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?

   • Where the new route begins and ends, at the train station and the hospital.
   • How far, and over how steep a hill, the walk to the nearest new stop is.
   • How many minutes the new route saves on each trip.
   • 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?

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

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

   • The two versions are equal, because both give the same number of minutes.
   • 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.
   • Text A, because it says who makes the claim and gives a reason, fewer traffic lights.
5. 4.

   Kira compares what each form can do. What can a rider see in the map, Text B, more easily than in the article?

   • That the agency handed the map out on its buses in late August, before the change.
   • Where the new route runs and where its stops sit, taken in at one look.
   • Why Elm Avenue riders think the August count missed them.
   • How many minutes the walk from each house to its nearest stop takes.
6. 5.

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

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

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.

   Noah reads both versions. Which fact from Text A would most change how a reader sees the poster's message, because the poster leaves it out?

   • The full street-by-street list can be read at the town library.
   • Maples are the most common kind of street tree in Corbin Falls.
   • Most of the volunteers named the kinds of trees wrongly.
   • The count found 210 trees in poor health, and the town will remove about 85.
9. 7.

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

   • 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.
   • 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.
10. 8.

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

    • The thanks to the sixty volunteers, because the poster does not say what each one did.
    • "Maple 41%," because Text A rounds the share to four in ten.
    • "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.
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.
    • Which kinds of trees grow fastest along the streets of Corbin Falls.
    • The exact shares of oaks, lindens and other trees, set side by side with the maples.
    • 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 reports the plan to remove about 85 trees and plant 300 of at least ten kinds.
    • It promises that each street in town will get new trees by next fall.
    • It gives tear-off strips so that families can sign up to water a young tree next summer.