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5th grade reading comprehension

5th grade (Year 6 in England) · 16 questions · Common Core: RL.5.1, RI.5.1, RL.5.6, RL.6.6 · England: Y5/6 Reading (inference), KS2 SATs Reading, 11+ English

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Why Do Leaves Change in Autumn?

In many parts of the world, autumn turns forests into blazes of yellow, orange and red. But where do these bright shades come from? The answer is hidden inside every leaf. During spring and summer, leaves are busy making food for the tree. To do this, they use sunlight, water and air. A green substance called chlorophyll captures the energy from sunlight. There is so much chlorophyll in a leaf that it hides all the other shades. As autumn arrives, the days grow shorter and there is less sunlight. Trees such as maples and oaks begin to get ready for winter. They stop making chlorophyll. As the green fades away, the yellows and oranges that were in the leaf all along begin to show. Some trees, such as certain maples, also make a brand-new red substance in autumn. This is why some leaves turn bright red or purple. Finally, the tree seals off each leaf where it joins the branch. The leaf dries out and falls. Without leaves, the tree uses less water during the cold winter months. In spring, new green leaves will grow, and the cycle will begin again.

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Question 1
Read "Why Do Leaves Change in Autumn?". How does losing leaves help a tree in winter?
- A. It stays warmer.
- B. It uses less water.
- C. It grows faster.
- D. It makes more food.

The Lemonade Stand

Marcus wanted a new bike helmet, but it cost twenty dollars. He had only five. "Why not set up a lemonade stand?" suggested his grandmother. She helped him squeeze a big bowl of lemons and stir in sugar and cold water. Marcus painted a sign that said LEMONADE – 50 CENTS. On Saturday morning, Marcus put his table at the end of the driveway. For the first hour, nobody came. Cars zoomed past. Marcus began to think it was a silly idea. Then he noticed that people were walking to the park across the road for a football match. He picked up his sign and moved the table right next to the park gate. Within ten minutes, a line had formed. By lunchtime, the jug was empty. Marcus counted his coins. He had earned exactly fifteen dollars. With the five he already had, it was enough. "You did it!" said Grandma. "We did it," said Marcus. "And next time, I'll think about where the customers are before I start."

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Question 2
Read "The Lemonade Stand". Why did moving the table work?
- A. Many people were walking past the park gate.
- B. The park had shade.
- C. His grandmother bought it all.
- D. He lowered the price.

The Climbing Wall

The climbing wall at the leisure centre was twelve metres high, and from the bottom it looked like a mountain covered in brightly coloured sweets. Jaya had watched her older cousin, Ravi, scramble to the top of it a dozen times. Today was her first turn. The instructor clipped the rope to her harness and checked the knot twice. "Remember," she said, "use your legs, not just your arms. And don't look down until you're ready." The first few holds were easy. Jaya climbed quickly, buoyed by Ravi's cheers. But halfway up, the holds grew smaller and farther apart. Her arms began to burn. She looked down – and immediately wished she hadn't. The floor seemed impossibly far away, and her legs began to tremble. "I want to come down," she called. "You can," the instructor answered calmly. "Or you can rest. Lean back into the harness. The rope's got you." Jaya didn't believe her. But slowly, she let her weight sink back. The rope held. Her breathing steadied. She looked at the wall in front of her, not at the floor, and noticed a small yellow hold to her right that she hadn't seen before. Ten minutes later, she slapped the top of the wall. The leisure centre erupted in cheers – or at least Ravi did, which felt like the same thing.

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Question 3
Read "The Climbing Wall". Why did Jaya's legs begin to tremble?
- A. She was excited to reach the top.
- B. She looked down and became frightened.
- C. The rope broke.
- D. She was cold.

Bugs in the Code

Theo had been looking forward to Coding Club all week. Ms Rivera had promised they would make their own animated story on the classroom tablets. Theo chose a cartoon cat and wrote the code: when the green flag is clicked, move ten steps, then turn and wave. He clicked the flag. The cat spun round and round like a washing machine and never stopped. "It's broken!" Theo groaned, and he pushed the tablet away. Ms Rivera sat down beside him. "It's not broken," she said. "It's got a bug. Every coder gets bugs. The trick is to be a detective." Together they read the code one block at a time. Theo had put the turn block inside a forever loop by mistake, so the cat kept turning for ever. Theo dragged the block out of the loop and clicked the flag again. The cat walked ten steps, turned and waved. Theo cheered so loudly that the whole club looked up. The next week, a younger girl called Ivy was close to tears because her rocket would not take off. Theo pulled up a chair. "It's not broken," he told her. "It's got a bug. Let's be detectives."

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Question 4
Read "Bugs in the Code". Why does Theo say the same words to Ivy that Ms Rivera said to him?
- A. He has forgotten what to say.
- B. He wants to help her the way he was helped.
- C. He wants to show off.
- D. He thinks Ivy's tablet is broken.

