New York Assessment Prep
Grade 6
English Language Arts
by Tracey Vasil Biscontini, Trilby F. Greene, Lindsay Rock, Mark Dziak, Marie
Devers, Rebecca Sparling, Michelle Krapf, Brian Clarke and Elizabeth Kibler
Edited by Patricia F. Braccio, Katherine Pierpont,
Kathleen Trenske, and Sarah M.W. Espano
Item Code RAS 2241 • Copyright © 2008 Queue, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval
system. Printed in the United States of America.
Queue, Inc. • 1 Controls Drive, Shelton, CT 06484
(800) 232-2224 • Fax: (800) 775-2729 • www.qworkbooks.com
Table of Contents
To the Students ..................................................................................................................................................v
Part 1: Poems
“Being the Youngest” ..................................................................................................................................1
“The Last Word of a Bluebird” by Robert Frost ..........................................................................................6
“The Circus Life” ..........................................................................................................................................9
“The Wind” by Robert Louis Stevenson......................................................................................................13
“Watching a Garden Grow” ......................................................................................................................16
“The Walrus and the Carpenter” by Lewis Carroll....................................................................................20
Part 2: Fiction
An Election Without a Vote ........................................................................................................................23
from “The Purple Dress” by O. Henry ........................................................................................................28
How Saynday Got the Sun, adapted from a Kiowa Legend ......................................................................35
The Story of the Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbit ........................................................................................39
Visiting the Garden ....................................................................................................................................44
from Robin Hood by Henry Gilbert ............................................................................................................50
Part 3: Nonfiction
The Slow-Moving Sloth................................................................................................................................55
Have You Seen an Albertosaurus? ..............................................................................................................60
Norman Rockwell: A Small-Town American Artist ....................................................................................65
The Channel Tunnel ....................................................................................................................................71
Making Music History ................................................................................................................................77
The World’s Tallest Trees ............................................................................................................................85
Part 4: Listening
Fishing for the Truth ..................................................................................................................................90
The Mighty Amazon ....................................................................................................................................98
The Impatient Percussionist ....................................................................................................................103
The Mighty Soybean ..................................................................................................................................109
The Mystery of the Classroom Thief ........................................................................................................117
True Blue: The Story of Denim Jeans ......................................................................................................122
Part 5: Editing Paragraphs
Paragraph 1................................................................................................................................................128
Paragraph 2................................................................................................................................................129
Paragraph 3................................................................................................................................................130
Paragraph 4................................................................................................................................................131
Paragraph 5................................................................................................................................................132
Paragraph 6................................................................................................................................................133
Part 6: Writing Prompts
Prompt 1: Writing for Social Communication ........................................................................................135
Prompt 2: Writing to Persuade ................................................................................................................139
Prompt 3: Writing a Personal Narrative ..................................................................................................143
Prompt 4: Writing a Fictional Story ........................................................................................................147
Prompt 5: Responding to Poetry ..............................................................................................................151
Prompt 6: Comparing Texts ......................................................................................................................155
Part 2: Fiction
Directions:
Read the passage from Robin Hood. Then answer the questions that
follow.
from Robin Hood
by Henry Gilbert
Seated with his back against the
trunk of a fallen elm was Robin, his
bearing as bold, his eye as keen and
fearless and his look as noble now as
when a short month ago he was not an
outlaw . . .
“Ay, lads, but this be bliss indeed!”
The speaker was Much, the Miller’s
son. He gave a great sigh of satisfaction,
and rolled himself over on the grass to
make himself even more comfortable
than he was. Grunts or sighs of
satisfaction answered him from others
of the twenty forms lying at full length
under the deep shadow of the trees.
Some, however, answered with snores,
for the buck they had eaten had been a
fine one, and the quarterstaff play that
morning had been hard, and for ringing
heads slumber is the best medicine.
Strict had been his rule of these
twenty men who had come to the
greenwood with him and had chosen
him as their leader. Slow of step and of
movement they were, but he knew that
the lives of all of them depended upon
their learning quickly the use of the
quarterstaff, the sword, and the
longbow. Every day, therefore, he had
made them go through set tasks.
Chapped and hard with toil at the plow,
the mattock, and the hedge knife, their
hands took slowly to the more delicate
play with sword, quarterstaff, and bow;
but most of them were but young men,
and he had hopes that very soon they
would gain quickness of eye and
deftness of hand, besides the lore that
would tell them how to track the red
deer, and to face and overcome the fierce
wolf and the white-tusked boar in his
wrath.
It was in a small glade deep in the
heart of Barnisdale Forest where the
outlaws lay, and was known to them as
the Stane Lea or Stanley. At one side of
it a little rivulet gurgled over its
pebbles, and at the other end stood a
great standing stone, green with moss,
where, doubtless, ages before, the skinclad warriors of the forest had come
with their prayers to the spirit of the
great chief who was buried beneath it.
Beside the brook knelt Scadlock and his
fellow cook, cleaning the wooden
platters which had just been used, by
the simple process of rubbing them with
sand in the clear running water . . .
