North Region
November
METS
6th Grade Reading
2009
Measure of Effective Teaching Strategies
Read this selection. Then answer the questions that follow it.
A Day's Wait
by Ernest Hemingway
1
He came into the room to shut the windows while we were
still in bed and I saw he looked ill. He was shaking, his face was
white, and he walked slowly as though it ached to move.
2
"What's the matter, Schatz?"
3
"I've got a headache."
4
"You better go back to bed."
5
"No, I'm all right."
6
"You go to bed. I'll see you when I'm dressed."
7
But when I came downstairs he was dressed, sitting by the
fire, looking a very sick and miserable boy of nine years. When I put
my hand on his forehead I knew he had a fever.
8
"You go up to bed," I said, "you're sick."
9
"I'm all right," he said.
10
When the doctor came he took the boy's temperature.
11
What is it?" I asked him
12
"One hundred and two."
13
Downstairs, the doctor left three different medicines in
different-colored capsules with instructions for giving them. One
was to bring down the fever, another a laxative, the third to
overcome an acid condition. The germs of the flu can only exist in
an acid condition, he explained. He seemed to know all about the flu
and said there was nothing to worry about if the fever did not go
above one hundred and four degrees. This was a light spread of flu
and there was no danger if you avoided pneumonia.
14
Back in the room I wrote the boy's temperature down and
made a note of the time to give the various medicines.
North Region Grade 6 English Fall 09
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My notes about what I am
reading
15
"Do you want me to read to you?"
16
"All right. If you want to,” said the boy. His face was very
white and there were dark areas under his eyes. He lay still in the
bed and seemed very seperated from what was going on.
17
I read aloud from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates; I could see
he was not following what I was reading.
18
"How do you feel, Schatz?" I asked him.
19
"Just the same, so far," he said.
20
I sat at the foot of the bed and read to myself while I waited
for it to be time to give dose of medicine. It would have been natural
for him to go to sleep, but when I looked up he was looking at the
foot of the bed, looking very strangely.
21
"Why don't you try to go to sleep? I'll wake you up for the
medicine."
22
23
"I'd rather stay awake."
After a while he said to me, "You don't have to stay in here
with me, Papa, if it bothers you."
24
"It doesn't bother me,"
25
"No, I mean you don't have to stay if it's going to bother
you.”
26
I thought perhaps he was a little dizzy and after giving him
the prescribed medicines at eleven o'clock I went out for a while.
27
It was a bright, cold day, the ground covered with a sleet that
had frozen so that it seemed as if all the bare trees, the bushes, the
cut brush, and all the grass and the bare ground had been varnished
with ice. I took the young Irish setter for a little walk up the road
and along a frozen creek, but it was difficult to stand or walk on the
glassy surface and the red dog slipped and slithered and I fell twice,
hard, once dropping my gun and having it slide away over the ice.
28
We flushed a group of quail under a high clay bank with
overhanging brush and I killed two as they went out of sight over
the top of the bank. Some of the covey lit in trees, but most of them
seperated into brush piles and it was necessary to jump on the iceNorth Region Grade 6 English Fall 09
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My notes about what I am
reading
coated pile of brush several times before they would flush. Coming
out while you were calm not firm on the icy, springy brush, they
made difficult shooting and I killed two, missed five, and started
back pleased to have found a covey close to the house and happy
there were so many left to find on another day.
29
30
31
32
33
At the house they said the boy had refused to let anyone
come into the room.
"You can't come in," he said, "You mustn't get what I have."
I went up to him and found him in exactly the position I had
left him, white-faced, but with the tops of his cheeks red by the
fever, staring still, as he had stared, at the foot of the bed. I took his
temperature.
"What is it?"
"Something like a hundred," I said. It was one hundred
and two and four tenths.
34
"It was a hundred and two," he said.
35
"Who said so?"
36
"The doctor."
37
"Your temperature is all right," I said. "It's nothing to
worry about."
38
"I don't worry,” he said, “but I can't keep from thinking."
39
"Don't think," I said. "Just take it easy."
40
41
"I'm taking it easy," he said and looked straight ahead. He
was evidently holding tight onto himself about something.
"Take this with water."
42
"Do you think it will do any good?"
43
"Of course it will."
44
I sat down and opened the pirate book and started to read,
but I could see he was not following, so I stopped.
45
"About what time do you think I'm going to die?" he
North Region Grade 6 English Fall 09
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My notes about what I am
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asked.
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
My notes about what I am
reading
"What?"
"About how long will it be before I die?"
"You aren't going to die. What's the matter with you?"
"Oh, yes, I am. I heard him say a hundred and two."
"People don't die with a fever of one hundred and two.
That's a silly way to talk."
"I know they do. At school in France the boys told me you
can't live with forty-four degrees. I've got a hundred and two."
