Write a clear claim or thesis

Grade 8 Reading Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Street Trees for Maple Park (source-based argument draft)

   [1] On hot afternoons in Maple Park, the city's densest neighborhood, the pavement is so hot that residents have long asked for shade.

   [2] Street trees are good for the neighborhoods that have them. [3] Engineer Ruth Alvarez led a Westbrook Climate Lab study of 40 blocks in one July week. [4] Blocks with at least 30 percent tree cover averaged 6 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than blocks with under 10 percent. [5] The researchers noted that the shadier blocks also had more grass and fewer parking lots, so tree cover was only one difference. [6] The parks department says a tree costs $210 a year to care for, while the cooling center costs $48,000 a year to run. [7] Its memo says planting Cutler and Fifth Avenues, about 120 trees, would cost under $26,000 a year.

   [8] Maple Park Clinic recorded 18 heat-related visits last summer, down from 29 two summers earlier. [9] Dr. Omar Hale credits a cooling center that opened in June, and the city had planted only a few saplings by then.

   [10] Some council members counter that young trees give little shade, so residents would wait years for relief. [11] The parks department agrees that saplings shade little at first, so it proposes temporary shade structures until the trees grow. [12] The cooling center serves emergencies, but trees would cool the streets where people walk, wait for buses and play every day.

   [13] Planting along Cutler and Fifth Avenues is therefore a sound investment, if the city also measures temperatures to confirm the benefit.

2. 1.

   Jun thinks sentence [2], “Street trees are good for the neighborhoods that have them,” is too broad. Which sentence should replace it?

   • The city should close the cooling center and spend its yearly budget on a new neighborhood park.
   • The city should plant trees along Cutler and Fifth Avenues, because shaded blocks ran cooler and trees cost less than the cooling center.
   • The city should plant trees along Cutler and Fifth Avenues, because trees will end heat illness in Maple Park and make the cooling center unnecessary.
   • Cities should plant trees on their streets, because trees improve neighborhoods in many different ways.
3. 2.

   Kira wants a thesis that states the claim and previews the two reasons the sources support, in order. Which sentence should replace [2]?

   • The city should plant trees along Cutler and Fifth Avenues, because trees cool streets by 6 degrees and cost less than the cooling center.
   • The city should plant trees along Cutler and Fifth Avenues, because shaded blocks measured cooler, the trees cost less than the cooling center, and they reduce heat illness.
   • The city should plant trees along Cutler and Fifth Avenues, because tree-shaded blocks measured cooler and the trees cost less to maintain than the cooling center.
   • The city should plant trees along Cutler and Fifth Avenues, because tree-shaded blocks measured cooler in the Westbrook study.
4. 3.

   Luz reads a classmate's suggested thesis: “Trees cool a street by 6 degrees, so the city should plant them.” What is the main problem with it?

   • It treats the 6-degree gap between blocks as the effect of trees, although other differences were also present.
   • It is too broad for the draft to support, because the evidence covers just one week of readings on one set of blocks.
   • It uses informal words that do not belong in a thesis.
   • It states a plain fact about temperatures, so nothing is left to argue.
5. 4.

   Milo wants a replacement for [2] that also answers the council members' objection in [10]. Which sentence does that?

   • The city should plant trees along Cutler and Fifth Avenues and add temporary shade until they grow, because trees cool streets and cost less.
   • Cities should look for many ways to make neighborhoods cooler, including shade, parks and water.
   • The city should plant trees along Cutler and Fifth Avenues, because young trees will cool the streets as soon as they are planted and stay cool through the summer.
   • The city should replace the cooling center with a larger park, because parks cool a neighborhood better than trees do.
6. 5.

   Noah wants a thesis that previews the three points in the body that answer the objection too. Which sentence should replace [2]?

