Name ______Period ______
Unit 4: Poetry CFA
Read the following poems about snow falling. Then carefully answer the questions that follow.
December Moon Explorer By Mary Sarton By Alan Brownjohn
Before going to bed Two o’clock: After a fall of snow Let out of the back door of the house, our cat I look out on the field Is practicing the snow. Shining there in the moonlight So calm, untouched and white The layer of white makes a small, straight, crumbling cliff Snow silence fills my head Where we open the back door inwards. The cat After I leave the window. Sniffs it with suspicion, learns you can just about Pat the flaking snow with a careful dab. Then, Hours later near dawn A little bolder, he dints it with one whole foot When I look down again - and withdraws it, curls it as if slightly lame, The whole landscape has changed The perfect surface gone And looks down at it, oddly. The snow is Criss-crossed and written on Different from anything else, not like Where the wild creatures ranged A rug, or a stretch of lino*, or an armchair to claw upon While the moon rose and shone. And be told to Get off!
How much can come, how much can go The snow is peculiar, but not forbidden. The cat When the December moon is bright, Is welcome to go out in the snow. Does What worlds of play we’ll never know The snow welcome the cat? Sleeping away the cold white night He thinks, looks, tries again. After a fall of snow. Three paces out of the door, his white feet find You sink a little way all the time, it is slow and cold, but it Doesn’t particularly hurt. Perhaps you can even enjoy it, as something new. So he walks on, precisely, on the tips of very cautious paws…
Half-past three, the cat stretched warm indoors. From the bedroom window we can see his explorations -From door to fence, from fence to gate, from gate to wall to tree, and back, Are long patterned tracks and trade-routes of round paw-marks Which fresh snow is quietly filling. ______*lino – type of floor covering 1. The word that best describes how the speaker in “December Moon” feels after seeing the snow “criss-crossed and written on”?
A. fearful B. playful C. lonesome D. curious
2. The author’s main purpose for writing the poem “December Moon” is
A. to describe how quickly the snow can change. B. to explain why creatures make tracks in the snow. C. to describe how the bright moon keeps the speaker awake. D. to tell about a dog who does not bark at other creatures.
3. The setting of “December Moon” is best described as
A. cheerful. B. mysterious. C. protected. D. dangerous.
4. Based on information in “Explorer,” the cat has never
A. looked out the window. B. stretched out indoors. C. walked in the snow. D. clawed the armchair.
5. The theme of “Explorer” is
A. nature can be beautiful. B. making discoveries is exciting. C. animals deserve a loving home. D. the bond between people and animals is special.
Questions 6 and 7 relate to BOTH poems.
6. In both poems, the snow is
A. falling from the sky. B. making crumbling cliffs. C. shining in the moonlight. D. changing the landscape.
7. The speaker in “December Moon” and the cat in “Explorer” are similar because
A. both go outside in the snow. B. both leave tracks in the snow. C. both wonder about the snow. D. both observe animals in the snow. On the next several pages are a poem and a passage. Read the poem and answer questions 9 - 13. Then read the passage and answer questions 13-15.
Bone Puzzle By Antonio Valdez
Here’s a thighbone, or so I think. This one goes with the jawbone, or so I think. This is some sort of a leg bone, or so I think.
“Put me with the hip bone,” one of the bones, Gleaming white, shiny and rock hard, Seems to say.
Slowly, steadily, yet surely, The puzzle takes shape With diligence and hard work.
What was once a pile of bones, Dug up from the yielding earth, Dusted off with brushes as fine as silk, Carefully crated and carted away, Shipped safely to a faraway museum, Is now something else, something more. Something amazing to behold.
The first step was to figure out Which bones, strong and solid, Would make up the spine of the great dinosaur. As bone fits against bone, A three-dimensional puzzle takes shape.
The whispering skeleton wants to share its secrets. I can almost hear the giant lizard roar. I can almost see it run through the jungle. Chasing something? Running from something? It’s hard to know for certain.
I know that we’ll never know for sure What happened to the dinosaurs. But maybe, when my bone puzzle is complete, Some solutions to this mystery will come to light. 8. The speaker thought he A. might be able to tell if the giant lizard was running from something. B. should start by putting together the bones of the spine. C. could hear one of the bones explain how to put the spine together. D. should ask people in a museum to help put the bones together.
9. The brushes with such fine bristles were used on the bones to A. remove all the dirt from the bones. B. get the bones to shine. C. make the bones seem more valuable. D. help ship the bones.
