Name______

Third Grade

Reading, Writing, and Communicating

Common Assessment

Second Quarter

Read the following passage and answer the questions.

LuLu to the Rescue

JoAnne Altsman always thought her pet pig LuLu was a good companion. Now she also thinks of LuLu as a hero. Why? When JoAnne suffered a heart attack in 1998, LuLu saved her life.

JoAnne was vacationing in her camper when she fell ill. She yelled for help, but no one heard her cries. LuLu knew that JoAnne was in trouble. She pushed through a dog door and ran to the road. She tried to stop passing cars but had no luck. LuLu hurried back to the camper three times to see how JoAnne was.

At last LuLu did something drivers were sure to notice. She lay down on the road and stuck her feet in the air. Finally, a car stopped. The driver got out and followed LuLu back to the camper. JoAnne heard the man knocking on the door. “There’s something wrong with your pig!” he yelled.

“There’s something wrong with me!” JoAnne yelled back. “Call 911!”

Before long, help was on its way. Today JoAnne is well, and she’s grateful for her pet pig. Without LuLu, she would have died.

Answer the following questions.

1. Who saved the day in LuLu to the Rescue? Using evidence from the text, how did they save the day?

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2. What probably happened after the man knocked on the door of the camper? Tell two things that probably happened.

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3. She yelled for help, but no one heard her cries.

In which word below does the i-e have the same sound as the ie in cries?

a. grief

b. retrieve

c. life

d. friend

Use the passage “Recycle It” to answer the following questions.

4. The main idea of this passage?

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5. What is the author’s purpose of this text? Use a detail from the text to support your response.

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6. What will happen if people begin to recycle all that they can?

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7. In the third paragraph it talks about a landfill. Using context clues describe what a landfill is?

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8. Picture a dump. What do you see that cannot be recycled?

a. a plastic milk jug

b. an old couch

c. a glass baby food jar

d. a magazine with a torn cover

Using evidence from the text, how did you choose your answer?

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9. How important do you think it is for everyone to recycle? Use evidence from “Recycle It!” to support your opinion.

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10. In the passage “Recycle It!” summarize paragraph 5.

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11. Some people call plastic the “wood” of the future.

In which word below does the ou have the same sound as the oo in wood?

a. soup

b. coupon

c. should

d. group

12. Which word list is in alphabetical order?

a. sufferedb. singer

singer suffered

small small

c. smalld. singer

singer small

suffered suffered

Boats Sail on the Rivers

By: Christina Rossetti

Boats sail on the rivers,

And ships sail on the seas;

But clouds that sail across the sky

Are prettier far than these.

There are bridges on the rivers,

As pretty as you please;

But the bow that bridges heaven,

And overtops the trees,

And builds a road from earth to sky,

Is prettier far than these.

Use the poem to answer the following questions.

13. What can you infer about the speaker (or poet) in this poem?

a) She likes to observe the sky

b) She enjoys sailing

c) She is a weather forecaster.

d) She often works by moonlight.

14. This question has two parts. Answer Part A first. Then answer Part B.

Part A In “Boats Sail on the Rivers,” what is it that “builds a road from earth to sky”?

a)a cloud

b)a river

c)a tree

d)a rainbow

Part B Which of these gives the best clue to the answer to Part A?

a)Boats sail on the water.

b)The picture shows a rainbow.

c)Bridges cross the river.

d)The clouds are still pretty.

  1. In “Boats Sail on the Rivers,” the poet compares clouds to ships and boats. Describe one way clouds are like ships and boats, and one way they are different, based on the poem.

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16. What is the author’s purpose of this text? Use a detail from the text to support your response.

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  1. Study the following words:

useful

wasteful

How does the suffix “ful” change the meaning of the base word “use”?

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How does the suffix “ful” change the meaning of the base word “waste”?

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Provide 2 other examples of words that have the suffix “ful”.

  1. ______2. ______