He had been waiting to die all day, ever since nine o' clock
in the morning.
"You poor Schatz," I said. "Poor old Schatz. It's like miles
and kilometers. You aren't going to die. That's a different
thermometer. On that thermometer thirty-seven is normal. On this
kind it's ninety-eight."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely," I said. "It's like miles and kilometers. You
know like how many kilometers we make when we do seventy miles
in the car?"
"Oh," he said.
But his gaze at the foot of the bed relaxed slowly. The
hold over him relaxed too, finally, and the next day it was very
calm and he cried very easily at little things that were of no
importance.
North Region Grade 6 English Fall 09
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Read "A Day's Wait" by Ernest Hemingway to answer questions 1-12.
1
4
The father’s main problem in the
story is—
In paragraph 27, the word
varnished means—
A he must call the doctor for his son
F melted
B he misses five quail
G dulled
C his son, Schatz, thinks he is going
to die
H sparkled
J
cleaned
D his son does not follow what he
reads to him
5
2
Why does the doctor give Schatz
different medications?
F to provide capsules of different
colors
G to show that there is nothing to
worry about if the fever does not
rise
The author’s choice of words in
paragraphs 29-31 establishes a tone
that is—
A
serious
B
confused
C
regretful
D
hopeful
H to treat all symptoms of the
influenza
6
J
3
to give the father many things to do
for his ill son
Schatz believes he is going to die
because—
F he is confused about miles and
kilometers
Paragraphs 26-28 are important
because they—
G he is not interested in listening
to the book his father is reading
to him
A show how the father hunts quail in
the winter
B set up the conflict in the story
H he is confusing the European
system for measuring
temperature with the American
system
C provide clues that the father is not
overly concerned about his son’s
illness
J
D describe why Schatz is lightheaded
and ill
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he has been ill for a long time
and is ready to give up
7
8
In paragraph 33, why does the father say
"something like a hundred" after taking
his son's temperature?
Which of these is the best
summary of the selection?
F A father goes quail hunting on
a bright clear morning. New frost
on the ground makes for
treacherous walking conditions.
The father slips and his gun slides
across the ice, scaring a covey of
quail.
A The thermometer is hard to read.
B The father does not want to worry
his son.
C The father does not want to bore his
son with exact details.
G Schatz becomes ill and runs a high
temperature. Thinking his
temperature is being measured
in Celsius units, Schatz thinks
he is going to die. Once his father
explains to him that his
temperature is normal in
Fahrenheit units, he is relieved.
D The doctor had said not to worry if
the fever did not go above one
hundred and four degrees.
H After returning to the United States
from France, Schatz becomes quite
ill with a high fever. He does not
want his father to sit with him
while he rests. Schatz suggests
that his father goes quail hunting.
J
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A doctor is summoned to check on
Schatz who is running a high fever.
The doctor reassures Schatz's
father that it is just the flu, and he
will be well in a day or two.
Schatz is so pleased to hear this
news because he thought he was
going to die.
9
11
Which sentence from the story
supports the idea that Schatz thinks he
is dying from a serious disease?
Which of these statements best
describes Schatz's attitude at the
end of the story?
A His face was very white and there
were dark areas under his eyes.
A Schatz continues to fear that he
will die.
B It would have been natural for him
to go to sleep, but when I looked up
he was looking at the foot of the
bed, looking very strangely.
B Schatz cries easily because he
is dying.
C Schatz thinks his father does
not understand how to read a
thermometer
C "I'm taking it easy," he said and
looked straight ahead.
D Schatz calms down and lets his
emotions show.
D "You can't come in," he said "You
mustn't get what I have.”
12
10 What did Schatz have to do before he
felt reassured that he wasn't going to
die?
F persuade readers to learn the
difference between Celsius and
Fahrenheit
F He had to reveal to his papa his
misconception about Celsius and
Fahrenheit temperatures.
G entertain readers with a story
about a simple misconception
G He had to take the prescribed
medicine left for him by the doctor.
H explain how to care for
someone who has influenza
H He had to convince his papa that he
did not have to stay with him.
J
J
He had to follow the doctor's
instructions to stay in bed and
drink plenty of fluids.
North Region Grade 6 English Fall 09
The author probably wrote this
selection to—
7
describe what it is like to be ill
with influenza
Read this selection. Then answer the questions that follow it.
Thank You, M’am
Short Story by Langston Hughes
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
She was a large woman with a large purse that had
everything in it but hammer and nails. It had a long strap, and
she carried it slung across her shoulder. It was about eleven
o’clock at night, and she was walking alone, when a boy ran up
behind her and tried to snatch her purse. The strap broke with
the single tug the boy gave it from behind. But the boy’s
weight and the weight of the purse combined caused him to
lose his balance so, instead of taking off full blast as he had
hoped, the boy fell on his back on the sidewalk, and his legs
flew up. The large woman simply turned around and kicked
him right square in his blue-jeaned sitter. Then she reached
down, picked the boy up by his shirt front, and shook him until
his teeth rattled.