10. “The whispering skeleton” is an example of A. metaphor. B. alliteration. C. simile. D. personification.
11. The point of view of the poem is A. narrator. B. first person. C. second person. D. third person.
12. This poem is mostly about a person who A. wants to travel back in time to see dinosaurs run wild. B. enjoys digging in the ground to find dinosaur bones. C. plans to put together many different kinds of puzzles. D. studies bones to learn more about the mysteries of dinosaurs. A Skeleton Puzzle By Sam R. McColl
Have you ever seen the skeleton of a was sure to appeal to all the museum’s dinosaur up close? Dinosaurs can be pretty visitors. scary, but also pretty interesting. Have you ever wondered what it would take to build The Framework one? A team of scientists and students at Next, the team had to figure out how they the University of California Museum of were going to keep the frame together. One paleontology did just that. They were given team member, Mark Good win, decided that casts of the bones of a Tyrannosaurus rex welding the frame together would make the from a paleontologist in Bozeman, Montana. fame really solid. Mark had to weld the The California team wanted to reconstruct pieces of steel tubing together at all of the the T. Rex’s skeleton. Putting together places where bones would meet. Think of dinosaur bones is not easy task. these connections as the T. rex’s joints, like your knees, elbows, and shoulders. Every Sorting Those Dirty Bones single joint needed to be welded. The The first step was to make sure all of the welding was a very important part of the bones were in order. The ones arrived in a work. twelve-foot-long wooden crate. The team gently unpacked each piece. There were The Building Begins 3,000 bone pieces in the box. One by one, When the welding was done, the team the team made sure that no bones were finally had the major framework in place. broken. The team knew how important it Now they could begin the process of was to handle each fragment with care. attaching the bones. The bones were drilled They took their time to sort everything out. with holes for the framework to occupy. Next, each of the bones had to be washed, Slowly, the skeleton came together’ leg filed down, and painted by hand. The bones, the tibia and fibula, took their first shipped bones still had markings on them step in ages. The skeleton became really from the molds that had been used to shape lifelike when the workers attached the T. them. They had to be smoothed out and rex’s skull. Al construction progressed, the given the color of real dinosaur bones. traffic around the growing T. rex increased. Everyone was excited to see the skeleton this Strike a Pose ancient beast from before their eyes. The team had to figure how the T. rex should stand. In order to do this, they Finishing Up created an internal framework. They used After all of the bones were in place, the steel tubing. The team planned to attach the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton was complete! bones to this framework. The team decided The skeleton, in all its glory, now stands to build the framework to make the T. rex guard over the entrance of the Valley Life look like it was running after prey. They Sciences Building at the University of imagined that long legs striding, graceful California Museum of Paleontology. The and strong like an antelope. They imagined team has since added skeletons of other the giant tail sticking straight out. This pose dinosaurs to complete this prehistoric picture and make it even more lifelike. Questions 13 and 14 relate to BOTH the poem and the passage.
13. The poem and the passage are alike because they both A. contain only fact about dinosaurs. B. are written in the same style. C. try to convince the reader to visit a museum. D. are about similar topics.
14. Which statement describes on difference between the poem and the passage? A. The passage gives specific details about a process. B. The passage uses more figurative language. C. The poem describes an exhibit at a specific museum. D. The poem gives more scientific facts. 15. Compare and contrast how the author’s of “Bone Puzzle” and “A Skeleton Puzzle” view dinosaurs. Use one example from each piece to support your response.
______ELA 6 Unit 4 CFA Answer Key
1 D 6.RL.6 Point of View 2 A 6.RL.2 Theme 3 B 6.RL.5 Analyze 4 C 6.RL.1 Inferences 5 B 6.RL.2 Theme 6 D 6.RL.9 Compare/Contrast 7 C 6.RL.9 Compare/Contrast 8 B 6.RL.6 Point of View 9 A 6.RL.1 Inferences 10 D 6.RL.4 Figurative Language 11 B 6.RL.6 Point of View 12 D 6.RL.2 Key Idea 13 D 6.RL.9 Compare/Contrast 14 A 6.RL.9 Compare/Contrast 15 OE 6.RL.9 Compare/Contrast
ELA 6 Unit 4 CFA Answer Key Score Descriptors The response includes two examples (one from each piece) 3 AND
The response includes clear explanations of text connections The response includes one example from one of the pieces
2 AND
The response includes at least one example from the text to support the the explanation The response has no examples
1 OR
No explanation to support the response
0 Inaccurate in all aspects