Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress English Language Arts Grade 5

The card on the pea fence at the Battle Creek school garden gives two times. Sprouts appear on day 9. The peas are ready 40 days after sprouting, not 40 days after planting. Harvest falls on day 9 plus 40, which is day 49.

Amina planted on a Thursday and called that morning day 0. She circled day 40 on her chart. On day 9 the first sprouts opened along the fence. Mr. Ellis moved the harvest clip to day 49. He told Amina to start the 40 days when the sprouts appear.

On day 40 the pods were still short and pale, so the class left them on the vines. On day 49 the pods were full and bright green, and the class picked them into a basket. The 40 on the card had always measured the days after sprouting.

On winter mornings the boathouse board in St. Ignace uses a sliding marker for the shore lane along the Straits of Mackinac. A black marker means the lane is closed, because shelf ice can look like a road and still be thin. A white marker means the lane is open. Trucks or people already on the ice are not the signal. The marker is.

Lena and her brother Otto were carrying a crate of bread to the ferry shed. A delivery truck sat far out on the pale ice, and the shore lane looked like a shortcut. The marker was black. Otto lifted the crate and stepped toward the ice. Lena caught the handle. "The truck is not the board," she said. "Black means we stay on the plowed street."

They walked the long way, and the bread stayed dry. At the shed, the clerk stamped their list. The board behind the clerk was still black. Otto wrote in his route book, "A truck on the ice did not open the lane."

The next Saturday the marker was white. The shelf ice was gone, and wet gravel showed along the shore. Lena and Otto used the lane. No truck was out there. Otto added a second line: "White opened the lane. The truck never did."

On a class hike above Empire, at Sleeping Bear, the map legend used a dotted line for a closed climb and a solid line for an open path. The dotted line ran straight down a steep face. The solid line curved along the ridge. A note under the legend said that footprints do not redraw the map.

Caleb wanted the straight way because it was shorter. He showed his partner a row of footprints on the steep face. Ms. Rahman asked him to read the legend again. The prints sat on the dotted line. "Shorter is not open," she said. "The solid line is the path we were given."

The class followed the solid line along the ridge. That path added 20 minutes. They still reached the parking lot 10 minutes before the bus. Caleb copied the legend into his notebook: dotted means closed, and solid means open. He did not add the footprints.

The ferry from Mackinaw City to Mackinac Island posts a whistle card by the rail. One long whistle means the boat will dock. Two short whistles mean the slip is full, so the boat will pass the dock and wait in the harbor. A quieter engine is not one of the signals.

Rafael felt the engine soften and lifted his suitcase. "We are docking," he told his sister Imani. The whistle then gave two short blasts. Imani set the suitcase down. "Two short means the slip is full. We wait in the harbor. The engine can grow quiet without meaning the dock."

The boat slid past the dock, where another ferry already filled the slip. They waited until that ferry pulled away. One long whistle sounded, and the crew moved the lines. Rafael left the suitcase on the deck until the boat touched the dock.

From the viewing deck in Sault Ste. Marie, a sign explains the lamps on the Soo Locks. One red lamp means the lock gate is still shut, and the freighter must wait. A green lamp means the freighter may enter the lock. The sign says a red lamp does not mean the ship is taking on water.

Malik saw a freighter sitting still under a red lamp. He wrote, "The ship is in trouble." His aunt pointed to the second sentence and asked him to read it. He read that a shut gate makes an ordinary wait. The freighter's deck was dry, and no alarm bell rang.

The lamp turned green. The freighter moved ahead into the lock. Malik crossed out his first sentence. He wrote, "Red meant wait. Green meant enter." The ship had been held by a closed gate.

At a sugar shack near Cadillac, the bucket rule is printed on the door. Sap is collected only when it looks clear. Cloudy sap is poured out, even if the bucket feels heavy. The door also says that 30 pails of clear sap cook down to one pail of syrup.

Paola lifted a heavy bucket from a maple. She wanted to keep it because her arms were tired of walking back to the trees. The sap in that bucket was cloudy. Grandma Ruiz poured it onto the snow. She handed Paola a lighter bucket whose sap was clear. "Weight is not the test," she said. "Clear is the test."

