Free printable i-Ready practice test for Grade 8

Reading

Circle the letter of the best answer. No time limit.

1. 1.

   Dad bought lumber to build a new fence.

   Which meaning of lumber is used in this sentence?

   1. Aa sharp pain
   2. Ba kind of soup
   3. Cwood that has been cut into boards
   4. Dmove in a slow, heavy way

2. A Safer Crossing on Elm Street

   To the Editor:

   Every school morning, more than 300 students cross Elm Street at Fifth Avenue to reach Lincoln Middle School, and the only thing protecting us is a set of faded white stripes painted on the pavement. I am asking the city to add flashing warning lights and a crossing guard at that corner before someone gets hurt.

   The most serious problem is that drivers do not stop. Elm Street is wide and straight, and many drivers treat it like a highway, even though the speed limit near the school is 20 miles per hour. Last Tuesday, my dad and I stood at the corner from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. and counted the cars that drove through the crosswalk while someone was waiting at it or crossing, and in that single hour there were 14. Last spring, a sixth grader had to jump back onto the curb when a delivery van sped through the crosswalk without slowing down.

   Lincoln is also the oldest middle school in the county, and our marching band won first place at the county fair this summer. A school like ours deserves a street that looks as good as we do.

   Some people will say that warning lights and a crossing guard cost too much. But a flashing light costs far less than a trip to the emergency room, and no one can put a price on a student's safety.

   Please do not wait for a serious accident before making this dangerous corner safe.

   Sincerely,
   Hana Sato, seventh grade, Lincoln Middle School

   2.

   Which reason in the letter is irrelevant to the writer's claim?

   1. AMore than 300 students cross Elm Street each morning.
   2. BFourteen cars drove through the crosswalk in one hour.
   3. CLincoln's marching band won first place at the county fair.
   4. DMany drivers treat Elm Street like a highway.
3. 3.

   How does the writer respond to people who say lights and a guard cost too much?

   1. AShe claims that crossing guards would be happy to work for free.
   2. BShe says the county fair should raise the money.
   3. CShe argues that a light costs far less than an injury would.
   4. DShe says that the school band will pay for the lights.
4. 4.

   Which detail best supports the writer's point that drivers do not stop at the crossing?

   1. AThe speed limit on Elm Street near the school is 20 miles per hour.
   2. BShe counted 14 cars that drove through the crosswalk in one hour.
   3. CElm Street is wide and straight.
   4. DLincoln is the oldest middle school in the county.
5. 5.

   Malik always promised to help clean up but never did. His sister cleaned up quietly every day, and everyone knew who really helped.

   Which saying best fits this story?

   1. AAll that glitters is not gold
   2. BHaste makes waste
   3. CActions speak louder than words
   4. DMany hands make light work

6. The Mirror at the Cave

   Long ago, on the High Plain of Heaven, the sun goddess Amaterasu tended rice fields and watched over a great hall where sacred cloth was woven for the gods. Wherever she walked, light walked with her. Her warmth ripened the rice of heaven and the rice of the islands below, and every morning the people of those islands awoke to her gold.

   Her younger brother, Susanoo, was the god of storms, and he was as restless as the weather he ruled. When he came to visit his sister, he did not arrive quietly. He boasted and shouted, and when a contest between them ended, he declared himself the winner and celebrated by running wild.

   He demolished the low earthen walls between Amaterasu's rice fields so that their water drained away, and he choked her irrigation ditches with mud. The other gods came to Amaterasu with complaints, but she defended her brother. "He means no harm," she insisted. "He is careless, the way storms are careless."

   Then Susanoo climbed onto the roof of the weaving hall, tore a hole in it, and flung a wild, kicking colt down among the looms. The weavers fled in terror. Shuttles flew, threads snapped, and the half-finished cloth for the gods' festival was trampled into the dirt.

   This time Amaterasu did not defend her brother, nor did she argue with him. She simply turned, walked to the Rock Cave of Heaven, stepped inside, and rolled an enormous stone across its entrance.

   The world went dark.

   It was not the darkness of a single night, which eventually ends. It was a darkness with no morning hidden anywhere inside it. The rice stopped growing, and the rivers ran cold. In the world below, people could no longer distinguish one day from the next, and troubles crept out of every corner, the way mice come out when a house goes dark.

