Read between the lines and prove it

Grade 7 Reading Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   The Quilt Square

   [1] The family quilt had grown for three generations, and each spring Abuela Rosa added a new square. [2] This year she handed Kira a needle, a scrap of blue cloth, and a pencil sketch of a sailboat. [3] "Make it your own," Abuela Rosa said. "I won't touch it." [4] Kira worked every evening for two weeks, unpicking the stitches whenever the sail came out crooked. [5] On the last night, Kira slid the square beneath a stack of library books and left it there until morning. [6] When Abuela Rosa spread the quilt on the table, she studied the squares one by one, running her thumb along each border. [7] Her own square from fifty years ago, a yellow star with uneven points, sat near the middle. [8] "Your great-grandmother put mine right there," Abuela Rosa said. [9] "She told me a quilt is not a museum, it is a family, and families are never perfectly straight." [10] Kira said nothing, but when the quilt was finished, the sailboat square sat beside the yellow star, and its sail was still crooked.

2. 1.

   Ren asks: “What does Kira believe about the square before Abuela Rosa speaks?” Which choice has the best-supported inference and proof?

   • Kira does not care how the sailboat square looks to anyone. Proof: [3] and [5].
   • Kira thinks Abuela Rosa will throw the finished square away as a mistake. Proof: [5] and [6].
   • Kira is following Abuela Rosa's directions exactly as they were given. Proof: [2] and [3].
   • Kira believes the square must look neat to belong in the quilt. Proof: [4] and [5].
3. 2.

   Pia asks why Abuela Rosa points out her own square in [7] and [8]. Which choice is best supported?

   • Abuela Rosa is embarrassed by her own old square. Proof: [6] and [7].
   • Abuela Rosa's yellow star has slightly uneven points. Proof: [7] and [9].
   • Abuela Rosa wants Kira to see that uneven work can have an honored place. Proof: [7] and [8].
   • Abuela Rosa wants Kira to see that uneven work can have an honored place. Proof: [1] and [2].
4. 3.

   Tala asks what [9] suggests about what this family values in its quilt. Which choice is best supported?

   • A quilt is not a museum, it is a family. Proof: [8] and [9].
   • They value tradition, so each square must copy an older design. Proof: [1] and [2].
   • They value crooked stitching more than neat stitching. Proof: [7] and [9].
   • They value belonging and effort more than perfect stitching. Proof: [9] and [10].

5. Winter in the Hive

   [1] Many animals survive the winter by hibernating, but honeybees stay awake. [2] Honeybees cannot fly in the cold, and few flowers bloom, so the colony lives on honey stored during the summer. [3] Inside the hive, the bees gather into a tight ball called a cluster around the queen. [4] The bees on the outside of the cluster face inward, forming an insulating layer. [5] The bees in the middle shiver their flight muscles without moving their wings, and this shivering produces heat. [6] Even when the air outside drops far below freezing, the center of the cluster can stay above 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). [7] The bees slowly rotate, so no single bee stays at the cold edge for long. [8] As the cold continues, the cluster creeps across the honeycomb to reach new stores of honey. [9] A colony that begins winter with too little honey may run out before the weather warms. [10] Beekeepers often leave extra honey in the hive for this reason.

6. 4.

   Bo asks: “A hive has strong bees but almost no stored honey in January. What is likely?” Which choice is best supported?

   • The bees would fly out to find flowers and bring back fresh food. Proof: [1] and [2].
   • The bees would lack fuel to make heat, so the cluster would get cold. Proof: [2] and [5].
   • The colony would be gone within about a week of the honey running low. Proof: [9] and [10].
   • Honeybees stay awake through the winter instead of hibernating like many animals. Proof: [1] and [3].
7. 5.

   Jun asks why the bees slowly rotate in [7]. Which choice gives the best-supported inference?

   • Bees rotate slowly as the whole cluster creeps across the honeycomb. Proof: [7] and [8].
   • Rotating shares the cold outer edge, so no bee is stuck there too long. Proof: [4] and [7].
   • Rotating shows that the queen leaves the cluster for a while each day. Proof: [3] and [7].
   • Rotating lets the bees search different parts of the comb for new honey. Proof: [7] and [8].
8. 6.

   Luz asks why the cluster creeps across the honeycomb in [8]. Which choice is best supported?

   • The bees move toward warmer comb near the entrance. Proof: [5] and [6].
   • The bees move because the queen is looking for flowers. Proof: [2] and [8].
   • The bees move toward fresh honey as the honey near them runs low. Proof: [3] and [4].
   • The bees move toward fresh honey as the honey near them runs low. Proof: [8] and [9].
9. 7.

   Zee asks why the center of the cluster stays warm when the air outside is far below freezing. Which choice is best supported?

   • Bees inside make heat by shivering, and the outer bees hold it in. Proof: [4] and [5].
   • The center of the cluster stays above 20 degrees Celsius in winter. Proof: [5] and [6].
   • The outer bees make the heat that keeps the cluster warm. Proof: [4] and [6].
   • Warm air rising from the stored honey warms the whole cluster. Proof: [2] and [8].

10. A City Counts Its Trees

    [1] In 2015, the city of Marlow counted 48,000 trees along its streets and in its parks. [2] A second count in 2023 found 45,500 trees, a drop of about five percent. [3] City forester Dana Ruiz said the drop was not caused by one event. [4] A windstorm in 2019 toppled 1,100 old maples, which were among the tallest trees in the city. [5] Over the same years, about 2,600 trees were removed after a beetle infestation spread through the ash trees. [6] The city planted 1,200 young trees during this period, but a sapling takes many years to provide the shade of a mature tree. [7] Surveys of three neighborhoods showed that streets with the most remaining old trees were up to four degrees Celsius cooler on summer afternoons. [8] Residents of the neighborhoods that lost the most trees have asked the council for a replanting program. [9] The council has approved funds for 2,000 new trees over the next four years. [10] Ruiz cautions that planting alone will not restore the old canopy for decades.

11. 8.

    Kira asks why the tree count in Marlow fell between 2015 and 2023. Which choice has the best-supported inference?

    • A single windstorm caused the whole drop in the number of trees. Proof: [3] and [4].
    • Removals outnumbered plantings; the beetle losses alone were over twice the new trees. Proof: [5] and [6].
    • The city planted too many young trees, which crowded out the old ones. Proof: [6] and [9].
    • The city planted too few trees because of poor planning by the forester. Proof: [6] and [9].
12. 9.

    Ari asks why residents of the neighborhoods that lost the most trees asked for replanting in [8]. Which choice is best supported?

    • Residents blame the forester for letting so many trees be lost. Proof: [3] and [8].
    • Residents probably connected fewer old trees to hotter streets. Proof: [7] and [8].
    • Residents wanted the beetle infestation studied before any planting began. Proof: [5] and [8].
    • Residents prefer young trees to old ones, since young trees grow fast. Proof: [6] and [8].
13. 10.

    Noah asks: “A neighbor says the storm caused most of the drop of 2,500 trees. Which response is best supported?”

    • The storm toppled 1,100 old maples, which were among the tallest trees in the city. Proof: [3] and [4].
    • The beetle alone explains the whole drop of 2,500 trees in the count, with no help from the storm. Proof: [5] and [6].
    • The neighbor is right, because the storm hit the tallest and oldest trees in the city. Proof: [4] and [7].
    • Beetle removals (2,600) were over twice storm losses (1,100), so the storm was not the main cause. Proof: [4] and [5].