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ACAP Grade 3 ELA

Last updated about 1 year ago
15 questions

The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird


It is the beginning of summer, and you're enjoying the outdoors. From the corner of your eye, you glimpse a creature that is beating its wings so fast you can hardly see them moving. You think the creature might be a bee. A closer look reveals that it is a bird. It is a ruby-throated hummingbird.

Small and Vibrant
A ruby-throated hummingbird is small. It weighs less than one ounce and measures three to four inches from the tip of its beak to the end of its tail.

Its colors are vibrant. The males and the females look similar. Both have bright emerald-green heads, wings, backs, and tails. The birds are named for the ruby-red throats that the males have. The females, however, have white throats.

Expert Flyers
The ruby-throated hummingbird can be seen moving from one flower to the next while beating its wings more than 50 times per second. This rapid movement of the wings causes the humming noise that these birds are known for.

A hummingbird’s wing has only one movable joint, which is the shoulder. This special joint and powerful flight muscles allow a hummingbird to fly in any direction. It zooms up, down, sideways, and backward. Its usual speed is 20 to 30 miles an hour. It can fly up to 50 miles an hour, which is a lot faster than many other birds.

Tasty Food
The ruby-throated hummingbird looks for tube-shaped flowers to get nectar, but it will visit other flowers if needed. The hummingbird hovers in front of a flower, places its beak into the center of the flower, and drinks the sweet liquid nectar. Sometimes hummingbirds eat small bugs found on plant leaves, tree bark, and shrubs.

You might think ruby-throated hummingbirds eat only a small amount of food, but this would be incorrect. These birds can eat more than two times as much as they weigh. Why do they eat so much? One reason is because of their constant activity. Another reason is to prepare for a long journey.

New Location
Ruby-throated hummingbirds migrate hundreds of miles. They spend much of the spring and summer in southern Canada and in the eastern and midwestern parts of the United States. Females build their nests and raise their families during this time.

At the end of the summer, the weather becomes cooler and their favorite flowers are probably no longer in bloom. So the hummingbirds prepare to migrate south.

They spend late fall and winter in Mexico and Central America, where the weather is warmer and food is available.

To prepare for this long journey, some hummingbirds may double their weight. This will give them the strength to fly more than 500 miles across the Gulf of Mexico.

As winter comes to an ens, ruby-throated hummingbirds return north once again. If you look closely, you just might see one.
Required
1

Under which heading in "The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird" can the reader learn about the movement of hummingbirds?

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1

Which sentence best states the main idea of "The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird"?

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1

Part A

According to "Our National Bird," why were bald eagles placed on the endangered species list?

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1

Part B

Which sentence from the passage best supports the answer in part A?

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1

How are "The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird" and "Our National Bird" alike?

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1

Read the opinion paragraph.

The play we saw last night was done very well. The woman who had the leading role made us laugh and cry. The costumes looked very natural. The play was good for all these reasons.

Which other reason could best be added to the paragraph to support the opinion stated in the first sentence?

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1

Read the paragraph.

Flower bulbs are underground flower factories. People plant bulbs, water them, and then leave them alone. The bulbs grow and flower when they are ready. Bulbs are usually brown or tan and come in many sizes. If you were to cut a bulb in half and look inside, you would see where the plant stores the energy it needs to grow.

Which sentence would be the best conclusion for the paragraph?

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2
Read the draft of a students narrative paragraph. Use the drop-down menus to correctly complete the paragraph.

Each day, Michael repeated the same exact actions while preparing for school. __________his alarm woke him, he would roll out of his bed and do his stretches. He did the same stretches every day. __________, he would put on the outfit he had neatly laid out the night before. __________, he would reset his alarm for the next morning so that he wouldn't wake up late.
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2

A student is writing a report about weather patterns. Choose the two sources that would most likely have the most useful information for the report.

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2

A student is researching and taking notes about Wilma Rudolph, an African American woman who became famous for her accomplishments in track and field. Drag and drop each of the student's notes into the chart under the correct heading.

  • At the age of 12, she overcame a disability.
  • She was the first American woman to win three gold medals for running in a single Olympics.
  • She was known as the fastest woman in the world during the 1960s.
  • In 1977, she wrote an autobiography about her life.
  • She started the Wilma Rudolph Foundation in 1981 to help young people.
  • She broke the world record for speed in three Olympic events.
  • Wilma Rudolph's Track and Field Accomplishments
  • Wilma Rudolph's Other Accomplishments
Required
1

Which sentence uses the correct form of the underlined plural noun?

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2
Read the paragraph.

Choose a word from each drop-down menu to correctly complete the sentences.

My new toy soldiers __________ me with many hours of fun. Usually, I __________ my army march in a parade.
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1

Which words should be capitalized in the sentence? Choose three words.

The students in my third-grade class are reading the book the adventures of a mouse.
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2

Which sentences correctly use an apostrophe? Choose two answers.

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1

Read the sentences.

Last summer, Dad and I went to Cheaha State Park. I was _________ to climb the mountain and reach Bunker Tower. It is the highest point in Alabama, and the views are amazing!

Which word best completes the sentences?