Enhanced Assessment

NECAP Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) for Reading End of Grade 4

Passage-Related Reading Items for Literary Text: "The Best Summer Night Is . . ."

Items: 1 | 2 (SEE END OF GRADE 5 for additional sample items for this passage.)

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Below is a poem about a summer night. Read the poem and then answer the questions that follow.

The Best Summer Night Is . . .

By Jill Esbaum
  1

The Best Summer Night is …

 
    lying
on a blanket
in the crowded city park,
  5 watching
with my friends
as fireworks
BOOM
Away in the dark.
  10 Sparkling streamers

--pop-- --pop-- --pop-

yellow, blue, and white,
then fall
in glitter stitches
  15 through

the

starry

quilt
of

  20 night.
Reprinted by permission of CRICKET magazine, July 2004, Vol. 31, No. 11, text © 2004 by Jill Esbaum.

Items: 1 | 2

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Passage-Related Reading Items for Literary Text:
"The Best Summer Night Is . . ."

SEE END OF GRADE 5 for additional sample items for this passage
Sample Reading Items for End of Grade 4
Information about the Items
1. What is the main event in the poem?

A. The speaker meets a few friends.
B. The speaker rests on a quilt.
C. Fireworks light up the sky.
D. Fireworks scare the speaker.

Key: C

R-4-4.1 (identify events)

Item Type: MC - related to passage

Alignment to GLE R-4-4.1: Demonstrate initial understanding of elements of literary texts by… Identifying or describing major events or plot, as appropriate to text

Depth of Knowledge: Level 1 - Identify or describe characters, setting, sequence of events
2. The speaker describes the best summer night. Use details from the poem to explain what is best about this night.

Key: Scoring Guide

R-4-4.1 (describe events)

Item Type: CR - related to passage

Alignment to GLE R-4-4.1: Demonstrate initial understanding of elements of literary texts by… Identifying or describing major events or plot, as appropriate to text

Depth of Knowledge: Level 2 - Identify and summarize the major events in a literary text

 

Supplemental Information about Text Passages Used for End of Grade 4
Title of Passage
Text Type
Text Descriptors
"The Best Summer Night Is… (poem)" by Jill Esbaum

Literary

Poetry
  • Includes familiar setting (summer night, city park)
  • Varied vocabulary, but generally familiar; use of descriptive language and imagery (e.g., glitter stitches, starry quilt, BOOM)
  • Use of (narrator's) voice - told in first person
  • Content builds from familiar experiences (e.g., summer, fireworks)
  • Straightforward text structure
  • Limited range of punctuation used - ellipses, dash, comma, period
For more information about "Increasing Text Complexity," see NECAP Reading GLEs Grades 3-8 - Appendix F
For more information about Suggested Informational and Literary Texts, see NECAP Reading GLEs Grades 3-8 - Appendix A

Items: 1 | 2

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© January 2005. Produced in partnership with New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont Departments of Education, Education Development Center, and the Center for Assessment. Permission to photocopy is granted for use in individual classrooms and professional development settings.