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CLG 1: Reading, Reviewing and Responding to Texts

1. The following item should be answered upon reading the excerpt “Wanderlust” from the autobiography A Life on the Road by Charles Kuralt, which can be found at most local or school libraries.

“Wanderlust” is a memoir of Kuralt’s early life on the road with his father, his childhood experiences on the farm, and the memory of winning a journalistic contest at age twelve.

Based on the information in this excerpt, a reader can predict that the rest of the book will most likely be about Kuralt’s

A. lifetime travelsB. childhood heroesC. parental influenceD. favorite baseball teams



Which of these ideas is most closely related to a theme developed in the essay?

A. creative energyB. hope for the futureC. family relationshipsD. desire for new experiences



In paragraphs 3 and 4, Kuralt most likely includes information about his parents to

A. demonstrate his sympathetic nature

B. explain why he is so knowledgeableC. provide background informationD. shift the focus from himself to other people



Which pair of words best describes Kuralt’s father?

A. quiet and comfortingB. annoyed and frustratedC. demanding and uninterestingD. entertaining and instructive



Which statement best compares the difference between Kuralt’s experiences with the Marines and his experiences with the baseball players?

A. He is less respected by the baseball players than he is by the Marines.B. He finds more companionship and approval with the Marines than with the

baseball players.C. He experiences travel indirectly with the Marines and directly with the baseball

players.D. He enjoys the excitement of the Marines’ stories more than the stories of the

baseball players.



Which of these phrases from the excerpt best communicates a positive tone?

A. wondered where the roads went (paragraph 2)B. wrapped in a cloud of companionship (paragraph 5)C. places I had trouble imagining (paragraph 6)D. entered contests that promised travel as a prize (paragraph 8)

7. Read the essay “The Architecture of a Soul.” Then answer the following item.

Here is a diagram showing the steps the author and her grandmother use to catalogue seashells.

What should be written in the empty box?

A. Look for the best pictures of shells.B. Choose the shells that have Latin names.C. Identify each shell by comparing it to pictures.D. Search for each shell shown in the field guides.


What is the most likely reason the author begins her essay with a list of names of shells?

A. The shells are important to the author’s work as a naturalist.B. The author values the shells because they are all that remain of her childhood.C. The shells represent the memory of the author’s grandmother and the time they

spent together.D. The author uses the shells to suggest the abundance of life forms that can be

found in the sea


http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2008/english/resources/architecture_of_a_soul.html



Which of these words best identifies the tone created by the author’s description of her grandmother?

A. grievingB. humorousC. puzzledD. sentimental


Based on information in the essay, with which of these statements would the author most likely agree?

A. Children need constant supervision during their leisure time.B. Walking on the beach detracts from a child’s good use of time.C. Souvenirs carefully preserved will increase in monetary value over time.D. A systematic and precise study of the natural world is a valuable way to spend

time.


Write a response that explains what the narrator learns from her grandmother. In your response, include details and examples from the essay to support your conclusion.

Use the space on page __ in your Answer Book for planning your response. Then write your response on the lines on page __.

12. The following item should be answered upon reading the poem “Good Hotdogs” from My Wicked Wicked Ways by Sandra Cisneros, which can be found at most local or school libraries.

“Good Hotdogs” is a poem about the memory of rushing to the store with a close friend to buy hotdogs after school. The speaker provides many sensory details to describe the experience.

Which of these phrases best identifies the main focus of the poem?

A. a fond memoryB. favorite foodsC. a forgotten friend



D. childhood beliefs



The poet’s use of short phrases and the absence of punctuation throughout the poem create

A. anxietyB. confusionC. excitementD. humor



Read lines 9 and 10 from the poem.

What do these lines show about the children in the poem?

A. They rarely do things together.B. They are generous to many people.C. They are good friends who share.D. They sometimes quarrel about money.



Read lines 30 through 32 from the poem.

What common experience is celebrated in these lines?

A. a happy moment of companionshipB. the enjoyment of entertainmentC. the appreciation of fancy foodD. a leisurely break from school

16. Read the article “Titanic’s Tempestuous Afterlife. ” Then answer the following item.

The information in the article helps a reader consider the issue of

A. exploring the ocean’s environmentB. understanding the mysteries of the pastC. benefiting from international cooperationD. finding volunteers to conduct explorations


Which of these phrases best describes the author’s attitude toward the various studies of the wreck of the Titanic?

A. fascinated by the new discoveriesB. fearful of what the studies might revealC. amused by the methods of the researchersD. disapproving of the disturbance of the wreck


According to the information in paragraph 4, the use of technology enabled scientists to

A. pinpoint the ship’s locationB. raise the remains of the TitanicC. improve modern shipbuilding proceduresD. determine the structural damage of the Titanic

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2008/english/resources/titanics_tempestuous_afterlife.html




Which phrase explains why the author most likely includes the eyewitness account in paragraph 6?

A. to show that there were survivors of the sinkingB. to lessen the impersonal, scientific tone of the articleC. to encourage readers to support additional researchD. to clarify the actions of those still on the ship

20. Read the story “Winter Hibiscus.” Then answer the following item.

Which of the following themes is most strongly supported by the details of the story?

A. working hardB. respecting eldersC. adjusting to changes in lifeD. learning to appreciate nature


Read these sentences from paragraph 24 of the story.

“You what?” Her mother stared at her incredulously.

The details in paragraph 24 show that the word incredulously most likely means

A. with joyB. with fearC. with disbeliefD. with sympathy


The words and actions of Saeng’s mother show that the mother is mostly

A. criticalB. disappointedC. thriftyD. understanding

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2008/english/resources/winter_hibiscus.html





For Saeng, the hibiscus represents all of the following EXCEPT

A. ability to overcome obstaclesB. affection for her new countryC. connection to her past experiencesD. comfort in a time of disappointment


Which of these conclusions about Saeng is best supported by information in the story?

A. She has difficulty making new friends.B. She prefers gardening to school work.C. She values the uniqueness of tropical plants.D. She is comforted by memories of her homeland.


Carefully examine the details of the photograph below.

Both the photograph and the story express all of these ideas EXCEPT

A. seeming out of placeB. adapting to circumstancesC. being determined to survive




D. being merely an object of beauty


Read the last paragraph of the story.

When they come back, Saeng vowed silently to herself, in the spring,when the snows melt and the geese return and this hibiscus is budding, then I will take that test again.

Write a response that explains why the author concludes the story with this paragraph. In your response, include details and examples from the story that support your ideas.


26. Read “Breakfast,” the first chapter from the novel Jim the Boy. Then answer the following:

Read this sentence from the first paragraph.

The extra number had weight, like a muscle, and Jim hefted it like a prize.

The comparisons in this sentence suggest that Jim feels his birthday represents all of the following EXCEPT

A. authorityB. generosityC. strengthD. value


Which word best describes Jim’s attitude toward his mother?

A. angryB. gratefulC. resentfulD. understanding

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2006/english/resources/breakfast.html




Jim is most likely part of his mother’s sadness because he

A. refuses to help herB. reminds her of his fatherC. is difficult to take care ofD. is growing up too quickly


Which word best describes the tone of Jim’s conversation with his uncles?

A. cheerfulB. concernedC. indifferentD. puzzled

30. Read these sentences related to the story “Breakfast”, the first chapter from the novel Jim the Boy.

Occasionally the uncles grew cross with each other, and, for a few days, Uncle Al and Uncle Coran would retire to their houses immediately after supper. There they sat by their own fires, or on their own porches, and kept their own counsel until their anger passed.

These details are included to show that the uncles want to

A. determine blameB. avoid argumentsC. protect their privacyD. seek outside assistance





Which word is most closely related to the theme of “Breakfast”?

A. adventureB. freedomC. maturityD. memories

32. Read the screenplay Anna and the King. Then answer the following:

What is the main purpose of the information in the introduction to this scene?

A. to describe the physical setting of the playB. to reveal the personalities of the primary charactersC. to clarify the locations of the various scenes of the playD. to provide background for the interaction that follows


Read this line from the scene.

MONGKUT (eyes flashing): You do not set conditions, and you shall OBEY!

According to the stage directions, how should the actor playing King Mongkut deliver this line?

A. angrilyB. anxiouslyC. doubtfullyD. suspiciously


Carefully examine the photograph of the actor who played the role of King Mongkut in a production of Anna and the King of Siam.

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2006/english/resources/anna.html



Write a response that explains how the photograph represents King Mongkut as he is portrayed in the scene from the screenplay Anna and the King. In your response, support your conclusion with appropriate details from both the photograph and the screenplay.

Use the space on page __ of your Answer Book for planning your response. Then write your response on the lines on page __.

35. Read the screenplay Anna and the King. Then, read “A Historical Look at Anna” about the real Anna Leonowens. Then answer the following:

The details in these paragraphs mostly show that the screen and stage versions of Anna Leonowens' experiences

A. are representative of cultural differencesB. have been altered from those of her real lifeC. are an interesting part of Thailand's historyD. have motivated young women to become teachers

36. Read the poem “Foul Shot.” Then answer the following:

Which feature most clearly identifies “Foul Shot” as a poem? A. the title of the textB. the length of the textC. the opening line of the textD. the arrangement of the text

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2006/english/resources/foulshot.html

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2006/english/resources/historical_anna.html



Which phrase best describes the organization of the poem?

A. a description of the boy followed by a description of the crowdB. a description of the crowd followed by a description of the foul shotC. a description of the boy's actions followed by a description of the ball's movementD. a description of the ball's movement followed by a description of the crowd's

reaction


In line 4, the poet uses the phrase “squeezed by silence” to describe the effect of

A. the time clock on the crowdB. the spectators on the playerC. the player's hands on the ballD. the size of the court on the game

39. Read the essay “Yes, I Can!” Then answer the following.

What is the author's main point in paragraphs 1 through 10?

A. Children learn to overcome their limitations.B. A college education makes people more realistic.C. As students grow older, they lose their desire to learn.D. As people age, they are less willing to risk embarrassment.


The author gave his son the “possibles bag” to

A. encourage his son to pursue his dreamsB. prepare his son for survival in the woodsC. reward his son for his good work in schoolD. remind his son to enjoy his homemade possessions

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2006/english/resources/yes.html





This essay would most likely encourage a reader to

A. begin a new educational programB. develop a more responsible attitudeC. appreciate the traditions of other culturesD. recognize the importance of positive thinking


When the author says the frontiersmen's “real possibles were contained in a skin bag carried just behind their eyeballs,” he is suggesting that the frontiersmen

A. carried extra possibles bagsB. were secretive about their possibles bagC. used intelligence and imagination to surviveD. depended on their eyes and ears to avoid trouble

43. Read the essay “High Tide in Tucson.” Then answer the following.

Which word best describes Buster in “High Tide in Tucson”?

A. adaptableB. curiousC. peacefulD. protective


Which phrase best explains the purpose of paragraph 2?

A. to describe natural beautyB. to create a suspenseful moodC. to establish a humorous toneD. to provide background information

45. Read the essay “Ghost Crab.” Then answer the following.

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2006/english/resources/ghost_crab.html

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2006/english/resources/high_tide.html




Which word best describes the author's attitude toward the ghost crab?

A. frightenedB. indifferentC. respectfulD. satisfied


Which of these lines from the essay best expresses a theme of “Ghost Crab”?

A. The shore at night is a different world…B. The blackness of the night possessed water, air, and beach.C. It was the darkness of an older world, before Man.D. The little crab alone with the sea became a symbol that stood for life itself…


Reading this essay would most likely encourage a reader to

A. compose a poem about crabsB. enjoy the sounds of the oceanC. think about how animals get their namesD. consider the significance of small creatures


Carefully examine the details of the two photographs below.




Write a response that explains which photograph more effectively clarifies the images and ideas expressed in the essay “Ghost Crab.” In your response, support your conclusion with appropriate details from both the essay and the photograph you choose.

Use the space on page __ of your Answer Book for planning your response. Then write your response on the lines on page __.

49. Read the essay "Starwalking with Sarah."

After reading this essay, a reader would most likely conclude that parents shouldA take walks to teach their children about night animalsB take an active role in preserving nature for their children's enjoymentC encourage their children to have a sense of wonder about the worldD make sure their children know the names of the stars and constellations

50. Which word best describes the tone of "Starwalking with Sarah"?F mis

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2005/english/resources/starwalking.html



chievous

G

mysterious

H

scientific

J

tender

51. Read this sentence from paragraph 37 of "Starwalking with Sarah."

He was too small to negotiate the deep-plowed furrows on the Dickman Farm, so I ended up carrying him on my shoulders.

In this sentence, to negotiate meansA

to plant

B

to arrange

C

to move through

D

to bargain with

52. Which word best describes the father in "Starwalking with Sarah"?F

cautious

G

detached

H

humorous

J

instructive


http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2005/english/resources/starwalking.html#37

53. Which description from "Starwalking with Sarah" best gives life-like qualities to what the father and daughter see?A It is a midwinter's Sunday night, sometime after supper, and I find myself walking

slowly on a country lane near home...B It is a perfect night, the starry pinpoint sparkles of diamonds dotting a velvet sky.C The creekwater twinkles in the waxing, three-quarter moon and chuckles as it pours

over the rocks.D Presently, a light haze drifts in under the moon, forming a big ring in the moonlight.

54. Which of these statements best expresses a theme of "Starwalking with Sarah"?F Learning about nature requires risk.G Modern life limits our interaction with nature.H Experiencing nature provides personal fulfillment.J Scientific knowledge is needed to understand nature.

55. Read the poem "Mussels in April."

In line 10, the speaker most likely refers to the mussels as "sealed mysteries" toF convey a sense of wonder about the experienceG express regret that rituals of childhood are overH suggest that collecting the mussels is tiring workJ emphasize how well the mussels are hidden in the rocks

56. Read the story "Mama's Pie."

Which word would the narrator most likely use to describe Mama?F

courageous

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2005/english/resources/pie.html

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2005/english/resources/mussels.html



G

playful

H

protective

J

wise

57. Which of these words is most closely related to a theme of "Mama’s Pie"?A

ambition

B

connection

C

hope

D

peace

58. Use the poem "Mussels in April" and the story "Mama's Pie."

Which statement best expresses a main idea of both the poem "Mussels in April" and the story "Mama's Pie"?F As children grow older, they view their parents differently.G Parents are the best people to teach basic skills to children.H Simple experiences provide opportunities for developing family relationships.J Families rely on special traditions to give them strength during difficult times.

59. Write a response that compares the speaker in the poem "Mussels in April" and the narrator of the story "Mama's Pie." In your response, support your conclusion with appropriate details from both the poem and the story.


60. Read the poems "My People" and "I, Too" by Langston Hughes.

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2005/english/resources/people.html#itoo

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2005/english/resources/people.html








In "My People," the speaker compares the souls of his people toA

their eyes

B

their faces

C

the stars

D

the sun

61. Which word best describes the tone of the poem "I, Too"?F

apologetic

G

confident

H

playful

J

respectful

62. Which of these best states the main idea of both "My People" and "I, Too"?F People should learn to be patient.G People should be proud of who they are.H People learn to appreciate beauty in nature.J People who are unhappy will grow stronger.