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“What should us be doin’ now,”
murmured Dickson the Carpenter, “if
we were still bondsmen and back in the
village?’’
50
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food. So shall ye win the service of all
good spirits and powers that harbor
here or in heaven.”
“I should be feeding the lord’s gray
swine or ploughing his domain lands,”
said Long Peter, “while my own fields
grew rank with weeds” . . .
The men wondered what Robin
meant, and during the remainder of
their walk they kept a keen lookout for
a sight of Much’s brownie. But never a
glimpse did they get of it, and at length
they began to chaff Much, saying he had
eaten too much venison, and took spots
before his eyes to be fairies. But he
persisted in asserting that he had seen
a little man, “dark of face and hair, no
bigger than a child. A sun-ray struck
him as he moved,” he said, “and I saw
the hairy arm of him with the sunlight
on him.”
Suddenly Much, who walked beside
Robin, stopped as they entered a small
glade.
“Look!” he said, pointing to the other
side. “ ‘Tis an elf—a brownie! I saw it
step forth for a moment. ‘Tis no bigger
than a boy. It is hiding behind that fern.
But this bolt shall find it if ‘tis still
there?”
He raised his bow and notched an
arrow, but Robin struck down his wrist,
and the arrow shot into the earth a few
yards ahead of them.
“ ‘Twas no more than a squirrel!” said
one; “and Much took his brush for a
man’s arm.”
“The brownies are my friends,” said
Robin, laughing, “and will be yours, too,
if you deserve such friendship. Hark
you, Much, and all my merry fellows.
Shoot nothing in the forest which shows
no desire to hurt thee, unless it is for
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“Or else Much is bewitched,” said
another. “I said he slept in a fairy ring
the other night.”
51
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1
Which statement best describes
the reason that the author wrote
this passage?
3
A Robin tells the men not to harm
friendly animals
B the twenty men take a nap next
to a large stone
C Much uses his bow to scare
away a dangerous elf
D the men think about how
different their lives are
A He wants readers to learn to
live in the woods.
B He hopes that more people will
visit Barnisdale Forest.
C He wants to tell an exciting
adventure story.
D He hopes that he can make
people dislike Robin.
2
Read this sentence from the story.
4
Why do the men tease Much?
5
Read this sentence from the story.
“Or else Much is
bewitched,” said another. “I
said he slept in a fairy ring
the other night.”
Which word means about the same
as “bewitched”?
F
G
H
J
The main conflict of the story is
resolved when
tired
mistaken
hungry
enchanted
F to make Robin think less of him
G because he claimed to have
seen an elf
H to make him feel sorry that he
left his home
J because he was the least skilled
fighter
Grunts or sighs of satisfaction
answered him from others of the
twenty forms lying at full length
under the deep shadow of the
trees.
The author most likely uses this
description to show that the
A
B
C
D
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52
men were very noisy
forest was very thick
men were relaxing
food was abundant
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Part 3: Nonfiction
Directions:
Read the article and then answer the questions that follow.
The Slow-Moving Sloth
by Rebecca Sparling
You might already know that the cheetah is the fastest-moving animal on Earth.
Able to travel up to 70 miles per hour, the cheetah can move much more quickly
than a person can and just as fast as a car racing down the highway. However, have
you ever wondered which of Earth’s animals moves the most slowly? The slowestmoving animal is the sloth, and you would have to travel all the way to the rain
forests of Central and South America to see one in the wild.
The shy and slow sloth, which looks a little
like a monkey but has a flat head and a snout,
lives high in the treetops of the rain forest.
Sloths stay away from other animals and spend
most of their lives alone, hanging upside down
from trees.
These strange-looking creatures are among
the most interesting in the rain forest—mainly
because they stay high in trees and hardly ever
move around. They do this because they are in
great danger from other animals if they come
down onto the ground. Their hind legs are very weak, forcing them to pull
themselves through the dirt with their long arms. They can only move about six to
eight feet per hour on the rainforest floor!
Most animals can move much faster than this, so it isn’t hard for them to catch
a sloth on the ground. In the trees, however, sloths can move slightly faster at about
15 feet per hour. These animals are surprisingly speedy swimmers. Their long arms
help them travel up to 45 feet per minute across lakes and rivers. This gives them
a chance to escape any number of enemies.
It can be hard to spot a sloth in a tree from a distance. This is because sloths
sleep through most of the day. Even when they are awake, sloths usually remain
motionless. Quietly feeding on leaves during the night allows the mostly defenseless
sloths to avoid animals looking for an easy meal.
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55
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If you look at a picture of this solitary animal, you might mistake it for a monkey,
but the sloth is more closely related to anteaters and armadillos than to any
primate. Sloths have long gray or brown fur. Because they move so slowly, plants
grow on their fur! The plants give some sloths a greenish tint, which is actually
helpful. A sloth with a greenish tint blends in well with the leaves on the trees. This
helps to keep it safe from such predators as eagles and panthers.
Two species of sloths exist today: the
two-toed sloth and the three-toed sloth.
These names are a bit misleading, since all
sloths have three toes on their hind feet.
