STAAR Reading Grade 8 2017 - Past Paper
Quiz by Texas Education Agency
Grade 8
ELAR (2009)
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)
Feel free to use or edit a copy
includes Teacher and Student dashboards
Measures 11 skills from
Measures 11 skills from
Track each student's skills and progress in your Mastery dashboards
With a free account, teachers can
- edit the questions
- save a copy for later
- start a class game
- automatically assign follow-up activities based on students’ scores
- assign as homework
- share a link with colleagues
- print as a bubble sheet
35 questions
Show answers
- Q1Which words from the poem show that the speaker is unsympathetic to the dog’s wish?pasture’s high fencelinking the paired gatesthe lots of desireshe is denied60s8.4: Reading - Comprehension of Literary Text - Poetry
- Q2In the first stanza, the poet uses the words “Over the years” and “From thousands of walks” to —show that the dog still finds the walk excitingdescribe the reasons why the pasture is off-limitsillustrate what the dog enjoys about going on a walksuggest that each walk follows the same sequence of events60s8.4: Reading - Comprehension of Literary Text - Poetry
- Q3The imagery in line 11 helps the reader —understand why the speaker keeps the dog out of the open pasturevisualize the dog’s enthusiasm at the beginning of the walkfocus on the parts of the walk that the dog finds most appealingappreciate the close relationship between the dog and the speaker60s8.8: - Comprehension of Literary Text - Sensory Language
- Q4In contrast to line 10, the last line of the poem shows that the dog now feels —lonelydefeatedrelaxedconfident60s8.4: Reading - Comprehension of Literary Text - Poetry
- Q5In lines 20 through 22, the speaker observes that the dog wants to —explore new areas beyond the fencefollow the familiar path around the fieldtake breaks during the walk with the speakerreturn to the comfort of her home60s8.4: Reading - Comprehension of Literary Text - Poetry
- Q6The author wrote this selection most likely to —demonstrate why celebrity has become confused with heroismexplain to the reader why more heroes are needed in the worldsuggest that adults need to be better role models for young peopleurge young people to believe in their ability to make a difference60s8.9: Reading - Comprehension of Informational Text - Culture and History
- Q7Read the origin of the word superficial. Based on this information, what is the meaning of the word superficial in paragraph 8?Without depthNot knownUnexpectedUndervalued60s8.2.A: Reading - Vocabulary Development
- Q8The author organizes paragraph 8 by —discussing the differences between celebrities and heroesproviding definitions of the words celebrity and herogiving examples of celebrities and heroesexplaining the origins of the words celebrity and hero60s8.11.B: Reading - Comprehension of Informational Text - Persuasive Text
- Q9How does the author support his claim that every young person has the potential to be a hero?By contrasting society’s definition of a hero with the word’s real meaningBy providing examples of qualities that have made people famousBy defining the qualities that make a young person a heroBy including examples of young people who exhibit the qualities of a hero60s8.11.B: Reading - Comprehension of Informational Text - Persuasive Text
- Q10Read this sentence about heroes from paragraph 9. The author includes this sentence most likely to emphasize that —heroes affect many peopleheroes must believe in themselvesmost heroes focus on working with childreneveryone is a hero in some way60s8.11.B: Reading - Comprehension of Informational Text - Persuasive Text
- Q11The author included the information in paragraphs 8 through 11 probably to —demonstrate that society does not support the development of heroesexplain why becoming a hero is importantshow that heroes and celebrities are both valueddescribe how society turns ordinary celebrities into real heroes60s8.9: Reading - Comprehension of Informational Text - Culture and History
- Q12The title of the selection highlights the idea that shipping containers —should be deconstructed before they are used for projectsare useful for creating large pieces of artcan function in ways that are not commonly consideredare not as sturdy as people assume60s8.10.D: Reading - Comprehension of Informational Text - Expository Text
- Q13What is the main idea of paragraph 5?Storing and moving art pieces in shipping containers are simple processes.Artists must reshape the shell of the shipping container to make sculptures.Artists see the potential of incorporating shipping containers into their art.Museums are using shipping containers as galleries to share their collections.60s8.10.A: Reading - Comprehension of Informational Text - Expository Text
- Q14Which sentence from the selection supports the idea that creating structures from shipping containers is cost-efficient?Urban areas and colleges that struggle to provide affordable housing have also begun to explore building container housing and work spaces.Shipping containers are used to haul cargo on ships, trains, and trucks.With all these options and new purposes, fewer shipping containers will be headed to the junkyard.One trend that has gained popularity is creating houses from retired shipping containers.60s8.10.A: Reading - Comprehension of Informational Text - Expository Text
- Q15Which words from paragraph 2 help the reader understand what scant means?coastal locationproblem could be solvedeven though the rainfallextreme water shortage60s8.2.B: Reading - Vocabulary Development
