Off and Running

1. Comprehension Questions and Stemming Practice Grade 5, Lesson 3 Off and Running

2. How does a debate help voters choose a candidate?

3. What details does the author provide to show that Miata is nervous?

4. What can you tell about Rudy based on the way he speaks to Carlos and Jamie?

5. Why might Miata have inflated her lungs before she began speaking?

6. What do most of the ideas in Miata’s speech reveal about her motives in running for office?

7. Why does the author include the section of Miata’s speech in which she tells the students that she has plans for a school trip and new computers?

8. Why does Miata feel exhausted when she sits down?

9. What clues does the author give to show the Rudy is confident? • Clues that the author includes to show that Rudy is confident are: • Rudy jumps on the box and makes a joke. • Then he states that he would make a great president.

10. How is Rudy’s speech different from Miata’s speech? • Rudy seems confident while speaking, and • he interacts with the audience. • Rudy proposes ideas that will affect the student’s day. • Miata speaks directly to the audience rather than with the audience. • Her ideas for the school are good, but don’t seem to directly affect the students’ day. • Miata loses her confidence as she continues speaking.

11. Look at the illustration on page 80. What do you see the characters doing? What are their motives for doing so? • Rudy and Miata want…. • to be polite to each other even though they are opponents.

12. How are Rudy and Miata alike and how are they different after their speeches? • They both…. • shake each other’s hands. • Miata has … • little confidence that her speech helped her gain votes. • Rudy is… • confident that everyone will vote for him.

13. What does the idiom “to put on a good face” tell us about Miata? • Miata… • doesn’t feel confident, but she doesn’t want to let other people know that.

14. Why might Miata’s mind have stalled as she did her homework? • Miata was … distracted by thinking about the election, so she wasn’t concentrating on her homework.

15. Why does the author use the words slam, trudge, and groan? • The author uses those words to: describe what Miata heard, so the reader can visualize the scene because the author want to set a serious tone.

16. Using story details, can you infer what Miata’s relationship with her father is like? • Miata’s relationship with her father is: • that they love and care for each other. • They are eager to greet each other at the end of the day. • Miata’s father likes to tease her, and they seem to get along well.

17. Compare Miata’s goal in the beginning of the story to the new goal that she discovers. • In the beginning of the story, Miata … • was running for the office of class president. • She has several school improvement projects she wanted to accomplish. • By the end of the story, Miata …. • was not sure she would win the election, • but she planned to get her projects done whether she won or not.

18. Does the author feel that it is good to have a lot of people who like you, or is it better to “help people, to get things done”? What clues tell you this? • The author thinks… • it is better to help people. • The author creates characters ….. • who have different viewpoints about popularity. • At the end of the story,… • Miata comes to understand that helping people is better for her than being popular like Rudy.

19. What lesson does Miata learn from running for office? • Miata learns …. • that it is more important to help people than to be popular. • She also learns … • that she can accomplish her goals even if she isn’t class president.

20. Discuss what Rudy’s and Miata’s thought and behaviors tell about them, and infer what they could learn from the differences between them.