ELA Unit 1 Pre/Post

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2 questions

ELA Unit 1 Pre & Post Assessment: Citing Evidence and Quality Responses

Learning Target: I can refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

Directions: Read the passage about a boy who is playing an important game of baseball and answer the questions below.

 "Catch to Win"
by Matt Christopher

  Liam leaped to his feet and tore off his mask. The batter hit Carter's pitch, but it wasn't a clean blast to the outfield. No, that ball was shooting straight up like a rocket ship—and Liam needed to be directly under it when it came back to Earth!

  His brown eyes locked onto their target. He lifted his glove. It was a make-or-break moment. Make the catch, and the game was theirs. Miss it, and he'd break the hearts of his teammates, not to mention the thousands of fans who'd traveled to see their local team in action.

  Liam's and Carter's families were among those fans. Liam knew exactly where they were sitting. Before the game, they had unfurled a huge banner that read "Mid-Atlantic All the Way!"

  The banner had been his mother's idea. "We'll paint the words in neon colors on a long bolt of fabric," she declared, fanning her hands out to diagram a headline in the air. "The Mid-Atlantic fans will love it!"

  Liam, Carter, and everyone else in their families had pitched in to make the banner. Liam's older sister, Melanie, had even offered to hold one end, although she made it clear she had an ulterior motive.  

  "Your games are shown live on one of the big sports networks, right?" she'd said the week before the tournament. "They always pan around the crowd, looking for stuff like this banner. When that camera lands on me, it could be my big break."

  While Liam dreamed of one day playing professional baseball, Melanie longed to make it in show business. She took every dance, voice, and acting class their small town had to offer, and performed in local theater productions. She'd once thought that New York City was where she should be, but a two-week family vacation to California the summer before had changed that. Now living near Los Angeles was all she could talk about.

  That afternoon, when he saw the banner on the hillside and heard the cheers from the crowd gathered by it, his heart swelled with pride and determination. Those feelings stayed with him throughout the game. They thrummed in his chest when he hit the RBI triple that gave the Mid-Atlantic players their fifth run of the game. They powered him through the long fifth inning, when Great Lakes threatened to overtake Mid-Atlantic by racking up four straight runs. And those feelings surged in his veins when Coach Harrison pulled the starting pitcher, Daniel Cho, and put Carter on the mound for the final inning instead.

  His pride peaked when Carter stopped Great Lakes' rally cold. Now his determination to win took over as he tracked the ball in the air above him. It reached the top of its climb and started its descent. Liam shuffled sideways. He widened the fingers of his glove a hair more. A moment later—Thud! The ball landed in the pocket and stuck there.

  "Yer out!" the umpire yelled.

  The fans erupted, roaring, clapping, and stamping their feet. Liam leaped into the air, only to be brought back to earth when his teammates swarmed him, their screams of victory ringing throughout the ballpark.

  Final score: Mid-Atlantic 5, Great Lakes 4.

(RL.1) What inference can be made about the kind of relationship Liam has with his sister Melanie? Support your answer with details from the passage.

Directions: Read this passage about salt and answer the questions below.

"Salt of the Earth"
by author unknown

Can you answer this old riddle? Throw this rock into the water and it changes into water. What is it? Salt! Dry salt is a rock. In water it dissolves, breaking apart until you can't see it.  Most salt comes from oceans, other salty water, and places where salt water has dried. If all the oceans’ salt were piled on top of the United States, we would be covered in salt a mile high!

The Rock We Eat
In your body right now, you have about 3 ounces (85 grams) of salt. That is the same amount as 98 small salt packets given away at fast-food restaurants! We need salt to live. However, if we have too much, it is bad for our health. When we cry, sweat, or go to the bathroom, we lose salt. We make up for what is lost by eating food with salt in it.

Salt Town
Today, salt is easy to find. Long ago, it was often hard to locate salt lakes or rock salt that could be dug out of the earth. People even looked for spots where ocean water could evaporate, or turn into air, leaving only salt. One of the oldest salt mines is below Hallstatt, Austria. The name Hallstatt means, “salt town.” Salt has been mined there for almost 3,000 years.

Salty Words
Long ago, people salted meat and fish to keep them from turning rotten. As a result, they needed lots of salt. They called it white gold because it cost as much as gold. The ancient city of Rome, Italy, had its start as a place to buy and sell salt. Part of a Roman soldier's pay, or salary, was given to him in salt. Our word “salary,” comes from the Roman word, “salarium,” meaning, “salt money.”

Mayan Salt
The ancient Maya of Central America made salt in drying ponds near the ocean. They also heated salt water in pots until the water was gone, or evaporated. They used salt for many things besides eating. When a child was born, the parents tasted holy salt and sprinkled it inside their house. Soldiers' jackets were stuffed with salt to make them hard enough to stop arrows. They also offered salt to their gods as food.

Salt at the End of the World
Joined by his father and uncle, Marco Polo traveled from Italy to the Kavir salt desert of Iran. Few had ever crossed it. Most Italians thought the Kavir was the end of the world. Crossing the desert was hard. Salt broke under their feet, making it tough to walk. Water was too salty to drink. After about two weeks, the Polos reached the end of the desert. Back in Italy in 1297, Marco Polo made a book about his journey to the Kavir and beyond.

Salt and Freedom
For hundreds of years, most French people had to pay salt tax—extra money to the king every time they bought salt. This tax was famous for being unfair. Kings ordered some people to buy lots of salt and pay high taxes. Others paid no tax and could buy as little as they wanted.
The salt tax was one of the reasons people fought in the French Revolution in 1789. This war ended the rule of kings in France.

March to the Sea
The people of India were ruled by England, but they wanted to rule themselves. In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi, a famous Indian leader, led a march to the sea. His march was a protest against English rule.
After walking 240 miles, he gathered salt on the beach. It was against the law at that time to gather salt. England controlled all of India's salt and forced India's people to pay a salt tax. This protest and one held later at a salt factory helped India become free to rule itself.

Pour It On!
Today nearly every table has a salt shaker. Salt is no longer as costly as gold. It is so cheap people often give it away for free. We still love salt, however. We use it in countless ways. Only five salt grains out of 100 are for food. People use salt to melt ice from roads. It is an ingredient in paints, glues, medicines, and more.

(RI.1) What is the main idea of the passage? Use details from the passage to support your answer.

Great job! This ends your Unit 1 Pre/Post assessment. Re-read your work before submitting!