North Carolina Testing Program EOG Reading Grade 5 Sample Items Do you know where rain comes from? Read the following selection to learn more about precipitation. Then answer the questions that follow. Precipitation In Arica, Chile, the average rainfall is Types of Precipitation less than 1 millimeter per year. Many years In warm parts of the world, pass with no precipitation at all. On the precipitation is almost always rain or drizzle. other hand, the average rainfall on In colder regions, precipitation may fall as Mount Waialeale on the island of Kauai in snow or ice. Common types of precipitation Hawaii is over 12 meters per year. That’s include rain, sleet, freezing rain, hail, and more than enough to cover a three-story snow. house! As you can see, rainfall varies greatly around the world. Rain The most common kind of precipitation Water evaporates into the air from is rain. Drops of water are called rain if they every water surface on Earth and from living are at least 0.5 millimeter in diameter. things. This water eventually returns to the Precipitation made up of smaller drops of surface as precipitation. Precipitation (pree water is called mist or drizzle. Mist and sip uh TAY shun) is any form of water that drizzle usually fall from stratus clouds. falls from clouds and reaches Earth’s surface. 3 Precipitation always comes from Sleet Sometimes raindrops fall through a clouds. But not all clouds produce layer of air below 0°C, the freezing point of precipitation. For precipitation to occur, water. As they fall, the raindrops freeze into cloud droplets or ice crystals must grow heavy solid particles of ice. Ice particles smaller enough to fall through the air. One way that than 5 millimeters in diameter are called cloud droplets grow is by colliding and sleet. combining with other cloud droplets. As the droplets grow larger, they fall faster and Freezing Rain At other times raindrops collect more and more small droplets. falling through cold air near the ground do Finally, the droplets become heavy enough to not freeze in the air. Instead, the raindrops fall out of the cloud as raindrops. freeze when they touch a cold surface. This is called freezing rain. In an ice storm, a smooth, thick layer of ice builds up on every Droplets come in many sizes. Believe it or not, a raindrop has surface. The weight about a million times as much water in it as a cloud droplet. of the ice may break tree branches onto power lines, causing power failures. Freezing rain and sleet can make sidewalks and roads slippery and dangerous. Cloud Mist Drizzle Raindrop droplet droplet droplet Page 1 Published January 2004. May reproduce for instructional and educational purposes only, not for personal or financial gain. North Carolina Testing Program EOG Reading Grade 5 Sample Items Hail Round pellets of ice larger than Snow Often water vapor in a cloud is 5 millimeters in diameter are called converted directly into ice crystals called hailstones. Hail forms only inside snowflakes. Snowflakes have an endless cumulonimbus clouds during thunderstorms. number of different shapes and patterns, all A hailstone starts as an ice pellet inside a with six sides or branches. Snowflakes often cold region of a cloud. Strong updrafts in the join together into larger clumps of snow in cloud carry the hailstone up and down which the six-sided crystals are hard to see. through the cold region many times. Each time the hailstone goes through the cold region, a new layer of ice forms around the hailstone. Eventually the hailstone becomes heavy enough to fall to the ground. If you cut a hailstone in half, you can often see shells of ice, like the layers of an onion. Because hailstones can grow quite large before finally falling to the ground, hail can cause tremendous damage to crops, buildings, and vehicles. “Precipitation” from Prentice Hall Science Explorers Weather and Climate © 2000 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Prentice Hall. Used by permission. 1. Which word best describes the habitat 2. What has to happen in order for around Arica, Chile? precipitation to occur? A desert A The cloud droplets have to be heavy enough to fall. B forest B The cloud has to be a C grassland cumulonimbus or stratus. D wetland C The cloud has to have several strong updrafts. D The temperature of the cloud has to be at least 0°C. Page 2 Published January 2004. May reproduce for instructional and educational purposes only, not for personal or financial gain. North Carolina Testing Program EOG Reading Grade 5 Sample Items 3. Which of the following determines 6. What is the purpose of comparing a whether precipitation will come as hailstone to an onion? rain or as sleet? A to show how hailstones are A the amount of wind layered B the size of the clouds B to illustrate the size of hailstones C the type of clouds C to show the weight of hailstones D the air temperature D to describe the damage caused by hail 4. What is it called when precipitation becomes icy only after touching the 7. Which of the following describes a sidewalk? snowflake? A snow A a frozen drizzle B sleet B several layers of ice C hail C a six-sided ice crystal D freezing rain D a round pellet of ice 5. What makes some hailstones larger 8. Based on the information given, which than other hailstones? of the following is the smallest? A Larger hailstones occur when the A a mist droplet air temperature is much colder. B a drizzle droplet B Larger hailstones occur when the ground temperature is much C a cloud droplet colder. D a rain droplet C Larger hailstones have moved more times through the cold region of a cloud. D Larger hailstones form in cumulonimbus clouds, but smaller hailstones do not. Page 3 Published January 2004. May reproduce for instructional and educational purposes only, not for personal or financial gain. North Carolina Testing Program EOG Reading Grade 5 Sample Items 9. What do sleet and snow have in common? A Both are made up of ice. B Both are produced by huge clouds. C Both are six-sided crystals. D Both develop from raindrops. End of Set In compliance with federal law, including the provisions of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Department of Public Instruction does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, or military service in its policies, programs, activities, admissions or employment. Page 4 Published January 2004. May reproduce for instructional and educational purposes only, not for personal or financial gain. Answers to Grade 5 Reading Comprehension Sample Items Question Correct Objective Passage Title Number Answer Category Thinking Skill Number Precipitation 1 A Connections Analyzing 2.02 Precipitation 2 A Cognition Knowledge 2.02 Precipitation 3 D Interpretation Analyzing 2.05 Precipitation 4 D Cognition Knowledge 2.02 Precipitation 5 C Cognition Knowledge 2.02 Precipitation 6 A Critical Stance Evaluating 3.01 Precipitation 7 C Cognition Knowledge 2.02 Precipitation 8 C Cognition Knowledge 2.02 Precipitation 9 A Critical Stance Organizing 2.02 Friday, January 23, 2004 Page 1 of 1 .