An article and a graphic on the same subject

Grade 9 Reading Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Route 4 Moves to Harbor Road, in an Article and a Route Map (pair: a news article and a route map described in words)

   Text A: “Route 4 Leaves Elm Avenue, and Some Riders Are Unhappy” (a news article)
   [1] Since September 2, buses on Ashford's Route 4 no longer travel along Elm Avenue and instead run along Harbor Road, which opened last spring beside the river. [2] The Ashford Transit Agency says the change cuts about six minutes from each trip between the train station and the hospital, because Harbor Road has fewer traffic lights and no school zones. [3] The agency based its decision partly on a count of riders taken in the second week of August, which found that about 40 people a day got on or off at the four Elm Avenue stops. [4] Riders who live on Elm Avenue say that the count missed most of them. [5] Gloria Haines, who leads a riders' group at the Elm Court apartments, pointed out that the senior center on Elm Avenue was closed for repairs that week, so dozens of its usual visitors were not riding.

   [6] Under the new route, the nearest stop to Elm Court is on Harbor Road, about four-tenths of a mile away and down a steep hill, which takes many of the building's older residents more than ten minutes to walk each way. [7] "Six minutes saved for some people means twenty minutes lost for us," Haines said. [8] An agency spokesperson, Derek Lowe, said that the agency will count riders again in October, after the senior center has reopened, and will consider adding a small shuttle if the new count is higher. [9] Lowe also noted that the Harbor Road stops serve the new apartments and the waterfront park, where few buses went before.

   Text B: “The New Route 4” (a route map from the Ashford Transit Agency's brochure, described in words)
   [10] The map fills one side of a folded brochure that the agency handed out on its buses in late August, and its title runs across the top on a green band. [11] A thick green line shows the new Route 4 running from the train station at the left edge of the map, along the river on Harbor Road, to the hospital at the right edge. [12] Eleven green dots mark the stops on the new route, and three of them, at the new apartments, the waterfront park and the boat launch, have small picture symbols beside them. [13] Elm Avenue is drawn as a thin gray street a short way north of the green line, with no dots on it and no labels for the Elm Court apartments or the senior center. [14] A yellow starburst in the upper corner says "6 minutes faster!" in bold type. [15] The map has no scale bar and shows no walking distances. [16] A line of small print at the bottom gives the agency's phone number and says that the map is "not drawn to scale." [17] The agency's name and a small leaf-shaped symbol appear in the lower right corner.

2. 1.

   Ari is an Elm Avenue rider judging the change. What does Text B, the map, leave out that Ari needs?

   • How many minutes the new route saves on each trip.
   • How far, and over how steep a hill, the walk to the nearest new stop is.
   • Where the new route begins and ends, at the train station and the hospital.
   • Whether any Route 4 buses still stop on Elm Avenue.
3. 2.

   Bo has never ridden on Harbor Road. Which detail does the article, Text A, leave out that only the map gives?

   • How long older residents take to walk from Elm Court to the nearest stop.
   • The times when buses arrive at each of the Harbor Road stops.
   • That the new route runs along Harbor Road beside the river.
   • Where each of the eleven stops on the new route sits.
4. 3.

   Esme wants to know whether Elm Avenue really had few riders. Which choice judges the two versions best?

   • Text A helps more: it gives the count and shows the count was taken while the senior center was closed.
   • Text A settles it: the agency's count of about 40 riders a day shows Elm Avenue was rarely used.
   • Text B is more trustworthy, because the agency printed it in bold color and handed it out on its buses.
   • Text B helps more, because it shows that the new route has eleven stops.
5. 4.

   Both versions say the new route is about six minutes faster. On this point, which version gives Jun more reason to trust the claim?

   • Neither one needs checking, since a transit agency knows its own trip times.
   • Text B, because its bold starburst puts the claim where riders cannot miss it on the page.
   • The two versions are equal, because both give the same number of minutes.
   • Text A, because it says who makes the claim and gives a reason, fewer traffic lights.
6. 5.

   Luz compares what each form can do. What can the article, Text A, do that the map cannot?

   • Give riders' objections in their own words and report the agency's reply.
   • Show for certain that the agency's August count of riders was wrong.
   • Show the shape of the whole route along the river from end to end.
   • Name the train station and the hospital at the two ends of the route.

