PASSAGE #1
Not Just a Hole in the Ground
by Elizabeth C. McCarron
1 The woodchuck sits up on its hind legs, chewing a wild
strawberry. Looking around, the chuck freezes when it spies the farmer’s dog.
The dog sniffs the air, spots the chuck, and charges toward it. The woodchuck
watches the enemy coming closer and closer, then POOF! The chuck disappears
from sight, and the dog is left puzzled. The woodchuck has dropped into its
burrow to escape.
2 A woodchuck burrow is more than just a hole in the ground. It is
a complex system of entrances, tunnels, and rooms called chambers. Burrows give
woodchucks a place to sleep, raise young, and escape enemies. When a woodchuck
hibernates (sleeps through the winter), it makes a simple burrow and plugs the
entrance with sand.
3 A woodchuck uses its strong claws to dig its own burrow. In soft
soil, a woodchuck can dig an entire burrow in one day.
4 Each summer burrow usually has several entrances. This lets the
woodchuck roam and still have a safe hole nearby in case danger comes along.
5 For the main entrance, a chuck may choose the woods at the edge
of a meadow. The hole must be hidden from view but close to food.
6 The plunge
hole is a special burrow entrance. It goes straight down two or more feet. When
an enemy comes near, the woodchuck may give a shrill whistle, then drop
straight down into the hole. This is how the woodchuck “disappeared” from the
dog’s sight!
7 Under the ground, tunnels
and chambers connect the entrances. There is a sleeping chamber, a turn-around chamber,
and a nursery chamber. A woodchuck burrow can even have a bathroom! A woodchuck
may bury its waste in a chamber. Sometimes it adds waste to the mound of sand
that marks the main entrance. This mound lets other animals know whether or not
a burrow is active (being used).
8 Many animals look for
empty woodchuck burrows. And why not? The burrows are warm in winter, cool in
summer, and ready-made. Rabbits use empty burrows to avoid summer heat. They
may even pop into an active burrow to escape an enemy. Skunks, weasels, and
opossums use empty burrows as woodchucks do—for sleeping, hiding, and raising
their young. Foxes may take over active burrows to raise their own young in the
warm dens.9 Now you can see that a burrow is more than just a hole in the ground.
It’s the perfect place for woodchucks—or other animals—to sleep, hide, and
raise young. To a woodchuck, there’s no place like its burrow!
1) How
should the word chambers be divided into syllables?
A cham–b–ers
B cham–bers
C ch–am–bers
D cha–mbers
2) Read
this sentence from paragraph 1 of the passage.
The woodchuck watches the enemy coming closer and closer, then
POOF!
In the
sentence above, the author uses the word closer to show that the enemy is
A approaching the woodchuck.
B struggling with the woodchuck.
C circling the woodchuck.
D blocking the woodchuck.
3) Use
this dictionary entry to answer the following question.
pop, verb
1. to make a short, sharp sound
2. to move
quickly
3. to open
wide
4. to let
go of
4) Read
this sentence from paragraph 8 of the passage.
They may
even pop into an active burrow to escape an enemy.
Which
dictionary entry gives the BEST meaning for the word pop as it is used in the
sentence in the box?
A to make a short, sharp sound
B to move quickly
C to open wide
D to let go of
5) A
woodchuck finds a food source above the outer part of its burrow.
What is
the woodchuck MOST likely to do?
A dig another burrow
B take over another burrow
C hibernate for the winter
D dig another entrance.
6) Which
sentence BEST tells how the woodchuck lives through the winter?
A The woodchuck has dropped into its
burrow to escape.
B Burrows give woodchucks a place to
sleep, raise young, and escape enemies.
C When a woodchuck hibernates, it
makes a simple burrow and plugs the entrance with sand.
D The hole must be hidden from view
but close to food.
7) Why
would a woodchuck make a burrow with several entrances?
A to have many views of the meadow
B so the woodchuck can escape danger
more quickly
C so the temperature in the tunnels
will remain cool
D to let other animals know the holes
are being used
Copyright © 2000 by Highlights for
Children, Inc., Columbus
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PASSAGE #2
It’s Fun to Be a Toymaker
1 Jimmy Brown’s toy factory is
a kitchen table and chair. Jimmy’s two hands are the machines. The tools are
ordinary things like scissors and crayons. Jimmy’s baby brother thinks the
Jimmy Brown Toy Factory is the world’s finest. Here are some of the toys that
Jimmy’s brother likes best.
Ring-the-Bell Roller
2 From a round oatmeal box,
four tiny bells, string, and poster paints, Jimmy made a pull-toy. He cut a
small hole in the middle of the box—just big enough to slip bells through—and
he cut smaller holes in the top and in the bottom.
