ELA Study Guide
Directions: Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.
SURVIVING MIDDLE SCHOOL
1.Surviving Middle School Anna was concerned. In a few short weeks, she would be starting middle
school. At first, she hadn’t worried about it too much. As the summer went on, though, she thought
about it more and more. In previous years, Anna had always been a little excited about going back to
school. However, this year school seemed like a treacherous jungle full of unknown dangers, and she
was standing just on the edge of it. Her mom smiled and told her not to worry. She told Anna that it
might seem difficult at first, but in time, she’d get used to it. Anna wasn’t so sure. It seemed like she
would never be ready for middle school, not in a million years!
2.With just a week to go before the first day of school, Anna had to go with her parents to a barbecue
thrown by their neighbors, the Kleins. As she stood in the Kleins’ backyard, she found herself thinking
about everything that she had heard about middle school. What if her classes were too hard? What if
she couldn’t keep up with the homework? Plus, she had never had to change rooms for different classes
before. She just knew that she would somehow end up lost or in the wrong class and that everyone
would laugh at her. Anna was sure that no one else felt the way that she did.
3.“Hey,” she heard someone say. It was Eric Klein, her next-door neighbor. He was helping his parents by
carrying dirty plates into the kitchen. She wondered if he felt like she did about the upcoming year. No,
she thought to herself, he never worries about anything. Eric had always seemed calm and confident
about everything—nothing ever seemed to faze him.
4.“I can’t believe summer’s over,” he said, a note of disgust in his voice. Anna was surprised. Eric rarely
ever complained. Today, though, he looked as unhappy as she felt.
5. Just then Eric’s mother walked over to them, leading a man by the arm. Anna didn’t recognize him
and wondered who he was.
6.“Kids,” Ms. Klein said enthusiastically, “this is Mr. Harrison. He is the new English teacher at Westlake.
He just moved in to the Costas’ old house.”
7. “Nice to meet you both,” Mr. Harrison said. Anna and Eric both mumbled hello.
8.Ms. Klein smiled at Mr. Harrison. “Eric is so worried about the school year,” she said, frowning slightly.
“Middle school is such a big change.”
9.“Mom!” Eric said quickly, clearly annoyed. “I’m not worried,” he said, turning red. Anna tried not to
laugh, but she couldn’t keep from letting out a small snort.
10.Mr. Harrison gave a quick laugh and then jumped in. “Actually, I’m kind of nervous, too,” he said. “It’s
a new school—new students, new teachers to work with.” He paused. “Plus, I have a horrendous sense
of direction. I know I’m going to spend the first couple of months getting lost. I guess I’d better keep my
cell phone with me.”
11. Anna laughed. The joke wasn’t especially funny, but she laughed anyway. For the first time in weeks,
she felt better. If other people were nervous about the school year, too, even someone like Eric, then
she wasn’t alone. If even teachers were anxious before the school year started, then maybe what she
was going through wasn’t that unusual. Anna smiled to herself. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all.
1 Which of these BEST summarizes the main conflict of the story?
A Anna is sad about the end of summer.
B Anna is nervous about meeting her neighbors.
C Anna is worried about the upcoming school year.
D Anna is unhappy about having to go to a barbecue.
2 Which paragraph could BEST be cited to support the idea that Mr. Harrison doesn’t know a lot about
directions.
A . paragraph 8
B. paragraph 10
C. paragraph 2
D. paragraph 4
3. What is the main idea of this article?
4 The technical term confident in paragraph 3 means
5 What is the central idea of the paragraph?
6 Why does the author MOST LIKELY include this sentence from the story? “I’m not worried,” he said,
turning red.
A to illustrate that Eric is hot
B to explain why Eric is scared
C to show that Eric is embarrassed
D to demonstrate why Eric is concerned
7 Which of these BEST be cited that shows how Anna changes after the barbecue?
A She becomes confused by how calm the adults are.
B She becomes impressed by how many people were there.
C She becomes excited that there is a new teacher at the school.
D She becomes relieved that others feel the same way as she does.
8 Which of these BEST states the theme of the story?
A Adjusting to unfamiliar situations can be fun.
B Meeting people in a new town can be interesting.
C Spending time with friends and neighbors can be enjoyable.
D Knowing that others share your problems can be comforting.
