Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System Practice Test English Language Arts Reading Comprehension GRADE 6 Student Name School Name District Name [Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System [MCAS] Logo] This is a practice test. Your responses to practice test questions must be recorded on your Practice Test Answer Document. Mark only one answer for each multiple-choice question. If you are not sure of the answer, choose the answer you think is best. HOW TO ANSWER OPEN-RESPONSE QUESTIONS * READ the question carefully. * PLAN your answer. * FIND details from the selection to support your answer. Reading Comprehension DIRECTIONS This practice test contains one reading selection with two multiple-choice questions and one open-response question. Mark your answers to these questions in the spaces provided on page 7 of your Practice Test Answer Document. Everyone has dreams. Scientists who study dreams have discovered much information about why we dream, what we dream, and how our dreams affect (and are affected by) our daily lives. "Different Dreamers - Different Dreams" explains some of these discoveries. Read the passage and answer the questions that follow. Different Dreamers - Different Dreams by Mary Herd Tull Will my dreams change as I get older? 1 You dream less as you get older. Newborn babies spend half their sleeping time in dream sleep. Researchers believe that babies sleep and dream so much because it helps them develop and learn. By age six, you spend only 25 percent of your sleeping time in dream sleep. That’s approximately the same amount of time a grown-up dreams. As you get older your dream stories become more complex, because you have had more experiences and can think about more interesting and complicated things. Do girls and boys dream about different things? 2 There have been many studies about the ways the dreams of boys and girls and men and women are different. Researchers wonder whether these differences are caused by our biology and genes or by the different ways our culture expects boys and girls to act. The dream images below can occur to both sexes, but are more common to one or the other. . . . [Girls Many people, both girls and boys Relationship stories Animals/pets Houses Indoors Clothes, jewelry Boys Fewer people, mostly boys Action stories Sports Machines Outdoors Tools Women Remember their dreams more often Indoor settings People and relationships People they know Family Babies and children Men Remember fewer dreams Outdoor settings Fewer people, mostly males Strangers Action, running and jumping Protecting something or fighting] Do my personality and interests affect my dreams? 3 Researchers have found that your personality can affect what you dream about. Dream expert Rosalind Cartwright believes that "we’re as much like ourselves in sleep as we are when awake." For example, dreamers who are outgoing and involved in a lot of activities have more people in their dreams than dreamers who are shy. Color Dreams 4 Some researchers believe that every dream is dreamed in color. But some people remember their dreams in black and white. Women report more color dreams than men. There might also be a connection between emotions and color. Scientists have found that if people are usually aware of their own feelings and how people around them feel, the colors in their dreams are more bright and clear. [Illustration of 3 different size stars] Do some people never dream? 5 Everyone dreams, but not everyone remembers their dreams. Sleep researchers have found that some people forget their dreams more quickly than other people. They may even claim that they never dream, but they do. Since we know the memory-storing part of our brain isn’t active when we dream, it usually takes extra work to bring dream experiences into our waking minds. Do some people have the power to control or change what happens in their dreams? 6 Dream researchers are interested in the power of people to change what happens in a dream. When you’re dreaming and know that you are dreaming, experts say you are having a lucid dream. Stanford University researcher Stephen LaBerge believes that when you know you’re in a dream you can learn to control what happens. You can even change the story in a nightmare from something scary to something pleasant. Once LaBerge dreamed he was climbing one of the tallest mountains in the world. It was windy and cold. He looked at his arm and saw that he was wearing only a T-shirt. He was afraid that he would freeze to death. Suddenly, he knew he was dreaming. He decided to control his dream, so he raised his arms, jumped up, and flew off the mountain. "Different Dreamers-Different Dreams" from Dreams: Mind Movies of the Night by Mary Herd Tull. Text copyright 2000 by Franklin Tull, Inc. Excerpt reprinted with the permission of Millbrook Press, Inc., a division of Lerner Publishing Group. All rights reserved. No part of this text excerpt may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group. 1 According to the passage, why is dreaming important for babies? A. Dreaming entertains babies. B. Dreaming keeps babies quiet. C. Dreaming helps babies mature. D. Dreaming gives babies exercise. 2 Based on the passage, which of the following would most likely have the greatest effect on what a person dreams? A. what position the person sleeps in B. what time the person goes to sleep C. what the person does during the day D. what the person eats before going to bed Question 3 is an open-response question. * Read the question carefully. * Explain your answer. * Add supporting details. * Double-check your work. Write your answer to question 3 in the space provided on page 7 of your Practice Test Answer Document. 3 The passage discusses several factors that influence the types of dreams people have. Describe three of these factors and explain how they influence dreams. Support your answer with important details from the passage. MASSACHUSETTS COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT SYSTEM Grade 6 English Language Arts Practice Test Answer Document School Name: District Name: Last Name of Student: First Name of Student: Marking Instructions * Use a No. 2 pencil only. * Do not use ink, ballpoint, or felt tip pens. * Make solid marks that fill the circles completely. * Erase cleanly any marks you wish to change. * Make no stray marks on this form. * Do not fold, tear, or mutilate this form. READING COMPREHENSION 1. A B C D 2. A B C D 3. NO TEST MATERIAL ON THIS PAGE NO TEST MATERIAL ON THIS PAGE