After that the woman said, “Pick up my pocketbook,
boy, and give it here.” She still held him. But she bent down
enough to allow him to stoop and pick up her purse. Then she
said, “Now ain’t you ashamed of yourself?”
Firmly gripped by his shirt front, the boy said,
“Yes’m.”
The woman said, “What did you want to do it for?”
The boy said, “I didn’t aim to.”
She said, “You a lie!”
By that time two or three people passed, stopped,
turned to look, and some stood watching.
“If I turn you loose, will you run?” asked the woman.
She did not release him.
“I’m very sorry, lady, I’m sorry,” whispered the boy.
“Um-hum! And your face is dirty. I got a great mind to
wash your face for you. Ain’t you got nobody home to tell you
to wash your face?”
“No’m,” said the boy.“ Then it will get washed this
evening,” said the large woman starting up the street, dragging
the scarred boy behind her.
He looked as if he were fourteen or fifteen, skinny and
willow-wild, in tennis shoes and blue jeans.
The woman said, “You ought to be my son. I would
teach you right from wrong. Least I can do right now is to
wash your face. Are you hungry?”
North Region Grade 6 English Fall 09
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Notes about what I am
reading
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
“No’m,” said the being-dragged boy. “I just want you
to turn me loose.”
“Was I bothering you when I turned that corner?” asked
the woman.
“No’m.”
“But you put yourself in contact with me,” said the
woman. “If you think that that contact is not going to last
awhile, you got another thought coming. When I get through
with you, sir, you are going to remember Mrs. Luella Bates
Washington Jones.”
Sweat popped out on the boy’s face and he began to
struggle. Mrs. Jones stopped, jerked him around in front of
her, put a half nelson about his neck, and continued to drag him
up the street. When she got to her door, she dragged the boy
inside, down a hall, and into a large kitchenette-furnished room
at the rear of the house. She pulled him by the collar as she
switched on the light and left the door open. The boy could
here other people laughing and talking in the large house.
Some of their doors were open, too, so he knew he and the
woman were not alone. The woman still had him by the neck
in the middle of her room.
She said, “What is your name?”
“Roger,” answered the boy.
“Then, Roger, you go to that sink and wash your face,”
said the woman, whereupon she turned him loose—at last.
Roger looked at the door—looked at the woman—looked at the
door—looked at the woman—looked at the door—and went to
the sink.
“Let the water run until it gets warm,” she said.
“Here’s a clean towel.”
“You gonna take me to jail?” asked the boy, bending
over the sink.
“Not with that face, I would not take you nowhere,”
said the woman. “Here I am trying to get home to cook me a
bite to eat and you snatch my pocketbook! Maybe you ain’t
been to your supper either, late as it be. Have you?”
“There’s nobody home at my house,” said the boy.
“Then we’ll eat,” said the woman. “I believe you’re
hungry—or been hungry—to try to snatch my pocketbook.”
“I wanted a pair of blue suede shoes,” said the boy.
“Well, you didn’t have to snatch my pocketbook to get
some suede shoes,” said Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones.
“You could of asked me.”
“Ma’m?”
The water dripping from his face, the boy looked at her.
There was a long pause. A very long pause. After he had dried
North Region Grade 6 English Fall 09
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Notes about what I am
reading
his face and not knowing what else to do dried it again, the boy
turned around, wondering what next. The door was open. He
could make a dash for it down the hall. He could run, run, run,
run, run!
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
The woman was sitting on the day-bed. After a while she said,
“I were young once and I wanted things I could not get.”
There was another long pause. The boy’s mouth
opened. Then he frowned, but not knowing he frowned.
The woman said, “Um-hum! You thought I was going
to say but, didn’t you? You thought I was going to say, but I
didn’t snatch people’s pocketbooks. Well, I wasn’t going to
say that.” Pause. Silence. “I have done things, too, which I
would not tell you, son, neither tell God, if he didn’t already
know. So you set down while I fix us something to eat. You
might run that comb through your hair so you will look ok.”
In another corner of the room behind a screen was a gas
plate and an icebox. Mrs. Jones got up and went behind the
screen. The woman did not watch the boy to see if he was
going to run now, nor did she watch her purse which she left
behind her on the day-bed. But the boy took care to sit on the
far side of the room where he thought she could easily see him
out of the corner of her eye, if she wanted to. He did not trust
the woman not to trust him. And he did not want to be
mistrusted now.
“Do you need somebody to go to the store,” asked the
boy, “Maybe to get some milk or something?”
