11-12.RI.KID.1
Description:
Informational Text
Read closely to determine what a text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
Analyze what a text says explicitly and draw inferences; support an interpretation of a text by citing and synthesizing relevant textual evidence from multiple sources.
Maps to Reading Plus skills:
1A, 1A, 2C, 3C, 6B, 7C, 8A, 8B
Exemplars
1A: Recalling Explicit Details
1A: Recalling Explicit Details
Description:
Identifying explicit details including character, time, setting and speaker
SeeReader
✓ standard met
Selection:
K-4
K-4
Grade level: 11
Word count: 2496 words
Author: Diane Lang
Synopsis: A skilled snowboarder takes a big chance when he cruises the slopes in avalanche territory.
Excerpt:
As the pilot's words filled me with hope, I perused the steep chutes and precarious descents for signs of my brother. But, honestly, I suspected the worst. I knew avalanches most often kill by suffocation. There is air even in dense avalanche debris, but it is unattainable if the victim's mouth and nose are plugged with snow. Even if the victim can draw a breath, his exhalations will begin to make any available air less accessible by coating the snow surface around his mouth with ice.
Question:
Choose the sentence in this excerpt that gives the most likely explanation for why people suffocate in an avalanche.
Writing
✓ standard met
Writing prompt:
Create a new graphic organizer that indicates a selection's main idea, characters, and supporting details, and how these three areas intersect.
Evaluator
Organization:
Certica Solutions
8A: Judging Validity
8A: Judging Validity
Description:
Judge Validity
SeeReader
✓ standard met
Selection:
K-4
K-4
Grade level: 11
Word count: 2496 words
Author: Diane Lang
Synopsis: A skilled snowboarder takes a big chance when he cruises the slopes in avalanche territory.
Excerpt:
Soon I'll be going off to a university in the Midwest, experiencing a much different climate from the harsh and rugged landscape of the Rockies. My goal is to live as seamlessly with nature as possible under any conditions. Jake predicts I'll be back, and he's probably right. But for now, I choose to live free of avalanches and high walls, unclogged and uncomplicated by a softer terrain.
Question:
Which sentence supports the implication that Morgan has been affected deeply by Jake's harrowing experience in the Maroon Bowl?
- But for now, I choose to live free of avalanches and high walls, unclogged and uncomplicated by a softer terrain.
- We all misjudged my brother: my parents, his friends, teachers, and even me, his younger sister
- Soon I'll be going off to a university in the Midwest and experiencing a much different climate.
- What perplexed me most was that he didn't wear a tracking device or carry his cell phone.
Writing
✓ standard met
Writing prompt:
Did the author of the selection have first-hand knowledge about the subject presented? If yes, explain how you can tell. If no, explain how first-hand knowledge might change the author's perspective.
Evaluator
Organization:
Certica Solutions
1A: Recalling Explicit Details
1A: Recalling Explicit Details
Description:
Identifying explicit details including character, time, setting and speaker
SeeReader
✓ standard met
Selection:
K-2
K-2
Grade level: 11
Word count: 2158 words
Author: Karen Berman
Synopsis: Horseshoe crabs survived the Ice Age and play a key role in coastal ecosystems.
Excerpt:
Another distinctive anatomical feature is the horseshoe crab's ten eyes. Two are located on the underside of the crab and the rest on the shell. The tail also has an anatomical feature called photoreceptors, which are sensitive to light and dark. Even with all of this anatomical equipment, however, the horseshoe crab's vision is not very good. Yet another anatomical oddity is the crab's blood, which is blue due to its copper content. By comparison, human blood is red, because of its iron content.
Question:
What are two distinctive features of the horseshoe crab's anatomy?
- Its tail is sensitive to light and dark.
- It has ten eyes, located on both sides of the shell.
- It uses its legs like flippers to swim.
- It can see its prey from a long distance away.
- Its mouth has a wide jaw and strong teeth.
Writing
✓ standard met
Writing prompt:
Create a website for a non-fiction selection you read. Include the main idea and supporting details. Include images that would help viewers of your website better understand the topic.
Evaluator
Organization:
Certica Solutions
2C: Summarizing
2C: Summarizing
Description:
Summarizing
SeeReader
✓ standard met
Selection:
K-8
K-8
Grade level: 11
Word count: 2348 words
Author: Kate Scoville
Synopsis: Though it is clear that food affects your body's health, have you ever considered that it may also affect your mood?
Excerpt:
The implications of this study are very important. Besides being essential for brain and body health, eating fat is also important for promoting feelings of happiness. Doctors now believe the connection between eating fats and being happy may account for the reason why many people on low-fat diets experience depression.
Question:
Why are the implications of the Belgian study important?
- The scientists found that fat is vital for a healthy brain and body as well as for a cheerful temperament.
- The scientists discovered that eating fatty junk foods can lead to heart problems and other ailments.
- Researchers realized that most people consume too much fat in their daily meals.