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Question 5
Owls hunt mainly at night. Their huge eyes gather lots of light, and special feathers let them fly almost silently. Many owls nest in hollow trees. Which sentence best supports the idea that owls are well suited to hunting in the dark?
- A. Owls hunt mainly at night.
- B. Owls are birds.
- C. Many owls nest in hollow trees.
- D. Their huge eyes gather lots of light, and special feathers let them fly almost silently.
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Question 6
Bea's eyes lit up when she unwrapped the paints. She had been asking for them since the summer. What can you infer?
- A. Bea dislikes painting.
- B. Bea is pleased with her present.
- C. Bea is disappointed.
- D. Bea bought the paints herself.
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Question 7
Maria opened the letter slowly. She didn't know that her brother had already read it. What point of view is used?
- A. second person
- B. third person
- C. no narrator
- D. first person

Should Our School Keep Bees?

Letter A: Yes to bees! Our school should put two beehives on the flat roof above the library. Bees pollinate fruit, vegetables and wildflowers, and in many places their numbers have fallen. A school hive would give local bees a safe home. It would also turn our roof into a living science lesson: we could study how a colony works, measure how much honey it makes, and plant bee-friendly flowers in the playground. Several schools near us already keep bees, and the beekeepers say pupils are never near the hives, because the roof is locked. Letter B: Not so fast. I agree that bees are important, but I do not think hives are right for our school yet. Some pupils and staff are allergic to bee stings, and even a locked roof is close to open windows. Hives also need an expert to check them every week, and no one at school has that training. Instead, we could help bees in safer ways: plant a wildflower strip by the fence, build a bug hotel, and invite a beekeeper to visit with an observation hive behind glass. If, after a year, we find a trained volunteer, we could think about hives again.

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Question 8
Read "Should Our School Keep Bees?". What would most likely change the writer of Letter B's mind?
- A. moving the library
- B. seeing a picture of a bee
- C. finding a trained volunteer to look after the hives
- D. being given a jar of honey

The Long Wall

The Great Wall of China is not one wall at all. It is a network of walls, trenches and watchtowers built and rebuilt over more than two thousand years by different dynasties. If all its sections were laid end to end, they would stretch over 21,000 kilometres – more than half the distance around the Earth. The earliest walls were built from packed earth around the seventh century BCE, when rival Chinese states defended their borders from one another. In about 220 BCE, the first emperor of a united China, Qin Shi Huang, ordered many of these separate walls to be joined together to protect the north from raiding groups. The sections that most visitors see today are far younger. They were built during the Ming dynasty, between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. Ming builders used bricks and stone, which is why these sections have survived so well. Watchtowers were placed close enough together for soldiers to send signals using smoke by day and fire by night. The wall came at a terrible cost. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers, prisoners and farmers were forced to work on it, often in freezing mountains or burning deserts. Many died, and stories and songs about their suffering are still told. Did the wall work? Historians disagree. It slowed down small raids and helped control trade and travel, but determined armies could still break through or simply go around it. Today, its greatest power may be as a symbol – of human effort, of history and of a nation's identity.

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Question 9
Read "The Long Wall". Why were watchtowers placed close together?
- A. so soldiers could sleep in them
- B. so signals could be seen from one tower to the next
- C. to save bricks
- D. to make the wall look taller

Inside a Volcano

Deep beneath our feet, the Earth is extremely hot – hot enough to melt rock. This melted rock is called magma. Because magma is lighter than the solid rock around it, it slowly rises upward. Sometimes it collects in a huge underground pool called a magma chamber. A volcano forms where magma finds a way to the surface. When the pressure in the magma chamber becomes too great, the magma bursts out through cracks or vents. Once it reaches the surface, it is called lava. Over time, layers of cooled lava and ash can build up to form a mountain. Most volcanoes are found near the edges of tectonic plates, the giant slabs of rock that make up the Earth's outer layer. More than half of the world's active volcanoes surround the Pacific Ocean, in a horseshoe-shaped zone known as the Ring of Fire. Scientists sort volcanoes into three groups. Active volcanoes have erupted recently and could erupt again. Dormant volcanoes have not erupted for a very long time but might wake up in the future. Extinct volcanoes are not expected to erupt ever again. Although eruptions can be deadly, volcanoes also bring benefits. Volcanic ash breaks down into rich soil, which is why many farms are found on the slopes of old volcanoes. In some countries, such as Iceland, the heat from underground is used to warm homes and produce electricity.

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Question 10
Read "Inside a Volcano". Why are many farms found on old volcanoes?
- A. Lava waters the crops.
- B. There are no other places to farm.
- C. Volcanic ash makes rich soil.
- D. The land is always warm.