3 After placing the bells in
the box, he wrapped string around a pencil and poked the pencil through the
holes in the box to get the string through. Then he tied the ends of the string
together in a knot and taped up the bigger hole. He painted the box with bright
poster paints. After the paint dried, Jimmy tied a long string in the middle of
the first string for pulling the ring-the-bell roller.
Corky the Duck
4 Jimmy made Corky out of a
piece of thin cardboard; a thick, round cork; wax crayons; and two thumbnails.
He drew the outline of a duck on the cardboard and cut it out. Then he colored
it all over with crayons, being careful not to miss any spot, because the wax
crayons make the cardboard waterproof. (If every bit of paper or cardboard is
colored, it will shed water as the feathers on a duck’s back do.)
5 Then he cut a slit in the
very center of the cork. He fitted the duck into the slit.
6 Then he pushed the
thumbnails through the bottom of the cork and into the duck to help keep it
from falling over in the water. One time Jimmy made ships instead of ducks—a
whole fleet of them.
1) The first thing Jimmy
does to make the pull-toy is
A poke a pencil through the box.
B cut a small hole in the box.
C put bells inside the box.
D tape up the hole in the box.
2) The section “Corky the Duck” tells how
A to draw different parts of a toy.
B to keep a toy from falling over in water.
C to place a pencil through small holes.
D to put bells inside a box.
3) Which book could a student read to learn more about making toys?
A Everything
You Need to Know About Collecting Toys
B Well-Known
Toymakers
C Machines That Build: Cranes, Dump Trucks and
Bulldozers
D Easy-to-Build Wooden Toys
4) Which word has the same vowel sound as the underlined part of the
crayon?
A table
B wrapped
C wax
D back
5) What is the correct
way to divide waterproof into syllables?
A water–proof
B wa–ter–pro–of
C wa–ter–proof
D wat–er–pr–oof
Adapted with permission from Young Children’s Encyclopedia, vol. 15, © 1988 by Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse
During World War I, some citizens of Russia America New York Harbor
October 1, 1920
Entering New York Harbor
Dear Tovah,
1 Today we will arrive at Ellis Island . Today I will see Mama and smell her yeasty
smell. Today I will feel the tickle of Papa’s dark beard against my cheeks and
see my brother Nathan’s dimpled smile and Saul’s wild, curly hair. Today I will
meet my brothers Asher and Isaac and Reuben.
2 Already I am wearing my
best hat, the black velvet with the shirring and the brim of light blue. I’m
hoping that with the hat, Mama will not mind my baldness. I’ve tucked Papa’s
tallis into my rucksack, but Mama’s gold locket hangs around my neck.
3 The captain said his
company notified our families and they are awaiting our arrival. I must pass a
screening on the island before I can go home with Mama and Papa. Papa wrote
about Ellis Island in his letters.
4 He wrote that at Ellis
Island you are neither in nor out of America Ellis
Island is a line separating my future from my past. Until I cross
that line, I am still homeless, still an immigrant. Once I leave Ellis Island,
though, I will truly be in America
5 Papa said in his letter that they ask many questions at Ellis Island . I must take my time and answer correctly.
What’s to worry? I am good at answering questions. Even if they ask me a
thousand questions, I will have Mama and Papa near me, my mama and papa.
6 Just one week ago, I did not think I would ever make it to America
7 Then, once the tow ship arrived, it took so long between the
securing of the ropes and the exchanges between the two ships, I thought we
would never begin moving. At last, when we did, the other ship pulled us so
slowly. I could swim faster to America
8 In Russia ,
all America America America
9 In America
10 Very soon, Tovah,
I will be in this America
11 Shalom, my cousin, Rifka
12 P.S. As I was finishing this letter a cry went up from the
deck. When I went out to see what it was, I found all the passengers gathered
on one side of the ship, looking up. They were looking at Miss Liberty, Tovah,
a great statue of a woman standing in the middle of the harbor. She was lifting
a lamp to light the way for us.
1) What does Rifka see just
as she enters New York
Harbor
A her mother and father
B the sun shining
C many other ships
D the Statue of Liberty
2) Who is the speaker in
this passage?
A Tovah
B Rifka
C Mama
D Papa
3) Where is Rifka traveling
from?
A America to Ellis Island
B Ellis Island to Russia
C Russia to America
D America to Russia
4) Read this dictionary
entry. assist (e sist) v.
1. to help. n. 2. an act of helping. n. 3. a
baseball play that helps put a runner out.
I assisted with the cleanup as best I could, doing work Pieter would
have done if he were there.
5) In the sentence above,
assisted is
A a noun.
B a verb.
C an adjective.
D an adverb.
6) Read this sentence.
In America
Which word is a SYNONYM
for clever?
A smart
B tired
C young
D strong
Excerpt from LETTERS
FROM RIFKA by Karen Hesse, copyright © 1992 by Karen Hesse. Reprinted by
permission of Henry Holt and Company, LLC.
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