English Benchmark 2 Review (2015-2016)
RL.2Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments
RL.3Describe how a particular story’s or drama’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves towards a resolution
RL.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.
RL. 6Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text
Rl.5Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot
W. 3Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences
Moving Fun Forward
Her mother was on one of her “cleaning” kicks. Moira knew that she would have to spend several hours digging through her belongings and make a pile of throw-outs that was large enough to satisfy her mother. Moira’s thoughts were so stuck on making these selections of items she knew she didn’t need or want anymore that she almost missed what Miss Anderle was saying about their project assignment. She knew it had to be something about recycling, as that had been their science focus for what seemed like forever.
On their way home from school, Moira and her friends were discussing the project assignment. “I have no idea what to do,” Tessa whined. “My family already uses marked containers for recyclable sorting.”
Moira knew how important recycling was, but she was tired of concentrating on it. She couldn’t even force herself to think of her project right now; she had junk to sort. “Call me tonight if you think of a project idea,” Tessa started Moira out of her thoughts. Moira heard Tessa, waved a rather half-hearted goodbye, and headed home.
Moira’s mother greeted her at the door. Her lips were poised, about to remind her daughter of the promised plan to clean as soon as she got home. Before her mother could speak, Moira said, “Yeah, I know.” Her mother grinned, patted her daughter on the shoulder, and went back into the other room. Moira headed upstairs to begin the digging challenge.
The closet seemed the best place to begin. Moira began pulling things out, creating a pile in the middle of her bedroom floor. Moira decided to get a large box from the garage. Anything she discarded would be placed in the box. What she wanted or needed to keep would be put away again for safekeeping.
A rather scruffy, slightly soiled, stuffed toy rabbit with one straight ear and the other drooping sadly was the first object Moira grabbed. She had to smile as she held the rabbit close to her chest remembering all those nights when she was little holding the rabbit close. Poor “Flops” looked tired now. Moira knew the rabbit really had little value for her now and should be delegated to the box. Mustering strength and firm determination, she laid the rabbit in the box, not daring to look again.
The next few items were easy. Half-filled coloring books, boxes of bluntly worn and broken colors, a box of trinkets - some freebies from cereal boxes - were tossed into the box. She pulled from the pile a doll with its head a bit askew, straggly hair and only half dressed. Martha had been her favorite doll, accompanying her everywhere when she was just 5. Moira felt more than just a twinge of guilt, but she knew she had no recourse but to add Martha to the discard box.
Just then, Moira had an idea. An image from a commercial she had seen on television just last night dominated her mind. It had been an ad for one of the Help the Children funds that showed little children, all with huges eyes and very sad faces. The ad’s push was for donations for food and medical help, but her thoughts went elsewhere. There were never any toys. There were fund drives for the essentials, but she had never seen any for providing the sorts of fun activities that so many children were able to enjoy. She eyed the discard box. Thinking of what Flops and Martha had meant to her gave her the project idea she needed. Plastics, paper, and such could be recycled; why couldn’t toys?
Moira ran to tell her mother her idea. She called Tessa and several of her friends and MFF (Moving Fun Forward) was born. For the next week, Moira’s garage was the home of MFF. The group of friends had each “cleaned house” and had brought all of their once-precious toys to the garage workshop. Martha and other much-loved dolls were restyled and cleaned. Scuffed trucks were repainted - some even given racing stripes. Puzzles with missing pieces were resurrected and completed. The missing areas were traced onto new cardboard and painted to match the rest as closely as possible. Old crayons were sharpened and new paper was taped around each. Any toy or game that had any possible life remaining was given a fresh start.
Moira’s mother was so impressed with what the children were doing that she bought each of them a T-shirt with MFF stamped on the front. All of the parents were supportive and helped supply materials the reconstructions required. Soon the children had repaired all of the toys they had provided. They realized that there were so many children in the world who would enjoy having toys that they solicited neighbors and friends to donate toys that needed some help to be loved again.