9. What does the technical term, “treacherous jungle” refer to in paragraph one?
10. What is the main idea of paragraph 10?
Read each sentence below and choose the appropriate pronoun
11.James made Rocky and ________ prepare dinner for the family. (me, I)
12. The blue jacket is _______________. (my, mine)
13. Jessica, Theresa , and _________ shopped for more than 8 hours.(I, me)
14. Joseph is leaving the group, but that is a secret between his friend and _______.(he, him)
15. The only students left to catch a late bus was Myricle and ______. (I, me)
The following sentences have existing commas or require additional commas somewhere in their
structures. Choose the option that best reflects proper comma usage in each sentence. ELAGSE6L2
16. Even though the paint was still wet I couldn't resist touching it.
17. After the fire burned out I went inside the house.
18. In English class we read Old Man and the Sea Dracula and Beowulf.
19. I watched television took the dog for a walk and drove to the store to get milk.
20. William Shakespeare a famous playwright wrote Macbeth and Hamlet.
21. The three pound bass which was the biggest fish I ever caught tasted delicious.
22. While the turkey was cooking I prepared mashed potatoes.
23. My best friend John just bought a new lawn mower.
24. In the basement mice hide between the boxes.
Greek and Latin Prefixes and Roots (ELAGSE6L4B)
25. If you know that the Latin prefix e-means “out of,” what would be the meaning of eject in the
following sentence?
John was ejected from the car upon impact.
a. Move to a place
b. Thrown
c. Fly away
d. Talking out
26. If you know that the Latin root –volv- means “roll” or “turn,” what would be the meaning of
revolving in the following sentence?
The revolving door hit several students in their backs.
a. Returning to a store
b. Move in a circle
c. Up and down motion
d. None of the above
27. Choose the sentence in which the underlined word does NOT contain the Latin prefix pre- meaning
“before.”
a. Many students experience peer pressure.
b. Our class is predominately boys.
c. The crime was premeditated, therefore, the wife was charged with malice murder.
d. The boys had preexisting problems before they robbed the store.
28. The Latin root – sequ or – sec – means “to follow.” Based on this definition, what is the meaning of
the underlined word .
The encouragement to grow potatoes had a disastrous sequel some fifty years later.
a. Something that takes place as result of an earlier event.
b. Completely in order.
c. Slowly
d. Quickly
Funny Faces by Kelly Hashway
Liz stared at the large envelopes in Mr. Mason’s hand. The school pictures were here. Liz had
been so excited on picture day. She’d just gotten a new hair cut and a brand new sweater. Her
mom had even let her wear lip-gloss. Now she’d finally get to see how the picture turned out.
“When you get your envelope, please locate the spare photo for the classroom display,” Mr.
Mason said. Mr. Mason had a Wall of Fame board in the back of the classroom.
Every year he posted pictures of his students and had them sign their names. Mr. Mason placed
an envelope facedown on Liz’s desk. “Retakes are on Wednesday,” he whispered. Retakes? Liz
panicked. How awful could it be? She took a deep breath and lifted one corner of the envelope.
All she could see was her hair. Nothing wrong there. No stray pieces standing on end or anything
like that. Liz raised the envelope a little higher, and then she saw it.
Her eyes were half-closed! She slammed the envelope back down before anyone else could see.
Liz looked around the room. A few others had their envelopes face-down on their desks too.
“Mr. Mason, can I ask the class a question?” Liz said. Mr. Mason nodded. “Be my guest.” Liz
stood up. “Does anyone else have a bad picture? My eyes are half-closed, and I look kind of
funny.” “I’m sneezing in my picture,” Jeff said. “Nothing can be funnier than that.” “My hair is
sticking up on one side,” Melanie said. Liz looked at the Wall of Fame. “I have an idea. What if
we start a new bulletin board, one for funny pictures? We could call it Funny Faces.” She took a
picture from her envelope and walked over to the Wall of Fame. She taped her picture on the
blank board next to it. Mr. Mason handed her a marker, and Liz wrote “Funny Faces” in big
letters.
Without saying anything, Jeff and Melanie posted their pictures next to Liz’s. Several others
added their pictures too. Liz looked at the photos and laughed. “Mr. Mason, you might want to
tell the photographer that there’s going to be a long line for retakes.”
29. How does Liz know that Mr. Mason did not approve her photo for the board?
a. He posted it on the board.
b. He placed the envelope with her picture in it faced down on her desk and said, “Retakes are
on Wednesday.
c. He asked her to make a funny face
d. He liked her.