63. Read the essay "Silencing the Sound of Music."

Which conclusion about the author is most supported by information in the essay?F He uses music as a way of solving problems.G He has a great deal of knowledge about music history.H He enjoys music even though he has little musical talent.J He likes classical music more than he likes popular

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2005/english/resources/sound.html






music.

64. Read the essay "Silencing the Sound of Music."

Which of these statements best explains how the author attempts to persuade his readers?A He quotes statistics related to his topic.B He uses the names of famous singers.C He connects his own experiences to those of the readers.D He ignores the ideas of people that might oppose him.

65. Read these sentences from paragraph 6 of "Silencing the Sound of Music."

Scholars believe the wood block was invented before music. And if you needed proof of that, you had only to listen to the way I played.

Which word best describes the tone of the author's words in these sentences?F

admiring

G

instructive

H

self-confident

J

self-mocking

66. Read the essay "In the Country of Grasses."

Skimming which of these books would best prepare a reader to understand what the author describes in the essay?F Large Prey Animals Around the WorldG Lions and Tigers and Bears: Fear of the WildH Africa in the Nineteenth Century: The Colonial ExperienceJ An Illustrated Guide to the Wildlife of Africa

67. Which of these ideas is most closely related to a theme of "In the Country of Grasses"?

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2005/english/resources/grasses.html



http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2005/english/resources/sound.html#6

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2005/english/resources/sound.html

A anxiety about encountering dangerB thrill of exploring the natural worldC enjoyment from making new friendsD concern about seeing a habitat destroyed

68. Read the essay "In the Country of Grasses."

Which phrase best describes Samuel?F helpful but quiet in mannerG witty and clever with wordsH polite but uncertain of himselfJ sad and mysterious to strangers

69. Read these sentences from paragraph 10 of "In The Country of Grasses."

Anticipation is another gift for travelers in unfamiliar territory. It quickens the spirit.

The word quickens most nearly meansA

angers

B

excites

C

hurries

D

lightens

70. Read this sentence from the last paragraph of "In The Country of Grasses."

As my eyes become acquainted with lion, I begin to distinguish fur from grass.

Which of these statements best explains the meaning of this sentence?A At first, all lions look alike to the author, but once she gets a better look, she can tell

individual lions apart.B The lions are camouflaged in the tall grass, but the longer the author looks, the better

she can make them out.C Though fearful of the lions as they hide in the tall grass, the author soon begins to

make friends with the animals.D Having never seen lions, the author has no idea what they look like, but little by

little, she begins to identify their features.


http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2005/english/resources/grasses.html#10


71. Carefully examine the details of the photograph below.

Write a response that explains whether the photograph communicates ideas that are similar to the ideas found in the essay "In the Country of Grasses." In your response, support your conclusion with appropriate details from both the essay and the photograph.


72. Read the excerpt from "On Safari with the Experts," an article about a safari outfitting camp in Kenya, East Africa. Then answer Numbers 41 through 43 about both "In the Country of Grasses" and "On Safari with the Experts."

Read these sentences about Samuel from paragraph 8 of "In the Country of Grasses."

He is respectful of his teachers and those he is teaching. In this way he is generous. He gives the pleasure of discovery. Slowly, African riddles unravel themselves like a piece of cut linen.

Which paragraph from the article "On Safari with the Experts" best expresses a similar idea about Jackson?

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2005/english/resources/safari.html


http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2005/english/resources/grasses.html#pp8






A

paragraph 1

B

paragraph 2

C

paragraph 3

D

paragraph 5

73. Which pair of words best completes the following statement?

While the essay "In the Country of Grasses" is mostly written in a ___ style, the article "On Safari with the Experts" is mostly written in a ___ style.F poetic...creativeG formal...scholarlyH descriptive...factualJ journalistic...conversational

CLG 2: Composing in a Variety of Modes

1. Read the prompt below. Follow the directions in the prompt for writing your essay.

Write a well-organized essay in which you explain a difficult decision that you or someone you know had to make. Develop your ideas by explaining what led to the decision, why it was difficult, and what the results of the decision were. Be sure that your essay is fully developed, that it is logically organized, and that your choice of words clearly expresses your ideas.

Use the space on page __ of your Answer Book for planning your essay. Then write your essay on the lines on pages __ and __.



2. A Maryland newspaper is conducting a writing competition. Ricky decided to submit an article about the Maryland state dog, the Chesapeake Bay retriever. Answer the following item.

Before he began his draft of the article, Ricky created the graphic organizer below.

Which of these ideas belongs with the topic “personality of the breed”?

A. The breed includes traits of hounds, setters, and spaniels.B. The breed is recognizable by its color, broad chest, and strong legs.C. These dogs have also been trained to assist people with disabilities.D. These dogs make good companions and like to use their mental abilities.

3. Read the draft of the first part of Ricky’s article. Then answer the following item.

Which sentence contains information that is NOT focused on the essay’s topic and should be deleted?

A. Sentence 3B. Sentence 4C. Sentence 6D. Sentence 9

4. For this item, read the prompt below. Follow the directions in the prompt for writing your essay.

Consider the following:

Some people think that new technologies do not always improve our lives but actually make things more complicated. For example, some believe that our lives would be simpler without digital video recorders, music players, and telephone answering devices.

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2008/english/resources/chesapeake_bay_retriever.html

Write a well-organized essay in which you agree or disagree with the idea that new technologies make our lives more complicated. Support your ideas with examples from your experiences or the experiences of others. Be sure that your essay is fully developed, that it is logically organized, and that your choice of words clearly expresses your ideas.

Use the space on page __ of your Answer Book for planning your essay. Then write your essay on the lines on pages __ and __.

5. This student paragraph requires revisions and edits. Read the paragraph. Then answer the following item.

Which of these is the best way to revise Sentence 8?

A. Franklin Roosevelt added the East Wing, which includes a movie theater and a bomb shelter.

B. When adding the East Wing, a movie theater and a bomb shelter were built by Franklin Roosevelt.

C. Contained within the East Wing, Franklin Roosevelt added a movie theater and a bomb shelter.

D. Franklin Roosevelt, adding the East Wing, included a movie theater and bomb shelter there.

6. This student paragraph requires revisions and edits. Read the paragraph2. Then answer the following item.

Which sentence best fills the blank and connects the ideas in Sentences 4 and 6?

A. The pulsing rhythm of last night’s rock concert replays in my mind.B. I dream that my lost birthstone ring miraculously reappears on my finger.C. I can hear my neighbor’s lawn mower roaring outside, just under my window.D. The coffeemaker hasn’t yet gone into its automatic drip mode, but continues to

sleep.

7. Read the sentence in bold print. Then choose the most clear and effective revision of the sentence.

Set in Baltimore, Laura Lippman’s mystery novels offer the reader interesting details about the city life as well as having suspenseful plots.

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2008/english/resources/student_paragraph_2.html


A. Laura Lippman’s mystery novels, offering a reader interesting details about city life, are set in Baltimore as well as having suspenseful plots.

B. Laura Lippman’s mystery novels, which are set in Baltimore, offer a reader interesting details about city life as well as suspenseful plots.

C. Laura Lippman’s mystery novels, having suspenseful plots, offer a reader interesting details about city life, and they are set in Baltimore.

D. Laura Lippman’s mystery novels, which offer a reader interesting details about city life, they have suspenseful plots, and they are set in Baltimore.

8. Read the sentence in bold print. Then choose the most clear and effective revision of the sentence.

The Mane High School Lions have won only two games, and they have their fans’ support, and opponents respect them.

A. Although the Mane High School Lions have won only two games, they have their fans’ support and their opponents’ respect.

B. Because they are respected by opponents and supported by fans, the Mane High School Lions, they have won only two games.

C. Although they have fans supporting them and they have opponents respecting them, the Mane High School Lions, have won only two games.

D. Because the Mane High School Lions have won only two games, their fans support them, as well as the respect of opponents.

9. In Jessica’s English class, students are writing about artists they admire. Jessica decided to write about the piano player and composer Eubie Blake. The draft of Jessica’s essay requires revisions and edits. Read the draft. Then answer the following item.

Jessica used information from an Internet site about famous Marylanders in her essay. All of these would be included in the bibliographic citation for the Internet site EXCEPT

A. the title of the articleB. the Internet site addressC. the title of the Internet siteD. the number of related links


http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2008/english/resources/jessicas_draft.html


After reading about Eubie Blake, Jessica wanted to learn more about jazz music. Which of these books would provide her with the best introduction to jazz?

A. Jazz 101: A Complete Guide to JazzB. Modern Jazz Piano: A Study in HarmonyC. Jazz Genius: Biographies of American-Jazz MusiciansD. Jump into Jazz: The Basics and Beyond for Jazz Dance Students

11. Students in an art appreciation class conducted research and wrote about different ways of creating art. Richard wrote an article about a Baltimore sculptor. The draft of Richard’s article, “A Spoon Reborn,” requires revisions and edits. Read the draft. Then answer the following:

Where should Richard move paragraph 4 (Sentences 12 and 13) in order to present his ideas in the most logical sequence?

A between paragraphs 1 and 2

B between paragraphs 2 and 3

C after paragraph 5

D Best as it is


Richard found the information below in a language handbook.

Avoid including overused expressions in your writing, such as play it by ear, time will tell, or in the nick of time.

According to this information, which sentence should be revised?

A Sentence 2

B Sentence 6

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2007/english/resources/spoon_reborn.html


C Sentence 8

D Sentence 14


Which sentence most clearly and effectively adds supporting details to Sentence 7?

A An example of his “kitchen” art is “Art Ducko,” a Donald Duck-like sculpture he made from a discarded aluminum water pitcher, salt shakers, and a copper lid.

B An example of his “kitchen” art is a sculpture that looks like Donald Duck and that he called “Art Ducko” because it is made from a discarded aluminum water pitcher, salt shakers, and a copper lid.

C “Art Ducko” is an example of his “kitchen” art, and it looks like Donald Duck, a sculpture made from a discarded aluminum water pitcher, salt shakers, and a copper lid.

D “Art Ducko” is a sculpture that is an example of his “kitchen” art, and it is Donald Duck-like since he made it from a discarded aluminum water pitcher, salt shakers, and a copper lid.


Read Sentence 8 from Richard’s draft.

When he wanted to make a snake, he looked at many pictures of snakes and then said, “Spoons!”

What is the correct way to edit the underlined part of the sentence?

A said spoons.



B said, Spoons!

C said “Spoons”!

D Best as it is


Which of these should Richard revise to correct an incomplete sentence?

A When I was a child, I used to make “music” using pots and pans from my family’s kitchen, but I just read about an artist who uses kitchen utensils to create another kind of art.

B Which are quickly becoming collectors’ items.

C Wanting to be a little less “normal,” he began laminating wood, Plexiglas, and foam into sandwiches and then carved ballet dancers from these sandwiches.

D He called this creation “Soupentine.”

16. This student paragraph3 requires revisions and edits. Read the paragraph. Then answer the following:

Which of these is the best way to revise Sentence 4 for clarity and effectiveness?

A After the rules are read aloud, the joust begins with a trumpet call.

B After the rules are read aloud as well as after a trumpet call, the joust begins.

C The rules are read aloud, and the joust begins as there is a loud call by the trumpet.

D There is a loud trumpet call, and then the joust begins after the rules are read aloud.

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2007/english/resources/student_paragraph1.html


17. This student paragraph requires revisions and edits. Read the paragraph. Then answer the following:

What is the correct way to edit the underlined part of Sentence 7?

A Maryland General assembly

B Maryland general Assembly

C Maryland General Assembly

D Best as it is


Which of these needs to be revised to correct an incomplete sentence?

A The sport involves medieval costumes, tradition, and pageantry.

B And just a little bravery and adventure.

C Each contestant, galloping on horseback down a dirt track and through three arches, tries to spear a metal ring with a long, steel-tipped lance.

D Scores are based on the number and size of the rings captured on the lance.



A the world’s greatest mountain carving

B the worlds’ greatest mountain carving




C the worlds’s greatest mountain carving

D Best as it is


Which sentence best adds supporting details and fills the blank in the paragraph?

A This presidential monument, a famous tourist attraction, has been featured in many movies.

B Surprisingly, many Americans cannot name the presidents of the 20th century.

C The faces of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt overlook a dense grove of trees.

D Impressive stone monuments to Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln can also be seen in Washington, D.C.

21. Terry is writing about the War of 1812 and the origin of the national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The draft of the first part of Terry’s essay, “Oh, Say Can You See,” requires revisions and edits. Read the draft. Then answer the following:

Terry wants to clarify the focus of his essay. Which of these sentences would be best to add after Sentence 1?

A The War of 1812 lasted from June 1812 to December 1814.

B The War of 1812 was mainly a struggle for freedom of the seas.

C The national anthem of the United States was born during this second conflict.

D This second conflict started more than 30 years after the American Revolution.

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2007/english/resources/war_1812.html




Read Sentence 6 from Terry’s draft.

The British fleet was about to begin it’s assault on Fort McHenry a fort guarding the entrance to the harbor of Baltimore.

What is the correct way to edit the underlined part of this sentence?

A its assault on Fort McHenry a fort

B its assault on Fort McHenry, a fort

C it’s assault on Fort McHenry, a fort

D Best as it is


Terry found this information in a language handbook.

Periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks: Sally decided to recite the poem “Birches,” but Stan chose to memorize “The Raven.”

According to this information, what is the correct way to edit Sentence 11?

A Originally titled “The Defense of Fort McHenry,” the poem soon became known as “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

B Originally titled “The Defense of Fort McHenry”, the poem soon became known as “The Star-Spangled Banner”.

C Originally titled “The Defense of Fort McHenry”, the poem soon became known as “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

D Best as it is






Which of these most effectively combines the ideas in Sentences 12 and 13 into one sentence?

A The poem was set to music in 1814 and became a patriotic song, and it did not become America’s national anthem until 1931.

B Set to music in 1814, the poem became a patriotic song, and then it did not become America’s national anthem until 1931.

C When the poem became a patriotic song after being set to music in 1814, it did not become America’s national anthem until 1931.

D Although the poem was set to music and became a patriotic song in 1814, it did not become America’s national anthem until 1931.


In his essay, Terry used information from a pamphlet published by the Smithsonian Institution. Which piece of information must be included in a bibliography entry for the pamphlet?

A the name of his school

B the name of his school librarian

C the publication date of the pamphlet

D the number of sections in the pamphlet





26. Read the sentence below. Then choose the most clear and effective revision of the sentence.

The expedition to Alaska was funded by the university and was for the purpose of measuring glaciers and was headed by a famous explorer.

A The purpose of funding and heading the expedition by the university and by a famous explorer was to measure glaciers in Alaska.

B The purpose of the expedition to Alaska, funded by the university and headed by a famous explorer, was to measure glaciers.

C The purpose of the expedition to measure glaciers in Alaska was to have it funded by the university and headed by a famous explorer.

D The purpose of funding the expedition to Alaska by the university, and heading it by a famous explorer, was for measuring glaciers.


To go to the movies and also to have pizza with my friends are both things I always look forward to.

A I always look forward to going to the movies and to having pizza with my friends.

B I always look forward to going to the movies and to have pizza with my friends.

C I always look forward to my friends and I going to the movies and to have pizza.

D I always look forward to going to the movies with my friends and also having pizza.