   So the gods assembled, more of them than anyone could count, on the dry bed of the Heavenly River to decide what to do.

   At first they argued. Some wanted to shout at the stone until Amaterasu surrendered. Tajikarao, the god of strength, rolled his enormous shoulders. "I could move that rock," he said. "But I cannot move her heart. If she does not wish to shine, she will only find another cave."

   Then Omoikane, the god of wisdom, who had been listening with his eyes closed, finally spoke. "We cannot drag the sun into the sky," he said. "We must coax her out. We must make her curious."

   So the gods went to work. A smith forged a mirror so brilliant that it seemed to contain a light of its own, while others strung hundreds of curved jewels on a long cord. They uprooted a sakaki tree, an evergreen sacred to the gods, and replanted it before the cave, hanging the jewels from its upper branches and the mirror from its middle ones. They gathered roosters, the long-crowing birds whose cries announce the dawn, and set them crowing, although no dawn was coming.

   Last of all, Ame-no-Uzume, the goddess of mirth, turned a large tub upside down before the cave and leaped on top of it. She began to dance, stamping until the tub boomed like a festival drum. She spun, waved, pulled ridiculous faces, and flung her arms about so comically that the watching gods could not contain themselves. First one laughed, then ten, then all of them, until their laughter rolled across the High Plain of Heaven and the sky itself seemed to tremble.

   Inside the cave, Amaterasu sat up. She had expected the world to mourn for her; instead, she heard roosters crowing, a drum booming, and the gods roaring with laughter. She pushed the stone open a crack.

   "While I am hidden, the world should be dark and sorrowful," she called. "Why are you all laughing?"

   Ame-no-Uzume stopped dancing. "We are celebrating," she called back. "A goddess even more dazzling than you has come among us!"

   Before Amaterasu could answer, the gods tilted the mirror toward the opening, and a blaze of light poured out of it. Amaterasu had never seen her own face shining back at her, and she did not recognize it. Wondering who this brilliant stranger could be, she leaned out of the cave to look more closely.

   That was the moment Tajikarao had been waiting for. He seized the edge of the stone, swung it aside, and took Amaterasu gently by the hand. Behind her, another god stretched a thick rope of twisted straw across the mouth of the cave. "You may not go back inside," he said. "The world cannot do without you."

   Light flooded the High Plain of Heaven and spilled down onto the islands below. The rice fields turned green again, and the people emerged from their houses, blinking. As for Susanoo, the gods banished him from heaven to wander the world below. Some say that is why ropes of twisted straw still hang at the entrances of shrines across Japan: to mark a holy place, and to remember how the light came back.

   6.

   Which statement best expresses a theme of the myth?

   1. ABrothers and sisters should always forgive one another.
   2. BThe strongest member of a group should make its decisions.
   3. CAnyone who hides from trouble is sure to be punished.
   4. DJoy and cleverness can succeed where force would fail.
7. 7.

   Without the sun, "troubles crept out of every corner, the way mice come out when a house goes dark." What does this simile suggest?

   1. AThe gods sent troubles into the world to punish Susanoo.
   2. BMice and other small animals took over the world below.
   3. CWith the light gone, troubles that had stayed hidden came out freely.
   4. DThe troubles were so small that no one needed to worry.
8. 8.

   Why does Amaterasu push the stone open "a crack" after she hears the laughter?

   1. AShe is puzzled that the gods seem joyful instead of grieving.
   2. BShe hears Omoikane calling her by name.
   3. CShe wants to join Ame-no-Uzume's dance.
   4. DShe has forgiven Susanoo and is ready to come out of the cave.
9. 9.

   What is the immediate result of Amaterasu hiding in the Rock Cave of Heaven?

   1. AThe world goes dark, and the rice stops growing.
   2. BAme-no-Uzume refuses to dance for the gods.
   3. CThe weavers flee from the weaving hall.
   4. DTajikarao rolls a great stone across the mouth of the cave.
10. 10.

    The guide words on a dictionary page are familiar and fault.

    Which word would you find on that page?

    1. Afactor
    2. Bfacilitate
    3. Cfair
    4. Dfast