30. What happens in class that lets you know that Mr. Mason approved the “Funny Faces” wall
suggested by Liz?
a. He told Liz to tape her picture to the wall
b. He laughed when the students placed their photos on the wall
c. He allowed them to keep their “funny photos” and place them on the wall.
d. none of the above
Read the following excerpt from the story “Rikki Tikki Tavi” by Rudyard Kipling.
Then answer the questions that follow.
1.This is the story of the great war that Rikki-tikki-tavi fought single-handed, through
the bath-rooms of the big bungalow in Segowlee cantonment. Darzee, the tailor-bird,
helped him, and Chuchundra, the musk-rat, who never comes out into the middle of
the floor, but always creeps round by the wall, gave him advice; but Rikki-tikki did
the real fighting.
2.He was a mongoose, rather like a little cat in his fur and his tail, but quite like a
weasel in his head and his habits. His eyes and the end of his restless nose were pink;
he could scratch himself anywhere he pleased, with any leg, front or back, that he
chose to use; he could fluff up his tail till it looked like a bottle-brush, and his warcry, as he scuttled through the long grass, was: ``Rikk-tikk-tikki-tikki-tchk!''
3.One day, a high summer flood washed him out of the burrow where he lived with
his father and mother, and carried him, kicking and clucking, down a roadside ditch.
He found a little wisp of grass floating there, and clung to it till he lost his senses.
When he revived, he was lying in the hot sun on the middle of a garden path, very
draggled indeed, and a small boy was saying: ``Here's a dead mongoose. Let's have a
funeral.''
4.``No,'' said his mother; ``let's take him in and dry him. Perhaps he isn't really dead.''
5.They took him into the house, and a big man picked him up between his finger and
thumb, and said he was not dead but half choked; so they wrapped him in cottonwool, and warmed him, and he opened his eyes and sneezed.
6.``Now,'' said the big man (he was an Englishman who had just moved into the
bungalow); ``don't frighten him, and we'll see what he'll do.''
7.It is the hardest thing in the world to frighten a mongoose, because he is eaten up
from nose to tail with curiosity. The motto of all the mongoose family is ``Run and
find out''; and Rikki-tikki was a true mongoose. He looked at the cotton-wool, decided
that it was not good to eat, ran all around the table, sat up and put his fur in order,
scratched himself, and jumped on the small boy's shoulder.
8.``Don't be frightened, Teddy,'' said his father. ``That's his way of making friends.''
9.``Ouch! He's tickling under my chin,'' said Teddy.
10.Rikki-tikki looked down between the boy's collar and neck, snuffed at his ear, and
climbed down to the floor, where he sat rubbing his nose.
11.``Good gracious,'' said Teddy's mother, ``and that's a wild creature! I suppose he's
so tame because we've been kind to him.''
12.``All mongooses are like that,'' said her husband. ``If Teddy doesn't pick him up by
the tail, or try to put him in a cage, he'll run in and out of the house all day long. Let's
give him something to eat.''
13.They gave him a little piece of raw meat. Rikki-tikki liked it immensely, and when
it was finished he went out into the verandah and sat in the sunshine and fluffed up his
fur to make it dry to the roots. Then he felt better.
14.``There are more things to find out about in this house,'' he said to himself, ``than
all my family could find out in all their lives. I shall certainly stay and find out.''
15.He spent all that day roaming over the house. He nearly drowned himself in the
bath-tubs, put his nose into the ink on a writing table, and burnt it on the end of the
big man's cigar, for he climbed up in the big man's lap to see how writing was done.
At nightfall he ran into Teddy's nursery to watch how kerosene-lamps were lighted,
and when Teddy went to bed Rikki-tikki climbed up too; but he was a restless
companion, because he had to get up and attend to every noise all through the night,
and find out what made it. Teddy's mother and father came in, the last thing, to look at
their boy, and Rikki-tikki was awake on the pillow. ``I don't like that,'' said Teddy's
mother; ``he may bite the child.'' ``He'll do no such thing,'' said the father. ``Teddy's
safer with that little beast than if he had a bloodhound to watch him. If a snake came
into the nursery now --- ''
16.But Teddy's mother wouldn't think of anything so awful.
