Reading Passage and Directions

Standards: Tennessee RL.KID.1, VAU.5, and CSE.1; closely related Common Core RL.6.1.

Directions: Read the passage carefully. For Questions 1–8, choose the best answer. For Questions 9–12, write complete responses and cite specific evidence from the passage. When you quote or describe evidence, include enough detail to show how it supports your thinking.

The Garden on the Roof

When Maya first saw the roof of the Eastside Community Center, she thought it looked like an empty gray ocean. The roof stretched above the neighborhood, covered with gravel, air vents, and puddles left by last night’s rain. From the sidewalk, Maya could see the tops of apartment buildings but very little green. She had recently moved into one of those buildings, and she missed the small garden behind her old house.

One Saturday, Maya’s science teacher, Ms. Alvarez, announced that the community center had received permission to create a rooftop garden. The project needed volunteers. Maya signed up immediately, but she was disappointed when she learned that the garden would begin with cracked buckets, wooden boxes, and a few bags of soil. “It doesn’t look like much,” she admitted.

Ms. Alvarez handed her a list. “Every garden begins with a plan,” she said. Maya and the other volunteers measured the roof, marked sunny places, and decided where to put containers. They placed herbs near the kitchen entrance so the center’s cooks could use them. They put tomatoes along the southern wall, where the plants would receive the most sunlight. Maya drew a map of the garden in her notebook.

During the first week, strong wind knocked over three boxes. During the second week, pigeons discovered the newly planted lettuce. Some volunteers wanted to quit. Maya felt discouraged too, especially when she found a row of seedlings bent beneath a fallen bucket. She started to carry the bucket to the trash, but then she noticed a thin green stem still standing.

Instead of throwing the bucket away, Maya and her team repaired it with wire. They built simple screens to protect the lettuce and tied the tomato plants to wooden stakes. Maya also made small signs explaining how compost helped the soil. At first, her signs were crooked and smudged with dirt, but she kept replacing them until the words were clear.

By late summer, the roof had changed. Green vines curled around the stakes, yellow flowers opened above the boxes, and the air smelled of basil after the rain. The garden did not resemble the neat drawing in a magazine. Some containers were still mismatched, and one corner remained bare. However, residents began visiting the roof. Children measured the plants, older neighbors shared gardening advice, and the center’s cooks gathered vegetables for dinner.

On the final afternoon of the project, Maya stood beside her original map. It was covered with fingerprints and crossed-out notes. She realized the map had not predicted everything. It had helped the volunteers begin, but their observations and choices had shaped the garden. Maya looked across the roof and smiled. The empty gray ocean had become a place where the neighborhood could grow together.

Evidence-Based Short Responses

Directions: Answer each question in complete sentences. Use at least one specific piece of textual evidence in each response.

Teacher Answer Key and Scoring Guidance

Multiple Choice: 1. B   2. C   3. B   4. C   5. C   6. B   7. C   8. B

Short-Response Exemplar Guidance

9. Maya changes from disappointed and discouraged to hopeful and proud. At first, she says the materials “don’t look like much,” and later she smiles when she sees how the roof has become a shared growing space. Responses should cite two details showing this change.

10. The advice means that a plan provides a useful starting point, but people must observe, revise, and solve unexpected problems. The volunteers planned where to place plants, then repaired boxes, protected lettuce, and adjusted their work after facing wind and pigeons.

11. At the beginning, the roof is gray, empty, and compared to an “empty gray ocean.” Near the end, it has vines, flowers, basil, visitors, and food. The contrast shows how cooperation and persistence can transform an overlooked place.

12. A strong response explains that the garden symbolizes the neighborhood’s growth because both develop through patience, cooperation, and adaptation. Relevant evidence may include volunteers repairing damaged containers, residents sharing advice, children measuring plants, and cooks using the vegetables. Award full credit for a clear claim, at least two accurate details, and an explanation connecting the evidence to the claim.

Short-Response Rubric Guidance: 3 points: clear, accurate explanation with relevant evidence and reasoning; 2 points: mostly correct explanation with some evidence or limited reasoning; 1 point: partial understanding or weak evidence; 0 points: blank, inaccurate, or unrelated response.