Reading/vocabulary Development

Pretest

Directions:
Read each passage. Then read each question that follows the passage. Decide which is the best answer to each question. Select the best answer.

The soccer team and its problem

Our soccer team is in first place in our city. We are scheduled to play in the state finals in just three weeks. Our coach told us that our team did not have enough money to pay for the bus, hotel and food while we were at state playoffs.

Coach told us we must find a sponsor for the trip. She asked each of us to visit two stores in our town and ask them to sponsor us.

1 In this passage, the word sponsor means -

A a passenger
B an adult
C a supporter
D a president

Patches The Hungry Dog

My dog's name is Patches. He lives outside. We keep his dog dish on the back porch and feed him every evening.

Lately we noticed that Patches seemed hungry all the time. We also saw strange muddy footprints near his dog dish. They were too small to be his footprints. Some animal was eating Patches' food!

My Dad said that the footprints belonged to an elusive raccoon. They are nocturnal animals and sleep during the day. Everyone in the family watched the backyard to see the raccoon, but he was very clever. We never saw him. My Mom said that the raccoon would not be around during the day, so we needed to watch after dark. We tried for a long time, but we never saw the raccoon, only his tracks.

2 In this passage, the word elusive means-

F fast
G friendly
H hard to find
J brave

3 In the above passage, the word nocturnal means --

A active during the day
B a sneaky animal
C active at night
D strong

The Science Teacher's Problem

Ms. Smith was the best science teacher at High Oaks School. Most of the kids really liked her class; except Ronald. He would spend most of the class writing secret notes and passing them to his friends.

Sometimes, Ms. Smith would find a note and read it, which got Ronald into trouble. Ronald decided to create a code so Ms. Smith would not be able to read the secret notes. He worked a long time designing the code. He thought he could write secret notes that Ms. Smith could not read.

The next day, Ronald sent a note written in his new code. Ms. Smith found it. Being a very smart math teacher, she was able to decipher it in less than ten minutes. Ronald was in deep trouble.

4 In this passage, the word decipher means to --

F write with
G sell
H figure out
J forget about

5 In this passage, the word designing means --

A hiding
B creating
C coloring
D erasing

Hotel Reservations

Our soccer coach told us that we did not have a lot of time to find a sponsor for our trip to state playoffs. Lots of other teams were already making hotel reservations.

Coach told us that in order to be sure we could reserve hotel rooms, we must find a sponsor prior to next Sunday.

6 In this passage, the words prior to mean --

F through
G after
H around
J before

Big Trouble in Sneakerville

When the shoe factory closed in Sneakerville, most of the residents moved to other towns to find a job. You could walk all over and not see another person. Most of the buildings needed painting and repair.

There were not even any cats or dogs around. Sneakerville was desolate

7 In this passage, the word desolate means -

A no inhabitants
B happy
C cold and windy
D very humid

8 The best definition for the word "vocabulary" is -

F all of the non-fiction books in a library
G all of the words in a large dictionary
H words that begin with capital letters
J a list or collection of words or of words and phrases a person knows

Big Trouble in the School Band

It was late November and the Christmas concert was in only three weeks. Maria Sanchez, the only oboe player, had moved back to Dallas. Mr. Plumcroft, the band director, did not know what he was going to do, as the best piece for the Christmas concert required an oboe.

There were other problems too. Thomas Hoffman, the kettledrum player, was causing trouble all the time. He was rude to Mr. Plumcroft and to many of the kids in the band. Most everyone, including his parents, thought that Thomas was very obnoxious.

Christmas came early for Mr. Plumcroft when the Kelly twins moved to town one week before the concert. Susie Kelly played the oboe, and Sally Kelly played the kettledrum. And guess what? Thomas Hoffman got the chicken pox and could not play in the concert, which went very well. The band got a standing ovation!

9 In this passage, the word oboe means -

A a Christmas song
B a Christmas costume for a band member
C a special game played only at Christmas
D a musical instrument

10 In this passage, the word obnoxious means -

F a poor musician
G not nice to people
H tired
J a good kettledrum player