17.Early in the morning Rikki-tikki came to early breakfast in the verandah riding on
Teddy's shoulder, and they gave him banana and some boiled egg; and he sat on all
their laps one after the other, because every well-brought-up mongoose always hopes
to be a house-mongoose some day and have rooms to run about in, and Rikki-tikki's
mother (she used to live in the General's house at Segowlee) had carefully told Rikki
what to do if ever he came across white men.
18.Then Rikki-tikki went out into the garden to see what was to be seen. It was a large
garden, only half cultivated, with bushes as big as summer-houses of Marshal Niel
roses, lime and orange trees, clumps of bamboos, and thickets of high grass. Rikkitikki licked his lips. ``This is a splendid hunting-ground,'' he said, and his tail grew
bottle-brushy at the thought of it, and he scuttled up and down the garden, snuffing
here and there till he heard very sorrowful voices in a thorn-bush.
19.It was Darzee, the tailor-bird, and his wife. They had made a beautiful nest by
pulling two big leaves together and stitching them up the edges with fibres, and had
filled the hollow with cotton and downy fluff. The nest swayed to and fro, as they sat
on the rim and cried.
20.``What is the matter?'' asked Rikki-tikki.
21.``We are very miserable,'' said Darzee. ``One of our babies fell out of the nest
yesterday, and Nag ate him.''
22.``H'm!'' said Rikki-tikki, ``that is very sad --- but I am a stranger here. Who is
Nag?''
23.Darzee and his wife only cowered down in the nest without answering, for from
the thick grass at the foot of the bush there came a low hiss --- a horrid cold sound that
made Rikki-tikki jump back two clear feet. Then inch by inch out of the grass rose up
the head and spread hood of Nag, the big black cobra, and he was five feet long from
tongue to tail. When he had lifted one-third of himself clear of the ground, he stayed
balancing to and fro exactly as a dandelion-tuft balances in the wind, and he looked at
Rikki-tikki with the wicked snake's eyes that never change their expression, whatever
the snake may be thinking of.
24.``Who is Nag?'' said he. ''I am Nag. The great god Brahm put his mark upon all our
people when the first cobra spread his hood to keep the sun off Brahm as he slept.
Look, and be afraid!''
25.He spread out his hood more than ever, and Rikki-tikki saw the spectacle-mark on
the back of it that looks exactly like the eye part of a hook-and-eye fastening. He was
afraid for the minute; but it is impossible for a mongoose to stay frightened for any
length of time, and though Rikki-tikki had never met a live cobra before, his mother
had fed him on dead ones, and he knew that all a grown mongoose's business in life
was to fight and eat snakes. Nag knew that too, and at the bottom of his cold heart he
was afraid.
26.``Well,'' said Rikki-tikki, and his tail began to fluff up again, ``marks or no marks,
do you think it is right for you to eat fledglings out of a nest?''
27.Nag was thinking to himself, and watching the least little movement in the grass
behind Rikki-tikki. He knew that mongooses in the garden meant death sooner or later
for him and his family, but he wanted to get Rikki-tikki off his guard. So he dropped
his head a little, and put it on one side.
28.``Let us talk,'' he said. ``You eat eggs. Why should not I eat birds?''
30.``Behind you! Look behind you!'' sang Darzee.
31.Rikki-tikki knew better than to waste time in staring. He jumped up in the air as
high as he could go, and just under him whizzed by the head of Nagaina, Nag's
wicked wife. She had crept up behind him as he was talking, to make an end of him;
and he heard her savage hiss as the stroke missed. He came down almost across her
back, and if he had been an old mongoose he would have know that then was the time
to break her back with one bite; but he was afraid of the terrible lashing return-stroke
of the cobra. He bit, indeed, but did not bite long enough, and he jumped clear of the
whisking tail, leaving Nagaina torn and angry.
32.``Wicked, wicked Darzee!'' said Nag, lashing up as high as he could reach toward
the nest in the thornbush; but Darzee had built it out of reach of snakes, and it only
swayed to and fro.
32. Which part of the story’s plot is paragraph 3 most like from? (6RL5)
a. Exposition
b.Rising action
c.Climax
d. Resolution
33. Which paragraph provide the climax of the story?
a.
b.
c.
d.
34. What does paragraph 2,3, and 4 tell you about Rikki Tikki’s character?
a. cowardly
b. brave
c. honest
d.funny