28. Read the essay “Bug, Interrupted.” Then answer the following:

Read this sentence from the essay.

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2007/english/resources/bug_interrupted.html

Slowly at first, like dancers drifting onto a dance floor, fireflies begin to wink through the tall grass that rings our field.

Which word is the subject of this sentence?

A dancers

B floor

C fireflies

D grass

29. Miriam is writing a draft of an essay about the SS Central America, a ship that sank in 1857. The draft of Miriam's essay requires revisions and edits. Read the draft. Then answer the following:

Which sentence would make the best transition between Sentences 2 and 3?

A. In the 1850s, both San Francisco and New York were bustling cities with busy seaports.

B. In Panama in the 1850s, money in the form of gold coins was usually in great demand.

C. Gold coins were used as money rather than saved as souvenirs in both San Francisco and New York.

D. The trip from Panama to New York City was often the most dangerous part of the journey.


Which Internet site would most likely provide information about collecting gold recovered from the SS Central America?

A. www.shipwrecks.org/treasurehuntingThe online treasure hunter forum provides a place to discuss shipwrecks.

B. www.bookbrowse.com/nonfiction/excerptsThe exciting adventure of the search for lost sea treasure is told in these excerpts.

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2006/english/resources/ss_central.html


C. www.globalclassroom.orgThe shipwreck of the SS Central America is an adventure that dates back to the time of the Gold Rush.

D. www.centralamericatreasures.comThis is the official site of the company with the exclusive rights to sell items salvaged from the SS Central America.

31. The student paragraph “Bats” requires revisions and edits. Read the paragraph. Then answer the following.

Which of these is the best way to revise Sentence 5 for clarity?

A. Bouncing sound waves off objects, bats navigate carefully, knowing where they are going exactly.

B. Bats know exactly where they are going, carefully navigating by bouncing sound waves off objects.

C. Navigating and carefully bouncing sound waves off objects, bats know exactly where they are going.

D. Bats, they know exactly where they are going, navigating by bouncing sound waves off objects carefully.

32. The student paragraph “African Termites” requires revisions and edits. Read the paragraph. Then answer the following.

Which sentence best fills the blank to provide supporting details in the paragraph?

A. Food is in abundant supply for the African termites.B. African termites are also comfortable above ground.C. Air flows easily through the long tunnels and chambers.D. Construction engineers can learn much from these insects.


Active listening skills are looking at the speaker, and it involves nodding when you understand, and it can include making notes.

A. Looking at and nodding at the speaker when you understand and to make notes are all active listening skills.

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2006/english/resources/african_termites.html

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2006/english/resources/bats.html

B. Looking at the speaker, nodding when you understand, and making notes are all active listening skills.

C. Looking at and nodding at the speaker are active listening skills, and so is making notes when you understand.

D. Looking at the speaker is an active listening skill and so is nodding when you understand, and it can include making notes.


Mark Twain's writing style is sophisticated and his humor is timeless, and readers find his books appealing.

A. Readers find Mark Twain's style sophisticated, and his humor is timeless, so his books appeal to them.

B. Readers whose style is sophisticated and whose humor is timeless find Mark Twain's books appealing.

C. Readers find Mark Twain's books appealing because his writing style is sophisticated and his humor is timeless.

D. Readers who find his books appealing think Mark Twain's writing is sophisticated, and they also think his humor is timeless.

35. After reading literature from around the world, students researched their own family backgrounds. One student, Shelli, decided to research her Irish heritage and learned that some Irish sports are popular in the United States. The draft of Shelli's essay, “Irish Sports,” requires revisions and edits. Read the draft. Then answer the following.

Which sentence in Shelli's draft includes information that requires documentation of a source?



http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2006/english/resources/irish_sports.html




Shelli wants to add more information about Camogie to her report. When she conducted an Internet search using the key words “Irish sports,” she found this list of sites. Which site would probably have the most information about Camogie?

A. Politics of Irish AthletesB. Irish Sporting Short StoriesC. Rules of Irish Sporting GamesD. Complete Who's Who in Irish Sports

37. Yuri is writing an article for the school paper about science in the classroom. The draft of Yuri's article requires revisions and edits. Read the draft. Then answer Numbers 2 through 6.

Which of these is the clearest and most effective way to revise Sentence 6?F According to ancient myths, Jason was the first great explorer to sail the seas.G The first great explorer to sail the seas was the subject of ancient myths, and his

name was Jason.H Being the first great explorer, Jason, he sailed the seas according to ancient myths.J Jason, according to ancient myths, was the first great explorer to sail the seas and

explore them too.

38. Read Yuri's draft.

Yuri found the information below in a language handbook.

Avoid vague words and phrases that are not exact enough to be effective in writing.

According to this information, which sentence should be revised?A

Sentence 3

B

Sentence 4

C

Sentence 7

D

Sentence 10

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2005/english/resources/jason.html


39. The student paragraph below requires revisions and edits. Read the paragraph. Then answer Numbers 25 through 27.

Which of these is the best way to revise Sentence 2 to make it a clear and effective sentence?A Native people use certain tropical plants found in rain

forests to treat pain, infections, burns, and ailments.B Treating pain, infections, burns, and ailments with certain

tropical plants, native people are found in rain forests.C Certain tropical plants are used by native people to treat

pain, infections, burns, and ailments, which are found in rain forests.

D Found in rain forests are certain tropical plants used for treating pain, infections, burns, and ailments by native people.

40. The student paragraph below requires revisions and edits. Read the paragraph. Then answer Numbers 32 and 33.

What is the correct way to edit the underlined part of Sentence 3?F

try it; take

G

try it, take

H

try it. Take

J

Best as it is

41. Read the student-written paragraph on Mountain Biking. This paragraph requires revisions and edits. After reading the paragraph, answer the following question.

Which sentence best fills the blank and connects the ideas in Sentences 4 and 6?A Then you are ready to compete with many other mountain bikers.B Also, lack of water can be a problem when riding on an isolated bike trail.C Then try jumping your bike off small mounds or over obstacles.D Also, there are two types of mountain biking—downhill and cross-country.

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2005/english/resources/biking.html

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2005/english/resources/biking.html

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2005/english/resources/plants.html

42. Choose the clearest and most effective revision of the sentence.

I was excited when I saw myself on the six o'clock news, and I called all my friends, and they turned on their televisions. F Excited, I called my friends, and when I saw myself on

the six o'clock news, they turned on their televisions.G Excited, I saw myself on the six o'clock news, and I

called my friends, and they turned on their televisions.H Excited, I called my friends to tell them to turn on their

televisions when I saw myself on the six o'clock news.J Excited, I saw myself, and I called my friends to tell them

to turn on their televisions when I was on the six o'clock news.

43. Read the underlined sentence. Then choose the clearest and most effective revision of the sentence.

The humpback whale population of the Pacific Ocean, as a result of protective measures, has increased, even though it remains an endangered species. A As a result of increasing protective measures, the humpback whale population of the

Pacific Ocean remains an endangered species.B As a result of remaining an endangered species, protective measures have increased

the population of the humpback whale in the Pacific Ocean.C As a result of the humpback whale population increasing through protective

measures, it remains an endangered species of the Pacific Ocean.D As a result of protective measures, the humpback whale population of the Pacific

Ocean has increased, yet the humpback remains an endangered species.

44. Mariah is interested in carrier pigeons and decides to write an essay about them. The draft of Mariah's essay requires revisions and edits. Read the draft. Then answer Numbers 46 through 50.

Where does the sentence below best fit in Mariah's essay?

Long before telephones, faxes, and e-mail, however, cousins of these very pigeons were used to carry messages all over the world.F between Sentences 1 and 2

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2005/english/resources/pigeons.html

G between Sentences 3 and 4H between Sentences 8 and 9J between Sentences 10 and 11

45. Read Mariah's draft.

All of these sentences include information that should be documented on a works–cited page EXCEPTA

Sentence 1

B

Sentence 2

C

Sentence 4

D

Sentence 10

CLG 3: Controlling Language

1. Read the draft of the first part of Ricky’s article. Then answer the following item.

Which of these revisions of Sentence 2 makes it a complete sentence?

A. The breed is America’s only native hunting dog and was bred especially for bay conditions.

B. The breed, America’s only native hunting dog, especially for bay conditions.C. The breed, which is America’s only native hunting dog, and was bred especially

for bay conditions.D. The breed, America’s only native hunting dog, and being bred especially for bay

conditions.

2. Read Sentence 5 from Ricky’s draft.

In 1807, the crew of a Baltimore ship the Canton saw an English ship sinking at sea.

What is the correct way to edit the underlined portion of Sentence 5?

A. ship the Canton, sawB. ship, the Canton saw




C. ship, the Canton, sawD. Best as it is

3. Read Sentence 8 from Ricky’s draft.

Sailor and Canton were bred with other dogs.

Which sentence clearly and effectively adds supporting details to Sentence 8?

A. Sailor and Canton were strong swimmers, and they were bred with other dogs that had hunting abilities which is what was wanted in their offspring.

B. Sailor and Canton were strong swimmers and were bred with other dogs to develop hunting abilities in their offspring.

C. Sailor and Canton, they were strong swimmers who were bred with other dogs with hunting abilities in order to develop those hunting abilities in their offspring.

D. Sailor and Canton, strong swimmers, were bred with other dogs because they wanted hunting abilities in their offspring.



Read these sentences related to the passage.

1. Charles Kuralt’s father took him on work-related trips.2. Charles learned many things from his father.3. The trips often lasted several days.

Which of these most effectively combines these ideas into one sentence?

A. Even though Charles Kuralt learned many things from his father, his father would take him on work-related trips that often lasted several days.

B. Lasting several days, Charles Kuralt’s father took Charles on work-related trips, and Charles learned many things from his father on these trips.

C. Charles Kuralt learned many things from his father, who would take him on work-related trips that often lasted several days.

D. Charles Kuralt’s father took Charles along on work-related trips that often lasted several days, learning many things.



Read these sentences related to the essay.

1. My grandmother found a conch shell on a beach in Hawaii.2. She gave me the conch shell.3. It was a present for my birthday.

Which of these most effectively combines the ideas into one sentence?

A. Having found it on a beach in Hawaii, for my birthday, my grandmother gave me a conch shell as a present.

B. For my birthday, my grandmother gave me a present of a conch shell, and she had found it on a beach in Hawaii.

C. As a present for my birthday, my grandmother gave me a conch shell that she had found on a beach in Hawaii.

D. After my grandmother had found a conch shell on a beach in Hawaii, she gave me, as a present for my birthday, the shell.


Which of these is an incomplete sentence that should be revised?

A. The White House, the home of the President of the United States, is unique.B. Every President’s family adapting the White House to its own lifestyle.C. In the early 1900s, the horse stables were converted to a garage.D. Other Presidents have added a bowling alley, a golf putting green, and a jogging

track.



A. Roosevelt’s sons rode poniesB. Roosevelts’ sons rode ponysC. Roosevelt’s sons rode ponies’D. Best as it is






Read lines 1 through 8 from the poem.

What word does line 8, “That smelled like steam,” describe?

A. schoolB. homeC. blocksD. store


Read this sentence from the article.

This combination of stress, cold, and structural imperfections may have caused the ship to snap apart like shattering glass.

The subject of the sentence is

A. combinationB. stressC. coldD. imperfections

10. This student paragraph requires revisions and edits. Read the paragraph2. Then answer the following item.


A. brother’s roomsB. brothers’ roomsC. brothers’s roomsD. Best as it is




Read this sentence from paragraph 14 of the story.

As if oblivious to the cold, her mother was still out in the vegetable garden, digging up the last of the onions with a rusty trowel.

Which word is used as the subject of the sentence?

A. coldB. motherC. gardenD. onions


Read these sentences related to the story.

1. Saeng’s mother started to dig a hole in the ground for the plant.2. Saeng took the shovel and finished the planting.3. Saeng’s mother took the hot peppers and the bitter melons.4. Saeng’s mother went inside to start dinner.

Which pair of sentences most effectively combines the ideas of the four sentences?

A. After her mother had started to dig a hole in the ground for the plant, Saeng took the shovel and finished the planting. Meanwhile, Saeng’s mother took the hot peppers and bitter melons and went inside to start dinner.

B. Having started to dig a hole in the ground for the plant, the shovel was given to Saeng by her mother to finish the planting. Her mother then went inside to start dinner taking the hot peppers and the bitter melons with her.

C. Saeng took the shovel and finished the planting after her mother had started digging a hole in the ground for the plant. In this way, Saeng’s mother was able to go inside to start dinner, taking in the hot peppers and bitter melons.

D. Saeng took the shovel and finished the planting after her mother started digging a hole in the ground for the plant. Saeng’s mother took the hot peppers and bitter melons also going inside to start dinner.




Which of these best combines the ideas in Sentences 1 and 2?

A. A very famous African American musician, Eubie Blake was from Maryland, and he wrote and performed ragtime music, which is a kind of jazz.

B. Eubie Blake wrote and performed ragtime music, a kind of jazz, and was born in Maryland, and was a very famous African American musician.

C. Eubie Blake, a very famous African American musician from Maryland, wrote and performed ragtime music, a kind of jazz.

D. Ragtime music, which is a kind of jazz, was written and composed by Eubie Blake, who was a very famous African American who was a musician and whose home state was Maryland.


Which of these is an incomplete sentence that should be revised?

A. Sometime around the age of four or five, Blake playing his family’s pump organ.B. Noticing his interest in music, his parents enrolled him in piano lessons.C. Among these shows was one of his more famous, “Shuffle Along.”D. He lived to be one hundred years old and died on February 12, 1983.



A. He continued to perform and met the most important musicians of his time, including singer Noble Sissle, becoming later his long-time collaborator.

B. He continued to perform and met the most important musicians of his time, including singer Noble Sissle, who later would become his long-time collaborator.

C. He continued to perform and met the most important musicians of his time, and he met singer Noble Sissle, because she would later become his long-time collaborator.




D. He continued to perform and met the most important musicians of his time, one of whom included singer Noble Sissle, and she later would become his long-time collaborator.



A. The SS Central America, which was a 280-foot steamship with a side paddle-wheel when a storm hit, was off the coast of the Carolinas.

B. The SS Central America was a 280-foot steamship with a side paddle-wheel, which was off the coast of the Carolinas when a storm hit.

C. The SS Central America, a 280-foot steamship with a side paddle-wheel, was off the coast of the Carolinas when a storm hit.

D. The SS Central America was off the coast of the Carolinas when a storm hit, and it was a 280-foot steamship with a side paddle-wheel.


Read Sentence 7 from Miriam's essay.

On Saturday, September 12, 1857, the ship sank with its fantastic treasure of gold coins and gold bars still aboard.

Which of these is the correct way to edit the underlined part of this sentence?

A. Saturday, September 12 1857 theB. Saturday, September 12, 1857 theC. Saturday, September 12 1857, theD. Best as it is


Which of these should Miriam revise to correct an incomplete sentence?




A. The storm pounded the ship for three days.B. It tossed the ship about on waves 20 feet high or higher.C. Using state-of-the art electronic equipment, sonar, and an undersea robot.D. Amazingly, the coins looked just as they had when they were minted 130 years

before.

