Name: _____________________________________________________________________________ Date: ___________________________
Grade 6 Unit 6 Reading Comprehension Practice
Question
Number
1
2
3
Code
Standard
RL.6.4.
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they
are used in a text, including figurative and connotative
meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice
on meaning and tone.
W.6.2.
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic
and convey ideas, concepts, and information through
the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant
content.
W.6.9.
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to
support analysis, reflection, and research.
Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the
text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the
text.
RL.6.1.
W.6.2.
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic
and convey ideas, concepts, and information through
the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant
content.
W.6.9.
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to
support analysis, reflection, and research.
Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or
stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and
contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or
plot.
RL.6.5.
W.6.2.
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic
and convey ideas, concepts, and information through
the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant
content.
W.6.9.
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to
support analysis, reflection, and research.
1
Student Mastery
_________/ 2 points
_________/ 2 points
_________/ 2 points
Flying Blind
Used with permission by ReadWorks.org
Read the passage. Then answer questions 1-3 in the space provided.
1 The red phone rings at 22:04 hours. State Trooper Ed Kierzwinski blinks and rubs his eyes. He spent the last
twenty minutes staring into the radar monitor’s screen, and now its ghostly green circle burns the inside of his
eyelids.
2 He was watching this beautiful night turn to soup. One low bank of clouds moved in from Indianapolis. The
other swept north from Louisville, drawing strength from the Ohio River like a man drinks a milkshake from a
straw. The two storms met at New Lebanon and spread east over Dayton, gathering strength as they
approached the Ohio State Patrol helicopter hangar at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
3 Picking up the red receiver, Kierzwinski hears the first raindrops hit the hangar roof. As visibility drops to 800
feet, he knows the next phone call will be from the air traffic control tower in Dayton, grounding his helicopter
for the night. “State Patrol,” he says, trying harder than usual to sound bored.
4 The 911 operator is new, Kierzwinski knows, but she is efficient and well-trained. “Car crash three miles north
of Urbana on State Route 68,” the operator says. “Two females, both in critical condition. Request transport to
Columbus Children’s Hospital. Does State Patrol accept the mission?”
5 To stall, Kierzwinski takes a breath. Air Trooper 1, Kierzwinski’s helicopter, is a Bell 429 helicopter. Flat-out, it
can make it to Urbana in nine minutes. He’d fly north-by-northeast, maybe a quarter-mile ahead of the storm’s
face. Best case: He lands, loads the patients and takes off before the rain really hits.
6 Worst case: The storm overtakes him. He’d be stuck trying to land an underpowered aircraft on a two-lane
highway in heavy wind and rain, with no radar and no lights.
7 Kierzwinski flips the question around. Most crash victims near Urbana go to Springfield Regional, the closest
hospital with a cramped emergency room. If these girls need transport all the way to the Level I trauma center,
45 miles away at Columbus Children’s, they must be 16 years old, maybe 17. And they’re in pretty bad shape.
8 Beside the phone, the flight radio squawks with static.
9 “Roger Dayton Tower, this is Air Medical Three. We are leaving Springfield Regional. Flying to base in Tipp City.
Over.”
10 Kierzwinski knows that voice. It’s Dale Domer, a pilot who was hired onto Air Medical when the private
company opened its first base two years ago. Between his fake Southern accent and his coltish arrogance with a
helicopter, Domer was a perfect hire for the guys who own Air Medical, whom Kierzwinski secretly considers a
couple of halfwit cowboys.
11 “Well, if they can fly in this stuff, we sure can,” Kierzwinski says before dropping the red receiver back in its
cradle.
2
12 Six minutes later, the rotors of Kierzwinski’s helicopter are spinning. The two flight nurses, Sam Shifton and
Ariel Gupta, wipe raindrops from their foreheads as they cinch down their shoulder belts. Kierzwinski pulls the
throttle grip towards his knee and the steering stick into his lap, and the helicopter jumps off the tarmac.
13 He veers east to outrun the rain. Kierzwinski takes a left turn, aims his nose for Urbana, and looks up to see the
full moon streaming in through the windscreen and lighting up the cockpit. He chuckles. If he were in his car,
he’d flip the sun visor down.
