Stafford Township School District Manahawkin, NJ Test Prep Unit Integrated Language Arts Grade 5 Revised 3/2011 1 Fiction Model Passage Directions: You will have 30 minutes to complete the reading passage and the questions that follow. This section will include 10 multiple-choice questions and 1 open-ended response. Work up to the page that has the “stop sign” on the bottom or until time runs out. If you finish early, check over your work. Remember, you may only check work in this section. My Friend Bruno Bruno was missing again. It was the third time this week, and frankly, Sofia was getting upset that he kept disappearing. What bothered her more was that she had to keep looking for him. However, each time he had gone missing, she had found him hiding in the same place. She now had a pretty good idea of where to look for him first. “Rosa!” she yelled. Rosa was Sofia’s five-year-old cousin. Rosa and her mother, Sofia’s Aunt Maria, had moved to New Jersey about a year earlier. Sofia’s parents had agreed to let Rosa and Aunt Maria stay at their house until they could find a place of their own. Sofia had to admit that at first, spending time with Rosa was a lot of fun. She was like the little sister Sofia never had. She followed Sofia everywhere she went. She dressed like her and talked like her. Rosa wanted to be just like her cool 11-year –old cousin. However, after a while, Sofia grew tired of having a tail. It wasn’t that she didn’t love Rosa. She just wasn’t used to sharing everything. Especially Bruno. Sofia slowly opened the door to Rosa’s bedroom. At first she didn’t see her cousin. She could only hear her little high-pitched voice coming from the other side of the bed. “Would you care for a spot of tea, Bruno?” Rosa asked. Sofia smiled. She had to admit that Rosa was pretty cute, even if she did take things from Sofia’s room without asking. She peered over the bed. “Rosa, may I please have Bruno back?” Rosa looked at Sofia, her face red with embarrassment. She lifted Bruno from his seat on the red-and-white checked picnic blanket and handed him to Sofia. “Do you want to have a tea party with me?” Sofia shook her head. “I’ve got homework to do before dinner,” she replied. 2 Rosa look disappointed for a moment, but then turned her attention back to the other “guests” at her tea party. Sofia returned to her own room and closed the door. She gave Bruno a big hug and placed him in his rightful place between the pillows on her bed. 14 Sofia and Bruno had been friends since Sofia was just about Rosa’s age. Sofia remembered when her parents told her that they were going to move from Florida to New Jersey. She had cried and cried. She didn’t want to leave behind all the friends she had made in kindergarten. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a choice, and moving day arrived quickly. To help comfort her, Sofia’s parents gave her a big brown teddy bear. He was made of sturdy corduroy and had big black buttons for eyes. Sofia named him Bruno. Before she left Florida, she made all of her friends give him a hug. “Then when I hug him, it will be like hugging all of you, too,” she had explained. 15 Since then, Sofia had played with many other toys, but Bruno had always remained her favorite. As she got older, she set aside her blocks, dolls, and coloring books. She shifted her attention to reading mystery books, writing stories, and drawing. Even though she had given away many of her toys, Sofia still wasn’t quite ready to let go of Bruno. Each night, he somehow found his way into her arms as she drifted off to sleep. 16 Sofia and Bruno had been through a lot together. When Sofia first started her new school in New Jersey, Bruno stuck by her until she made new friends. He happily spent his days at the bottom of her backpack to give her comfort throughout the long school day. In second grade, Bruno had accompanied her to the hospital when she had her tonsils removed. When she got the chicken pox a year later, Bruno was there to remind her not to scratch the itchy red bumps. Bruno had tagged along to summer camp one year. And the year that Sofia had broken her arm, he had stayed at home to help her heal. 17 All those years together had certainly taken their toll on poor Bruno. Parts of his corduroy body were threadbare. His left paw was leaking stuffing, and at present, he was missing an eye. Even so, Sofia still loved him and considered him her best friend. That’s why she got so angry when Rosa took him without asking. Taking away Bruno was like taking away a piece of her. And no matter how many times she tried to explain it to Rosa, her cousin just didn’t quite understand. “It’s just a toy,” she would reply, but Sofia knew better. Sofia quickly finished her math homework, wrote out her social studies questions, and copied her spelling words three times each. At dinner time, she went downstairs to set the table. She found Aunt Maria in the kitchen, happily humming as she stirred a big pot of soup on the stove. As the whole family gathered around the table, Aunt Maria tapped a spoon against her glass. 3 “I have an announcement to make,” she said. “I have been offered a teaching position at a high school in Pennsylvania, so Rosa and I will be moving to a new house in about a month.” “Congratulations,” said Sofia’s mother with a smile. “No,” said Rosa. “No, no, no. I don’t want to move. I don’t want to leave behind all the new friends I made this year at school. It’s not fair.” Aunt Maria took Rosa in her lap and tried to explain to Rosa that she would make lots of new friends in Pennsylvania. Rosa did not want to hear it. Even Sofia tried to make Rosa feel better. She told her all about her own family’s move and about the great friends she had made upon arriving in New Jersey. Nothing seemed to comfort the poor little girl. That night, as Sofia lay in her bed, she couldn’t stop thinking about Rosa. She knew what she had to do. A few weeks later, a big orange moving truck pulled up in front of Sofia’s house. Aunt Maria ran from room to room, writing on boxes with a black marker. Before long, the movers had loaded everything that belonged to Aunt Maria and Rosa into the truck. Sofia hadn’t realized how sad she would be to see little Rosa leave. She found her cousin sitting on the porch swing, watching the movers as they fastened the door closed on the truck. “Hey, Rosa, mind if I pull up a seat?” asked Sofia. Rosa made room for Sophia to sit down, and they slowly rocked back and forth. “I wanted to give you a very special gift before you leave,” said Sofia. “A gift?” Rosa looked at Sofia, her eyes wide. Sofia pulled a freshly repaired Bruno from behind her back. She had sewn up all of his holes and given him a new set of matching green buttons for eyes. “You’re giving me Bruno? But he’s your favorite toy,” said Rosa. “No, Rosa. Bruno’s not just a toy. He is a friend. He became my best friend when I left Florida, and he’s been my best friend ever since. Now he’ll be your friend.” Sofia hugged the bear tightly and then handed him to Rosa. “Whenever you hug him, it’ll be just like you’re hugging me,” she said. 4 Rosa looked at Bruno and hugged him. “Now I have a friend who will go to Pennsylvania with me.” Section 1: Multiple Choice Questions 1. What is a theme of “My Friend Bruno”? A. Everyone is good at something. B. Keep trying until you succeed. C. Friendship is a very special gift. D. Slow and steady wins the race. 2. “Sofia grew tired of having a tail” means Sofia A. wanted Rosa to stop going in her bedroom. B. wanted to give Bruno to Rosa as a gift. C. did not like that Rosa told all of her secrets. D. did not want Rosa to follow her around anymore. 3. What will most likely happen when Rosa gets to Pennsylvania? A. She will make lots of friends at her new school. B. She will lose Bruno. C. She will send Bruno back to Sofia in New Jersey. D. She will ask Sofia to help her make new friends. 4. What does the word “threadbare” mean in paragraph 17? A. thick B. soft C. dirty D. worn 5. At the beginning of the story, why does the author keep Bruno’s identity a secret? A. to make readers want their own teddy bear B. to describe what he looks like C. to get readers interested in the story D. to show that he is very mysterious 6. Why did Sofia most likely give Bruno to Rosa? A. She wanted to help Rosa feel better about moving away.