19. Read these sentences related to the story “Breakfast,” the first chapter from the novel Jim the Boy.

1. Jim entered the kitchen.2. Jim’s heart fell.3. Jim saw Mama in the black skirt.


A. Jim entered the kitchen, his heart fell, and he saw Mama in the black skirt.B. Since Jim saw Mama in the black skirt entering the kitchen, his heart fell.C. Seeing Mama in the black skirt while entering the kitchen, Jim’s heart fell.D. As Jim entered the kitchen, his heart fell because he saw Mama in the black skirt.

20. Read this line from the screenplay Anna and the King.

Dearest family, I desire you all to be educated in English language, science, and literature.

Which word is used as a modifier in this line?

A. familyB. EnglishC. languageD. science



A. bats, however, areB. bats, however areC. bats however are


D. Best as it is


Which of these should be revised to correct an incomplete sentence?

A. Many people think bats can be very scary, and it is true that some bats carry the rabies virus.

B. For example, believing bats will get stuck in people's hair.C. That belief is not so.D. This ability is called “echolocation.”

23. Read these sentences from a student's summary of the essay “Yes, I Can!”

1. Young children believe they can do anything.2. Then they grow up.3. Then they don't believe in themselves.


A. Young children grow up believing they can do anything, and then they don't believe in themselves.

B. Young children believe they can do anything, but then they grow up and stop believing in themselves.

C. Young children who believe they can do anything, grow up, and then later they don't believe.

D. Young children, they believe they can do anything when they are young, but then they grow up and stop believing.

24. The student paragraph “African Termites” requires revisions and edits. Read the paragraph. Then answer the following.


A. concrete walls, and, itB. concrete walls; and itC. concrete walls, and itD. Best as it is

http://mdk12.org/assessments/high_school/look_like/2006/english/resources/african_termites.html




But our household had a deficit of males, so my daughter and I chose Buster, for balance.

What is meant by the phrase “deficit of males”?

A. The females in the house have more money.B. The females outnumber the males in the house.C. The males spend less time inside the house than outside.D. The males in the house are interested in other things.

26. Read these sentences related to the essay “High Tide in Tucson.”

1. The author went to the Bahamas for a vacation.2. She picked up shells on the beach.3. She found a hermit crab in one of the shells.


A. The author found a hermit crab in a shell she had picked up on the beach while vacationing in the Bahamas.

B. A hermit crab was found by the author while on vacation picking up shells on the beach in the Bahamas.

C. A hermit crab in a shell found on the beach in the Bahamas was picked up by the author when she was vacationing there.

D. The author picked up shells on the beach and went to the Bahamas for a vacation when she found a hermit crab.

27. Read this sentence from the essay “Ghost Crab.”

Once, exploring the night beach, I surprised a small ghost crab in the searching beam of my torch.

In this sentence, which word is used as a modifier?

A. nightB. beachC. beam


D. torch


Shelli found the information below in a language handbook.

Use a colon

to mean “note what follows” before a list of items when the list does not immediately follow a verb

Which sentence in Shelli's draft should be edited using this rule?



Which of these best combines the ideas in sentences 9 and 10 into one sentence?

A. Camogie, also known as Hurling, is one of the world's fastest field games and one of Ireland's oldest sports.

B. One of Ireland's oldest sports, Camogie is one of the fastest field games in the world, and Camogie is also known as Hurling.

C. One of the fastest field games in the world is Camogie, and it is also known as Hurling, and it is one of the oldest sports in Ireland.

D. Hurling is another name for Camogie, which is one of the oldest Irish sports, and it is also one of the world's fastest field games.

30. After reading literature from around the world, students researched their own family backgrounds. One student, Shelli, decided to research her Irish heritage and learned that





some Irish sports are popular in the United States. The draft of Shelli's essay, “Irish Sports,” requires revisions and edits. Read the draft. Then answer the following.

Read Sentence 3 from Shelli's draft.

This club was founded in 1988 and is part of the Gaelic athletic association, which has its headquarters in Dublin.

What is the correct way to edit the underlined part?

A. gaelic athletic associationB. Gaelic Athletic associationC. Gaelic Athletic AssociationD. Best as it is

31. Read Sentence 11 from Yuri's draft.

At the end of a school year, one student said, “I like science now, its not just about studying fungi with teachers in white coats.”

What is the correct way to edit the underlined part of Sentence 11.A now; it'sB now, it'sC now; itsD Best as it is


Which of these most effectively combines the ideas in Sentences 12 and 13 into one sentence?F The sunken ships of the JASON Project have raised students' curiosity about the

world above and the bottom of the sea.G The sunken ships of the JASON Project have raised students' curiosity about the

bottom of the sea, as well as the world above it.H The sunken ships of the JASON Project have raised students' curiosity, and now they

are curious about the bottom of the sea in addition to the world above it.J The sunken ships of the JASON Project have raised students' curiosity, and it is the

bottom of the sea, as well as the world above it, that they want to know more about now.






Which of these should be revised to correct an incomplete sentence?F The movie Titanic and the expeditions to explore the ship's remains took thousands

of viewers into depths of the ocean.G The JASON Project named after the Greek hero Jason.H The JASON Project is training a new generation of explorers by developing their

skills in science, technology, math, geography, and language arts.J Using the curriculum and materials of the JASON Project, students can complete

many activities during the school year.

34. Read these sentences from a student's summary of "Starwalking with Sarah."

1. A father takes a walk through the countryside.2. His daughter walks with him.3. The winter evening is cold and crisp.

4. The stars overhead shine brilliantly.A Coldly and crisply on a winter evening, a father and

daughter walk through the countryside. Overhead, stars shine brilliantly.

B On a cold, crisp winter evening, a father and daughter take a walk through the countryside. The stars shine brilliantly overhead

C The countryside on a winter evening is cold and crisp with the stars overhead shining brilliantly. A father and his daughter take a walk.

D A father and daughter walk through the countryside. On a winter evening that is cold and crisp, the stars are overhead and shining brilliantly.

35. Read the poem "Mussels in April."

In line 7, the phrase "streaked with silver" modifiesA

Keds

B

rocks

C gulls




D

treasures

36. This student paragraph requires revisions and edits. Read the paragraph.

What is the correct way to punctuate the underlined part of Sentence 5?F Madagascar an island off the coast of Africa areG Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa areH Madagascar an island off the coast of Africa, areJ Best as it is

37. This student paragraph requires revisions and edits. Read the paragraph.

Which of these should be revised to correct an incomplete sentence?A Plants throughout the world are used to create medicines.B For example, the Madagascar rosy periwinkle is used to make several different

medicines.C Also, the leaves of foxgloves to make heart medications.D It is important to discover what healthful benefits plants have before we destroy them

and their habitats.

38. Read these sentences related to the essay "Silencing the Sound of Music."

1. The wood block is a musical instrument.

2. It is used to create rhythm.

3. It has been used as an instrument for thousands of years.

Which of these most effectively combines these ideas into one sentence?



A The wood block is a musical instrument that has been used for thousands of years to create rhythm.

B Creating rhythm as a musical instrument, the wood block has been used as an instrument for thousands of years.

C Having been used for creating rhythm for thousands of years, the wood block has been a musical instrument.

D The wood block, which has been used for thousands of years to create rhythm, has been a musical instrument for thousands of years, too.

39. Read this sentence from "In the Country of Grasses."

Its black linear face with spiraling horns creates the illusion of a primitive mask.

What is the subject of the verb creates?F

face

G

horns

H

illusion

J mask

40. Read these sentences about the wildebeest, an animal found in the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya.

1. The wildebeest is always on the move.

2. It is searching for green grass.

3. It is searching for water.

Which of these most effectively combines the ideas into one sentence?A Always moving, the green grass and water is what the

wildebeest searches for.B Searching for water and green grass, it is the wildebeest

that is always on the move.C The wildebeest, always moving, is in search of green


grass as well as water.D Always on the move, the wildebeest searches for green

grass and water.

41. Read Sentence 4 from Mariah's essay.

Now, a hospital on the Northwest coast of france uses a flock of forty pigeons to carry tiny samples of human blood to larger testing facilities.

What is the correct way to edit the underlined part of the sentence?A the northwest coast of franceB the Northwest Coast of FranceC the northwest coast of FranceD Best as it is

42. Read Mariah's draft.

Which of these sentences most clearly and effectively adds supporting details to Sentence 5?F There are also remote outposts where birds still carry

messages in Orissa, India, to and from a police station there.

G Also, in Orissa, India, a police station still uses the birds to carry messages to remote outposts.

H Still using the birds as well, is also a police department in Orissa, India, sending messages to outposts that are remote.

J The birds also carry messages from a police department in Orissa, India, to outposts that are still remo

43. Read this rule from a language handbook.

Do not change verbs unnecessarily from one tense to another.

Read this sentence from Mariah's essay.

The officers gradually increase the distance, and eventually the pigeons can fly as far as




310 miles, stop for a meal of wheat and millet, and then returned to their homes.

What is the correct way to write the underlined verbs?F

fly...stop...return

G

fly...stopped...return

H

fly...stopped...returned

J

Best as it is

CLG 4: Evaluating the Content, Organization, and Language Use of Texts



Read these sentences from the end of paragraph 8.

They are words that still give me a little thrill of importance all these years later. I did my twelve-year-old best to growl them like a veteran.

Kuralt most likely uses the word growl instead of say to suggest that he is

A. angry and impatient with the clerkB. uncertain about how to treat older peopleC. acting immaturely to get the clerk’s attentionD. trying to sound older and more experienced


In the stage directions at the beginning of the scene, details such as “deep red carpet” and “golden throne” create an atmosphere of


A. delightB. securityC. splendorD. warmth



Then, while we watched in stunned reverence, the strange beast found its bearings and began to reveal a determined, crabby grace.

The author most likely includes the phrase “determined crabby grace” to suggest

A. the difficulty with which Buster movedB. the complexity of Buster's movementsC. the strength required for Buster to moveD. the cramped manner of Buster's movements

4. Read these lines from the poem "I, Too."

Tomorrow,I'll be at the tableWhen company comes.

The poet most likely includes these lines toA predict social change in the futureB tell where he will eat the next dayC express anger for past treatmentD warn uninvited guests to stay away

Texts



The Chesapeake Bay Retriever1Maryland’s official state animal is its own breed of dog, the Chesapeake Bay retriever. 2The breed, America’s only native hunting dog, and was bred especially for bay conditions. 3Early settlers around the Chesapeake Bay liked to hunt, especially for ducks.

4The Chesapeake Bay retriever is thought to have originated with a shipwreck. 5In 1807, the crew of a Baltimore ship the Canton saw an English ship sinking at sea. 6The sailors of the Canton rescued the crew and two puppies aboard the English ship. 7The puppies, a type of Newfoundland breed, were given the names Sailor and Canton.

8Sailor and Canton were bred with other dogs. 9For the next seventy years, sportsmen and dog fanciers called Sailor’s and Canton’s descendants “Chesapeake Bay ducking dogs.” 10The breed’s most distinguishing characteristic, its short, thick hair, helps the dog withstand the bay’s tough conditions.

Pink murex. Melongena corona. Cowry. Conch. Mussel. Left-sided whelk. Lightning whelk. True-heart cockle. Olivella. Pribilof lora. Angel wings.

These are the names of shells, the shells my grandmother and I catalogued together during the winter of 1963. I was eight years old.

With field guides all around us, we thumbed through plates of photographs, identifying each shell. Mimi would read the descriptions out loud to be certain our classifications were correct. Then, with a blue ball-point pen, we would write the appropriate name on white adhesive tape and stick it on the corresponding shell.

“It’s important to have a hobby,” Mimi said, “something to possess you in your private hours.”

My grandmother’s hobby was spending time at the ocean, walking along the beach, picking up shells.

For a desert child, there was nothing more beautiful than shells. I loved their shapes, their colors. I cherished the way they felt in the palm of my hand—and they held the voice of the sea, a primal sound imprinted on me as a baby.

“Your mother and I took you to the beach shortly after you were born,” Mimi said. “As you got older, you played in the sand by the hour.”

I played with these shells in the bathtub. The pufferfish was my favorite animal. I knew it was dead, dried out, and hollow, but somehow when it floated in the hot water next to my small, pink body, it came to life—a spiny globe with eyes.

Mimi would knock on the bathroom door.

“Come in,” I would say.

She surveyed my watery world. I handed her the puffer, wet.

“When I die,” she said smiling, “these shells will be your inheritance.”

Thirty years later, these shells—the same shells my grandmother collected on her solitary walks along the beach, the shells we spread out on the turquoise carpet of her study, the shells we catalogued, the shells I bathed with—now rest in a basket on a shelf in my study. They remind me of my natural history, that I was tutored by a woman who courted solitude and made pilgrimages to the edges of our continent in the name of her own pleasure, that beauty, awe, and curiosity were values illuminated in our own home.

My grandmother’s contemplation of shells has become my own. Each shell is a whorl1 of creative expression, an architecture of a soul. I can hold Melongena corona to my ear and hear not only the ocean’s voice, but the whisperings of my beloved teacher.

1 whorl: a circular arrangement of like parts, such as leaves or flowers around the same point of a stem; anything shaped like a curl

“The Architecture of a Soul” from An Unspoken Hunger by Terry Tempest Williams, copyright © 1994 by Terry Tempest Williams. Used by permission of Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Student Paragraph1The White House, the home of the President of the United States, is unique. 2It is a museum, an office complex and a fortress as well as a home. 3The White House has six floors, 132 rooms, twelve chimneys, and three elevators. 4Every President’s family adapting the White House to its own lifestyle. 5In 1879, the first telephone was installed, and the President’s phone number was “1”. 6In the early 1900s, the horse stables were

converted to a garage. 7Teddy Roosevelt’s sons rode pony’s on the lawn, and Woodrow Wilson allowed sheep to graze there. 8Containing a movie theater and a bomb shelter, Franklin Roosevelt added the East Wing. 9Other Presidents had added a bowling alley, a golf putting green, and a jogging track. 10The changes to the White House reflect changes in American lifestyles, culture, and technology.

“I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder,” said Titanic’s captain, Edward J. Smith. Yet his faith in modern shipbuilding died with him, as did most of his 2,228 passengers and crew, when the unimaginable happened.

Since Titanic’s discovery there have been a total of seven expeditions to the wreck in manned submersibles. On some of those missions, groups of international scientists have accompanied the salvagers and photographers to study the ship’s structure, disintegration, and metals as well as her deep-ocean environment in hopes of solving some of Titanic’s enduring mysteries. They’ve made some startling discoveries.

At the time of Titanic’s sinking, it was widely held that she had suffered a 300-foot gash in her starboard side that opened her up to massive flooding. During testimony after the tragedy, naval architect Edward Wilding from Harland & Wolff, Titanic’s builders, speculated that a more likely scenario was that several of the ship’s 16 “watertight” compartments had suffered small but significant individual damage, which allowed water to fill them at different rates, thus keeping the ship afloat for two and a half hours.

Because much of Titanic’s bow section is buried in mud, Bob Ballard1 and his team could not see where most iceberg damage would have been. They did, however, see some separations along steel hull plates where rivets had popped free, perhaps on impact with the ice.