14 To the left he sees the moonlight bouncing off the storm wall. He thinks: That thing just got bigger. It’s six
thousand feet tall now, with high winds pushing a knot of cloud forward from the main front like a boxer
throwing a punch.
15 Kierzwinski pulls the throttle. The Bell’s nose dips, and the helicopter shudders as it reaches 178 miles an hour,
its maximum speed. Urbana comes into view. Kierzwinski uses the lights of Main Street to fly right up the
town’s spine. Looking left, he sees the lights from the car lots on the west side of town become engulfed by the
storm, turning the bellies of the clouds orange.
16 “When we land, you guys are gonna have to MOVE,” Kierzwinski shouts to the nurses in back.
17 Finally he sees the ambulance. Kierzwinski climbs, slows, brings his tail round 180 degrees and drops his skids
in the middle of the road. Gupta shoves the sliding door aside. The ambulance crew pushes one gurney forward.
Together they lift the victim into the helicopter.
18 “Where’s the other one?” Kierzwinski asks.
19 “She didn’t make it,” the paramedic yells back.
20 Kierzwinski nods. The nurses fumble with the straps as they tie the gurney to the helicopter floor, which is
jumping like a wild horse. “We’ve got wind!” Kierzwinski says. “Let’s go! Let’s go!”
21 The nurses take their seats and Kierzwinski lifts off. The helicopter climbs, but slowly, fighting the storm.
Kierzwinski thinks: I’m lifting, I’m lifting, we’re gonna make it.
22 He sees the power line at the last possible moment. With the storm to his back he cannot climb any faster, and
he cannot stop. He feels the impact before he hears it, and he knows he has hooked the power line with his
skids. As the helicopter loses speed, time slows down. Kierzwinski pulls the stick with all his strength, hoping
to break the line. The helicopter is temporarily suspended, roaring at full throttle but motionless in the sky. The
radio comes to life.
23 “This is Dayton Tower. Please be advised that all air traffic is suspended until further—”
3
1. What does it mean when the author says that Kierzwinski “was watching this beautiful night
turn to soup” in paragraph 2? Use at least two details from the text to support your answer.
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Score
2
Response Features
• Valid inferences and/or claims from the text where required by the prompt
• Evidence of analysis of the text where required by the prompt
• Relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, and/or other information from the text to develop response according to the
requirements of the prompt
• Sufficient number of facts, definitions, concrete details, and/or other information from the text as required by the prompt
• Complete sentences where errors do not impact readability
1
• A mostly literal recounting of events or details from the text as required by the prompt
• Some relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, and/or other information from the text to develop response according to the
requirements of the prompt
• Incomplete sentences or bullets
• A response that does not address any of the requirements of the prompt or is totally inaccurate
• A response that is not written in English
• A response that is unintelligible or indecipherable
0
4
2. Why did Kierzwinski accept the mission to fly, even though the weather was getting worse?
Use at least two details from the text to support your answer.
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Score
2
Response Features
• Valid inferences and/or claims from the text where required by the prompt
• Evidence of analysis of the text where required by the prompt
• Relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, and/or other information from the text to develop response according to the
requirements of the prompt
• Sufficient number of facts, definitions, concrete details, and/or other information from the text as required by the prompt
• Complete sentences where errors do not impact readability
1
• A mostly literal recounting of events or details from the text as required by the prompt
• Some relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, and/or other information from the text to develop response according to the
requirements of the prompt
• Incomplete sentences or bullets
• A response that does not address any of the requirements of the prompt or is totally inaccurate
• A response that is not written in English
• A response that is unintelligible or indecipherable
0
5
3. What is the purpose of the last line of the passage? Use at least two details from the text to
support your answer.
