Answer the other side fairly, for this reader

Grade 11 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Compost Bins for the Harlow Street Garden (proposal to a neighborhood association in an invented city)

   [1] The Harlow Street Garden has forty-two plots and no place to dispose of the clippings, vines and spoiled produce its gardeners pull each week, so volunteers drive them nine miles to the county drop-off. [2] I propose that the association build three wooden compost bins behind the tool shed, using materials that cost $1,150, so that the gardeners can turn their own waste into soil. [3] The garden now makes about three of these trips each month, and each one occupies two volunteers for most of a Saturday morning.

   [4] The Pellam Road Garden, which has about the same number of plots and sits twelve miles away, built a set of bins two years ago, and its trips to the drop-off fell from three a month to one every two months. [5] Pellam's first batch of finished compost was ready after fourteen months, and its gardeners have not bought bagged soil since then. [6] Our own gardeners spend about $640 on bagged soil every spring, a bill that the bins would eventually erase. [7] Volunteers could build the bins in a weekend, the county extension office has offered a free class on turning the piles, and the association collects about $1,100 in plot fees each June.

   [8] At the March meeting, the treasurer, Mr. Odell, reminded the members that the association's reserve stands at $1,400 and that a roofer has quoted $900 to repair the leaking tool shed, a price the roofer will hold through October. [9] Ms. Tran, whose backyard fence borders the garden, asked whether open piles would draw raccoons and flies in the summer. [10] Mr. Keene said that the garden already asks a great deal of its volunteers and doubted that anyone would turn a pile every week. [11] A newer member asked whether people who do not rent a plot would be allowed to leave their kitchen scraps in the bins.

   [12] The association will vote in April, and the best weeks for building fall in May. [13] Several members told me afterward that they liked the idea but had not decided how to vote. [14] I ask the members to approve the bins in April and to treat the first season as a trial.

2. 1.

   Pia wants a sentence that grants what is true in the treasurer's objection and keeps the proposal. Which sentence does that?

   • Mr. Odell need not worry, because a $1,400 reserve is large enough to pay for the bins and the roof repair together.
   • Mr. Odell is right about the reserve, I suppose, though a treasurer who watches the ledger so closely rarely sees what a garden needs.
   • Mr. Odell is right that the garden cannot afford both projects, so the bins should wait until the roof is fixed and the reserve is rebuilt.
   • Mr. Odell is right that paying $1,150 from a $1,400 reserve would leave $250, far short of the $900 the shed roof needs.
3. 2.

   Ari follows the concession with a rebuttal to the treasurer's objection. Which sentence answers it with evidence from the draft?

   • The reserve would recover in time, because the $1,100 in plot fees due in June arrives months before the roofer's price expires in October.
   • Pellam's trips to the drop-off fell from three a month to six a year, so the bins would spare the volunteers many Saturday mornings.
   • A sign-in sheet at the bins would keep scraps from people without plots out, so the piles would hold the gardeners' own waste.
   • The bins would end the $640 the garden spends on bagged soil each spring, a saving Pellam reached after fourteen months.
4. 3.

   Zee now answers Ms. Tran's worry in sentence [9]. Which sentence grants what is true in her worry and keeps the proposal?

   • Ms. Tran is right that compost draws pests, so the garden should drop the bins and keep driving to the county drop-off.
   • Mr. Odell is right that $1,150 from a $1,400 reserve would leave too little for the shed roof, and the roofer's price is firm through October.
   • Ms. Tran is right that food scraps can draw raccoons and flies, and her yard, which borders the garden, is where neighbors would notice.
   • Ms. Tran has nothing to fear, because a pile of garden waste does not draw raccoons or flies, and her fence line would stay as clean as it is now.

