A
Every day this week, Laura had watched the
other kids on her street riding their bicycles
while she dreamt of riding one of her own. She
had even picked out the one she wanted. It was
a shiny blue one with yellow ribbons on the
handlebars. But, she had just one problem. It
wasn’t anywhere near her birthday, and she
didn’t have enough money to buy a bicycle on
her own. Then, on Friday, she had an idea. She
would go to every house in her neighborhood to
see if the owners wanted to hire her to do any
yard work or pet care. She got three jobs lined
up for the weekend. Laura did the work and
was paid. She did this every weekend until she
had enough money to buy the bicycle.
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Laura didn’t have enough money to buy
the bicycle that she wanted, so she did
work in her neighborhood to earn it.
B. Laura wanted to ride a bicycle, but she
didn’t have one, so she asked her
neighbors to donate some money.
C. On Friday, Laura had the idea to do some
extra work to earn money.
D. Laura’s problem was that everyone
except her knew how to ride a bicycle, and
so she needed someone to teach her.
C. Because Zainab’s mother needed the house to be
quiet, Zainab couldn’t play inside with her friends,
and so they played outside.
Patrice’s favorite movies were martial arts
movies starring her favorite actors, Jackie
Chan, Bruce Lee, and Chuck Norris. She would
watch movies with those actors every chance
she got, imitating their swift kicks and sharp
punches.
“I wish I could be a black belt,” Patrice said to
her friends at school one morning.
“I am a black belt,” Anna said. “I go to karate
classes three times a week. Why don’t you
come with me?”
Patrice thought that was a great idea, and
joined Anna’s karate class. Soon she had her
first colored belt — a yellow one — and was on
her way to achieving her goal of black belt.
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Patrice was a yellow belt in karate and
wished she was a black belt, so she asked
Anna for help.
B. Patrice wanted to be a black belt in
karate, but she didn’t know karate, and so
she started taking classes to learn.
C. Patrice wanted to be in movies like Jackie
Chan and Chuck Norris, but she didn’t
know how to do karate, and so she took a
class with her friend Anna.
D. Patrice loved karate, but didn’t know how
to become a black belt, so she asked Anna
for more information.
D. Because she struggled to do the steps on her
own, Deepthi recorded her teacher and practiced
the dance at home until she knew it for the recital.
Elizabeth loved books and was trying to read
after school one day when her brother
started making noise. He crashed around the
house, banging pots together and driving his
toy cars all over the place, saying “Vroom!
Vroom!” Elizabeth asked him to be quiet, but
he was too little to understand and just kept
making noise. Elizabeth tried reading in her
room, in the kitchen, in the living room, and in
her brother’s room, but she couldn’t find a
quiet place. Desperate for quiet, she went
out into the back yard and climbed a tree.
She had finally found a quiet place to read.
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Elizabeth wanted her brother to be
quiet, but he was too little to
understand, and so she read him a book.
B. Elizabeth’s brother wanted to play cars
and crash around the house, but she
wanted to read, and so she sent him
outside.
C. Elizabeth wanted to read, but her
brother was too distracting, and so she
went outside to read in a tree.
D. Elizabeth didn’t like all the noise her
brother was making while she was
trying to read.
C. Elizabeth wanted to read, but her brother was
too distracting, and so she went outside to read in
a tree.
Tyler looked through the recipe book and found
the recipe he wanted to make: a three-layer
cake. He assembled the ingredients, mixed up
the batter, and then opened the cabinet to get
out three cake pans — one for each layer. But
when he looked inside the cabinet, he only saw
one cake pan. He didn’t know how he would bake
three layers of cake with only one pan, so he
sat down and stared at the pan to think. Tyler
realized that he could bake three layers of cake
by baking the layers one at a time. It took him a
little longer than he had planned, but eventually
he had a three-layer cake just like the one in
the recipe book.
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Tyler only had one cake pan, but he
wanted to bake a three-layer cake, and so
he made a smaller cake.
B. Tyler tried to make a three-layer cake
from a recipe book, but he didn’t have
enough ingredients to make it.
C. Tyler’s recipe book showed him how to
make a three-layer cake, but he didn’t like
the recipe, so he made only a one-layer
cake instead.
D. Tyler wanted to bake a three-layer cake,
but he only had one cake pan, and so he
baked the layers one by one.
B. When Jacques asked for a puppy, his grandpa
wasn’t sure, so Jacques took care of Mr. Larson’s
puppy and proved that he could be responsible.