They emptied the clear sap into the pan. By the end of the boil, 30 pails of clear sap had cooked down to one pail of syrup. The cloudy sap never entered the pan. Paola copied the door rule onto a recipe card so a heavy bucket would not fool her again.

At a vegetable stall in Detroit's Eastern Market, a blue token on a crate means a restaurant has claimed that crate until noon. At noon the seller drops any leftover token into a tin cup, and the next buyer may take the crate. A crate with no token can be sold at any time. Wanting a crate does not hold it.

At 11:40, Camille asked for the crate of carrots that still had a blue token. Mr. Haddad shook his head. "The token holds those carrots until noon. Eleven forty is still before noon." A crate of beets beside them had no token. He told Camille she could buy the beets right then.

Camille returned at 12:10. The carrot token was in the tin cup, and she bought the carrots. The beets were gone. Another shopper had taken them at 11:50. Camille wrote on her list, "11:40, token still holding. 12:10, token in the cup."

On a boat below the cliffs near Munising, our guide gave us a chart about the colored stripes. The chart said the colors are minerals in the rock. Green marks copper minerals. Orange marks iron. White marks lime. The bottom line said the stripes were not paint brushed on by a crew.

I had written that artists must have stood on a scaffold and painted the cliffs. The guide asked me to read the chart aloud. It named minerals and the colors they leave in the stone. It did not name a painter, a brush, or a scaffold.

I erased the word painted. I wrote, "Green is copper, orange is iron, and white is lime." The cliffs stayed the same while we watched. Only my explanation changed. The boat turned back toward the Munising dock before I finished the last words, so I completed the sentence there.

The card at a community studio in Lansing says a pot may enter the kiln only after two checks. The clay must be dry all the way through, and the maker's name must be carved on the bottom. On this card, dry means the clay looks pale and feels cool, with no dark damp patch. A firm rim is not enough.

Deon brought a bowl with a dark patch on its foot. He wanted it fired that afternoon because the rim felt firm. Ms. Adeyemi set the bowl back on the drying shelf. She held up a pale cup that had no dark patch and a name carved underneath. That cup went into the kiln. Deon's bowl stayed out.

Two days later the dark patch was gone. Deon carved his name on the bottom, and the bowl went into the next firing. He wrote on his folder, "A firm rim is not dry clay. The kiln takes pale clay with a name."

The crate card in a cherry row near Traverse City gives two tests. A cherry may go in the crate only when the fruit is dark red on every side and the stem slips off cleanly. A cherry that is red on only one side stays out of the crate, even if it feels soft. Softness is not the test.

Leo twisted a soft cherry that was red on one side and yellow on the other. He held it over the crate. The stem tore instead of slipping free. Aunt June set that cherry in a cup marked "row snack." She then picked a firm cherry that was dark red all over. Its stem slipped off in her fingers, and the fruit went into the crate.

Leo added three more all-red cherries whose stems slipped cleanly. He left another soft, half-yellow cherry on the tree. "My hand liked the soft one," he said. Aunt June answered, "The crate does not take what a hand likes. It takes dark red fruit whose stem slips free."

The blue stake behind the Houghton school has marks at 8 inches, 10 inches, and 12 inches. A delay is called when snow on the stake reaches the 8-inch mark and is still below the 10-inch mark. School is closed when snow on the stake reaches the 10-inch mark. A drift against the door does not count. The stake is the measure.

On Monday the stake showed 9 inches. A drift against the door looked as high as the 12-inch mark. Priya's neighbor said the building must be closed. The principal, Mr. Lahti, pointed at the stake. "Nine has reached eight and is still under ten, so we delay. We do not close. The door drift is not the measure." The buses came two hours later.

On Wednesday the stake showed 10 inches, and school was closed. On Thursday the stake showed 7 inches, which is under 8, so the doors opened at the usual time. Priya wrote, "Nine delayed us. Ten closed us. Seven did neither."

The boathouse on the Boardman River in Traverse City lends a kayak only when each paddler has a jacket on a numbered hook. A jacket left in a car does not count. A spare jacket on the dock does not count unless it hangs on a hook with the party's number.

