t. You wouldn’t help me collect the bottles. Anyway, you’re too young. You have to be eleven, at least.” He really was too young, and knowing how careless he was, I was afraid he might break one of my precious arrows.

8 Even though I had given him two perfectly good reasons why he couldn’t shoot my bow and arrows, he refused to accept them. He went screaming back to the house in a fit of rage. And this particular fit far exceeded the best I’d ever seen him throw. He didn’t return, and I assumed Mother supported my decision.

9 Father had remained strangely silent during the whole episode, but after Pat had run away, he looked at me with questioning eyes.

10 “He wouldn’t help me collect the bottles,” I pointed out.

11 He nodded at me, a little sadly I thought, then he walked away.

12 I spent the rest of the afternoon practicing. Near the end of it, my drawing arm was aching, but I was happy. I knew I was well on my way to becoming a deadly archer. Pat came back and watched me for a while. I felt a slight twinge in my heart when I saw him standing there with his hair going in all directions and the little band of freckles marching across his nose. For a split second just then, I even felt that some people might possibly think I was a selfish person. However, I managed to resist the impulse to give in.

13 “You wouldn’t help me,” I reminded him, and once again he ran away with tears in his eyes.

14 As I walked toward the chicken coop I saw Dad going into his smokehouse. I stopped there for a moment and watched him check over the beautiful smoked ham that he’d been curing for the annual smoked ham contest in Wistola.

15 He turned around and looked directly at me. “You’ve had a good go at it,” he said. “Now how about letting Pat have a try?” I hung my head and waited because I knew he was finally going to order me to share my bow and arrows with Pat. It was the end. But then in the last desperate second, I had a very cunning idea.

16 “It’s like your ham,” I said, looking up at him with tears in my eyes. “It’s something really important to me, like your ham is to you.”

17 “It’s not the same thing,” he said quietly. “Whatever becomes of this ham—whether it wins a prize and gets sold or we eat it ourselves—it’s going to be shared by all of us.” He looked calmly down at me and smiled, but he said nothing more. Instead, he put his hand on my shoulder and we walked to the house together.

18 The look in his eyes and the feel of his hand on my shoulder stayed with me all the way through supper. I just couldn’t shake loose from it, so after supper was over and Mother and Father had gone outside to sit on the back steps with their coffee, I told Pat that he could come out with me and shoot my bow. He was ecstatic.

Out in Left Field by Don Lemna. Copyright 2012 by Holiday House, Inc. Reproduced with permission of Holiday House, Inc. via Copyright Clearance Center.

Today you will read a passage from Out in Left Field and a passage from The Kite Fighters. Then you will answer questions about the passages and write a response in which you analyze both texts.

In this passage from The Kite Fighters, Young-sup and Kee-sup are brothers who live in Korea in 1473. They have both made kites to fly. Flying kites is an important tradition. Read the passage. Then answer the questions.

from The Kite Fighters

by Linda Sue Park

1 Young-sup loved the feeling of a kite on a line. He liked the moment of launching when he stood perfectly still, feeling the wind at his back and the kite’s desire to be in the air. He experimented constantly, teasing the line this way and that, holding the reel different ways, even turning his whole body at varied angles, to coax the kite into following his commands.

2 The wind was always his partner, one he must strive to understand with the kite’s help. Sometimes it was like a kitten, pawing gently at the kite, nudging across the sky. At other times it was a big dog, friendly and eager but too rough in its play. It would bat and swipe and seem to shake the kite in its jaws.

3 On many occasions the wind died completely. At those moments Young-sup could feel the line slacken just before the kite began to fall. A lightning reaction, where his hands reeled in almost before his mind had finished the thought, would find a freshet of wind in another patch of the sky. Other times he discovered that the only way to stop the kite’s fall was to give it more line, not less.

4 The kite was like a part of him—the part that could fly.

5 With the failure of his homemade kite, Young-sup was forced to borrow his brother’s tiger when he wanted to fly. Kee-sup was willing enough to share, for he had given up altogether trying to learn to launch a kite on his own. Either his lack of skill or the naughty tok-gabi made his kite crash every time. Young-sup now helped with each launch, and Kee-sup repaid the favor by allowing him to have a turn with the tiger.

6 Despite plenty of opportunities to fly, Young-sup was not content. More than anything he wanted a good kite of his own. One afternoon as they walked home from the hillside, he silenced his pride and spoke. The words did not come easily.

7 “Brother, I was—I was truly a failure at making a kite. You made yours so well. Would you make one for me?” He hesitated, then went on. “It would be such fun to be able to fly together instead of taking turns. And the tiger is magnificent. It would be a great honor to fly one just like it.”

8 Kee-sup walked on, looking down at the ground, and did not answer for a few moments.

9 “No,” he said finally.

10 Young-sup opened his mouth to protest. Kee-sup held up his hand for silence, then halted there in the road to speak.

11 “I won’t make one for you. But I’ll help you make one of your own.”

The Kite Fighters by Linda Sue Park. Text Copyright © 2000 by Linda Sue Park. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

Part A

What does cunning mean as it is used in paragraph 15?

Part B

Which quotation from the passage best supports the answer to Part A?

Part A

In the passage from Out in Left Field, how does Donald’s point of view influence the events in the story?

Part B

In paragraph 12, five sentences are highlighted. Select the two sentences that best support the answer to Part A.

I spent the rest of the afternoon practicing. Near the end of it, my drawing arm was aching, but I was happy. I knew I was well on my way to becoming a deadly archer. Pat came back and watched me for a while. I felt a slight twinge in my heart when I saw him standing there with his hair going in all directions and the little band of freckles marching across his nose. For a split second just then, I even felt that some people might possibly think I was a selfish person. However, I managed to resist the impulse to give in.

Part A

Which statement best explains how Donald’s actions contribute to a theme of generosity in the passage from Out in Left Field?

Part B

What evidence from the passage best supports the answer to Part A?

What is the best summary of the passage from Out in Left Field?

What is the meaning of the word coax as it is used in paragraph 1 of the passage from The Kite Fighters?

In the passage from The Kite Fighters, what are two ways Young-sup and Kee-sup are different?

Part A

What is a theme of the passage from The Kite Fighters?

Part B

Which sentence from the passage best supports the answer to Part A?

Select whether each description in the chart tells about the passage from Out in Left Field, the passage from The Kite Fighters, or both passages.

Part A

Why do Donald from the passage from Out in Left Field and Kee-sup from the passage from The Kite Fighters refuse when their brothers ask something of them?

Part B

Which pair of phrases from both passages best supports the answer to Part A?

Both the passage from Out in Left Field and the passage from The Kite Fighters are about relationships between brothers. Write a response that explains what the main characters, Donald and Young-Sup, learn from their conflicts in the two passages. Use details and examples from both passages to develop and support the ideas in your response.