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Quiz & test questions Grade 3 English Language Arts

The Old Aldermill Dam on the Whitlow River: A Grade 3 Quiz

A twenty-four-point grade 3 quiz on a passage about a fictional mill dam and the rock ramp replacing it, ending with a short explanatory paragraph.

Objectives

  1. Students will answer questions using details a passage states.
  2. Students will explain how a dam changed the river above and below it.
  3. Students will write a short explanatory paragraph using two facts from a text.

Vocabulary

Dam
A strong wall built across a river to hold back water. Dams store water for people and farms, help prevent floods, and can make electricity.

Also: mill, upstream, trout, ramp

Teacher overview

This quiz is worth twenty-four points and runs about forty minutes, with four multiple-choice items, six short-answer items, and one short explanatory paragraph, all built on a passage about a fictional stone mill dam. The passage separates what the dam was built for from what it still does now that the mill is gone, which gives students a text where the cause and the leftover effect are stated in different paragraphs. Third graders commonly assume that every dam exists to make electricity, and many picture a river draining away entirely once part of a dam is removed. Item 1 and item 7 are the two worth reviewing aloud after scoring.

The Old Aldermill Dam on the Whitlow River: A Grade 3 Quiz — Grade 3 English Language Arts
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Assessment

Read the passage. Then answer every question.

The Old Dam at Aldermill

The Whitlow River runs through the town of Duckmill. Long ago a mill called Aldermill stood on its bank. The mill ground grain into flour. It needed moving water to turn its big wheel.

So the mill owners built a dam across the river. The dam held back a pond. Water from that pond turned the mill wheel all year long.

The mill closed a hundred years ago. The building fell in. Only the dam stayed. Today it is a low stone wall across the Whitlow River.

The dam still changes the river. Above the wall, the water is slow and warm. Below the wall, the water splashes over rocks and picks up air. Trout need water with plenty of air in it. They live below the dam and not above it.

The dam also blocks fish. Every spring, fish try to swim up the Whitlow to lay their eggs. The stone wall stops them. They turn back.

Last fall the town of Duckmill voted. Workers will take out the middle of the old dam. In its place they will build a ramp of big rocks. The water will step down that ramp. Fish will be able to swim up it.

Mr. Fentiman fishes the Whitlow every June. He is glad the fish will get past at last. He is also sad, because he learned to skate on the pond behind the dam.

  1. Why did the mill owners build the dam across the river? (2 points)
    A. To make a place for children to skate.
    B. To hold back a pond so water could turn the mill wheel.
    C. To stop fish from swimming upstream.
    D. To make electricity for the town.
  2. What is left of the old mill today? (2 points)
    A. The wheel and the roof.
    B. Nothing at all.
    C. Only the dam.
    D. The pond and the mill house.
  3. How is the water above the dam different from the water below it? (2 points)
  4. Why do trout live below the dam instead of above it? (2 points)
  5. What happens each spring when fish try to swim up the Whitlow River? (2 points)
    A. They swim over the wall easily.
    B. The stone wall stops them and they turn back.
    C. They lay their eggs in the pond.
    D. They follow the mill wheel upstream.
  6. What did the town of Duckmill vote to do last fall? (2 points)
  7. What will workers build where the middle of the dam is now? (2 points)
  8. Why is Mr. Fentiman glad about the change? (2 points)
  9. Why is Mr. Fentiman sad about the change? (2 points)
  10. Which sentence from the passage best shows that the dam kept changing the river long after the mill was gone? (2 points)
    A. The mill ground grain into flour.
    B. Above the wall, the water is slow and warm.
    C. Mr. Fentiman fishes the Whitlow every June.
    D. It needed moving water to turn its big wheel.
  11. Write a short paragraph for a younger student. Explain what the old dam at Aldermill did to the Whitlow River. Start with a topic sentence. Use two facts from the passage. End with one sentence about what will change. (4 points)

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key
  1. Answer: B. To hold back a pond so water could turn the mill wheel. The second paragraph states this. Choice D is the common wrong idea, since the passage never mentions electricity.
  2. Answer: C. Only the dam. The third paragraph says the building fell in and only the dam stayed.
  3. Answer: Above the wall the water is slow and warm, and below the wall it splashes over rocks and picks up air. Both details come from the fourth paragraph.
  4. Answer: Because trout need water with plenty of air, and the splashing water below the dam has it. The fourth paragraph states both parts.
  5. Answer: B. The stone wall stops them and they turn back. The fifth paragraph states this.
  6. Answer: To take out the middle of the old dam. The sixth paragraph states this.
  7. Answer: A ramp of big rocks that the water will step down. The sixth paragraph states this.
  8. Answer: Because fish will be able to swim up the ramp and get past the dam at last. The last two paragraphs state this.
  9. Answer: Because he learned to skate on the pond behind the dam, and that pond will change.
    The last paragraph states this.
  10. Answer: B. Above the wall, the water is slow and warm. This sentence describes the river as it is now, long after the mill closed, while the other three choices describe the mill or a person.
  11. Answer: Answers will vary. A full-credit paragraph opens with a topic sentence such as "The old dam at Aldermill changed the Whitlow River in more than one way," uses two facts from the passage, such as the slow warm water above and the splashing water below, or the wall stopping fish each spring, and closes with a sentence about the rock ramp letting fish swim up. Award three points for a paragraph missing one of the four parts, two points for a paragraph with only facts and no topic sentence, and one point for a single relevant sentence.

Differentiation

Support

Read the passage aloud once before the quiz begins and leave it projected while students work. For these students, reduce the quiz to items 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 and score out of twelve points. For item 11, offer a three-sentence frame and accept a drawing of the river above and below the dam with labels.

Extension

Ask students to write the short speech Mr. Fentiman might give at a town meeting, using one reason from the passage for the ramp and one honest reason he will miss the pond. The speech must stay inside what the passage actually says.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "dam," "mill," "upstream," and "ramp" by building a low wall of blocks in a tray, pouring water above it, and then removing the middle blocks and laying a slope of small stones. Provide sentence frames for items 3 and 4: "Above the dam the water is ___, and below the dam it ___," and "Trout live below the dam because ___." Allow item 11 to be drafted orally with a partner.

Extensions

Students can compare the Aldermill passage with a photograph of any low stone wall across a local stream and list what they can and cannot tell from the picture alone. Writing two questions they would ask a town worker turns the quiz passage into the start of a short research task.