4When the French submersible Nautile visited the wreck in 1996, she held acoustic2 equipment that allowed scientists to “see through the mud” covering the bow. They saw six thin slits, some no wider than a finger, at different points along the hull. Naval architects, again from Harland & Wolff, had earlier used a computer model to learn what kind of flooding such openings below the waterline could have caused had they resulted from hitting the iceberg. They determined that pressure could have forced water into the hull at a rate of nearly seven tons a second, fast enough to sink the bow after about two hours.

Researchers have also been studying metal samples and rivets retrieved from the wreck. Some steel from that time was higher in sulfur and phosphorus than is common today, and it fractured easily in extremely cold temperatures. The temperature in the North Atlantic on Titanic’s fateful night was near freezing, cold enough to have made the metal brittle. In addition, a few of the ship’s wrought-iron rivets were found to have a high slag3

content as well as structural imperfections that may have caused them to unzip along hull seams. Finally, computer analysis shows that as the bow sank and the stern began to rise, the stress on the ship’s midsection was more than 50 percent greater than Titanic was designed to bear. This combination of stress, cold, and structural imperfections may have caused the ship to snap apart like shattering glass.

6Such technical analyses are enlightening. But it is the eyewitness accounts that most strongly convey the human tragedy of the ship’s final moments. Wrote survivor Jack Thayer: “We could see groups of the almost fifteen hundred people still aboard, clinging in clusters or bunches, like swarming bees; only to fall in masses, pairs or singly, as the great after part of the ship… rose into the sky…. Gradually she turned her deck away from us, as though to hide from our sight the awful spectacle.” The “long continuous wailing chant” of those left adrift in the icy sea eventually faded away.

What’s next for Titanic? Her salvage and the controversy surrounding it will continue. One company is seeking the right to lead sightseeing tours to the wreck. Iron- eating bacteria are devouring her hull. Yet one fact remains uncontested: Titanic continues to hold the hearts and minds of people around the world.

1 Bob Ballard: founder and head of the Institute for Exploration, specializing in deep-ocean archaeology

2 acoustic: of or pertaining to sound 3 slag: rough, hard waste material left after metal is separated from ore by melting

“Titanic’s Tempestuous Afterlife” by Lisa Moore LaRoe from Titanic: Collector’s Edition, copyright © 1998 by National Geographic Society. Used by permission of the National Geographic Society.

Student Paragraph 21The morning is silent. 2My dog sleeps quietly in the corner of my room. 3He isn’t crying for his morning run yet. 4From my three brothers rooms come no sounds of showers or morning rituals. 5 6I can sleep, too, but I choose instead to listen to silence. 7I choose simply to enjoy the peace of the early morning.

Saeng, a teenage girl, and her family have moved to the United States from Vietnam. As Saeng walks home after failing her driver’s test, she sees a familiar plant. Later, she goes to a florist shop to see if the plant can be purchased.

It was like walking into another world. A hot, moist world exploding with greenery. Huge flat leaves, delicate wisps of tendrils, ferns and fronds and vines of all shades and shapes grew in seemingly random profusion.

“Over there, in the corner, the hibiscus. Is that what you mean?” The florist pointed at a leafy potted plant by the corner.

There, in a shaft of the wan afternoon sunlight, was a single bloodred blossom, its five petals splayed back to reveal a long stamen tipped with yellow pollen. Saeng felt a shock of recognition so intense, it was almost visceral.1

“Saebba,” Saeng whispered.

A saebbah hedge, tall and lush, had surrounded their garden, its lush green leaves dotted with vermilion flowers. And sometimes after a monsoon rain, a blossom or two would have blown into the well, so that when she drew the well water, she would find a red blossom floating in the bucket.

Slowly, Saeng walked down the narrow aisle toward the hibiscus. Orchids, lanna bushes, oleanders, elephant ear begonias, and bougainvillea vines surrounded her. Plants that she had not even realized she had known but had forgotten drew her back into her childhood world.

When she got to the hibiscus, she reached out and touched a petal gently. It felt smooth and cool, with a hint of velvet toward the center—just as she had known it would feel.

And beside it was yet another old friend, a small shrub with waxy leaves and dainty flowers with purplish petals and white centers. “Madagascar periwinkle,” its tag announced. How strange to see it in a pot, Saeng thought. Back home it just grew wild, jutting out from the cracks in brick walls or between tiled roofs.

And that rich, sweet scent—that was familiar, too. Saeng scanned the greenery around her and found a tall, gangly plant with exquisite little white blossoms on it. “Dok Malik,” she said, savoring the feel of the word on her tongue, even as she silently noted the English name on its tag, “jasmine.”

One of the blossoms had fallen off, and carefully Saeng picked it up and smelled it. She closed her eyes and breathed in, deeply. The familiar fragrance filled her lungs, and Saeng could almost feel the light strands of her grandmother’s long gray hair, freshly washed, as she combed it out with the fine-toothed buffalo-horn comb. And when the sun had dried it, Saeng would help the gnarled old fingers knot the hair into a bun, then slip a dok Malik bud into it.

Saeng looked at the white bud in her hand now, small and fragile. Gently, she closed her palm around it and held it tight. That, at least, she could hold on to. But where was the fine-toothed comb? The hibiscus hedge? The well? Her gentle grandmother?

A wave of loss so deep and strong that it stung Saeng’s eyes now swept over her. A blink, a channel switch, a boat ride into the night, and it was all gone. Irretrievably, irrevocably gone.

And in the warm moist shelter of the greenhouse, Saeng broke down and wept.

14It was already dusk when Saeng reached home. The wind was blowing harder, tearing off the last remnants of green in the chicory weeds that were growing out of the cracks in the sidewalk. As if oblivious to the cold, her mother was still out in the vegetable garden, digging up the last of the onions with a rusty trowel. She did not see Saeng until the girl had quietly knelt down next to her.

Her smile of welcome warmed Saeng. “Ghup ma laio le? You’re back?” she said cheerfully. “Goodness, it’s past five. What took you so long? How did it go? Did you—?” Then she noticed the potted plant that Saeng was holding, its leaves quivering in the wind.

Mrs. Panouvong uttered a small cry of surprise and delight. “Dok faeng-noi!” she said. “Where did you get it?”

“I bought it,” Saeng answered, dreading her mother’s next question.

“How much?”

For answer Saeng handed her mother some coins.

“That’s all?” Mrs. Panouvong said, appalled, “Oh, but I forgot! You and the Lambert boy ate Bee-Maags2….”

“No, we didn’t, Mother,” Saeng said.

“Then what else—?”

“Nothing else. I paid over nineteen dollars for it.”

24“You what?” Her mother stared at her incredulously. “But how could you? All the seeds for this vegetable garden didn’t cost that much! You know how much we—” She paused, as she noticed the tearstains on her daughter’s cheeks and her puffy eyes.

“What happened?” she asked, more gently.

“I—I failed the test,” Saeng said.

For a long moment Mrs. Panouvong said nothing. Saeng did not dare look her mother in the eye. Instead, she stared at the hibiscus plant and nervously tore off a leaf, shredding it to bits.

Her mother reached out and brushed the fragments of green off Saeng’s hands. “It’s a beautiful plant, this dok faeng-noi,” she finally said. “I’m glad you got it.”

“It’s—it’s not a real one,” Saeng mumbled. “I mean, not like the kind we had at—at—” She found that she was still too shaky to say the words at home, lest she burst into tears again. “Not like the kind we had before,” she said.

“I know,” her mother said quietly. “I’ve seen this kind blooming along the lake. Its flowers aren’t as pretty, but it’s strong enough to make it through the cold months here, this winter hibiscus. That’s what matters.”

She tipped the pot and deftly eased the ball of soil out, balancing the rest of the plant in her other hand. “Look how root-bound it is, poor thing,” she said. “Let’s plant it, right now.”

She went over to the corner of the vegetable patch and started to dig a hole in the ground. The soil was cold and hard, and she had trouble thrusting the shovel into it. Wisps of her gray hair trailed out in the breeze, and her slight frown deepened the wrinkles around her eyes. There was a frail, wiry beauty to her that touched Saeng deeply.

“Here, let me help, Mother,” she offered, getting up and taking the shovel away from her.

Mrs. Panouvong made no resistance. “I’ll bring in the hot peppers and bitter melons, then, and start dinner. How would you like an omelet with slices of the bitter melon?”

“I’d love it,” Saeng said.

Left alone in the garden, Saeng dug out a hole and carefully lowered the “winter hibiscus” into it. She could hear the sounds of cooking from the kitchen now, the beating of eggs against a bowl, the sizzle of hot oil in the pan. The pungent smell of bitter melon wafted out, and Saeng’s mouth watered. It was a cultivated taste, she had discovered—none of her classmates or friends, not even Mrs. Lambert, liked it—this sharp, bitter melon that left a golden aftertaste on the tongue. But she had grown up eating it and, she admitted to herself, much preferred it to a Big Mac.

The “winter hibiscus” was in the ground now, and Saeng tamped down the soil around it. Overhead, a flock of Canada geese flew by, their faint honks clear and—yes—familiar to Saeng now. Almost reluctantly, she realized that many of the things that she had thought of as strange before had become, through the quiet repetition of season upon season, almost familiar to her now. Like the geese. She lifted her head and watched as their distinctive V was etched against the evening sky, slowly fading into the distance.

When they come back, Saeng vowed silently to herself, in the spring, when the snows melt and the geese return and this hibiscus is budding, then I will take that test again.

1 visceral: deeply felt; instinctive 2 Bee-Maags: mother’s attempt to say “Big Macs,” a popular fast-food sandwich

“Winter Hibiscus” by Minfong Ho, copyright © 1993 by Minfong Ho, from Join In, Multiethnic Short Stories, by Donald R. Gallo, ed. Used by permission of Dell Publishing, a division of Random House, Inc.

Jessica’s Draft

1Maryland is the home state of Eubie Blake. 2Blake was a very famous African American musician who wrote and performed ragtime music, a kind of jazz. 3He was born on February 7, 1883, in Baltimore. 4Sometime around the age of four or five, Blake playing his family’s pump organ. 5Noticing his interest in music, his parents enrolled him in piano lessons. 6At the age of 15, against his mother’s wishes, Blake began playing ragtime piano in and around Balitmore. 7He continued to perform and met the most important musicians of his time. 8By partnering with some of these musicians, Blake created vaudeville acts and Broadway shows which were the source of his most famous songs. 9Among these shows was one of his more famous, “Shuffle Along.” 10When the ragtime era ended, Blake took a long, twenty-three year break from music. 11However, at the age of 56, he returned to music, touring the world, playing piano, and lecturing about ragtime music. 12He lived to be one hundred years old and died on February 12, 1983.

A Spoon Reborn1When I was a child, I used to make “music” using pots and pans from my family’s kitchen, but I just read about an artist who uses kitchen utensils to create another kind of art. 2From spoons, recycled pots, and other consumer products, Jim Opasik creates sculptures of realistic and fantastic animals. 3Which are quickly becoming collectors’ items.

4Opasik took classes at Schuler School of Art in Baltimore where he studied anatomy and made clay statues. 5Wanting to be a little less “normal,” he began laminating wood, Plexiglas, and foam into sandwiches and then carved ballet dancers from these sandwiches. 6He also experimented with wire and spray foam and created a whole baseball team.

7“Art Ducko” is an example of his “kitchen” art and is a sculpture that looks like Donald Duck. 8When he wanted to make a snake, he looked at many pictures of snakes and then said, “Spoons!” 9Starting with small spoons for the tail and gradually using larger spoons, he overlapped them, and they ended up looking just like the scales of a snake. 10For the snake’s head, he used a larger spoon. 11He called this creation “Soupentine.”

12Continuing his search for something unique, he decided to use kitchen utensils because “they contain fascinating shapes and textures already.” 13He also is dedicated to recycling, so he visits thrift stores, sidewalk sales, and flea markets looking for pieces he can turn into animals.

14It goes without saying that now Opasik displays and sells his sculptures at national craft shows. 15His eight-foot seahorse was once displayed at the Baltimore National Aquarium. 16Maybe I should revisit my family’s kitchen to see what future sculpture may be lurking there.

Student Paragraph 3

1Knights in shining armor and charging horses suggest visions of the Middle Ages, but they also suggest the state sport of Maryland—jousting. 2The sport involves medieval costumes, tradition, and pageantry. 3And just a little bravery and adventure. 4The joust begins after there is a loud trumpet call and after the rules are read aloud. 5Each contestant, galloping on horseback down a dirt track and through three arches, tries to spear a metal ring with a long, steel-tipped lance. 6Scores are based on the number and size of the rings captured on the lance. 7When the Maryland general assembly passed a law in 1962 making jousting the state sport, Maryland became the only state with an official state sport.

Oh, Say Can You See1After the American Revolution, America and Great Britain fought a second war known as the War of 1812. 2When British troops occupied Washington, D.C., in 1814, they arrested Dr. William Beanes of Maryland and imprisoned him on a British warship in the Chesapeake Bay. 3Friends of the doctor asked Francis Scott Key, a lawyer, and John Skinner of Baltimore to try to secure the doctor’s release.

4Key and Skinner successfully reached the British fleet and negotiated Beanes’ release. 5Before they could head home, however, the British suddenly detained them aboard a truce ship. 6The British fleet was about to begin it’s assault on Fort McHenry a fort guarding the entrance to the harbor of Baltimore.

7Key watched from the truce ship in the bay as British warships bombarded the fort throughout the afternoon and night. 8The Americans managed to defend the fort. 9On the following morning, they raised a large United States flag on the fort’s 90-foot flagpole. 10Key was so inspired by the sight that he composed a poem on the back of a letter he had in his pocket.

11Originally titled “The Defense of Fort McHenry,” the poem soon became known as “The Star-Spangled Banner”. 12The poem was set to music in 1814 and became a patriotic song. 13It did not become America’s national anthem until 1931.

The SS Central America: A Treasure of Gold1During the California Gold Rush of the 1850s, miners would leave the Sierra foothills to go to San Francisco to have their gold minted into $20 gold coins. 2Because the railroad would not be completed for nearly 20 years, the gold was sent by ship from San Francisco to Panama, then overland to the Atlantic coast and transferred to ships that continued to New York City. 3In 1857, one ship laden with gold coins never made it to its destination.

4The SS Central America was off the coast of the Carolinas when a storm hit. 5The storm pounded the ship for three days. 6It tossed the ship about on waves 20 feet high or higher. 7On Saturday, September 12, 1857, the ship sank with its fantastic treasure of gold coins and gold bars still aboard.

8In 1987, 130 years after the ship sank, the wreck of the SS Central America was located. 9Using state-of-the-art electronic equipment, sonar, and an undersea robot. 10Each coin and artifact was carefully and individually recovered from the bottom of the ocean.

11Amazingly, the coins looked just as they had when they were minted 130 years before. 12Now, each coin is a gold time capsule that preserves memories of the excitement and dangers of the Gold Rush.

Breakfast

by Tony Earley

During the night something like a miracle happened: Jim's age grew an extra digit. He was nine years old when he went to sleep, but ten years old when he woke up. The extra number had weight, like a muscle, and Jim hefted1 it like a prize. The uncles' ages each contained two numbers, and now Jim's age contained two numbers as well. He smiled and stretched and sniffed the morning. Wood smoke; biscuits baking; the cool, rivery smell of dew. Something not quite daylight looked in his window, and something not quite darkness stared back out. A tired cricket sang itself to sleep. The cricket had worked all night. Jim rose to meet the waiting day.

Jim's mother opened the stove door with a dishrag. Mama was tall and pale and handsome; her neck was long and white. Although she was not yet thirty years old, she wore a long, black skirt that had belonged to her mother. The skirt did not make her seem older, but rather made the people in the room around her feel odd, as if they had wandered into an old photograph, and did not know how to behave. On the days Mama wore her mother's long clothes, Jim didn't let the screen door slam.

“There he is,” Mama said. “The birthday boy.”

Jim's heart rose up briefly, like a scrap of paper on a breath of wind, and then quickly settled back to the ground. His love for his mother was tethered2 by a sympathy Jim felt knotted in the dark of his stomach. The death of Jim's father had broken something inside her that had not healed. She pulled the heaviness that had once been grief behind her like a plow. The uncles, the women of the church, the people of the town, had long since given up on trying to talk her into leaving the plow where it lay. Instead they grew used to stepping over, or walking inside, the deep furrows she left in her wake. Jim knew only that his mother was sad, and that he figured somehow in her sadness. When she leaned over to kiss him, the lilaced smell of her cheek was as sweet and sad at once as the smell of freshly turned earth in the churchyard.

“Oh Jimmy,” she said. “How in the world did you get to be ten years old?”

“I don't know, Mama,” Jim said, which was the truth. He was as amazed by the fact as she was. He had been alive for ten years; his father, who had also been named Jim Glass, had been dead for ten years and a week. It was a lot to think about before breakfast.

Mama put the biscuits she pulled from the oven into a straw basket. Jim carried the basket into the dining room. The uncles sat around the long table.

“Who's that?” Uncle Coran said.

“I don't know,” said Uncle Al.

“He sure is funny-looking, whoever he is,” said Uncle Zeno.

“Y'all know who I am,“ said Jim.

“Can't say that we do,” said Uncle Coran.

“I'm Jim.”

“Howdy,” said Uncle Al.

“Y'all stop it,” Jim said.

The uncles were tall, skinny men with broad shoulders and big hands. Every morning they ate between them two dozen biscuits and a dozen scrambled eggs and a platter of ham. They washed it all down with a pot of black coffee and tall glasses of fresh milk.

“Those biscuits you got there, Jim?” said Uncle Zeno.

Jim nodded.

“Better sit down, then.”

In all things Jim strove to be like the uncles. He ate biscuits and eggs until he thought he was going to be sick. When Uncle Zeno finally said, “You think you got enough to eat, Doc?” Jim dropped his fork as if he had received a pardon.

Uncle Zeno was Jim's oldest uncle. His age was considerable, up in the forties somewhere. Uncle Coran and Uncle Al were twins. Each of them swore that he did not look like the other one, which of course wasn't true. They looked exactly alike, until you knew them, and sometimes even then. Not one of the uncles found it funny that they lived in identical houses.

Uncle Al and Uncle Coran built their houses when they were young men, but, like Uncle Zeno, they never took wives. Most of the rooms in their houses didn't even have furniture; only Uncle Zeno's house had a cookstove.

Jim's mother cooked and cleaned for the uncles. When she said it was too much, the uncles hired a woman to help her. Uncle Coran ran the feed store and cotton gin. Uncle Al managed the farms. Uncle Zeno farmed with Uncle Al and operated the gristmill on Saturday mornings. As the head of the family he kept an eye on everyone else. Occasionally the uncles grew cross with each other, and, for a few days, Uncle Al and Uncle Coran would retire to their houses immediately after supper. There they sat by their own fires, or on their own porches, and kept their own counsel3 until their anger passed. In general, however, everyone in the family got along well with everyone else; to Jim, the sound of harsh words would always strike his ear as oddly as a hymn played in the wrong key.

Jim patted his stomach. “That ought to hold me till dinner,” he said.

“You ate a right smart,” Uncle Coran said.

“Well,” said Jim, “I am ten years old now.”

“My, my,” said Uncle Al.

“I've been thinking it's about time for me to go to work with y'all,” Jim said.

“Hmm,” said Uncle Zeno.

“I thought maybe you could use some help hoeing that corn.”

“We can usually put a good hand to work,” Uncle Zeno said. “You a good hand?”

“Yes, sir,” said Jim.

“You ain't afraid to work?”

“No, sir.”

“What do you say, boys?” Uncle Zeno said.

Uncle Al and Uncle Coran looked at each other. Uncle Coran winked.

“He'll do, I guess,” said Uncle Al.

“Let's get at it, then,” said Uncle Zeno.

1 hefted: lifted 2 tethered: bound 3 kept their own counsel: stayed by themselves

“Breakfast” from Jim the Boy by Tony Earley, copyright © 2000 by Tony Earley. Used by permission of Little, Brown, and Company.

Anna and the KingIntroduction

The year is 1862. Anna Leonowens is an English woman living in India whose husband, a captain in the British Army, has recently died. To support herself and her young son Louis, she accepts a position as tutor to the son of the King of Siam. She arrives in Bangkok with Louis and two Indian servants, knowing no one. Although she has been

promised a house of her own, she finds that she has been assigned quarters in the palace; she asks to see the king, but the Prime Minister, known as the Kralahome, tells her that she must wait until the king is ready to see her. He addresses Anna as Sir because women are not allowed to stand in the king's presence, and Anna refuses to kneel.

The Grand Palace, Bangkok.Several weeks after Anna's arrival.

The Kralahome escorts Anna and Louis to the Hall of Audience. There, ranged on a deep red carpet is a throng of prostrate1 noblemen and courtiers facing a raised dais; on it, the imposing figure of Siam's ruler, King Mongkut, sits on a golden throne. Just off the dais stands Alak, his Majesty's highly decorated Consul-General. A French emissary advances to present His Majesty with a jewel-encrusted sword.

LOUIS (whispering): Look at the sword!

ANNA: It's a gift from the French. (King Mongkut delivers a clapped command to the interpreter, who accepts the sword. The entire assemblage begins a series of bows.)

KRALAHOME: It appears Sir must wait to meet His Majesty another day.

ANNA: I do not think so. (She takes her son's hand and hurries down the stairs toward the throne as musicians play the king's exit. Kralahome, caught off-guard, hurries to catch up with her. She curtsies deeply as she approaches the king.) Your Majesty, my name is Anna Leonowens. (King Mongkut turns, shocked. His bodyguards draw swords, blocking Anna's path.) I am the schoolteach—

MONGKUT: STOP!!! (Startled, Anna does just that. King Mongkut strides toward her.)WHO?!?

KRALAHOME (prostrating himself): Your Majesty, Mme2 Anna Leonowens and son, Louis.

ANNA: Your Majesty, I have waited nearly three weeks.

MONGKUT: SILENCE! (He gazes at Anna, intrigued.) YOU are teacher?

ANNA (flustered): Yes, I am.

MONGKUT: You do not look sufficient of age. How many years have you?

ANNA: Enough to know that age and wisdom do not necessarily go hand in hand, Your Majesty. (King Mongkut nods. Then he abruptly heads off.)

KRALAHOME: His Majesty has not dismissed you. Follow him! (Anna and Louis run to keep up with the king.)

MONGKUT: You articulate logical answer under pressure, Mme Leonowens—

ANNA: That is very kind of—

MONGKUT: —but irritating superior attitude King find most unbeautiful. However, it will serve you well given decision I now make. (They reach a pair of massive double doors.) Along with Prince Chulalongkorn, you shall teach my children. (Guards push open the doors and the trio step into the gardens of the children's park. Scores of princes and princesses, none older than eleven, play around pools and pavilions. Peacocks stroll the grounds. A gong announces the king's presence. Everyone turns, sees the king, and drops to the ground.) Attention, my most blessed and royal family, we have company. (King Mongkut motions Anna and Louis to follow him. He stops before a teenage boy, and nods his head. This is Prince Chulalongkorn, King Mongkut's oldest son.) Presenting Heir Apparent, Prince Chulalongkorn. And this, my son, is your new teacher.

PRINCE (astonished): Why do you punish me with imperialist schoolteacher? (King Mongkut, understanding his son's distress, turns to the crowd.)

MONGKUT: Dearest family, I desire you all to be educated in English language, science, and literature. You must never forget to honor your renowned teacher, Mme Anna Leonowens.

ANNA: Your Majesty, the opportunity to begin a school is exciting. Such devotion to progress is to be commended.

MONGKUT: As father, I understand.

ANNA: Then Your Majesty appreciates why having a home outside the palace is of such importance to me.

MONGKUT (firmly): It is my pleasure that you live in the palace.

ANNA (equally firmly): But it is not mine, Your Majesty.

MONGKUT (eyes flashing): You do not set conditions, and you shall OBEY!

ANNA: May I respectfully remind His Majesty that I am not his servant, but his guest.

MONGKUT (after a tense moment): A guest who is paid. (He heads for the gates.)

ANNA: And what of our house?

MONGKUT (without turning): Everything has its own time. (He is gone. The entire crowd stares at Anna in awe. A woman has just argued with their king.)

1 prostrate: lying face down, as in submission

2 Mme: abbreviation for Madame

“Anna and The King” from Literary Cavalcade, January 2000, copyright © 2000 by Scholastic Inc. Reprinted by permission of Scholastic Inc.

A Historical Look At AnnaIt is a wonderful story. The widow of a dashing military man enters the exotic world of a foreign court. There, she matches wits with the King, a charismatic leader torn between the ancient tradition of his country and the demands of the modern world. The young widow shows him a vibrant path to a better future, thus influencing generations to come.

This is the story of Anna Leonowens, as it has come down to us in Anna's two books, the musical The King and I, and the 1999 film starring Jodie Foster. It is an exciting true-life story, except for one problem—it isn't true. In fact, the story has so many inaccuracies that the Thai government—Thailand is the modern Siam—did not allow The King and I to be shown within its borders.

Despite—or perhaps because of—the bendable facts of her story, Anna is an interesting study in grit and resourcefulness. Later in life, she moved to Canada, where she helped to found numerous important cultural institutions. She died in Montreal in 1915.

Foul Shotby Edwin A. Hoey

With two 60s stuck on the scoreboardAnd two seconds hanging on the clock,The solemn boy in the center of eyes,Squeezed by silence,Seeks out the line with his feet,5Soothes his hands along his uniform,Gently drums the ball against the floor,Then measures the waiting net,Raises the ball on his right hand,Balances it with his left,10Calms it with fingertips,Breathes,Crouches,Waits,

And then through a stretching of stillness,15Nudges it upward.

The ballSlides up and out,Lands,Leans,20Wobbles,Wavers,Hesitates,Exasperates,Plays it coy25Until every face begs with unsounding screams—And thenAnd thenAnd then,Right before ROAR-UP,30Dives down and through.

“Foul Shot”by Edwin Hoey, reprinted with special permission granted by Read Magazine, published by Weekly Reader Corporation. Copyright © 1962, renewed 1990 by Weekly Reader Corporation.

Bats1Many people think bats can be very scary, and it is true that some bats carry the rabies virus. 2Some stories about bats; however, are myths. 3For example, believing bats will get stuck in people's hair. 4That belief is not so. 5Bats know where they are going exactly, and they navigate carefully, and they bounce sound waves off objects. 6This ability is called “echolocation.”

Yes, I Can!by Robert Fulghum

OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF years I have been a frequent guest in schools, most often invited by kindergartens and colleges. The environments differ only in scale. In the beginners' classroom and on university campuses the same opportunities and facilities exist. Tools for reading and writing are there—words and numbers; areas devoted to

scientific experiment—labs and work boxes; and those things necessary for the arts—paint, music, costumes, room to dance—likewise present and available. In kindergarten, however, the resources are in one room, with access for all. In college, the resources are in separate buildings, with limited availability. But the most apparent difference is in the self-image of the students.

Ask a kindergarten class, “How many of you can draw?” and all hands shoot up. Yes, of course we can draw—all of us. What can you draw? Anything! How about a dog eating a fire truck in a jungle? Sure! How big you want it?

How many of you can sing? All hands. Of course we sing! What can you sing? Anything! What if you don't know the words? No problem, we make them up. Let's sing! Now? Why not!

How many of you dance? Unanimous again. What kind of music do you like to dance to? Any kind! Let's dance! Now? Sure, why not?

5Do you like to act in plays? Yes! Do you play musical instruments? Yes! Do you write poetry? Yes! Can you read and write and count? Yes! We're learning that stuff now.

Their answer is Yes! Over and over again, Yes! The children are confident in spirit, infinite in resources, and eager to learn. Everything is still possible.

Try those same questions on a college audience. A small percentage of the students will raise their hands when asked if they draw or dance or sing or paint or act or play an instrument. Not infrequently, those who do raise their hands will want to qualify their response with their limitations: “I only play piano, I only draw horses, I only dance to rock and roll, I only sing in the shower.”

When asked why the limitations, college students answer they do not have talent, are not majoring in the subject, or have not done any of these things since about third grade, or worse, that they are embarrassed for others to see them sing or dance or act. You can imagine the response to the same questions asked of an older audience. The answer: No, none of the above.

What went wrong between kindergarten and college?

10What happened to YES! of course I can?

On the occasion of his graduation from engineering college last June, I gave my number-two son a gift of a “possibles bag.”

The frontiersmen who first entered the American West were a long way from the resources of civilization for long periods of time. No matter what gear and supplies they started out with, they knew that sooner or later these would run out and they would have to rely on essentials.

These essentials they called their “possibles”—with these items they could survive, even prevail, against all odds. In a small leather bag strung around their neck they carried a brass case containing flint and steel and tinder to make fire. A knife on their belt, powder and shot, and a gun completed their possibles.

Many survived even when all these items were lost or stolen.

Because their real possibles were contained in a skin bag carried just behind their eyeballs. The lore of the wilderness won by experience, imagination, courage, dreams, and self-confidence. These were the essentials that armed them when all else failed.

I gave my son a replica of the frontiersmen's possibles bag to remind him of this attitude. In a sheepskin sack I placed flint and steel and tinder, that he might make his own fire when necessary; a Swiss Army knife—the biggest one with the most tools; a small lacquer box that contained a wishbone I saved from a Thanksgiving turkey—for luck. Invisible in the possibles bag were his father's hopes and his father's blessing. The idea of the possibles bag was the real gift. He will add his own possibles to what I've given him.

His engineering degree simply attests that he has come back home from an adventure in the great wilderness of science. He has claimed a clearing in the woods as his own.

The sheepskin sack is to remind him that the possibles bag inside his head is what took him there, brought him back, and will send him forth with confidence again and again and yet again, in that spirit of “Yes, I can!”

“Yes, I Can!” from UH OH by Robert Fulghum, copyright © 1991, by Robert Fulghum. Used by permission of the author.

African Termites1Despite their tiny size, some species of African termites are able to create skyscraper-like towers with internal air conditioning, arched chambers, and solid walls. 2Many of these towers are as tall as giraffes and take from ten to fifty years to complete. 3Because the heat is often intense in the African savanna, the towers also include a natural design to provide air conditioning for the insects inside. 4_________________________________ 5Although irregularly shaped, the chambers all have arched ceilings. 6In addition, the walls of these towers are amazingly hard. 7They are similar in many ways to concrete walls it is not unusual for them to be twenty inches thick.