Tessa suggested that they needed to get the entire community involved. She said they needed to advertise and make everyone aware of what MFF was attempting to do. The group agreed and immediately got to work making posters to put in store windows around town. Moira’s father worked at a local television station. He arranged for Moira and her friends, along with Miss Anderle, to appear on the local news program and talk about MFF. The first question that the reported asked was about the meaning of MFF. Since it had been Moira’s idea, she explained that MFF stood for Moving Fun Forward. She went on to tell about the television commercial that first gave her the idea dn how the group had worked to fix and clean used toys in order to give children who needed some happiness and fun in their lives opportunities to have a little fun. If other products could be recycled, why couldn’t toys?
Donation began pouring in. People in the community wanted to help. Volunteers helped clean, sanitize, and fix all the toys. Boxes of the repaired toys and games were then mailed off. Moira and her friends felt so good inside. They hoped that Moving Fun Forward would catch on in other communities. After all, fun is recyclable, too.
1.Read this line from paragraph nine of the story.
Puzzles with missing pieces were resurrected and completed.
Which of the following explains why the word resurrected is an effective word choice?
- The puzzles will be replaced.
- The puzzles have been forgotten.
- The puzzles will bring happiness to children.
- The puzzles have been repaired to seem new.
2.This task has more than one (1) part. Read each part carefully and respond.
Part A
What is the main theme of the story?
Part B
How does the author develop this theme in the beginning of the story (paragraphs one through seven), the middle of the story (paragraphs eight through ten), and the end of the story (paragraphs eleven through twelve)?
Be sure to complete ALL parts of the task. Use details from the text to support your answer. Answer with complete sentences, and use correct punctuation and grammar.
The main theme is you can recycle to help others. In the beginning, Moira was going to throw her old toys away. In the middle, she had the idea of recycling toys. In the end, the entire community was involved in helping to recycle toys.
3.Moira’s plan has an important impact on the characters in the story. Write a
paragraph explaining how Moira’s plan changes her and her friends.
Use details from the text to support your answer. Answer with complete sentences, and use correct punctuation and grammar.
Moira’s plan had an important impact on the characters in the story. When Moira and her friends were first given the assignment to come up with a project idea, they were discouraged. “‘I have no idea what to do,’ Tessa whined.” Once Moira came up with the toy recycling idea, her friends joined in. “The group of friends had each ‘cleaned house and had brought all of their once-precious toys to the garage workshop.’” Later in the story, “Tessa suggested they get the entire community involved.” It is obvious to see that Moira and her friends went from being discouraged to excited about the project idea.
4.DO NOT DO Considering Moira’s point of view in the passage, readers learn
about Moira’s feelings. Write a paragraph describing Moira’s negative and
positive feelings, using at least four examples from different parts of the
story.
Use details from the text to support your answer. Answer with complete sentences, and use correct punctuation and grammar.
______DO NOT DO______
5.In paragraph eight, Moira remembers a commercial she had seen on
television.Write a paragraph describing the commercial and explaining how
it inspires Moira.
Use details from the text to support your answer. Answer with complete sentences, and use correct punctuation and grammar.
The commercial that Moira remembers was one of those commercials “that showed little children, all with huge eyes and very sad faces.” What Moira realizes is that these commercials always ask for food, but never for toys. It is the commercial that gives her the idea for Moving Fun Forward because children needs toys, but no one ever asks for toys in these types of commercials.
6.DO NOT DO
Vocabulary
chaise - a light, open carriage, usually with a hood, especially a one-horse, two-wheeled carriage for two persons; shay
trunk - a large, sturdy box or chest for holding or transporting clothes, personal effects,or other articles
stout - strong of body; hearty; sturdy
bore - to form, make, or construct
determined - decided; settled; resolved
evident - plain or clear to the sight or understanding
excerpts - a passage or quotation taken or selected from a book, document, film, or the like; extract
Figurative language
simile - comparing 2 unlike things using like or as
metaphor - comparing 2 unlike things with is or was
personification - giving human qualities to objects
hyperbole - exaggeration
alliteration - repeated consonants at the beginning of several words in a sentence
onomatopoeia - sounds
Figurative language practice
- Page 3 - He seemed more a machine than a man, an extension of the plane...the pilot seemed the same way. Part of the plane, not human.
