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    Second Grade
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    Unit test · Weeks 7–12 · 40–45 min · 44 points

    ELA Unit 2 Test: Informational Text & Research Writing

    Name Date

    Part 1: Nonfiction Comprehension

    Read the text. Then answer the questions. You can look back at the text.

    Hermit Crabs

    A hermit crab is a small animal that lives near the sea. It has a soft body. It does not grow its own hard shell. It lives in an old, empty shell that another sea animal left behind. The shell keeps the crab safe. When a bird or a fish comes near, the crab pulls its body all the way inside. It blocks the opening with its big claw. A hermit crab keeps growing. After a while, its shell gets too small. So the crab must find a bigger shell. It checks each new shell with its claws and legs. Then it moves in fast. A crab with no shell is not safe, because its soft body is easy to hurt.

    A hermit crab peeks out of a spiral shell on wet sand by the sea.
    1. Where does a hermit crab live?
    2. What is the main topic of the whole text?Birds that eat crabsHermit crabs and their shellsHow to find shells at the beach
    3. What is the second paragraph mostly about?
    4. How does a hermit crab stay safe when a bird comes near?
    5. Why does a hermit crab need a new shell?
    6. Why does the crab move into a new shell fast?

    Part 2: Text Features

    These are parts of a nonfiction book. Use them to answer the questions.

    Life on the Shore

    Contents Crabs ........ 2 Sea Stars ........ 6 Gulls ........ 10 Glossary ........ 14 Sea Stars Many sea stars have five arms. If a sea star loses an arm, it can grow a new one. Under each arm are hundreds of tiny tube feet. Glossary tide: the rise and fall of the sea each day tube feet: tiny parts under a sea star's arms that help it move and hold on to rocks

    A sea star with five arms holds on to a wet rock at the seashore.

    A sea star holds on to a rock while the tide is low.

    1. On what page would you read about gulls?
    2. What are tube feet? What part of the book told you?
    3. In the Sea Stars section, draw a box around the heading. Circle the bold word.
    4. What does the caption tell you?

    Part 3: Informational Writing

    Write to teach a reader. Use the text "Hermit Crabs" as your source.

    1. Write an All About paragraph about hermit crabs. Start with a hook or a topic sentence. Give at least three facts from "Hermit Crabs" in your own words. Tell what a hermit crab is (a definition). End with a closing sentence. Under your paragraph, write the title of your source.

    Part 4: Vocabulary & Word Study

    Read each item by yourself. Follow the directions.

    1. What does fearful mean?without fearfull of fearfear again
    2. Add the ending. Write the new word. slow + ly = ________ dark + ness = ________
    3. Draw a line between the two syllables in each word. cobweb robot
    4. Draw a line between the two small words in each compound word. hilltop driftwood
    5. Read the sentence. What does sturdy mean? The shell was sturdy, so it did not crack when the wave hit it.soft and wetstrong and hard to breaksmall and round
    6. Circle the word that is spelled right in each sentence. The kids fed (their / thier) crab. The crab hid (becuz / because) a gull came near.