Susan listened to her brother Jacob practice
playing his guitar every afternoon. She loved the
sound of the guitar, and she wished that she
could play it, too. Occasionally, Jacob let her
hold his guitar and pluck its strings, but holding
it wasn’t the same as truly playing it. One day,
when Jacob had finished his guitar practice, he
handed the guitar to Susan.
Susan asked, “Will you please teach me how to
play it?”
“Of course,” he said, and he showed her how to
hold the guitar. Then he taught her the names
of the strings and how to play a chord.
After just a few quick lessons, Susan could
finally play a real song.
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Susan wanted to play the guitar, but her
brother wouldn’t let her, so she asked
nicely.
B. Susan wanted to play the guitar, but didn’t
know how, so she asked her brother to
teach her.
C. Susan knew how to play the guitar, but
her brother could play it better, so she
asked him to help her.
D. Susan loved the sound of the guitar, but
not her brother’s playing, so she asked him
to let her play.
B. Susan wanted to play the guitar, but didn’t know
how, so she asked her brother to teach her.
Tai was always running into school at the last
minute. Sometimes she slid into her chair
right before the bell rang, but she was often
late. Tai wanted to be on time. It was
embarrassing to enter the classroom after
school had started. The problem was that
she didn’t have enough time to get ready in
the morning. She knew that if she could
wake up earlier, her problem would be
solved. After her fourth time being tardy in
one week, she borrowed an alarm clock
from her mother. Tai set her alarm, woke up
with plenty of time to get ready, and got to
school a little bit early. It felt great!
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Tai was embarrassed when she came to
school late, but she didn’t know how to
get there on time, and so she tried
going to bed earlier.
B. Tai wanted to wake up earlier, but she
didn’t have an alarm clock, and so she
was late every day.
C. Tai couldn’t get to school on time
because she woke up too late, and so
she used an alarm clock to wake up.
D. Tai hated being late, but she was always
waking up after school had started.
A. Twyla had writer’s block, so she asked her little
brothers to draw some characters, which she used
to write her story.
Cara jumped up to catch the ball that Thomas
threw, but she missed, and it flew over the
fence and into Mrs. Soto’s yard.
“Oh, no!” Thomas cried, trying to see over the
fence. “We wanted to play until dinner time, but
now we have to stop!”
Cara tried to climb the fence, but it was too
tall, and she couldn’t get all the way up. Then
she had an idea.
“Let’s go and knock on Mrs. Soto’s door,” she
said, “and maybe she’ll let us get the ball.”
When they knocked on the door, Mrs. Soto
answered, already holding their ball. “Here you
go, kids,” she said, smiling.
“Thank you,” Cara and Thomas said, happy that
they could continue to play.
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Cara couldn’t catch the ball that Thomas
threw, so the ball went over the fence.
B. Because Cara and Thomas threw their ball
into Mrs. Soto’s yard, they couldn’t play
again until after dinner time.
C. Mrs. Soto returned Cara and Thomas’s
ball because she was kind and knew that
they wanted to keep playing.
D. Thomas and Cara lost their ball in Mrs.
Soto’s yard, but they wanted to keep
playing, and so they went next door to
retrieve it.
B. Kristin wanted to paint a picture for her dad, but
she couldn’t think of anything, and so she looked
around for inspiration and decided to paint a tree.
Bariq thought that 7:00 was too early to go
to bed. He wanted to stay up later, at least
until 8:00, but every night his parents would
send him to bed at 7:00. One night, while he
was lying in bed trying to go to sleep, he
thought of a plan. He would talk to his
parents the next day and ask for a later bed
time. The next morning, he asked his parents
if he could go to bed later. At first they said
no, but when he explained that he wasn’t
tired at 7:00, they agreed to let him go to
bed at 8:00 every night for a week to see if
it worked. It did, and soon Bariq’s official
bed time was 8:00.
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Bariq’s bed time was 7:00, but he wanted
an 8:00 bed time, and so he talked it over
with his parents and got what he wanted.
B. Bariq’s parents made him go to bed at
7:00 every night, but he wanted to go to
bed at 8:00, and so he did.
C. Bariq didn’t like his early bed time, and so
he started going to bed at 8:00 to see if it
would work.
D. Bariq couldn’t sleep one night, and so he
planned to go to sleep at 8:00 the next
week.
A. Bariq’s bed time was 7:00, but he wanted an
8:00 bed time, and so he talked it over with his
parents and got what he wanted.
Zainab loved to play with her friends, and one
afternoon, she had an idea.
