A four-paragraph reading about Clara, a twelve-year-old on the Oregon Trail in 1848, fills page 1 of this 4-page 5th grade sheet. It covers the 2,000-mile journey from Missouri, walking beside the wagons, Chimney Rock, river crossings and cholera, and trade with Native peoples such as the Pawnee, Lakota and Shoshone. Nine questions follow on pages 2 and 3, and page 4 holds the answer key.
RI.5.1
“Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.”
Questions 6, 7 and 9 ask for details, a quoted phrase and two pieces of evidence from the passage.
L.5.4a
“Use context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.”
Question 5 asks what stout means in the sentence about Clara's boots.
Four paragraphs with a picture of an ox-drawn wagon. They cover the route, the daily walk, the landmarks and dangers, and what the trail meant for Native homelands.
Three multiple choice questions on the trail's length and time, the animals that pulled wagons and the two biggest dangers, then a written answer on how landmarks such as Chimney Rock helped.
Question 5 asks what stout means in context. Questions 6 to 8 ask why pioneers left in spring, a true or false item with a quoted phrase, and how trade helped both groups.
One five-line answer that uses two pieces of evidence from paragraph 4 to show the trail brought both trade and harm to Native nations.
Letters for questions 1 to 3 and 5, model answers for the written questions and sample quotes for question 7.
Annotate first
Have students mark the four dangers and two trades as they read. Questions 3, 8 and 9 then take far less hunting.
Question 7
The item asks students to circle True or False, but the options are not printed. Tell them to write the word before the quote.
Question 9 discussion
Talk through paragraph 4 before students write. The trail meant trade for some Native nations and lost buffalo, grass and timber for others.
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