High Tide in Tucsonby Barbara Kingsolver

A hermit crab lives in my house. Here in the desert he's hiding out from local animal ordinances, at minimum, and maybe even the international laws of native-species transport. For sure, he's an outlaw against nature. So be it.

2He arrived as a stowaway two Octobers ago. I had spent a week in the Bahamas, and while I was there, wishing my daughter could see those sparkling blue bays and sandy coves, I did exactly what she would have done: I collected shells. Spiky murexes, smooth purple moon shells, ancient-looking whelks sand-blasted by the tide—I tucked them in the pockets of my shirt and shorts until my lumpy, suspect hemlines gave me away, like a refugee smuggling the family fortune. When it was time to go home, I rinsed my loot in the sink and packed it carefully into a plastic carton, then nested it deep in my suitcase for the journey to Arizona.

I got home in the middle of the night, but couldn't wait till morning to show my hand. I set the carton on the coffee table for my daughter to open. In the dark living room her face glowed, in the way of antique stories about children and treasure. With perfect delicacy she laid the shells out on the table, counting, sorting, designating scientific categories like yellow-striped pinky, Barnacle Bill's pocketbook…Yeek! She let loose a sudden yelp, dropped her booty,1 and ran to the far end of the room. The largest, knottiest whelk had begun to move around. First it extended one long red talon of a leg, tap-tap-tapping like a blind man's cane. Then came half a dozen more red legs, plus a pair of eyes on stalks, and a purple claw that snapped open and shut in a way that could not mean: We Come in Friendship.

Who could blame this creature? It had fallen asleep to the sound of the Caribbean tide and awakened on a coffee table in Tucson, Arizona, where the nearest standing water source of any real account was the municipal sewage-treatment plant.

With red stiletto legs splayed in all directions, it lunged and jerked its huge shell this way and that, reminding me of the scene I make whenever I'm moved to rearrange the living room sofa by myself. Then, while we watched in stunned reverence, the strange beast found its bearings and began to reveal a determined, crabby grace. It felt its way to the edge of the table and eased itself over, not falling bang to the floor but hanging suspended underneath within the long grasp of its ice-tong legs, lifting any two or three at a time while many others still held in place. In this remarkable fashion it scrambled around the underside of the table's rim, swift and sure and fearless like a rock climber's dream.

If you ask me, when something extraordinary shows up in your life in the middle of the night, you give it a name and make it the best home you can.

The business of naming involved a grasp of hermit-crab gender that was way out of our league. But our household had a deficit of males, so my daughter and I chose Buster, for balance. We gave him a terrarium with clean gravel and a small cactus plant dug out of the yard and a big cockleshell full of tap water. All this seemed to suit him fine. To my astonishment our local pet store carried a product called Vitaminized Hermit Crab Cakes. Tempting enough (till you read the ingredients) but we passed, since our household leans more toward the recycling ethic. We give him leftovers. Buster's rapture is the day I drag the unidentifiable things in cottage cheese containers out of the back of the fridge.

We've also learned to give him a continually changing assortment of seashells, which he tries on and casts off like Cinderella's stepsisters preening for the ball. He'll sometimes try to squeeze into ludicrous outfits too small to contain him (who can't relate?). In other moods, he will disappear into a conch the size of my two fists and sit for a day, immobilized by the weight of upward mobility. He is in every way the perfect housemate: quiet, entertaining, and willing to eat up the trash. He went to school for first-grade show-and-tell, and was such a hit the principal called up to congratulate me (I think) for being a broad-minded mother.

It was a long time, though, before we began to understand the content of Buster's character. He required more patient observation than we were in the habit of giving to a small, cold-blooded life. As months went by, we would periodically notice with great disappointment that Buster seemed to be dead. Or not entirely dead, but ill, or maybe suffering the crab equivalent of the blues. He would burrow into a gravelly corner, shrink deep into his shell, and not move, for days and days. We'd take him out to play, dunk him in water, offer him a new frock—nothing. He wanted to be still.

Life being what it is, we'd eventually quit prodding our sick friend to cheer up, and would move on to the next stage of a difficult friendship: neglect. We'd ignore him wholesale, only to realize at some point later on that he'd lapsed into hyperactivity. We'd find him ceaselessly patrolling the four corners of his world, turning over rocks, rooting out and dragging around truly disgusting pork-movementschop bones, digging up his cactus and replanting it on its head. At night when the household fell silent I would lie in bed listening to his methodical pebbly racket from the opposite end of the house.

1 booty: treasures

“High Tide in Tucson” by Barbara Kingsolver, from High Tide in Tucson: Essays from Now or Never by Barbara Kingsolver, copyright © 1995 by Barbara Kingsolver. Reprinted by permission of Frances Goldin Literary Agency.

Ghost Crabby Rachel Carson

The shore at night is a different world, in which the very darkness that hides the distractions of daylight brings into sharper focus the elemental1 realities. Once, exploring the night beach, I surprised a small ghost crab in the searching beam of my torch. He was lying in a pit he had dug just above the surf, as though watching the sea and waiting. The blackness of the night possessed water, air, and beach. It was the darkness of an older world, before Man. There was no sound but the all-enveloping, primeval2 sounds of wind blowing over water and sand, and of waves crashing on the beach. There was no other visible life—just one small crab near the sea. I have seen hundreds of ghost crabs in other settings, but suddenly I was filled with the odd sensation that for the first time I knew the creature in its own world—that I understood, as never before, the essence of its being. In that moment time was suspended; the world to which I belonged did not exist and I might have been an onlooker from outer space. The little crab alone with the sea became a symbol that stood for life itself—for the delicate, destructible, yet incredibly vital force that somehow holds its place amid the harsh realities of the inorganic3 world.

1 elemental: essential, basic 2 primeval: ancient, prehistoric 3 inorganic: not composed of living matter

“Ghost Crab” by Rachel Carson, from The Edge of the Sea by Rachel Carson. Copyright © 1955, by Rachel L. Carson, renewed 1983 by Roger Christie. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Irish Sports1You don't have to fly all the way to Ireland to watch or play Irish sports. 2There is an Irish sporting club called the Gaels nearby in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. 3This club was founded in 1988 and is part of the Gaelic athletic association, which has its headquarters in Dublin. 4The club sponsors the following three sports, a men's football team, a women's football team, and a Camogie team.

5Gaelic football is the most popular sport in Ireland, played by approximately 250,000 people. 6It is played on a pitch (or field) larger than a soccer field with a round ball that is slightly smaller than a soccer ball. 7The game moves fast since there are no time-outs. 8Scores are made when the players pass the ball and then kick it through a soccer-type net or through American football-like goal posts.

9Camogie is also known as Hurling and is one of the fastest field games in the world. 10It is one of the oldest Irish sports. 11It is played with a small ball called a sliothar, which is similar in size to a baseball, and a curved wooden stick called a hurley.

12The three teams of the D.C. Gaels have become quite international, with members from the United States, France, England, South Africa—and of course, Ireland. 13They have

already won many titles. 14In fact, the women's football team has made it to the national semi-finals twice. 15This must be what is known as the luck of the Irish.

Yuri’s Draft: The JASON Project1The movie Titanic and the expeditions to explore the ship’s remains took thousands of viewers into the depths of the ocean. 2After seeing the high-tech equipment used to recover treasures from the sunken ship, students from around the world wrote letters to expedition leader Dr. Robert Ballard, asking to accompany him on an adventure. 3He couldn’t take the students on his ship, but he did the next best thing: he created the JASON Project to bring the thrill of discovery to millions of students worldwide. 4The project offers students in grades 4 through 9 opportunities to explore the world through videos, interactive Internet programming, and live satellite broadcasts.

5The JASON Project named after the Greek hero Jason. 6The seas were first sailed by Jason, the first great explorer, according to ancient myths. 7Dr. Ballard chose the name Jason because he sees his project as one that will also make great explorations. 8The JASON Project is training a new generation of explorers by developing their skills in science, technology, math, geography, and language arts.

9Using the curriculum and materials of the JASON Project, students can complete many activities during the school year. 10For example, they can use really great equipment, send e-mail to lots of researchers, and conduct all sorts of investigations. 11At the end of a school year, one student said, "I like science now, its not just about studying fungi with teachers in white coats." 12The sunken ships of the JASON Project have raised students’ curiosity. 13They now want to know about the bottom of the sea plus the world above it.

One of the worst mistakes we can make in life is not to be alive enough, aware enough, of the magic in simple things. My daughter, Sarah, now a teenager, reminded me of that lesson a few years ago and I hope I’ll never forget.

by Steve Pollick

It is a midwinter’s Sunday night, sometime after supper, and I find myself walking slowly on a country lane near home, pondering this mighty question:

“Daddy, is there really a sheriff’s star?”

The question comes from a soft, eight-year-old voice connected invisibly to a small, bemittened hand that grasps my big, bare hand. I have to listen closely to catch all the words, some of which are directed at boot-tops.

Sarah Katherine is starwalking with her Dad.

Her voice is barely audible over the shuffling and padding of our footsteps in the rural quiet, a chill westerly breeze behind us. “The kids at school all draw their stars like a sheriff’s star, and they say there’s a real one in the sky,” she says.

Now I cannot say for sure that there is no sheriff’s star in the sky. An answer to that question is not listed in my Dad’s Book of Astronomy for Kids. And I certainly don’t know everything, despite what Sarah Katherine may think. But I tell her that I don’t think there is such a so-named star.

You have to be prepared for that sort of inquiry when you dare to say, “I’m going for a nightwalk; anyone want to come with me?”

The instant race of light footsteps across the kitchen floor above my head told me that someone was eager to go. Sarah. After a few minutes spent wrestling with her leggings, coat, stocking cap, mittens, and scarf, we set out.

“Daddy, this is funner than sittin’ around the house,” Sarah says, talking faster than we are walking.

“I hear the wind,” she adds quickly. It is moaning softly through the high-voltage lines well overhead. The lines march across the neighbors’ farms and tower over the local country lanes on tall, gangly steel skeletons and mighty wooden poles.

We also hear the buzzing of supercharged electricity as it bolts through the power lines. We crane our necks far back to see the crossarms and the insulators—way, way up there, almost to the stars.

“Daddy, are we going as far as Spooky Tree?” Yes, to Spooky Tree and beyond.

Spooky Tree, so named by Sarah, is a gnarly old black walnut. It is the sole survivor of its kind along this otherwise barren stretch of farm lane. Its twisted, weather-beaten limbs stand out starkly in the night light. I’ve told Halloween stories around its trunk.

It is a perfect night, the starry pinpoint sparkles of diamonds dotting a velvet sky. The air is cold— crisply, not uncomfortably, so. Sarah is well bundled. Her rubber bootheels drag on the macadam of the lane—clop, clop, clop.

Two small mittens surround my cold hand. “I’ll keep your hands warm, Daddy.”

Presently I begin a primer lesson on celestial navigation. I point out the Big Dipper.

“See?” I say, dropping to one knee and using my favorite walking stick, a wrinkly old piece of tree root from Pennsylvania, as a pointer. “Those stars there. It’s like a big pot with a long crooked handle. See how they go?” More pointing and gesturing. Our eyes by now are well attuned to the starlit dark.

“And those two stars at the front edge of the pot,” I say, “they point right up at the North Star—right there! That’s North. And the North Star is the last star in the handle of the Little Dipper. It’s like a small pot. See how it pours into the big pot?”

“Uh-huh, Daddy. I see it.” We walk on.

“Can we keep walking longer, Daddy?”

“Daddy, I like to make things out of the stars by connecting them.” So have adults, I tell her.

We see Orion, the Hunter, right overhead in the southern sky. Orion’s great Belt is easy to pick out, as is the tip of his sword and his hunting bow. Below and left is Sirius, the Dog Star. Sirius is Orion’s dog.

“Like Blondie is our dog, Daddy?” Yes, sort of.

We see the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades, and I talk about the lost sister in the myth. Sarah doesn’t understand myths, but she feels bad for the lost “girl.”

We head for the bridge over Muskellunge Creek by Longanbach Farm. We call it the “crick,” not “creek.”

The creekwater twinkles in the waxing, three-quarter moon and chuckles as it pours over the rocks. Its animation is inspirational: “Moonsparkles on the water, Daddy. See them?”

We check the water on both sides of the bridge. A mild spell has thawed the water and the creek flows in good health.

Presently, a light haze drifts in under the moon, forming a big ring in the moonlight.

I point out Jupiter and Mars, and how they follow about the same path as the sun across the sky. The two planets are both inside the ring around the moon. I tell how the ring

means wet weather is coming. My prediction is accepted as if gospel. Weather forecasters should have it so good.

We retrace our way back toward home, but Sarah, vowing she’s not cold, asks to continue. “Just a little more, Daddy.”

We head down toward “our bridge,” which crosses the Muskellunge. The haze has slipped away on the wind and the moonlight again is sharply bright. Our shadows, cast down from bridge to water, stand out starkly. We see more moonsparkles.

As we turn for home, I see—make that feel—a shadow cross our path. I look up and back quickly.

“Sarah, look!” I whisper hoarsely. She turns and sees the dark form of a great bird gliding silently down the creekbottom, guided as precisely along the meanders of the creek as if it were on rails.

It is a great horned owl, a flying tiger, out on a night hunt.

I tell Sarah how the big owl has specially designed feathers, which allow it to glide in perfect silence and catch stuff, like mice, to eat. My pupil drinks it in, her mitten tightening its grip.

The talk winds down. There is much for each of us to absorb. I find myself thinking of other starwalks, especially one when I took Sarah’s older brothers, Andy and Aaron, out another winter night years ago.

37Aaron must have been about three then. He was too small to negotiate the deep-plowed furrows on the Dickman Farm, so I ended up carrying him on my shoulders. This was a cross-country starwalk to a special place, another “spooky tree”—a big old cottonwood, another lone sentinel of the farmland.

I especially remember telling the boys to keep the flashlight turned off, to let them learn how well their eyes can see at night if given the chance. I remember, too, taking them right up to the old tree, letting them finger the rough bark and search and probe its texture with their fingers.

The next spring, a man with a bulldozer pushed the old tree to the ground. Then he cut it up and burned it to ashes, its history gone up in so much smoke. I hope that tree will live in the boys’ memories as it has in mine.

My reverie is broken with Blondie’s barking. Her incredible dog ears have caught the clopping of our feet on the road, and she lets Sarah and me know she’s unhappy that she wasn’t asked along.

Too soon, our walk is over. But I’ll come to find out later that a starfire was lit this night in a little girl. She talked for days about our starwalk, and now regularly asks to go again.

By chance, after my young starwalker was asleep, I happened on a passage from Antoine de Saint Exupery’s classic, The Little Prince. For me, it was a wonderful coincidence, a perfect ending to a perfect evening.

“All men have the stars,” the passage went, “but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems... You—you alone—have the stars as no one else has them.”

“Starwalking with Sarah” by Steve Pollick, from Starwalking with Sarah & Other Essays, copyright © 1994 by Toledo Blade Co. Used by permission of The Blade.