5. Sunday Mornings at the Brandt School Pool (letter to a school board in an invented district)

   [1] The Brandt Middle School pool sits empty from Friday evening until Monday at six thirty, even though the district spends about $41,000 a year to heat, clean and staff it. [2] I ask the board to open the pool to the public on Sunday mornings from eight to eleven, with a fee of four dollars a swimmer. [3] Neighbors who have no pool of their own would gain a place to swim, and the district would gain some income from a building it already owns.

   [4] The Ostrand district opened its middle school pool on Sunday mornings two years ago, and the sessions now average fifty-eight swimmers, or about $232 in fees. [5] Ostrand's costs for each session are two lifeguards at $19 an hour for three hours and one custodian at $60 for the morning, about $174 in all. [6] Four members of our swim team who hold lifeguard certificates have already agreed to take the Sunday shifts, which would spare the district a search for outside staff. [7] Ostrand reports no injuries beyond a few scraped toes, no complaints from neighbors and no closures, and it now does its weekly filter service on Sunday afternoons, after the swimmers have gone.

   [8] At the board's October work session, the facilities director, Ms. Vance, noted that the pool's filters are backwashed and its water chemistry tested each Sunday morning, a routine that takes four hours and cannot be done with swimmers in the water. [9] She added that in 2021 a skipped service led to cloudy water and a three-week closure, which cost the swim team two home meets. [10] Mr. Bell said that he feared a public pool would bring strangers into a school building, although he did not describe any incident that had occurred at Ostrand or elsewhere. [11] A parent wondered whether lifeguards could be found at all, since the district has listed three guard positions as open since September.

   [12] The board meets again on November 9 and has asked for a written proposal before then. [13] I have attached Ostrand's attendance counts and budget so that members can check the figures for themselves. [14] I urge the board to approve a one-semester Sunday trial beginning in January.

6. 4.

   Luz is drafting the counterclaim that follows sentence [11]. Which sentence states the strongest objection in its best form?

   • Ms. Vance's is strongest: the filters get four hours of service on Sunday mornings, and a skipped service in 2021 closed the pool for three weeks.
   • Ms. Vance would apparently rather keep a pool empty for two days a week than let a single neighbor wade into the water, whatever the district could earn.
   • The strongest objection is Mr. Bell's: a public pool would bring strangers into a school building, which parents might not welcome.
   • Ms. Vance said that Sunday morning is a poor time to open the pool to the public, and that the district should think hard before changing its schedule.
7. 5.

   Noah wants a sentence that grants what is true in Ms. Vance's objection and keeps the proposal. Which sentence does that?

   • Mr. Bell is right that a public pool brings strangers into a school building, so an adult should check in each swimmer at the door.
   • Ms. Vance is right that the pool cannot be shared, so the Sunday opening should be dropped and the pool left to the swim team for good.
   • Ms. Vance is mistaken about the service, since the filters can be backwashed safely while swimmers use the pool and the water stays clear.
   • Ms. Vance is right that the filters cannot be serviced with swimmers in the water, and a skipped service once closed the pool.
8. 6.

   Esme follows the concession with a rebuttal to Ms. Vance's objection. Which sentence answers it with evidence from the draft?

   • Four swim-team lifeguards have already agreed to take the Sunday shifts, so the hiring risk a parent raised is covered.
   • Ostrand moved its filter service to Sunday afternoon, after the swimmers leave, and has had no closure since.
   • A pool that the district already heats and staffs should not sit empty on a morning when neighbors want to swim and the district wants income.
   • Ostrand's fifty-eight swimmers pay about $232 in fees against $174 in costs, so a Sunday session more than pays for itself.
9. 7.

   Tala answers the parent's worry in sentence [11] about finding lifeguards. Which sentence answers it with evidence from the draft?

   • Ostrand moved its filter service to Sunday afternoon and has had no closure, so the water would stay safe on Sundays at Brandt too.
   • Four swim-team members already hold lifeguard certificates and have agreed to take the Sunday shifts, so no outside search is needed.
   • Ostrand's lifeguards earn $19 an hour for three hours, a modest sum that the fees of fifty-eight swimmers would more than cover.
   • A Sunday session would give neighbors without a pool a place to swim, which is the reason for the whole plan and a good one.