- Researchers determined that people on low-fat diets tend to be happier and healthier.
Writing
✓ standard met
Writing prompt:
Create a news report based on a selection you have read. Report facts from the selection as well as additional facts you researched from reputable sources.
Evaluator
Organization:
Certica Solutions
3C: Analyzing Cause/Effect
3C: Analyzing Cause/Effect
Description:
Analyzing Cause and Effect
SeeReader
✓ standard met
Selection:
K-12
K-12
Grade level: 11
Word count: 2299 words
Author: Peter Kupfer
Synopsis: Jobs was neither an engineer nor a programmer but was a visionary when it came to computers.
Excerpt:
While working at Hewlett-Packard as a summer intern, Jobs met another electronics geek, Steve Wozniak, who would become his future business partner and co-founder of Apple. Jobs briefly attended Reed College, but he dropped out after one semester because he was concerned that college expenditures were eating up his parents' savings. He continued auditing classes at Reed while crashing with friends.
Question:
Jobs dropped out of college because
- he was concerned about straining his family's finances.
- he did not have the patience to attend classes.
- he got a job as an intern at Hewlett-Packard.
- he was too busy running his own company.
Writing
✓ standard met
Writing prompt:
Using your science book, give three examples of each of the following: single cause--single effect, single cause--multiple effects, multiple causes--single effect.
Evaluator
Organization:
Certica Solutions
6B: Recognizing Persuasion
6B: Recognizing Persuasion
Description:
Recognizing Persuasive Devices
SeeReader
✓ standard met
Selection:
K-10
K-10
Grade level: 11
Word count: 1891 words
Author: Katherine Menard
Synopsis: Some people have proposed a "balanced" school calendar with breaks spread evenly throughout the year.
Excerpt:
Those espousing this calendar base their arguments principally on perceived disadvantages of the traditional calendar. They emphasize that students forget much of what they have learned when they are away from school for lengthy summer breaks. Additionally, they assert that children get bored after the first few weeks away from class, so a long stretch of vacation can be counterproductive. Conversely, they indicate that too many consecutive weeks of instruction without a break can diminish motivation and cause burnout for both teachers and students.
Question:
What are the two main arguments for advocates of the "balanced calendar"?
- Students forget much of what they have learned over a long summer break.
- Too many weeks of instruction without a break can diminish motivation and cause students to "burn out."
- Older students will be able to more easily find jobs so they can save for college.
- The cost of operating the schools would be less, thus saving taxpayers money.
- A balanced calendar would allow more students to take part in extracurricular activities.
Writing
✓ standard met
Writing prompt:
Imagine you want to make a documentary about a non-fiction selection you read. Describe the steps you would need to take to make your documentary as accurate and unbiased as possible.
Evaluator
Organization:
Certica Solutions
7C: Interpreting Images
7C: Interpreting Images
Description:
Intepreting Images and Maps
SeeReader
✓ standard met
Selection:
K-45
K-45
Grade level: 11
Word count: 2261 words
Author: Kate Scoville
Synopsis: Mules, dolphins, and dogs are well suited to carry out military operations.
Image:
Question:
The object in this image can be detected by
- dolphins, which use sonar to detect the presence of metals in the water around them.
- dolphins, which use their sense of smell to detect explosives that are about to detonate.
- dogs, which use their sense of smell to detect explosives in the water.
- dogs, which use their sense of hearing to detect explosives that are about to detonate.
Writing
✓ standard met
Writing prompt:
Choose an image from a nonfiction selection you have read. Use the image as inspiration to write a new fictional piece on the same topic.
Evaluator
Organization:
Certica Solutions
8B: Reasoning
8B: Reasoning
Description:
Reasoning
SeeReader
✓ standard met
Selection:
K-41
K-41
Grade level: 11
Word count: 2426 words
Author: Luke Cooper
Synopsis: Emergency crews work feverishly for months to rescue the miners.
Excerpt:
On the first day of their entombment, shift supervisor Luis Urzua took off his distinctive white helmet and announced to his workers, "We are all equal now.... There are no bosses and employees." From then on the miners worked together to maintain the mine, search for escape routes, and sustain morale.
"We knew that if society broke down we would all be doomed," explained Mario Sepulveda. "Each day a different person took a bad turn, and every time that happened, we worked as a team to try to keep the morale up."
"We knew that if society broke down we would all be doomed," explained Mario Sepulveda. "Each day a different person took a bad turn, and every time that happened, we worked as a team to try to keep the morale up."
Question:
Which of the following can you conclude from these two excerpts?
- Survival for all depended on working together to keep spirits high.
- A strong leader was needed to establish rules and maintain order.
- Each miner had to find his own way to accept the fate of the dire situation.
- Both bosses and employees had to spend equal time searching for escape routes.
Writing
✓ standard met
Writing prompt:
Do people learn by studying the past? Use details from a selection you have read, as well as your reasoning skills, to support your answer.
Evaluator
Organization:
Certica Solutions