Mussels in April1

by Peter Neumeyer

“All months with R,”2 my father saidSo—come April, wearing slip-proof Kedswe’d leap the rocks,start up the squawking gulls,5crouch, wrench, twist the bearded blueblack treasuresstreaked with silver.Once home, we’d turn the pail, discard the open,simmer in seaweed and their own salt tearsthose sealed mysteries till they gapped10and through the smallest slit, their golden eyeswould squint.These family moments—cold outings, simmering pots,scraped fingers, salty steam, the clickclack shells—these rituals to my children I’ll pass on;15and they’ll do likewise when I’m gone.

1 Mussels: soft-bodied water animal that is protected by its shell; saltwater mussels live in shallow coastal waters, where they attach themselves to rocks

2 “All months with R”: a saying that means it is safe to eat shellfish during the cooler months with names containing an “R” (September through April)

“Mussels in April” by Peter Neumeyer, from Food Fight, copyright © 1986 by Share Our Strength, Inc. Reprinted with permission of Share Our Strength, Inc

by Pamela Kennedy

I was nine the summer Mama taught me how to bake a pie. It was an occasion, a rite of passage, a journey back into family history. The lesson was full of truth, pungent as our wild berries, liberally dusted with flour, and punctuated with the wooden rolling pin.

I stood next to the cutting board, my dress covered with a folded dishtowel, cinched around my middle and tied at the back.

“You take this much flour,” Mama said, dumping an undisclosed amount in a large bowl, “then you add shortening—about this much.” She dropped a glob of the sticky white stuff into the flour. “Now a pinch of salt. Take this pastry cutter and cut through the flour and shortening until it looks like cornmeal. Here now, you do it.”

I had no idea what cornmeal looked like, but I kept cutting through the mixture, certain Mama would give me a hint when it got to the right stage. After a bit, the flour and shortening were crumbly and coarse. Mama looked at it, nodded, and announced it was time to add the water.

“You never dump water into pie dough,” Mama warned. “You sprinkle it on, a tiny bit at a time. Use your hand like this.”

She dipped her fingers into a cup of water and shook the drops over the mixture, tossing it now and then with a fork. When the dough could be pressed together into a crumbly ball, she stopped, took about half of the mixture out of the bowl, and pressed it together into an oval on the floured board.

“Now you roll it out,” she said, “but only roll it once. Pie crust is like people—you treat them gently and they turn out tender, but if you keep pushing and pressing them, they’ll turn out tough and tasteless every time.”

I rolled—center to edge—all around the circle.

“Don’t worry if it crumbles around the edges,” Mama said, noting my frustration. “That’s the best sign of a good batch!” Gently we transferred the flattened dough into the pie plate.

“Now the berries.” The tart wild blackberries, frosted with sugar and flour and seeping with purple juice, tumbled into the waiting pie shell. We had picked them the day before, hunting through the burned-off growth in the woods behind the cemetery. I still bore scars from the adventure: hairline scratches laced my hands and purple stains outlined my fingernails. These berries were earned with sweat and blood and would taste all the better for our efforts.

After I rolled the top crust, Mama cut a curved line across its center. “Just like my Mama used to do,” she murmured. She crimped the edges with her finger and thumb, deftly creating a scalloped border around the pie. After brushing the top crust with cream, we slipped the pie into the oven, and Mama put on the teakettle—a sign we were to have a talk.

When the china cups were filled and steaming, Mama pulled two chairs up to the table and we sat. For the first time, I sensed that Mama and I were somehow equals and I felt special, privy to some feminine world I’d never known before. Mama stirred her tea and started to talk, introducing me to her past, the time before she was Mama.

“We were poor kids,” she said, “but we never knew it. Daddy and Mama raised ten of us on a small farm where we had a little garden, a pasture, and an orchard, all surrounded by woods. We always had fresh or canned vegetables, milk from a cow, and plenty of eggs, even during the Depression. And Mama always made pies. There were green apple pies and pumpkin pies, even mince meat when one of the neighbors had good luck hunting and got a deer. But the favorite was always wild blackberry pie. We kids called them ‘little creepy crawlers’ because in the woods behind our house, the vines crept along the forest floor, tangling themselves around stumps and over stones. We’d clamber through the prickly vines, searching for the sweet, dark berries and plopping them into our tin lard buckets. The smell of the berries, warm from the sun, was heavenly; and we ate as many as we saved, staining our fingers and lips with the purple juice.

“My mother baked the pies as soon as we returned with the fruit. She always hummed while she baked, flour dust rising about her like a cloud and settling on her hair and faded cotton dress.”

“Is that when you learned how to bake pies, Mama?” I asked, trying to imagine my mother as a young girl, scratched and stained with berry juice and filled with the same insecurities and sense of wonder as I.

“Yes,” Mama said, and her lips curved in a smile, soft with remembrance. “I was just about your age, and I remember I had to stand on an apple crate to reach the counter top.”

The fragrance of the baking pie wound around us, casting a spell of homey intimacy as we sipped our tea, sharing our heritage until the timer interrupted us with a rude buzz. As we removed the steaming pie from the oven, Mama sighed with satisfaction and said, “There, now that’s a job well done.” And somehow I know she meant more than just the baking of the pie.

The summer afternoon of my first pie was more than thirty years ago, and yet its memories are as sweet and real as the berries in the bowl before me. I think it’s time to call my daughter in from play and show her how to bake a pie. Perhaps we’ll sit and share a cup of tea while it bakes, and I will tell her how her great-grandma used to bake a pie.

“Mama’s Pie” by Pamela Kennedy, copyright © 1987 by Pamela Kennedy. Reprinted by permission of Pamela Kennedy.

My People

The night is beautiful,So the faces of my people.

The stars are beautiful,So the eyes of my people.

Beautiful, also, is the sun.Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.

I, Too

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.They send me to eat in the kitchenWhen company comes,But I laugh,And eat well,And grow strong.

Tomorrow,I’ll be at the tableWhen company comes.Nobody’ll dareSay to me,“Eat in the kitchen,”Then.

Besides,They’ll see how beautiful I amAnd be ashamed—

I, too, am America.

—Langston Hughes

“My People” and “I, Too” by Langston Hughes, from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes, copyright © 1994 by the Estate of Langston Hughes. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.

Student Paragraph 4: Plants Used as Medicine1Plants throughout the world are used to create medicines. 2Pain, infections, burns, and ailments are treated by native people with certain tropical plants found in rain forests. 3For example, the Madagascar rosy periwinkle is used to make several different medicines. 4Also, the leaves of foxgloves to make heart medications. 5In fact, many plants that grow only in Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa, are known to have medicinal qualities. 6It is important to discover what healthful benefits plants may have before we destroy them and their habitats.

by Dan Rather

As recently as a century or so ago, if you wanted to hear music, you had better play or sing for yourself. If you wanted to hear more than that, you’d better have friends. If you wanted to hear an opera or symphony any time you wanted to, you’d better be a king.

Today, of course, all we need to do is plug in the radio or stereo. One hundred, 200 musicians at our command, any time of the day or night. In the car, at the gym, in the supermarket, anywhere we go, even places we don’t want music. We can listen to musicians who aren’t even alive anymore, from Patsy Cline to Elvis Presley to Maria Callas.

I have begun to wonder if our easy access to music has made it too easy for us to take music for granted.

Example: School districts feeling the pinch tend to cut music classes first, according to many experts. The reasoning apparently goes like this: Music seems like a frivolity when you compare it to chemistry labs; instruments cost a lot of money (either to the school or to the parents); and, after all, why do you think they call it an “elective”?

Well, this happens to be a subject I know something about. You see, I took music classes in public schools—the Houston Independent School District in Texas. Even then, I was no musical prodigy.1 They put me in the rhythm band and gave me a wood block to play. I wore it on a cord around my neck and hit it with a little stick.

6Other children might have been expected to hit each other with the little stick. Not me. (Well, not often.) I was extremely respectful of my instrument. Scholars believe the wood block was invented before music. And if you needed proof of that, you had only to listen to the way I played.

About the best you could say for my performance was this: I very seldom played off-key.

I was also—don’t ask how or why—assistant conductor of the Alexander Hamilton Elementary School band. To this day I can still conduct about three songs, just in case I’m at the concert hall one night and there’s an emergency and somebody shouts: “Is there a conductor in the house?”

In all honesty, those little music classes didn’t turn me into a musician—you’d need a magician to do that. But those classes did give me an appreciation of music.

Music is difficult. It requires work and thought and sweat and inspiration. I haven’t taken it for granted since.

Music is exciting. It is truly thrilling to be sitting in a group of musicians when you are all playing (more or less) the same piece of music. You are part of a great, powerful, vibrant entity.2 And nothing beats the feeling you get when you’ve practiced a difficult section over and over, and finally get it right (Yes, even on the wood block.)

And you think you’re excited when you get that song right. Imagine how your mother feels. You can see it in her face: relief and pride. Big pride.

Music is important. It says things your heart can’t say any other way, and in a language everyone speaks. Music crosses borders, turns smiles to frowns, and vice versa.

These observations are shared with a hope: that, when schools cut back on music classes, they really think about what they’re doing—and don’t take music for granted.

1 prodigy: person with exceptional talents 2 entity: something that exists as a particular and separate unit

”Silencing the Sound of Music” by Dan Rather from San Diego Union–Tribune March 20, 1998, copyright © 1998 by Dan Rather. Reprinted with special permission of King Features Syndicate.

Student Paragraph 5: Mountain Biking1Just about everybody knows how to ride a bike. 2Mountain biking, however, requires advanced skills and even some courage. 3When you first try it take it easy. 4Learn how to keep control when riding on dirt or loose gravel. 5________ _______ 6You should understand that you’ll probably fall sometimes, but that’s part of the sport. 7With practice, you’ll be a better biker.

When traveling to new country, it is a gift to have a guide. They know the nuances1 of the world they live in. Samuel smells rain the night before it falls. I trust his instincts and borrow them until I uncover my own. But there is danger here. One can become lazy in the reliance on a guide. The burden of a newcomer is to pay attention.

The Land Rover slips into the savannah like a bird dog entering a marsh. We are fully present. I watch Samuel’s eyes scan the horizon. He points south.

“Zebra,” he says. “They are migrating north from Tanzania. Thousands more are on their way.”

Hundreds of zebras walk the skyline. They become animated heat waves.

We drive closer. I have never seen such concentrations of animals. At one point I think I hear thunder. It is the hooves of wildebeests. Suddenly, the herd of zebra expands to include impalas, gazelles, and animals I do not recognize.

“Topi,” Samuel says.

I flip through my field guide of African mammals and find it. An extraordinary creature, it is the color of mahogany with blue patches on its flanks and ocher2 legs. I look at the topi again, this time through binoculars. Its black linear face with spiraling horns creates the illusion of a primitive mask. The topi I watch stands motionless on a termite mound. Binoculars down, I look at Samuel. He says the topi resemble hartebeests. A small herd of topi runs in front of the vehicle in a rocking-horse gait3 and vanishes.

8Samuel gives away his knowledge sparingly—in gentle, quiet doses. He is respectful of his teachers and those he is teaching. In this way he is generous. He gives me the pleasure of discovery. Slowly, African riddles unravel themselves like a piece of cut linen.

The sweet hissing of grasses accompanies us as we move ahead. We pass the swishing tails of wildebeests. We are looking for lions.

10Anticipation is another gift for travelers in unfamiliar territory. It quickens the spirit. The contemplation of the unseen world; imagination piqued4 in consideration of animals.

We stop. Samuel points. I see nothing. I look at Samuel for clues. He points again. I still see nothing but tall, tawny grasses around the base of a lone tree. He smiles and says, “Lions.”

I look. I look so hard it becomes an embarrassment—and then I see eyes. Lion eyes. Two amber beads with a brown matrix. Circles of contentment until I stand; the lion’s eyes change, and I am flushed with fear.

“Quiet,” Samuel whispers. “We will watch for a while.”

As my eyes become acquainted with lion, I begin to distinguish fur from grass. I realize there are two lions, a male and a female lying together under the stingy shade of a thorn tree. I can hear them breathe. The male is breathing hard and fast, his black mane in rhythm with the breeze. He puts his right paw on the female’s shoulder. Ears twitch. We are no more than ten feet away. He yawns. His yellow canines are as long as my index finger. His jowls look like well-worn leather. He stands. The grasses brush his belly. Veins protrude from his leg muscles. This lion is lean and strong. No wonder that in the Masai mind every aspect of a lion is imbued5 with magic.

1 nuances: degrees of difference in meaning 2 ocher: color having shades of yellow, orange, and brown

3 gait: way of moving by lifting the feet in a different order or rhythm such as a trot, gallop, or run

4 piqued: excited one’s interest or curiosity 5 imbued: filled; saturated

“In the Country of Grasses” by Terry Williams, from An Unspoken Hunger by Terry Tempest Williams, copyright © 1994 by Terry Tempest Williams. Used by permission of Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

1A new generation of Masai safari guides is growing up in Kenya, and their expertise can lead to memorable encounters with cheetah and other big game.

2At the airstrip, in the heart of the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya, a fleet of safari vehicles is lined up, waiting to take incoming visitors to their camps and lodges. The driver-guides are dressed for the part in faded khaki—all except one, who sits at the wheel of his Toyota Land Cruiser wearing the blood-red robes of a Masai elder. Jackson ole Looseyia is an Il Dorobo Masai, a clan of hunter-gatherers who live in the hills just outside the reserve.

3On the way to Rekero, the tented camp where Jackson is both a guide and a shareholder, we pause to watch a herd of buffalo. “Did you know a buffalo can produce 20 litres of saliva a day?” he says. This, I discover, is Jackson‘s style. He dispenses his knowledge in handy sound-bytes.

4Rekero is owned by Ron Beaton, a third-generation Kenyan who also runs a lodge on the reserve‘s northern fringes. It is an idyllic campsite—the loveliest I have ever seen—in a secluded part of the reserve where other vehicles seldom venture. Blue flycatchers and golden orioles flit among the leaves. By day, herds of zebra come down to drink at the Talek River. There are no fences; and at night, elephant, buffalo, hippo, and lion regularly wander between the tents.

5Next morning Jackson has planned a full-day game drive to the Mara Triangle, a remote and beautiful area bordering the Serengeti National Park.

“On Safari with the Experts” by Brian Jackman, copyright © Brian Jackman, from www.aardvarksafaris.com. Used by permission.

Mariah’s Essay: Carry On, Pigeons!

1You have probably seen pigeons pecking for peanuts in the park and thought they were very ordinary. 2The ancient Greeks used these carrier pigeons to send news about the Olympic games. 3For centuries, armies have used pigeons to send news to and from the front lines where the battles were taking place. 4Now, a hospital on the Northwest coast of france uses a flock of forty pigeons to carry tiny samples of human blood to larger testing facilities. 5There is also a police department in Orissa, India, that still uses the birds.

6In Orissa there are 27 police pigeon cages, called lofts, where the officers care for the birds. 7When the pigeons are about six weeks old, they are taken a short distance from their lofts and allowed to find their way home. 8This is how their training begins. 9The officers gradually increase the distance, and eventually the pigeons can fly as far as 310 miles, stop for a meal of wheat and millet, and then returned to their homes. 10In good weather conditions, the pigeons fly as fast as fifty-five miles per hour. 11The message a pigeon carries is in a tiny plastic capsule that is attached to its leg.

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