“Don’t believe I do,” said the woman, “unless you just
want sweet milk yourself. I was going to make cocoa out of
this canned milk I got here.”
“That will be fine,” said the boy.
She heated some lima beans and ham she had in the
icebox, made the cocoa, and set the table. The woman did not
ask the boy anything about where he lived, or his folks, or
anything else that would embarrass him. She didn’t want to
make him feel self-conscious. Instead, as they ate, she told him
about her job in a hotel beauty shop that stayed open late, what
North Region Grade 6 English Fall 09
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Notes about what I am
reading
40
41
42
43
the work was like, and how all kinds of women came in and
out, blonds, redheads, and Spanish. Then she cut him a half of
her ten-cent cake.
“Eat some more, son,” she said.
When they were finished eating she got up and said,
“Now, here, take this ten dollars and buy yourself some blue
suede shoes. And next time, do not make the mistake of
grabbing onto my pocketbook nor nobody else’s — because
shoes come by evil like that will burn your feet. I got to get my
rest now. But I wish you would behave yourself, son, from
here on in.”
She led him down the hall to the front door and opened
it. “Goodnight! Behave yourself, boy!” she said, looking out
into the street.
The boy wanted to say something else other than
“Thank you, m’am” to Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones,
but he couldn’t do so as he turned at the barren stoop and
looked back at the large woman in the door. He barely
managed to say “Thank you” before she shut the door. And he
never saw her again.
North Region Grade 6 English Fall 09
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Notes about what I am
reading
Use "Thank you, M'am" by Langston Hughes to answer questions 13 - 23.
16 Mrs. Jones's tone in paragraph 34
can best be described as—
13 Mrs. Jones does not ask Roger
anything about his life because—
F condescending
A she has no interest in knowing
further information about Roger
G understanding
B she knows he would treat her better
if they met on the street again
H hopeful
J
C she knows that is the first step in
getting him to admit his guilt
confused
17 The setting of the story is
important because it helps the
reader understand—
D she speculates he has a family
situation he would rather not talk
about
A what steps to take to prevent
being mugged
14 In paragraphs 8-12 the author creates a
mood of—
B why ten dollars was such a
treasure
F relief
C how critical Roger's actions
were
G distress
H sympathy
J
D why Mrs. Jones was able to
handle her situation
sorrow
15 Paragraphs 27-29 are important to this
story because they—
A show the effects of poverty
B present a solution to the main
conflict
C show that Mrs. Jones is a caring
and generous person
D prove Roger is foolish
North Region Grade 6 English Fall 09
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19 Which sentence from the story
supports the idea that Mrs. Jones
probably understood why Roger
tried to snatch her purse?
18 Look at the diagram of information from the
story.
Cause Effect
The strap of the
heavy purse broke.
A "I would teach you right from
wrong."
The boy lost his
balance.
B "When I get through with you
sir, you are going to remember
Mrs. Luella Bates Washington
Jones."
The boy tried to
steal the purse.
The boy looked
hungry.
C "Maybe you ain't been to your
supper either, late as it be."
D "I have done things, too, which
I would not tell you, son—
neither tell God, if he didn't
know already."
Mrs. Jones fed him.
20 In paragraph 35, Roger sits where
Mrs. Jones can see him because—
What information belongs in the empty box?
F he doesn't want her to call the
police
F The boy often stole because he was poor.
G The boy wanted something he probably
couldn't afford.
G he is watching her so he can
steal her purse again
H The boy thought Mrs. Jones looked rich.
J
H he wanted to prove he is
trustworthy
The boy had no family.
J
North Region Grade 6 English Fall 09
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he is watching to see what she
is cooking
23 After reading the selection, the
reader can conclude that Mrs.
Jones—
21 When Mrs. Jones says "shoes come by
devilish like that will burn your feet,"
she means—
A has had her purse stolen
A Roger can get burned and go to jail
for stealing
B knows and understands what
kind of life Roger is living
B the devil will come after Roger for
stealing from others
C will look for Roger on the
street and have him arrested
C Roger would not enjoy wearing the
shoes because he would feel guilty
D will never be mugged on the
street
D suede shoes are hot on people's feet
24 Which phrase from the passage
helps the reader understand the
meaning of the word dragged in
paragraph 19?
22 At the end of the story when Roger
wanted to say more than "Thank you,
M'am," the reader can conclude that—
F Roger has learned this behavior
from previous similar experiences
F she pulled him by the collar
G Roger has never had anyone
demonstrate this kind of behavior
toward him before
G wash your face
H Roger wants to plan a more
elaborate way to show his
thankfulness
J still had him by the neck
J
H their doors were open
25 In paragraph 39, the word
embarrass means —
It takes many experiences with this
type of situation before one can
respond appropriately
A fright
B humiliate
C surprise
D shock
North Region Grade 6 English Fall 09
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