Elliot's party had three paddlers: Elliot, his mother, and his cousin. Jackets hung on hooks 12 and 13. Hook 14 was empty, and the third jacket sat on the car seat. Elliot said, "I can see three jackets, so we are ready." Mr. Bell, the clerk, shook his head. "The car jacket is not on a hook. Two filled hooks mean two people may go. Someone waits, or you hang that jacket on hook 14."

Elliot carried the car jacket to hook 14. Mr. Bell counted three jackets on three hooks and pushed out three kayaks. A spare blue jacket stayed on the dock because it had no party number. Elliot wrote on the rental slip, "Seeing a jacket is not the same as hanging it on our hook."

Dear Samir, the first warm night in Ann Arbor, the Nichols Arboretum sounded like a leaking pipe. I wrote that the pond pump had broken. I am staying near the arboretum this spring, and the high peeping started as soon as the sun dropped.

A naturalist on the path said the sounds were spring peepers, small frogs calling so other frogs can find them. She asked me to listen for a full minute. No water sprayed from a broken pipe. The calls came from the reeds, and they continued while we stood still. "Many frogs together make a chorus," she said. "A chorus is not a leak."

I crossed out the sentence about the pump. I wrote that peepers are frogs in the reeds and that the chorus means they are calling. The sound stayed loud. My explanation was the only thing I replaced. I am sending this page to you in Marquette so you can see what I got wrong and what I wrote next.

The viewing path by the ore dock in Marquette follows a horn rule posted on the yellow rail. One blast means a loader is about to move, and walkers step behind the rail. Two blasts mean the loader has stopped, and the path beside the rail is open again. A loader that looks still is not permission to stay in the path. The horn decides.

Sasha heard one blast and stayed in the path to photograph the loader. Her brother Miles moved her behind the rail. "One blast means it is about to move," he said. "The picture can wait. We stay behind the rail until we hear two."

The loader rolled through the spot where Sasha had been standing. Then two blasts sounded. They stepped up to the rail, and Sasha took the photo from that side. On the back of the picture she wrote, "One blast put us behind the rail. Two blasts let us return."

A painted sign on the lakeshore bike path in Holland explains bell rings. One ring means the rider is passing on the left. Two rings mean stop, because a walker is in the lane. Ringing more quickly does not add a new meaning. The number of rings is the message.

Hugo heard two rings behind him and stood on his pedals to speed up. His sister Lila braked and held her arm out. A walker with a stroller was in the lane ahead. "Two rings mean stop," Lila said. "You were about to ride on a meaning the sign does not give."

They waited until the walker moved aside. Lila then rang once and passed on the left. On an empty stretch she had Hugo practice both messages: one ring and then pass, two rings and then wait. Hugo said the second ring had sounded like hurry. Lila tapped the sign. "Hurry is a meaning we invented. The sign already chose what two rings mean."

At the Kalamazoo library, a green slip in a book means the book is held for the person named on the slip. That book stays on the hold shelf. A book with no slip on the sale cart may be taken home for one dollar. A name that looks almost like the name on the slip is still a different name.

Rosa wanted a bird guide that had a green slip. The slip said "R. Okonkwo." Rosa's card said "R. Okon." She told the librarian the names were close enough. Ms. Farrell read both names aloud. "Okonkwo and Okon are not the same name. Close does not count, so this guide stays on the hold shelf."

On the sale cart Rosa found a different bird guide with no slip. She paid one dollar and took that copy home. The held guide stayed on the shelf for R. Okonkwo. In her notebook Rosa wrote both names and drew a line between them.

At a canoe landing on the Au Sable River near Grayling, a posted card explains flags. A raised white flag means the canoe is fishing, and other boats should pass wide. A lowered flag means the canoe is traveling, and other boats may pass close. Lunch is not fishing. The flag should match what the canoe is doing.

While the group ate lunch, Ben raised the white flag because he liked the way it looked against the pines. A passing canoe swung toward the far bank and scraped a log. The guide, Ms. Cho, lowered the flag. "Raised means we are fishing and need room. Raised while we eat makes people swing wide for no reason." Ben felt his face grow hot.

After lunch they cast their lines, and Ben raised the flag again. The next canoe passed wide and did not touch a log. When the rods were packed, Ben lowered the flag before they paddled on. He wrote, "Raised while fishing gives us room. Raised while eating only pushes boats aside."