The names actually refer to the long, sharp
claws at the end of the sloth’s arms. These
claws allow sloths to hang upside down
from tree branches for most of their lives.
Three-toed sloths are a bit larger and
slower than two-toed sloths. Every sloth
has a flat head with large eyes and a short
snout.
Scientists have discovered the reason why sloths stay still for so long. It has to
do with their diet. Because the leaves that sloths feed on provide very few health
benefits, they must conserve what little energy they have. The sloth’s low body
temperature helps to keep its need for food and water low. The sloth’s lazy lifestyle
may be the key to its long life. Sloths in the wild can live more than 20 years, and
sloths in zoos can live to be about 40. This is a very long life for an animal!
The gentle sloth has evolved, or changed, a great deal over the years. Amazingly,
its prehistoric ancestor was a fierce-looking creature called the giant ground sloth.
This sloth was about the size of an elephant and had huge sharp claws. It made its
home on the ground rather than in trees. Though the giant ground sloth could have
successfully battled other large creatures, it is believed that it mainly used its claws
to strip the leaves and bark off trees.
Many animals in the rain forest, where the sloth lives, are in danger of becoming
extinct because their habitat is disappearing. This means that these animals—
including the endangered three-toed sloth—might not be around in the future.
Regrettably, much of the rain forest is in the process of being destroyed by logging
companies that sell the wood from the trees. Fortunately, there are people around
the world working to save these fascinating slow-moving creatures and the places
where they live.
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56
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1
Which statement best describes
the way the author attracts the
reader’s interest in the first
paragraph?
3
A Sloths on the ground aren’t able
to escape from other animals.
B Sloths do not like to eat the
leaves that grow near the
ground.
C Sloths have trouble climbing up
and down tall trees.
D Sloths only climb onto the floor
at night.
A The author explains what
scientists have discovered.
B The author describes the way
an animal looks.
C The author asks the reader a
specific question.
D The author includes many
details about a place.
2
4
Which sentence reflects an
opinion expressed by the author of
this article?
F
According to information in the
article, which of the following
animals is most closely related to
the sloth?
F
G
H
J
“Sloths stay away from other
animals and spend most of
their lives alone, hanging
upside down from trees.”
G “Two species of sloths exist
today: the two-toed sloth and
the three-toed sloth.”
H “Even when they are awake,
sloths usually remain
motionless.”
J “These strange-looking
creatures are among the most
interesting in the rain forest . . . ”
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Why are sloths rarely seen on the
rainforest floor?
5
According to the article, the main
difference between the two-toed
sloth and the three-toed sloth is
that the two-toed sloth only has
A
B
C
D
57
monkey
cheetah
armadillo
elephant
two toes
two claws
green fur
brown fur
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6
Which statement is supported by information in the article?
7
Read this sentence from the article.
F
G
H
J
Sloths can be found in the rain forests of Africa.
Sloths are the slowest-moving animals in the world.
Sloths is the wild often live to be 40 years old.
The giant ground sloth may still exist today.
If you happen to look at a picture of this solitary animal, you
might mistake it for a monkey.
Which word means about the same as “solitary”?
A
B
C
D
alone
funny
wild
scary
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58
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Part 5: Editing Paragraphs
Directions:
Read this passage and correct the errors in punctuation,
capitalization, and usage.
The Great Wall of China is actually a series of many walls
that have been built together, repaired, and replaced over
thousands of years. It is almost easier to consider the
Great Wall as several different walls? The wall’s history
begins before 700 B.C.E. when several groups of people lived
in what is now China. These people made up separate
Countries and they fought each other and built Walls to keep
enemies away. The Qin Dynasty united all the different
groups about 215 B.C.E, and the emperor ordered the separate
walls connected to protect his new kingdom. Most of that
wall fell apart because it was not well built. That wall was
made of dirt and rocks, but it cemented the use of long
walls for protection in China’s history. In the 1400s; the
Ming Dynasty needed protection from enemies to the north.
The emperor decided to rebuild some of the walls, which were
built hundreds of years earlier. This wall stretched 4,163
miles across Northern China — farther than the distance from
the east coast to the west coast of the United States. The
wall was made of brick and stone, and the chinese
governments have kept most of the wall repaired as an
monument. Now it is a popular tourist site.
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128
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Part 6: Writing Prompts
Prompt 4: Writing a Fictional Story
Think of all the different sections you might find in your local bookstore.
There’s a spot for science fiction, another for mysteries, and even one for
historical fiction. This shows that people enjoy reading different stories for
different reasons. Think about the sort of stories that you enjoy reading.
What makes these stories so memorable? Maybe the plot is very exciting or
the characters make you laugh. Authors usually try to write stories that
they would want to read themselves. Keep this idea in mind while you write
your own short story. Remember to describe your characters and the setting
of your story by including specific details.
In your story, be sure to:
• include information that lets readers know where and when your story is
taking place.
• introduce at least one main character.
• make sure that your story has a clear beginning, middle, and end.
• include details to keep readers interested in your story.
Check your writing for correct spelling, grammar, capitalization, and
punctuation.
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147
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