“Mom,” she said, “I really want Lisa and Dave to
come over so we can make a club and build a
club house with the couch cushions.”
“No,” her mother replied, “I need the house to
be quiet today because I have work to do.”
Zainab was disappointed, so she went to her
room and thought until she had another idea.
“Mom,” she called down the stairs, “what if we
play outside?”
“That would be fine,” Zainab’s mom said.
Soon, Dave, Lisa, and Zainab had made a new
club and were building their club house in the
backyard with the patio chairs.
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Zainab wanted to play with her friends, but
her mother was too busy, so they built a
club house with couch cushions.
B. Zainab was disappointed because she
couldn’t build a club house, so she called her
friends to come over and play.
C. Because Zainab’s mother needed the house
to be quiet, Zainab couldn’t play inside with
her friends, and so they played outside.
D. Building a couch cushion club house was so
important to Zainab that she decided to
disobey her mother and build one anyway.
A. Laura didn’t have enough money to buy the
bicycle that she wanted, so she did work in her
neighborhood to earn it.
Kim’s parents said that she had to do all of
her chores and eat her vegetables if she
wanted dessert. She worked hard to do all
of those things, all the while imagining how
delicious a cookie would taste after all of
her hard work. But when she finished and
went in to the kitchen, there weren’t any
cookies anywhere. Kim sighed and opened
the pantry. What she saw there gave her an
idea. She took some flour, sugar, vanilla, and
chocolate chips from the pantry and some
eggs and butter from the refrigerator. Then
she mixed up all of the ingredients and baked
a whole tray of delicious, warm cookies.
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Kim wanted a delicious cookie, but her
parents said she had to do her chores
first, and so she imagined a cookie while
she worked.
B. The ingredients Kim saw in the pantry
gave her the idea to make cookies.
C. Although Kim finished all of her chores,
she couldn’t have any cookies because
there weren’t any in the kitchen.
D. There were no cookies for Kim to have
for dessert after she finished all of
her tasks, and so she made some.
D. There were no cookies for Kim to have for
dessert after she finished all of her tasks, and so
she made some.
Mallory made a really cool paper airplane at
school, and so as soon as she got home, she
took it outside and threw it through the air.
It landed in a tree. She wanted to keep
playing with it, so she tried jumping as high as
she could to reach it. That didn’t work, so
she tried climbing the tree, but the branches
were too high, and she couldn’t get enough
of a grip to lift herself up. Finally, she
grabbed a broom from the garage. The
broom was long enough for her to use to
knock the airplane out of the tree. It came
down easily, and Mallory kept playing happily.
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Mallory wanted to keep playing with her
paper airplane after it got stuck in a tree,
and so she tried several ways of reaching
it and eventually got it down with a broom.
B. Mallory’s airplane got stuck in a tree, so
she tried to climb the tree to get it so she
could keep playing with it.
C. Mallory made a paper airplane, but
couldn’t play with it because it got stuck
in a tree and she couldn’t get it down.
D. Mallory wanted to play with her paper
airplane, but it got stuck in a tree, and so
she made a new one.
C. Although Farrah wanted to be a great big sister,
she didn’t know how, and so she took a class to
learn all about it.
Jacques loved to play with Mr. Larson’s puppy
and wished he had one of his own. He asked his
grandpa if he could have one, but his grandpa
wasn’t sure that Jacques was responsible enough
for a pet. One afternoon, Mr. Larson called and
asked if Jacques could take care of his puppy for
a week. Jacques’ grandpa said that was a good
idea, and if Jacques could handle taking care of
Mr. Larson’s puppy for a week, Jacques could get
one of his own. Jacques took care of Mr.
Larson’s puppy by feeding it, walking it, bathing it,
and cleaning up after it. At the end of the week,
Mr. Larson was happy that Jacques had done
such a good job, and Jacques’ grandpa took him
to the animal shelter to pick out his very own
puppy.
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Jacques wanted to take care of Mr.
Larson’s puppy, but his grandpa didn’t think
he was responsible enough.
B. When Jacques asked for a puppy, his
grandpa wasn’t sure, so Jacques took care
of Mr. Larson’s puppy and proved that he
could be responsible.
C. Jacques went to the shelter to get a puppy
after asking his grandpa for a new friend.
D. Jacques wanted a puppy, but Mr. Larson
didn’t think he was responsible enough, so
Mr. Larson asked Jacques to take care of
his puppy as a test.
D. Tyler wanted to bake a three-layer cake, but he
only had one cake pan, and so he baked the layers
one by one.
