Version B — Grade 3 ELA Practice Test

On the first day of third grade, Ms. Vega asked everyone two questions. The first was: "What is something you are good at?" The second was: "What is something you want to get better at?" Most kids answered quickly. Priya said she was good at math and wanted to get better at drawing. Jaylen said he was good at soccer and wanted to get better at spelling. When it was Tomás's turn, he sat very still. "I don't know," he said quietly. Ms. Vega did not move on. "That's an interesting answer," she said. "Can you say more?" "I don't know what I'm good at. I'm sort of okay at everything but not really good at anything." The class was quiet. Tomás felt his face get warm. "Being observant enough to notice that takes a lot of self-awareness," Ms. Vega said. "And I would call that a skill." Tomás had never thought about observation as a skill. He looked around the room and noticed: the spider plant by the window had three new leaves, the clock was three minutes fast, and there were exactly twenty-two books on the shelf behind the teacher's desk. He had not realized until that moment that he was always doing that.

Every year, billions of animals around the world make long journeys called migrations. They travel to find food, warmer weather, or better places to raise their young. Migration is one of nature's most extraordinary events. Birds are among the most famous migrators. The Arctic tern makes the longest migration of any animal, traveling from the Arctic to Antarctica and back each year—a round trip of about 44,000 miles. Many songbirds migrate at night, using the stars to navigate. But birds are not the only migrators. Wildebeest travel in herds of over a million animals across the African savanna, following the rains to find fresh grass. Gray whales swim along the Pacific coast from their feeding grounds in the Arctic to warm lagoons in Mexico where they give birth. Even insects migrate. Monarch butterflies travel up to 3,000 miles from Canada to forests in central Mexico each fall. Scientists are still studying how these small insects find their way to forests they have never seen. Migration can be dangerous. Animals face predators, bad weather, and shrinking habitats along their routes. Climate change is shifting the timing and patterns of migration for many species, making an already challenging journey even more difficult. Despite these challenges, most migrating animals complete their journeys—one of nature's greatest feats of navigation and endurance.

Every afternoon, Rory sat in the window seat with a book while the neighborhood kids played outside. His mother sometimes stood at the kitchen door and watched him, wondering what was happening in his head. "Don't you want to go play?" she asked. "I am playing," Rory said, without looking up. His mother did not always understand this answer, but she had learned to leave it alone. What Rory did not say was that he was not just reading—he was also watching. From the window, he could see Dani fall off her bike and get up without crying. He could see Mr. Osei watering his roses and humming to himself. He could see the new kid, Miles, kicking a can down the sidewalk alone, looking like he didn't know how to start. One afternoon, Rory put down his book, went outside, and walked up to Miles. "Do you want to see something?" he said. He took Miles to the drainage ditch at the end of the block, where frogs lived in the reeds. He had been watching them for a week from the window. Miles stayed for two hours. When he finally left, he said he'd never had a better afternoon in the new neighborhood. Rory went back to his window. He picked up his book. But this time he felt a little different about the inside of his house and the outside of it.

Every fall, the leaves on many trees turn yellow, orange, and red before dropping to the ground. For centuries, people admired this change without knowing the science behind it. Today we understand exactly why it happens. Green leaves get their color from a chemical called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll helps leaves absorb sunlight and use it to make food for the tree. During the spring and summer, trees produce so much chlorophyll that it covers up all the other colors in the leaves. When days get shorter and nights grow cooler in autumn, trees prepare for winter. They begin to seal off each leaf by forming a layer of cells at the base of the leaf stem. This cuts off the flow of water and nutrients. Without fresh supplies, the chlorophyll in the leaves breaks down and fades. As it disappears, other colors that were hidden underneath all summer become visible. Yellows and oranges are revealed by pigments called carotenoids that were there all along. Reds and purples come from a different pigment called anthocyanin, which is produced in response to bright light and cool temperatures in autumn. When the sealing layer is complete, the leaf falls. The tree keeps most of its nutrients safely stored in its trunk and roots, ready to be used again when spring returns.

The jigsaw puzzle had been on the dining room table for two weeks. It showed a map of the world with 1,000 pieces, and it was almost finished. Almost. One piece was missing. Nadia had looked everywhere. Under the table, behind the radiator, inside the couch cushions. Her father had helped. Her little brother Kai claimed he hadn't touched it, but he said that about everything. Then one afternoon, Nadia found it. It was in her own jacket pocket. She had no memory of putting it there. Looking at the piece—a small blue rectangle of ocean somewhere near New Zealand—she felt embarrassed and then, strangely, relieved. She pressed the piece into place. It fit with a small, satisfying click. "I found it," she called. Her father came to look. He did not say "I told you it would turn up" or "Where was it?" He just put his arm around her shoulders and they both stood there looking at the finished map. Sometimes, Nadia thought, things end better than you expected them to.

Coral reefs are sometimes called the "rainforests of the sea." Like rainforests, they are home to an enormous number of species—even though they cover only about one percent of the ocean floor. Scientists estimate that coral reefs support about 25 percent of all marine species. Despite their name, corals are animals, not plants. A coral reef is built from the skeletons of tiny animals called coral polyps. Each polyp secretes a hard shell of calcium carbonate around itself. Over thousands of years, billions of these shells stack on top of one another, building the massive reef structures we see today. Coral polyps depend on a relationship with tiny algae called zooxanthellae that live inside their tissues. The algae use sunlight to produce food through photosynthesis, sharing that energy with the coral. In return, the coral provides the algae with shelter and nutrients. This partnership is what makes coral reefs possible in the warm, clear, shallow waters of tropical oceans. When water temperatures rise too much, this partnership breaks down. The coral expels its algae, turning white—a process called coral bleaching. Without the algae, the coral loses most of its energy source and can starve. Bleached coral can recover if temperatures return to normal quickly, but repeated bleaching weakens and eventually kills the reef. Scientists estimate that about half of the world's coral reefs have been damaged or destroyed over the past few decades, primarily because of warming ocean temperatures. Protecting reefs requires reducing the carbon emissions that cause ocean warming—one of the most urgent environmental challenges of our time.