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Score
2
Response Features
• Valid inferences and/or claims from the text where required by the prompt
• Evidence of analysis of the text where required by the prompt
• Relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, and/or other information from the text to develop response according to the
requirements of the prompt
• Sufficient number of facts, definitions, concrete details, and/or other information from the text as required by the prompt
• Complete sentences where errors do not impact readability
1
• A mostly literal recounting of events or details from the text as required by the prompt
• Some relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, and/or other information from the text to develop response according to the
requirements of the prompt
• Incomplete sentences or bullets
• A response that does not address any of the requirements of the prompt or is totally inaccurate
• A response that is not written in English
• A response that is unintelligible or indecipherable
0
6
ANSWER KEY
1. What does it mean when the author says that Kierzwinski “was watching this beautiful night
turn to soup” in paragraph 2? Use at least two details from the text to support your answer.
Answers will vary. Use the enclosed rubric as a guideline for scoring.
Example of a 2-level answer:
When the author says that Kierzwinski “was watching a beautiful night turn to soup,” he means
that he was watching a storm develop. This is clear when the author explains that banks of clouds were
moving in from Indianapolis and Louisville. The author explains that the storms meet and gather
strength. Soup is messy and wet, just like the storm.
Suggestions for class review:
This question requires that students determine the meaning of the phrase “night turn to soup,” in the
context of the text. Students will need to understand that the author is using the term “soup”
figuratively. Ask students what is happening in this paragraph. What details about the storm does the
author provide? Then ask students why an author might describe a storm as soup. Why is this
description significant? How does it contribute to the development of setting? Have students think of
what soup looks like and why a sky that looks like soup is alarming.
7
2. Why did Kierzwinski accept the mission to fly, even though the weather was getting worse? Use
at least two details from the text to support your answer.
Answers will vary. Use the enclosed rubric as a guideline for scoring.
Example of a 2-level answer:
Kierzwinski accepts the mission to fly for two reasons. The first is that he wants to help the
young girls that need to be rescued by helicopter. He realizes that they must be in “pretty bad shape,” if
they need his help. The second is that a rival pilot whom Kierzwinski does not like accepts the mission.
This makes Kierzwinski feel challenged and want to accept.
Suggestions for class review:
This question requires students to identify why Kierzwinski accepts the mission. Students will first
need to locate the answer to the question in the text. If students struggled to comprehend this passage,
they might have a difficult time locating the answer. First ask students at what point in the text he
accepts the mission. Direct student attention to paragraphs 6-11. Ask students to summarize what is
happening. After the events have been clearly established, help students draw inferences related to
Kierzwinski’s motivations.
8
3. What is the purpose of the last line of the passage? Use at least two details from the text to
support your answer.
Answers will vary. Use the enclosed rubric as a guideline for scoring.
Example of a 2-level answer:
The last sentence of the passage provides an unclear conclusion to the rest of the passage.
Because the author stops the sentence halfway, it is unclear to the reader if the pilot lands safely or not.
The author develops the storm throughout the rest of the passage with details such as the fact that the
helicopter floor was “jumping like a wild horse.” He explains that the pilot does not see a power line
and flies into it. He then leaves the reader guessing about what happened by cutting off the last
sentence of the story. The last line provides an unclear or ambiguous ending.
Suggestions for class review:
This question requires students to determine the purpose of the last line of the passage. Students will
need to understand that the last sentence provides a suspenseful or ambiguous ending. If students
struggled to follow the events of the passage, they will not understand the role of the last sentence.
Perform a close reading of the last three paragraphs of the text with students. Ask them what happens
in paragraph 22. Students should understand that the pilot crashes into a power line in this paragraph.
Ask them to identify possible consequences of crashing into a power line. This should help students to
understand why the author might leave the last line unfinished.
Score
2
Response Features
• Valid inferences and/or claims from the text where required by the prompt
• Evidence of analysis of the text where required by the prompt
• Relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, and/or other information from the text to develop response according to the
requirements of the prompt
• Sufficient number of facts, definitions, concrete details, and/or other information from the text as required by the prompt
• Complete sentences where errors do not impact readability
1
• A mostly literal recounting of events or details from the text as required by the prompt
• Some relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, and/or other information from the text to develop response according to the
requirements of the prompt
• Incomplete sentences or bullets
• A response that does not address any of the requirements of the prompt or is totally inaccurate
• A response that is not written in English
• A response that is unintelligible or indecipherable
0
9