Deepthi was worried because the ballet recital
was only a week away. She had started ballet
classes a month ago, and she still didn’t have all
the steps down. She could do the dance during
ballet class, when she could see Ms. Lila doing
the steps, but not when she practiced at home.
“I wish I could bring Ms. Lila home to practice
with me,” she thought.
Then, she thought of a way that she could bring
Ms. Lila home. She took a video camera to her
dance class and asked Ms. Lila to do the recital
dance while Deepthi recorded it. Deepthi took
her recording home, practiced while watching it,
and learned the dance just in time for the
recital.
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Deepthi recorded Ms. Lila doing the dance
steps so she could watch the video instead
of going to the recital.
B. Ms. Lila wanted Deepthi to learn the dance
steps in time for the recital, but Deepthi
struggled to do them correctly.
C. Deepthi and Ms. Lila wanted to make a
video for the dance recital, but Deepthi
didn’t know how to dance well.
D. Because she struggled to do the steps on
her own, Deepthi recorded her teacher
and practiced the dance at home until she
knew it for the recital.
B. Patrice wanted to be a black belt in karate, but
she didn’t know karate, and so she started taking
classes to learn.
Twyla really wanted to write a great story, but
she had writer’s block. She knew that if she
could think of some great characters, she
would be able to write a story. So, she took
some paper and crayons to her little brothers,
who were playing in the living room.
“Hey,” she said, “will you two draw me some
pictures?”
“I’m going to draw a dinosaur,” Mickey said.
“I’m going to draw a boy,” Charlie said.
When they were finished, the boys gave their
drawings to Twyla.
“These are great!” she said, and took them into
her room to begin her story about a boy and his
pet dinosaur.
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Twyla had writer’s block, so she asked her
little brothers to draw some characters,
which she used to write her story.
B. Twyla wanted to write a story about a
dinosaur and a boy, so she had her little
brothers draw pictures of the characters
to inspire her.
C. Twyla’s writer’s block was keeping her
from writing anything, so she decided to
draw with crayons instead.
D. Twyla’s brothers wanted her to write a
story, so they drew some pictures of the
characters they wanted in the story.
C. Tai couldn’t get to school on time because she
woke up too late, and so she used an alarm clock to
wake up.
Jasmine was walking through the city with her
uncle when a man asked them for some food or
money. Her uncle gave him a snack bar and a
bottle of water, and the man was grateful. As
they walked away, her uncle explained that the
man didn’t have enough money to buy the things
he needed. Jasmine wanted to help more people
who didn’t have enough money, but she didn’t
have much money of her own. She started
thinking about how to get a lot of other people
to help. She started a food drive at her school
and asked all of the students to bring some
canned food. They collected one thousand cans
of food to help people who needed it.
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Jasmine didn’t understand why some
wanted people didn’t have enough money,
and so she asked her uncle.
B. Jasmine wanted to help people, but she
didn’t have much money, so she started a
food drive at her school.
C. Jasmine wanted to help people who
needed money for food, but she couldn’t
find enough food, so she raised money to
buy some.
D. Jasmine and her friends at school
collected one thousand cans of food to
help people who needed it.
B. Jasmine wanted to help people, but she didn’t
have much money, so she started a food drive at
her school.
Alison had missed two days of school because
she had the chicken pox. José missed his friend
and wanted to help her feel better. So he wrote
her a song and took his guitar over to her house
to play for her. But when he got there, Alison’s
dad told José that she wasn’t allowed to have
visitors. He would have to wait until she went
back to school to see her. Feeling glum, José
took his guitar home. When he got there, he
spotted his recording equipment and had an
idea. He made a video recording of himself
playing the song and emailed it to Alison. She
emailed him back, saying that she loved the song
and would watch the video every day to help
her feel better.
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Alison wanted José to come over, but her
dad wouldn’t let him in, so she emailed him
a nice note.
B. José wanted to help Alison feel better, but
he wasn’t allowed to see her, so he left his
guitar at her house.
C. José wanted to help Alison feel better, but
she couldn’t have visitors, so he emailed
her a video that he made.
D. Alison felt sick and couldn’t have visitors,
but José wanted to email her a get well
soon card and song, so he did.
A. Mark tried to give Fluffy a bath, but the hot
water didn’t work, so he warmed some water in
the sun for her to bathe in.
“I want Wheaty Flakes!” Vani called, hurrying
down the stairs in hopes of getting the last bowl
of her favorite cereal. But when she got to the
kitchen, she saw her sister Aashi munching away
on the last of the Wheaty Flakes.