10. A Friday Pickup for the Dunmore Apartment Blocks (letter to a town committee about an invented town)

    [1] The fourteen apartment blocks on the east side of Dunmore share one recycling pickup each week, on Tuesday, and by Friday the blue bins behind most of them are overflowing onto the pavement. [2] I propose that the town add a second pickup, on Friday morning, for the apartment blocks only, beginning this fall. [3] Residents who cannot fit their bottles and cardboard into a full bin throw them out, and last year the town paid its hauler $11,200 for extra pickups at these same blocks.

    [4] The town of Lathrop added a Friday pickup for its apartment blocks three years ago, and the amount of recycling collected from them has risen by nearly a third, while its trucks use the same kind of narrow rear lanes without any reported blockage. [5] Lathrop's landfill bills fell by about $4,300 in the first year, because each ton of recycling that is collected is a ton of trash that the town does not have to pay to bury. [6] A Friday route through our fourteen blocks, starting at seven in the morning, would take one truck three hours and cost the town $310 each week, or about $16,100 a year. [7] The state recycling program pays seventy percent of the cost of a new pickup route for its first two years, which would cut the town's share to about $4,800 a year during that time.

    [8] At the committee's June meeting, the public works director, Mr. Haas, said that the grant ends after two years, when the town would carry the full $16,100, nearly four times what Lathrop saved on landfill fees. [9] Ms. Ruiz, who lives on the west side, asked why houses there, which pay the same flat recycling fee as the apartment blocks, would keep a single weekly pickup. [10] A committee member worried that trucks might block the narrow lanes behind the blocks, and a resident wondered about bins spoiled by greasy boxes. [11] No one at the meeting disputed that the blocks' bins are full by midweek.

    [12] The committee will report to the full council in September. [13] I have attached the hauler's invoices and Lathrop's landfill bills. [14] I ask the committee to recommend the Friday route for a two-year trial.

11. 8.

    Bo is drafting the counterclaim that follows sentence [11]. Which sentence states the strongest objection in its best form?

    • Mr. Haas's is strongest: after the grant ends, the town would carry the full $16,100 a year, nearly four times the $4,300 Lathrop saved.
    • The strongest objection is Ms. Ruiz's: it is unfair for apartment blocks to receive a second pickup while west-side houses keep one.
    • A route that costs $16,100 would remove $11,200 in extra dumpster pickups and $4,300 in landfill fees, nearly paying for itself.
    • Mr. Haas objected that the Friday route would cost the town more than it can comfortably spend once the state grant has ended.
12. 9.

    Ren follows the concession with a rebuttal to Mr. Haas's objection. Which sentence answers it with evidence from the draft?

    • The town paid its hauler $11,200 last year for extra pickups at these blocks, and Lathrop's $4,300 in savings would nearly cover a $16,100 route.
    • Lathrop's trucks use the same kind of narrow rear lanes behind its blocks and have reported no blockage, so the lanes behind ours would work.
    • The state program would pay seventy percent of the route for its first two years, which brings the town's share to about $4,800 a year.
    • A second pickup would keep bottles and cardboard out of the trash that the town pays to bury, which is the reason for the plan.
13. 10.

    Milo wants to state Ms. Ruiz's own objection in its best form. Which sentence does that?

    • Ms. Ruiz's best case is that west-side houses pay the same flat fee yet would keep one weekly pickup while the blocks receive two.
    • Ms. Ruiz seems to think the town must hand out identical services to each street, whatever that street actually needs from the town.
    • Houses on the west side put out far less recycling than the blocks, so one weekly pickup serves them well enough and the town saves a route.
    • Ms. Ruiz asked whether the houses on the west side would be treated fairly by the new plan, and she wanted the committee to say how.