An article and a graphic on the same subject

Grade 9 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Lake Wren's Clearer Summer, in an Article and a Chart (pair: a news article and a bar chart described in words)

   Text A: “Lake Wren Looks Clearer, but Summer Still Brings Murky Weeks” (a news article)
   [1] Volunteers from the Lake Wren Association have measured how clear the lake's water is every week since 2016, and their newest report says that the water this summer was the clearest it has been in a decade. [2] To take a reading, a volunteer lowers a Secchi disk, a flat plate painted in black and white quarters, on a marked rope from a boat until the disk disappears from view, and the depth at that point is the reading. [3] A deeper reading means clearer water, because light can travel farther down before the disk fades from sight. [4] The association's president, Martin Ayala, said that the best single reading of the year, 6.2 meters, was taken in early June, when the water was cold and calm. [5] By August, after weeks of hot weather, a green bloom of algae spread across the shallow north bay, and readings there fell below 2 meters.

   [6] Ayala credited the improvement over ten years to town rules that keep lawn fertilizer away from the shore, since fertilizer that washes into a lake can feed algae. [7] A biologist at the county college, Dr. Renee Foster, said that this summer also had less heavy rain than most, and heavy rain is what washes soil and fertilizer into the lake. [8] "One good year is encouraging, but it is too soon to say what caused it," Foster said. [9] The association's chart of the summer's readings is posted at the boat launch and printed in its newsletter.

   Text B: “How Clear Was Lake Wren This Summer?” (a bar chart from the Lake Wren Association newsletter, described in words)
   [10] The chart has four bars, one for each month from June through September, and each bar shows the average of that month's weekly readings at one spot, a buoy over the deepest part of the lake. [11] The bars hang downward from a line at the top labeled "water surface," so that a longer bar means the disk could be seen farther down and the water was clearer. [12] The June bar is the longest, at 5.4 meters, and the July bar reaches 4.6 meters. [13] The August bar is the shortest, at 3.1 meters, and the September bar comes back to 3.9 meters. [14] A dotted line across the chart marks 3.5 meters and is labeled "average for these four months, 2016–2025," and the June, July and September bars all reach past it. [15] A note at the bottom says, "All readings taken by trained association volunteers at the deep buoy between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m." [16] The chart is printed in blue ink, and the dotted line is printed in black.

2. 1.

   Ari draws both section maps and joins them. Which claim can a reader support only by reading Text A and Text B together?

   • The town's rules on lawn fertilizer are what made the lake clearer than usual this summer.
   • Less heavy rain fell on the lake this summer than in most of the summers before it.
   • June and July beat the ten-year line at the buoy, yet algae later clouded the north bay.
   • Readings at the deep buoy were taken between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
3. 2.

   Text A gives a June reading of 6.2 meters, but the chart's June bar is 5.4 meters. Which choice explains the difference for Esme?

   • The June readings in the chart were taken out in the north bay, where the water is much murkier.
   • The June bar is the shortest in the chart, so June had the murkiest water.
   • The 6.2 is the best single reading, while the bar is the average of June's weekly readings.
   • The association's chart must be right, so the 6.2 in the article is a mistake.
4. 3.

   Text A says August readings fell below 2 meters, but the chart's August bar is 3.1 meters. Which choice explains the difference for Jun?

   • The August readings were taken late in the evening, when there was less light.
   • The volunteers measured wrongly in August, so neither of the two numbers can be trusted by readers.
   • Text A's low readings come from the shallow north bay, but the chart's come from the deep buoy.
   • The chart's August bar is really 1.9 meters, so the two texts agree.
5. 4.

   Kira notes that the association, whose president credits the town's rules, made the chart. How does that purpose show in what the chart includes and leaves out?

   • It draws on one deep spot and a ten-year line most bars beat, so the murky north bay is missing.
   • It quotes a biologist who doubts that the rules caused the clearer water.
   • It shows the whole lake fairly, since trained volunteers took each reading.
   • It hangs its bars down from the water surface, so that a longer bar means the water was clearer.
6. 5.

   Luz notes that Text A comes from a newspaper reporting the news. How does that purpose shape what the article includes that the chart does not?

   • It reports the good news but adds the murky north bay and a biologist's doubt about the cause.
   • It argues that the town should drop its rules about lawn fertilizer.
   • It repeats the association's view that the town's fertilizer rules made the water clearer this year.
   • It lines up four monthly averages against a dotted ten-year line.