“Oh, I really wanted those,” Vani complained.
“Now what will I have for breakfast?”
“Sorry,” Aashi mumbled through a mouthful of
cereal, “but if you like them so much, go get
some more.”
“Yeah!” Vani said, and started working on a plan to
get more cereal. She counted her money, put it in
her pocket, and asked her mom if she could ride
her bicycle to the store.
Within an hour, Vani was back in the kitchen,
eating from her very own box of Wheaty Flakes.
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Vani wanted some Wheaty Flakes, but Aashi
had eaten the last of them, and so Vani
went to the store and bought her own box.
B. Vani loved Wheaty Flakes so much that she
didn’t want to share with her sister, and so
she bought her own box.
C. Aashi wouldn’t let Vani have any Wheaty
Flakes because they were her favorite, and
so she suggested that Vani get her own box.
D. Vani and Aashi ran out of cereal, so they
rode their bicycles to the store together to
buy some more.
A. Vani wanted some Wheaty Flakes, but Aashi had
eaten the last of them, and so Vani went to the
store and bought her own box.
Kristin was a painter who loved to paint
pictures of natural objects. She wanted to
paint a special painting for her dad’s
birthday, but couldn’t think of what to paint.
She went outside, looking around for ideas,
and came up with nothing. Then she went
inside and sat down to think about what her
dad might like. While she thought, she looked
at the photos her dad had placed on the
walls. They were all photos of trees.
“That’s it,” Kristin thought. “I’ll paint a
beautiful tree! Dad loves trees!”
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Kristin’s paintings of nature were her
Dad’s favorite thing, so she wanted to
paint him a tree, but couldn’t decide how
to do it.
B. Kristin wanted to paint a picture for her
dad, but she couldn’t think of anything,
and so she looked around for inspiration
and decided to paint a tree.
C. Kristin wanted to paint a tree for her dad,
but she couldn’t find a tree outside to use
as a model, and so she used a picture of a
tree as a model, instead.
D. Kristin wanted to paint a picture for her
dad, but he didn’t like natural objects, and
so she painted something else.
D. Thomas and Cara lost their ball in Mrs. Soto’s
yard, but they wanted to keep playing, and so they
went next door to retrieve it.
When her parents told her that she was going to
get a baby brother, Farrah knew she would be
the best big sister ever. However, she realized
that she didn’t really know how to be a big sister.
She asked her mom how she could learn.
“There’s a class for big siblings at the hospital,”
Mom said, rubbing her belly. “Would you like to do
that?”
“Yes!” Farrah shouted, very excited about the
idea.
The next Saturday, Farrah went to the class at
the hospital. The nurses taught her all about
taking care of babies, including holding them,
changing diapers, feeding them, and playing with
them. At the end of the class, Farrah knew that
she was ready to be a great big sister.
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Farrah was afraid she wouldn’t be a good
big sister, so she practiced taking care of
babies at the hospital.
B. Farrah wanted to volunteer at the hospital,
and so her mom took her to a class about
being an older sibling.
C. Although Farrah wanted to be a great big
sister, she didn’t know how, and so she
took a class to learn all about it.
D. Farrah was so excited that she was going
to have a baby brother, and so she went
to the hospital to visit her baby brother.
A. Mallory wanted to keep playing with her paper
airplane after it got stuck in a tree, and so she
tried several ways of reaching it and eventually
got it down with a broom.
While paging through a family photo album,
Franklin learned that his grandfather had been
born in 1949. Franklin wanted to know more
about what life was like for his grandfather
when he was growing up in the 1950s. Franklin
booted up his computer and looked for
information on the Internet about the 1950s,
but all he could find were facts. He realized
that what he really wanted was a first-hand
account of life in that time period, and he knew
just where to look. The next time Franklin visited
his grandfather, he asked him to talk about
what life was like for him as a child. His
grandfather told him all about his childhood.
Which is the best summary of this story?
A. Franklin wanted to find information online
about what happened in the 1950s, but he
couldn’t find anything, so he looked at photos.
B. Franklin’s computer didn’t have any useful
information about the 1950s, so he asked his
grandfather for a list of events that took
place in the 1950s.
C. The family photo album was an interesting
way to learn about his family, so Franklin used
the Internet to find more information to add
to the album.
D. Franklin wanted to know about life in the
1950s and couldn’t find it online, so he asked
his grandfather for his personal stories.
D. Franklin wanted to know about life in the 1950s
and couldn’t find it online, so he asked his
grandfather for his personal stories.