GRADES K-5: Initial Assessment

Fiction Passage

One day, some mice met to make a plan. They wanted to be free of their enemy, the Cat. At least they wanted to find a way to know when she was coming, so they had time to run away. They were always so afraid of her claws that they did not step out of their dens, night or day. Something had to be done.

The Mice had many ideas, but none seemed like they would work. At last a very young Mouse got up and said:

"I have a plan that seems very simple, but I know it will work. All we have to do is to hang a bell around the Cat's neck. When we hear the bell, we will know that our enemy is coming."

All the Mice were surprised that they had not thought of a plan like this before. At first they were happy, because they thought it was a great idea. But then an old Mouse said:

"I will say that the plan of the young Mouse is very good. But let me ask one question: Who will put the bell on the Cat?"

Nonfiction Passage

In the sky, you can see the sun, stars, and the moon

The sun is up during the day. It is very hot. The sun gives us light and heat. Plants need the sun to grow. 

We can see the stars at night. They give off light and heat, like the sun. That is because the sun is a star, too! There are more stars than we can count. 

Some people see shapes in the stars. A group of stars that make a shape is called a constellation. Have you ever seen the Big Dipper? That is a constellation!

The moon is out at night. Sometimes we can still see it during the day! It does not give off light and heat.

Fiction Passage

A young Mouse in search of adventure was running along the bank of a pond where a Frog lived. When the Frog saw the Mouse, he swam to the bank and croaked:

"Won't you pay me a visit? I can promise you a good time if you do."

The Mouse did not need much persuading, for he was very anxious to see the world and everything in it. But though he could swim a little, he did not dare risk going into the pond without some help.

The mouse did not know that the Frog was a tricky fellow who had a plan. The Frog tied the Mouse's leg to his own with a tough reed. Then into the pond he jumped, dragging his foolish companion with him. The Mouse soon had enough of it and wanted to return to shore; but the sly Frog had other plans. He pulled the Mouse down under the water and tried to drown him. But before he could, the mouse untied himself, and began to swim away. Just then, a Hawk came sailing over the pond. Seeing the Mouse swimming in the water, the Hawk swooped down, and tried to seize the Mouse and carry it off. However, he missed, and caught the Frog instead. The mouse had just made it to shore in time to see the hawk fly away with the Frog.

Nonfiction Passage

While humans can be dangerous to baby tortoises, they have many other threats to worry about. The babies, called hatchlings, are less than two inches wide, and many other animals, including coyotes, dogs, kit foxes, and ravens, try to eat them. 

As soon as hatchlings dig out of the nest, they look for small rodent burrows to hide in. Staying underground keeps them safe from other animals. It also helps them stay cool and moist during hot summer days. 

Hatchlings eat small plants and grasses. But some summers have no rain. New plants don’t sprout, and young turtles have nothing to eat.

Fortunately, hatchling tortoises carry yolk leftover from their eggs, and they can stay underground and live off the yolk for months. That makes them hard to study. Finding the nests is hard to do. It’s rare to find a mother tortoise digging her nest. Once she lays her eggs, the nest is almost invisible.

Fiction Passage

The Fox one day thought of a plan to amuse himself at the expense of the Stork, at whose odd appearance he was always laughing.

"You must come and dine with me today," he said to the Stork, smiling to himself at the trick he was going to play. The Stork gladly accepted the invitation and arrived in good time and with a very good appetite.

For dinner the Fox served soup. But it was set out in a very shallow dish, and all the Stork could do was to wet the very tip of his bill. Not a drop of soup could he get. But the Fox lapped it up easily, and, to increase the disappointment of the Stork, made a great show of enjoyment.

The hungry Stork was much displeased at the trick, but he was a calm, even-tempered fellow and saw no good in flying into a rage. Instead, not long afterward, he invited the Fox to dine with him in turn. The Fox arrived promptly at the time that had been set, and the Stork served a fish dinner that had a very appetizing smell, like a savory symphony wafting through the air. But it was served in a tall jar with a very narrow neck. The Stork could easily get at the food with his long bill, but all the Fox could do was to lick the outside of the jar, and sniff at the delicious odor. And when the Fox lost his temper, the Stork said calmly, "Do not play tricks on your neighbors unless you can stand the same treatment yourself."

Nonfiction Passage

Kobe was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets in 1996. He was quickly traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. 

Kobe Bryant wasn’t the hero of his new team, right away. He was the youngest starter in the NBA, but he didn’t see a lot of playing time at first. Yet he was determined to get better.

“Those times when you stay up late and you work hard; those times when you don't feel like working — you’re too tired, you don’t want to push yourself — but you do it anyway. That is actually the dream. That’s the dream. It’s not the destination, it’s the journey,” said Kobe. Hard work and constantly pushing himself to be better were always part of Kobe’s thoughts. 

His practice paid off. By the end of his first season, Kobe was on the court for much longer than he had been earlier in the season. And he kept getting better. 

Kobe would go on to win 5 NBA championships with the Lakers. He was an 18-time member of the All-Star team, a 15-time member of the All-NBA team, the 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player, and 2-time NBA Finals Most Valuable Player. Kobe played for the Lakers for 20 years. He retired from professional basketball after the 2015-2016 season.

Fiction Passage

A man who lived a long time ago believed that he could read the future in the stars. He called himself an Astrologer, and spent his time at night gazing at the sky, trying to see visions of the future.

One evening he was walking along the open road outside the village. His eyes were like magnets fixed on the stars. He thought he saw there that the end of the world was at hand. So focused was his attention on the night sky, that he did not see the road in front of him. Suddenly, down he went into a hole full of mud and water.

There he stood up to his ears, in the muddy water, and madly clawing at the slippery sides of the hole in his effort to climb out.

His cries for help soon brought the villagers running. As they pulled him out of the mud, one of them said: "You pretend to read the future in the stars, and yet you fail to see what is at your feet! This may teach you to pay more attention to what is right in front of you, and let the future take care of itself."

"What use is it," said another, "to read the stars, when you can't see what's right here on the earth?"

Nonfiction Passage

In the 1930s, Ruth and her husband owned the Toll House restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts. Toll House was a well-known stop on the way between Boston and Cape Cod. Actors, singers, and other celebrities of the time all ate there. Ruth was in charge of the restaurant’s great food. 

Ruth had studied cooking in college, and she was good at it. People said that all Ruth had to do was taste a dish, and then she could make it without even looking at a recipe. She was always learning and trying new things. Every January, Ruth and her husband took a trip overseas to try foods in different countries, such as France and Egypt. 

Toll House was especially known for its desserts. Ruth made lemon meringue pie, Boston cream pie, and gingerbread. The restaurant served a thin butterscotch cookie, but Ruth wanted to create something brand-new. On the way home from one of their trips overseas, she planned out a new recipe. 

At that time, chocolate was used in desserts, but it was always melted and mixed in. What if Ruth could use chocolate a different way? She thought back to a college class on cooking where she learned how foods work together. She also recalled her past experiments with chocolate.

Back home, Ruth ordered bars of semi-sweet chocolate from the grocery store. Then she used an ice pick to break the chocolate bars into pieces and added the bits to cookie dough. She tried batch after batch until she had one she liked. Ruth named her new cookie the Chocolate Crunch Cookie."

Chocolate Crunch Cookies were a hit! Customers at her restaurant loved them so much they asked her to make them at home. They shared the cookies with their friends. People wrote to Ruth and asked her for the recipe. She was happy to give it to them.