Should Our School Keep Bees?

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Question 11
Read "Should Our School Keep Bees?". What is the main DIFFERENCE between the two letters?
- A. Both letters want the same thing.
- B. Letter A dislikes bees; Letter B loves them.
- C. Letter A wants hives now; Letter B prefers safer ways to help bees first.
- D. Letter B wants more hives than Letter A.

My Grandmother's Hands

My grandmother's hands are brown and wrinkled, like a map of rivers that have been flowing for eighty years. When I was small, I used to trace the lines with my finger and ask her where each one went. "This one," she would say, pointing to a deep crease across her palm, "goes back to the farm where I grew up, where I picked cotton until my fingers bled." Then she would point to a thin white scar on her thumb. "And this one leads to the night I learned to cook for eight brothers and sisters." Her hands have kneaded thousands of loaves of bread. They have stitched every quilt in our house and plaited my hair before every first day of school. They once caught my baby brother when he slipped from the top of the slide, faster than anyone thought an old woman could move. These days her hands shake a little when she holds her teacup. Sometimes she drops a stitch and has to start a row again. But when she takes my hands in hers, they are still the strongest hands I know.

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Question 12
Read "My Grandmother's Hands". What does the story about the slide show about Grandmother?
- A. She was always slow.
- B. She was frightened of slides.
- C. She did not like the baby.
- D. She was quick and protective when it mattered.

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Question 13
Text A: Bats are mammals that fly at night and use echoes to find insects. Text B: Dolphins are mammals that live in the sea and use echoes to find fish. How are bats and dolphins ALIKE?
- A. Both eat insects.
- B. Both fly at night.
- C. Both live in the sea.
- D. Both are mammals that use echoes to find food.

Message in a Bottle (a poem)

I am a bottle, empty and light, tossed from a boat on a bright summer night. No note inside me, no secret to tell, just plastic and air and a sea-salty smell. The ocean is patient, the ocean is wide; it rocks me and rolls me from tide to tide. A turtle swims near me and stares at my shine. I am not a jellyfish. Please, don't you dine! I'll drift for a lifetime, I'll drift for a few, I'll crumble to pieces too tiny for you. But somebody somewhere could carry me back, a hand on the beach and a bin in a sack. So here is my message, though no one wrote it: the sea keeps whatever we throw. Don't forget it.

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Question 14
Read "Message in a Bottle (a poem)". Why does the bottle say, "I am not a jellyfish. Please, don't you dine!"?
- A. The bottle wants to be eaten.
- B. Jellyfish live inside bottles.
- C. Turtles are afraid of bottles.
- D. Turtles can mistake shiny plastic for jellyfish and eat it.

How to Build a Junk Robot

Do you have a pile of empty boxes and bottle tops? Instead of throwing them away, turn them into a robot! This project takes about an hour. You will need: one cereal box, one smaller box (such as a toothpaste box), four cardboard tubes, bottle tops, glue, scissors and some tape. Step 1: Ask an adult to help you cut a hole in the top of the cereal box. This will be the robot's body. Step 2: Glue the smaller box on top of the body to make the head. Hold it in place for a minute while the glue sets. Step 3: Tape two cardboard tubes to the sides of the body for arms and two to the bottom for legs. Step 4: Glue bottle tops onto the head for eyes and onto the body for buttons and dials. Step 5: Leave your robot to dry overnight before you play with it. Top tip: Give your robot a name and write it on a label. Robots with names are much more fun!

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Question 15
Read "How to Build a Junk Robot". Why should you ask an adult to help with Step 1?
- A. Adults choose the robot's name.
- B. The box is too heavy.
- C. Adults are better at gluing.
- D. Cutting with scissors can be tricky or unsafe.

Message in a Bottle (a poem)

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Question 16
Read "Message in a Bottle (a poem)". Who is speaking in this poem?
- A. a turtle
- B. a plastic bottle
- C. the ocean
- D. a fisherman

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Answer key: 5th grade reading comprehension

1. B. It uses less water.
2. A. Many people were walking past the park gate.
3. B. She looked down and became frightened.
4. B. He wants to help her the way he was helped.
5. D. Their huge eyes gather lots of light, and special feathers let them fly almost silently.
6. B. Bea is pleased with her present.
7. B. third person
8. C. finding a trained volunteer to look after the hives
9. B. so signals could be seen from one tower to the next
10. C. Volcanic ash makes rich soil.
11. C. Letter A wants hives now; Letter B prefers safer ways to help bees first.
12. D. She was quick and protective when it mattered.
13. D. Both are mammals that use echoes to find food.
14. D. Turtles can mistake shiny plastic for jellyfish and eat it.
15. D. Cutting with scissors can be tricky or unsafe.
16. B. a plastic bottle