7. Use this

   The Corbin Falls Tree Count, in an Article and a Poster (pair: a news article and an infographic poster described in words): Text A: “Volunteers Count 3,120 Street Trees in Corbin Falls” (a news article)
   [1] Over four weekends in April, about sixty volunteers walked every street in Corbin Falls with clipboards and measuring tapes, and they counted 3,120 trees growing between the sidewalks and the curbs. [2] For each tree, the volunteers wrote down its kind, measured the width of its trunk at about chest height, and marked whether its leaves and bark looked healthy. [3] The town's forester, Dana Kim, then checked a sample of 150 of the trees herself and found that the volunteers had named the kind of tree correctly almost nine times out of ten. [4] Maples turned out to be the most common street tree by far, making up about four of every ten trees in the count, followed by oaks and lindens. [5] Kim said that so many trees of one kind is a risk, because a single insect pest or disease that attacks maples could leave whole blocks bare.

   [6] The count also found 210 trees in poor health, most of them old maples on the east side of town with dead branches or hollow trunks. [7] The town plans to remove about 85 of those trees next year, mainly ones that could drop branches on sidewalks, and to plant 300 young trees of at least ten different kinds. [8] The volunteers' group, Tree Friends of Corbin Falls, has printed a poster about the count and hopes to sign up families to water the young trees during their first two summers. [9] The full list of trees, street by street, can be read at the town library.

   Text B: “3,120 Trees and Counting” (an infographic poster from Tree Friends of Corbin Falls, described in words)
   [10] The poster hangs in the window of the town library and at the farmers' market, and its top half is filled with the number 3,120 in tall green letters. [11] Below the number, a row of small tree drawings shows the most common kinds, with maples first, then oaks, then lindens, and each drawing is labeled with a percentage. [12] The labels read "Maple 41%," "Oak 18%" and "Linden 11%," and a fourth drawing marked "Other 30%" stands for all the remaining kinds together. [13] A bright banner across the middle says, "Our town is greener than ever!", and smaller text beneath it thanks the sixty volunteers by name. [14] The bottom third of the poster asks families to sign up to water a young tree next summer, with tear-off strips that give the group's email address. [15] The poster says nothing about trees in poor health or about trees that the town plans to remove, and a line in small type in the bottom corner reads, "Source: Tree Friends street tree count, April 2026." [16] Each tree drawing on the poster is about the size of a playing card.

8. 6.

   The poster's banner says "Our town is greener than ever!" What does the poster leave out that Milo needs to judge the banner?

   • The number of volunteers who walked the streets for the count.
   • The total number of trees that the volunteers counted along the town's streets in April.
   • The share of maples, oaks and lindens among the trees in the count.
   • Any earlier count, so a reader cannot tell whether the town has more trees than before.
9. 7.

   On the share of street trees that are maples, which version gives Pia more reason to trust its number, and why?

   • Neither, because the two versions give different shares of maples.
   • Text A, because it tells how the trees were counted and that the forester checked a sample.
   • Text B, because "41%" looks more exact than the article's rounded share.
   • Text B, because a group that cares about trees would be sure to count them carefully.
10. 8.

    Ren checks each statement on the poster against both texts. Which statement on the poster has the least support in either text?

    • "Our town is greener than ever!", because neither text compares this count with an earlier one.
    • The number 3,120, because the count came from volunteers and not from the town.
    • "Maple 41%," because Text A rounds the share to four in ten.
    • The thanks to the sixty volunteers, because the poster does not say what each one did.
11. 9.

    Tala compares the poster's tree drawings with the article's words. What do the drawings and their labels let a reader see that Text A does not?

    • That maples are the most common kind of street tree in town.
    • The exact shares of oaks, lindens and other trees, set side by side with the maples.
    • Which kinds of trees grow fastest along the streets of Corbin Falls.
    • Where most of the unhealthy trees are growing, among the old maples on the east side of town.
12. 10.

    Zee wants to know what the town will do next. Why does the article, Text A, suit that reader better than the poster?

    • It names the town forester who checked a sample of the trees.
    • It gives tear-off strips so that families can sign up to water a young tree next summer.
    • It promises that each street in town will get new trees by next fall.
    • It reports the plan to remove about 85 trees and plant 300 of at least ten kinds.