Reading Comprehension

The waters of Fram Strait lie between Greenland and Norway’s Svalbard islands. In this dark and icy place, the bowhead whales are singing.

The article tells about Fram Strait. How does the map help readers understand what a strait is?

• by showing the number of whales in Fram Strait

• by showing the water temperature in Fram Strait

• by showing that Fram Strait is near many big rivers

• by showing that Fram Strait is a narrow body of water

Tags

CCSS.RI.4.7

They used underwater microphones to record the whales for a year. The recordings helped them count the whales and study their songs.

Based on the sentences above, what can microphones record?

• tastes

• sounds

• feelings

• thoughts

Tags

CCSS.RI.4.1

CCSS.RI.4.2

CCSS.RI.4.3

The bowhead has 11 inches of fat, or blubber, under its skin. This makes it the only baleen whale that can live in the Arctic all year round. During the winters, it stays under the ice. It uses its huge head to break breathing holes through the frozen water when needed. It spends the summers swimming through ice that is broken or melting.

what is one effect of bowhead whales’ thick blubber?

• The whales are not easy to hunt.

• The whales do not need any teeth.

• The whales can live in cold water all year long.

Tags

CCSS.RI.4.1

CCSS.RI.4.2

CCSS.RI.4.3

The bowhead whale has no teeth. Instead, its mouth is built partly from a hard material called baleen.

Which meaning of material is used above?

• tool

• cloth

• what something is made of

• information in a piece of writing

Tags

CCSS.L.4.4A

CCSS.RI.4.4

People once used the whale’s blubber and baleen to make many things, from lamp oil to buggy whips. As early as the 1600s, people hunted bowheads. This brought them close to extinction.Nations began working together to protect whales in 1946. The Inuit and other native peoples are still allowed to hunt bowheads, but only a small number.

Describe the main text structure in paragraphs 7 and 8. How does the author arrange the information in these paragraphs, and why?

• Problem and solution

• sequence

• cause and effect

Tags

CCSS.RI.4.5

They then listen for the echoes to help them find their way through waters that have little illumination. Think about the Latin root lumin. What is the meaning of illumination above?

• heat

• light

• food

• weight

Tags

CCSS.L.4.4A

CCSS.L.4.4B

CCSS.RI.4.4

The map helps with which answer choice?

• The waters of Fram Strait lie between Greenland and Norway’s Svalbard islands. In this dark and icy place, the bowhead whales are singing.

• The bowhead has 11 inches of fat, or blubber, under its skin. This makes it the only baleen whale that can live in the Arctic all year round.

• 7 People once used the whale’s blubber and baleen to make many things, from lamp oil to buggy whips. As early as the 1600s, people hunted bowheads. This brought them close to extinction

Tags

CCSS.RI.4.1

CCSS.RI.4.2

CCSS.RI.4.3

CCSS.RI.4.7