Appendix B: Pre/Post Test and Formative Assessments

Pretest
Name__________________________________________
Date__________________
1. Read the following paragraph and answer the question below:
Emilio took the cap of his head, dropped the baseball bat, and rested his elbows on the
fence. It's not that he couldn't find the ball. It was sitting right in the middle of the lawn,
just beyond the fence. The fence was not very high either. Emilio could probably get a
running start, grab the top of the fence, and flip right over it. But there was a dog, a large
Rottweiler with a spiked collar. He sat under an awning a few feet away from the ball. He
looked at Emilio and let out a menacing growl. Archie, Scotty, and Dutch ran up to Emilio
and surveyed the situation. Archie was the first to speak, "So, are you going to do it,
Emilio?"
What were Emilio and his friends doing right before the text begins?

2. Define the word inference

3. Readers can identify an authors bias by:

a. Looking at the connotations of words in the text
b. Thinking about what information has been left out
c. Both A and B

4. A central idea . . .
a. Tells a reader what the text is about
b. Provides additional information about a point in an essay
c. Describes the personality traits of characters in a story
d. Can only be found in poems

5. Circle the prefix of the word unentitled

6. Circle the suffix of the word unentitled

7. Using context clues, identify the meaning of the word predominating in the following
paragraph:
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in
pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the
vegetable man and the butcher until ones cheeks burned with the silent
imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della
counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be
Christmas. There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little
couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is
made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

Posttest
Name__________________________________________
Date__________________
1. Read the following paragraph and answer the question below:
Gina looked in the mirror at the bright red pustule on her nose. She poked at it carefully, afraid
that it might burst on her dress. It was large and painful. The more she prodded it, the larger it
got. This is not how it was supposed to go! Gina thought to herself. Then she began crying. Her
mother yelled up the stairs, "Gina! Eric is here!" Gina was distraught even more by this news.
Now her makeup was running and just as she feared, some of it got on her dress. "Why me?
Why today?" Gina lamented to herself between sobs and gasps.
Why is Gina upset at the beginning of the passage?

2. Define the word inference

3. Readers can identify an authors bias by:

a. Looking at the connotations of words in the text
b. Thinking about what information has been left out
c. Both A and B

4. A central idea . . .
a. Tells a reader what the text is about
b. Provides additional information about a point in an essay
c. Describes the personality traits of characters in a story
d. Can only be found in poems

5. Circle the prefix of the word inhumanity

6. Circle the suffix of the word inhumanity

7. Using context clues, identify the meaning of the word flourish in the following excerpt
from Stargirl:
When I was little, my Uncle Pete had a necktie with a porcupine painted on it. I thought
that necktie was just about the neatest thing in the world. Uncle Pete would stand
patiently before me while I ran my fingers over the silky surface, half expecting to be
stuck by one of the quills. Once, he let me wear it. I kept looking for one of my own, but I
could never find one.
I was twelve when we moved from Pennsylvania to Arizona. When Uncle Pete came to
say goodbye, he was wearing the tie. I though he did so to give me one last look at it, and
I was grateful. But then, with a dramatic flourish, he whipped off the tie and draped it
around my neck. "It's yours," he said. "Going-away present."

Formative Assessment for Lessons Four and Five

Name_____________________________________
With a partner, use the internet to discover the meanings of the prefixes and/or suffixes of each
word. Then, using information gained from the prefixes and the suffixes, make a guess about
the definition of the word. Write the prefixes and the suffixes as well as your definition next to
each word. Remember: do not look up the definition of the entire word. This should be
your guess, not Websters.
submerged:

literally:

paleontologist:
alerting:

ill-equipped:
massive:

dominant:
obliterated:

ceded:
credentials:

prehistoric:
persuaded:

foreground:

accuracy:

dramatic:

presuming: