Correct Answer: a school board plan to improve early reading
Passage Reference: The board wants to add a daily twenty-minute reading block and a phonics program from kindergarten to Grade 2.
Why this is correct: The school board plans to add a daily reading block and a phonics program in the early grades. The blog post is about this plan, and every speaker gives a view on it.
Tips: Some news catches the blogger’s eye. Put that news into your own words and match it to a choice.
Why the other options are wrong:
- whether schools should add a longer lunch break: Lunch breaks are never mentioned. The plan adds a reading block.
- how to raise money for a new school gym: Gym comes up only in Ferland’s worry about lost class time. Nobody talks about raising money for a new one.
- why children should start school at age four: The blog post never discusses the age at which children start school.
Correct Answer: Solomon Ferland
Passage Reference: He worries that music and gym will quietly shrink
Why this is correct: Solomon Ferland, the trustee, warns that the twenty minutes must come from somewhere and worries that music and gym will quietly shrink.
Tips: Scan the blog post for the names of school subjects. Then check whose lines those subject names sit in.
Why the other options are wrong:
- Gillian Caswell: Gillian Caswell supports the phonics part and says nothing about other classes losing time.
- Sanjana Iyer: Sanjana Iyer worries that the reading block could become worksheets, not that other classes will lose time.
- Emeric Boulanger: Emeric Boulanger talks about the different reasons children struggle and about a fall reading check.
Correct Answer: children who stop guessing after learning letter sounds
Passage Reference: Once children can sound out a word they have never seen, they stop guessing and start reading
Why this is correct: Caswell says that once children can sound out new words, “they stop guessing and start reading.” Children who stop guessing after learning letter sounds would support her view.
Tips: Find the words Caswell spoke to parents. Which choice would prove that what she told them is true?
Why the other options are wrong:
- a survey of parents who value gym and art: Protecting gym and other classes is Ferland’s concern, not Caswell’s.
- children who read more at home after library visits: Reading at home after choosing books is Iyer’s point, not Caswell’s case for phonics.
- a list of schools that already check reading: Reading checks are Boulanger’s idea. Caswell talks about teaching letter sounds.
Correct Answer: teachers would know which children need extra help
Passage Reference: He argues for a short reading check every fall, so teachers know which children need extra help and what kind.
Why this is correct: Boulanger argues for a reading check every fall “so teachers know which children need extra help and what kind.”
Tips: Find Boulanger’s lines. Put his idea in your own words, then match what it would lead to.
Why the other options are wrong:
- every child would get the same extra lessons: Boulanger says children struggle for different reasons, so he wants help matched to each child, not the same lessons for all.
- reading checks would replace report cards: Report cards are never mentioned in the blog post.
- children would repeat Grade 1 if they fall behind: Nobody suggests making children repeat a grade. The check is to find who needs extra help.
Correct Answer: keen, with one addition in mind
Passage Reference: I am all for the plan, and I hope trustees add Boulanger’s fall check.
Why this is correct: The blogger writes, “I am all for the plan,” and adds a hope that trustees will include Boulanger’s fall check. That is keen support with one addition.
Tips: Find the lines where the blogger speaks for themselves about the plan. Test each choice against those lines alone.
Why the other options are wrong:
- opposed, because music may be cut: The blogger worries about music class but still says “I am all for the plan”.
- unsure until the timetable is out: The timetable is Ferland’s request. The blogger is already “all for the plan”.
- indifferent, since Perrin reads well: Perrin guesses words from pictures, which is why the blogger cares about the plan.
Correct Answer: a meeting last week
Passage Reference: she told parents at a meeting last week
Why this is correct: Caswell’s words about sounding out new words were spoken to parents at a meeting last week.
Tips: Go to Caswell’s quoted words in the blog post. Read who she said them to, and where.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a board hearing in May: No board hearing is mentioned. Caswell spoke to parents at a meeting.
- the school’s spring concert: A school concert is never mentioned in the blog post.
- a library story hour: The library comes up only through Iyer. Caswell spoke at a parents’ meeting.
Correct Answer: books they choose themselves
Passage Reference: She wants children to spend part of that time with books they choose themselves
Why this is correct: Iyer wants children to spend part of the reading block with books they choose themselves.
Tips: The librarian is Sanjana Iyer. Read her wish for the new block and match it to a choice.
Why the other options are wrong:
- extra phonics worksheets: Iyer says the block should not turn into twenty more minutes of worksheets.
- older students as tutors: Older students as tutors are never mentioned in the blog post.
- their parents at home: The reading block happens at school. Iyer mentions home only as the place where children keep reading afterwards.
Correct Answer: every fall
Passage Reference: He argues for a short reading check every fall
Why this is correct: Boulanger argues for a short reading check every fall.
Tips: The speech-language pathologist is Boulanger. Find his idea for a reading check and read when it would happen.
Why the other options are wrong:
- each spring: The blog post says the check would happen every fall, not in the spring.
- twice a month: Boulanger wants one short check a year, every fall.
- in late June: Boulanger wants the check at the start of the year, every fall, not at the end of it in June.
Correct Answer: music class
Passage Reference: Ferland’s question is fair, too, because Perrin loves music class
Why this is correct: Near the end of the post, the writer says that Perrin loves music class. Losing any of it would upset him.
Tips: The comment is about Perrin. Find what the blogger says about Perrin’s own likes.
Why the other options are wrong:
- gym class: Gym is one of the classes Ferland worries about, but the blogger says it is music class that Perrin loves.
- art class: Art class is never mentioned in the blog post.
- recess: Recess is not mentioned. The blogger says Perrin loves music class.
Correct Answer: teaches Grade 1 at Perrin’s school
Passage Reference: Gillian Caswell, who teaches Grade 1 at Perrin’s school
Why this is correct: The blog post introduces Gillian Caswell as the teacher of Grade 1 at Perrin’s school.
Tips: Caswell is named here too. Find where the blog post introduces her, and match her job.
Why the other options are wrong:
- runs the school’s library: Sanjana Iyer is the school librarian, not Caswell.
- sits on the school board: Solomon Ferland is the school trustee, not Caswell.
- works with several schools: Emeric Boulanger is the speech-language pathologist who works with several schools.