- metaphor
- personification
- simile
- Page 13 - The pilot did not move except that his head rolled on a neck impossibly loose as the plane hit a small bit of turbulence.
- metaphor
- personification
- simile
- Page 28 - The plane, committed now to landing, to crashing, fell into the wide place like a stone, and Brian eased back on the wheel and braced himself for the crash.
- metaphor
- personification
- simile
- Page 31 - The memory was like a knife cutting into him. Slicing deep into him with hate.
- metaphor
- personification
- simile
- Page 33 - He tried to move, but pain hammered into him and made his breath shorten into gasps and he stopped, his legs still in the water.
- metaphor
- personification
- simile
- Page 34 - Be asleep, his mind screamed at the pilot.
- metaphor
- personification
- simile
- Page 36 - With it came some warmth, small bits of it at first, and with the heat came clouds of insects- thick, swarming hordes of mosquitoes that flocked to his body, made a living coat on his exposed skin, clogged his nostrils when he inhaled, poured into his mouth when he opened it to take a breath.
- metaphor
- personification
- simile
- Page 37 - And when the sun was fully up and heating him directly, bringing steam off of his wet clothes and bathing him with warmth, the mosquitoes and flies disappeared. Almost that suddenly. One minute he was sitting in the middle of a swarm; the next, they were gone and the sun was on him. Vampires, he thought.
- metaphor
- personification
- simile
- Page 46 - But there was a log extending about twenty feet out into the water of the lake - a beaver drop from some time before - with old limbs sticking up, almost like handles.
- metaphor
- personification
- simile
- Page 54 - Gradually, like sloshing oil his thoughts settled back and the panic was gone.
- metaphor
- personification
- simile
- Page 63 - The slender branches went up about twenty feet and were heavy, drooping with clusters of bright red berries. They were half as big as grapes but hung in bunches much like grapes and when Brian saw them, glistening red in the sunlight, he almost yelled.
- metaphor
- personification
- simile
- Page 70 - He was dirty and starving and bitten and hurt and lonely and ugly and afraid and so completely miserable that it was like being in a pit, a dark, deep pit with no way out.
- metaphor
- personification
- simile
- Page 84 - He wiped his mouth and tried to move his leg, which had stiffened like wood.
- metaphor
- personification
- simile
- Page 88 - Not twenty feet to his right, leaning out over the water were birches and he stood looking at them for a full half-minute before they registered on his mind. They were beautiful white and bark like clean, slightly speckled paper.
- metaphor
- personification
- simile
- Page 89 - Then back to work, the sun on his back, until at last he had a ball of fluff as big as a grapefruit - dry birchbark fluff.
- metaphor
- personification
- simile
- Page 92 - The red glow moved from the sparks themselves into the bark, moved and grew and became worms, glowing red worms that crawled up the bark hairs and caught other threads of bark and grew until there was a pocket of red as big as a quarter, a glowing red coal of heat.
became worms, glowing red wormsbig as a quarter
- metaphora. metaphor
- personificationb. personification
- similec. simile
- Page 92 - But the flames were thick and oily and burning fast, consuming the ball of bark as fast as if it were gasoline.
- metaphor
- personification
- simile
- Page 93 - I have a friend, he thought - I have a friend now. A hungry friend, but a good one. I have a friend named fire.
- metaphor
- personification
- simile
- Page 100 - He reached into the nest and pulled the eggs out one at a time. There were seventeen of them, each as round as a ball, and white.
- metaphor
- personification
- simile
- Page 107 - From his height he could see not just the lake but across part of the forest, a green carpet, and it was full of life.
- metaphor
- personification
simile