   • The city should plant trees along Cutler and Fifth Avenues, because trees cool streets, cost less than the cooling center and can be paired with shade structures while they grow.
   • The city should plant trees along Cutler and Fifth Avenues, because trees cool streets, cost less than the cooling center and shade the avenues right away, with no further care needed.
   • The city should plant trees along Cutler and Fifth Avenues, because trees cool streets and can be paired with shade structures while they grow.
   • The city should plant trees along Cutler and Fifth Avenues, because trees cool streets, cost less than the cooling center and lower the number of clinic visits.
7. 6.

   Pia reads a classmate's suggested thesis: “Clinic visits fell from 29 to 18, so the city should plant trees.” What is the main problem with it?

   • It uses evidence related to heat that does not show an effect of trees, since the clinic credits the cooling center.
   • It uses informal words that do not belong in a thesis.
   • It states a plain fact about clinic visits, so nothing is left to argue.
   • It is too broad for the draft to support, because the evidence covers just one summer of records from a single clinic in Maple Park.

8. A Four-Day Week in Pike County (source-based argument draft)

   [1] Facing a $380,000 budget gap, the Pike County school board voted last spring to try a four-day week at two rural elementary schools.

   [2] A shorter school week can work well for rural schools. [3] The district's finance office says the schedule saved $212,000 in the first year. [4] Most of the savings came from bus fuel, cafeteria staffing and building utilities. [5] Reading scores on the state test held steady, moving from 71 to 72 out of 100, a change within normal yearly swings. [6] Math scores, however, slipped from 68 to 65, and superintendent Elena Park said the drop "deserves attention."

   [7] In a district survey, 83 percent of the families who replied said they preferred the shorter week. [8] Only 410 of the district's 960 families replied, though, so the results may favor families with strong views. [9] Second-grade teacher Marcus Bell reported that his students seem "calmer and readier" on the four longer days, an impression he has not measured.

   [10] Parent Tanya Ortiz argues that young children cannot manage longer days and that poor families lose a free school meal on the fifth day. [11] The district answered the meal concern by opening a Friday food pantry that served 140 children in its first month. [12] The pantry addresses hunger, but it does not answer the worry about long days, and no data yet bear on that question.

   [13] Continuing the pilot for a second year is therefore reasonable, if the board tracks math scores and attendance.

9. 7.

   Ren thinks sentence [2], “A shorter school week can work well for rural schools,” is too broad. Which sentence should replace it?

   • The four-day week raised student achievement in Pike County, so the board should keep it for good, whatever the math scores show.
   • Pike County should continue its four-day week for a second year, because it saved money without lowering reading scores.
   • The board should add a fifth school day devoted to math tutoring for the two elementary schools.
   • Rural districts should adopt four-day weeks to solve their budget problems in the coming years.
10. 8.

    Tala wants a thesis that states the claim and previews the three reasons the sources support, in order. Which sentence should replace [2]?

    • The board should continue the four-day week for a second year, because it saved $212,000 and is preferred by most responding families.
    • The board should continue the four-day week for a second year, because it saved $212,000, kept reading scores steady and is preferred by most responding families.
    • The board should continue the four-day week for a second year, because it saved $212,000, kept reading and math scores steady and is preferred by families.
    • The board should continue the four-day week for a second year, because it saved money, raised reading scores and is preferred by families in the district.
11. 9.

    Zee reads a classmate's suggested thesis: “Because 83 percent of families prefer the four-day week, the board should continue it.” What is the main problem with it?

    • It is too broad for the draft to support, because the evidence covers only two small elementary schools.
    • It states a plain fact about the survey, so nothing is left to argue.
    • It treats the 410 families who replied as if they spoke for all 960 families in the district.
    • It uses informal words that do not belong in a thesis.
12. 10.

    Ari wants a replacement for [2] that admits the math decline in [6]. Which sentence does that?

    • Pike County should continue its four-day week for a second year, because it saved money and held reading steady, though math needs watching.
    • Pike County should cut math instruction to protect reading scores during the four-day week.
    • Schools with budget problems should consider shorter weeks and other ways to save money.
    • Pike County's four-day week saved money without costing students anything, so the board should continue it for several years and expand it.