7. The Maple Street Fall Fair, in an Article and an Ad (pair: a news article and a printed ad described in words)

   Text A: “Fall Fair Draws Big Crowds, by Any Count” (a news article)
   [1] The Maple Street Fall Fair filled six blocks of downtown Carrow last weekend with food stands, craft tables and a stage for local bands, and both the city and the fair's organizers agree that it was a busy year, though they do not agree on how busy. [2] The city's events office, which counts visitors with hand clickers at the eight entrances, reported 21,400 entries on Saturday and 13,600 on Sunday, for a total of 35,000. [3] That total is up from 31,000 last year, when rain kept many people home on Sunday. [4] The organizers, a group of downtown shop owners called the Maple Street Merchants, have announced a record crowd of more than 45,000 people in a printed ad. [5] The group's chair, Helen Marsh, said that the merchants' number includes the Friday night opening concert, which drew a large crowd to the stage before the city's counters started work on Saturday morning. [6] The city did not count the concert, and Marsh said that the group's figure for it, about 11,000, was an estimate made by looking at photographs of the crowd.

   [7] The city's count has its own limits, because a family that left for lunch and came back through another entrance was counted twice. [8] Some shop owners said that the crowds were good for business, while others complained that the fair closed their street to cars for three days and kept regular customers away. [9] The city council will decide in January whether to allow the fair to spread to a seventh block next fall.

   Text B: “Biggest Fair Ever!” (a printed ad from the Maple Street Merchants, described in words)
   [10] The ad covers half a page of the Sunday newspaper, and its top line, "Biggest Fair Ever!", is printed in red letters nearly two inches tall. [11] Beneath the headline, a photograph taken from a second-floor window on Saturday afternoon shows Maple Street packed with people from one curb to the other. [12] In large type beside the photograph, the ad says, "More than 45,000 friends came to the Maple Street Fall Fair." [13] A smaller line thanks the bands, the craft sellers and the volunteers who handed out maps. [14] The bottom of the ad announces that next year's fair will stretch to a seventh block with a new children's stage, and it asks readers to "mark your calendars." [15] The ad gives no source for its number and does not mention the Friday concert or the closed street, and in the bottom corner, in small type, it prints the merchants' group name and website. [16] The background of the ad is pale yellow, and the photograph has a thin white border.

8. 6.

   Milo joins the two section maps. Which claim can a reader support only by reading Text A and Text B together?

   • The ad's photograph of the packed street was taken on Saturday afternoon.
   • The merchants simply made up the 45,000 figure to draw more shoppers into their stores downtown.
   • Part of the ad's 45,000 is a guess made from crowd photographs, a fact the ad itself leaves out.
   • The city's count of 35,000 was higher than last year's count of 31,000.
9. 7.

   The city counted 35,000, but the ad says more than 45,000. Which choice best explains most of the difference for Pia?

   • The city counted just the Saturday crowd, while the merchants counted both days.
   • The merchants added an estimate of about 11,000 for the Friday concert, which the city did not count.
   • The ad's number counts the people that can be seen in its Saturday photograph.
   • The ad is right, so the city's clickers must have missed about 10,000 people.
10. 8.

    The ad says next year's fair "will stretch to a seventh block," but Text A says that is not decided. Which choice explains the difference for Ren?

    • The council already approved the seventh block, but Text A was printed before the vote.
    • The ad comes from the people who run the fair, so the seventh block must be settled.
    • The ad says that a seventh block might be added if the council agrees.
    • The ad states the merchants' plan as settled, but the council still has to vote on it in January.
11. 9.

    Tala notes that the merchants want people to come back and shop. How did that purpose shape what their ad, Text B, stresses and leaves out?

    • It thanks the bands, the craft sellers and the volunteers in a smaller line.
    • It reports the size of the crowd fairly, because the merchants watched the full street from their own shops.
    • It sets the city's count beside the merchants' count so that readers can compare.
    • It prints the biggest number in large type and skips the estimate, the city's count and the closed street.
12. 10.

    Zee notes that Text A comes from a newspaper reporting the news. How does that purpose shape what the article includes that the ad leaves out?

    • It shows that the fair hurt business for the shops on Maple Street.
    • It accepts the merchants' figure of more than 45,000 as the true size of the weekend's crowd.
    • It leads with a red headline and a photograph of the packed street.
    • It gives both counts, where each one came from, and the complaints of some shop owners.