Quick Check 2 in English 5

The Marvelous Journey

by Leonora and Arthur Hornblow

It is spring. The mother monarch butterfly lays her eggs. She lays them on a milkweed plant. The eggs are green and very small. They look like drops of dew.

After a few days an eggshell opens. Out comes a tiny dark caterpillar. It begins to eat the milkweed. A strange thing is that it will eat only milkweed. If it can't get milkweed, it won't eat at all. It will starve.

The little caterpillar eats for two weeks. Then it starts to change into a butterfly.

The caterpillar hangs upside down. Its skin splits open. It pushes the skin off. Now the caterpillar is a pupa.

The pupa has clear green skin. A butterfly can be seen growing inside. In about two weeks the pupa splits open. Out crawls the crumpled monarch butterfly.

The monarch butterfly spreads its wings for the first time. Slowly it starts to move them. Soon it is strong enough to fly. It flies north. It will stay in the north all through the summer.

During the summer the monarch flies from flower to flower. Inside the flowers there is a sweet juice called nectar. This is the monarch's food.

Then the days begin to grow cold. Now the monarch is ready to start on a marvelous journey. It is ready to fly south for the winter.

Thousands of monarchs fly south together. They fly slowly. They have a long way to go.

Many of the monarchs will die on the journey. Some will be killed by storms. A few will be eaten by birds. Most birds, though, will not eat them. Birds don't seem to like the way monarchs taste.

At night the monarchs stop flying. They have favorite resting places along the way. Each year new monarchs stop at these same places. Thousands of bright butterflies cover the branches of trees.

Each morning the monarchs fly on. Their journey may take five months. They may fly more than two thousand miles.

At last the monarchs reach the warm, sunny south. They spend the winter there.

In the spring the monarchs start flying back to the north. This time they don't all fly together.

On the way, mother monarchs lay eggs on milkweed plants. Now the monarchs' lives are almost over. One by one, they die. But the eggs hatch. The new monarchs fly on. They fly north, back to where their parents' marvelous journey began.

Multiple Choice

This story is mostly about ___________.

• the life of a monarch butterfly

• caterpillars turning into butterflies

• what monarch butterflies like to eat

Multiple Choice

If there were no more milkweed plants, monarchs would probably ___________.

• lay their eggs on other plants

• not be able to live long

• stop flying south

Multiple Choice

Monarchs spend the winter in the south because ___________.

• the milkweed grows there

• the weather is warm there

• few birds live there

Multiple Choice

In the spring the monarchs don't fly together because ___________.

• they need to find many different milkweed plants

• some of them are older than the others

• their parents don't show them the way

Multiple Choice

Most of the monarchs that die on the journey north ___________.

• are killed by cold weather

• are killed by hungry birds

• die of old age

Open Ended

Write a sentence using the comparative degree of the adjective interesting.

Open Ended

Write a sentence using the superlative degree of the adjective keen.

Open Ended

Identify the adverb used in the sentence and give its classification.

Monique answered the test effortlessly.

Open Ended

Identify the adverb used in the sentence and give its classification.

Jeff visited his cousin in Cebu yesterday.

Open Ended

Identify the adverb used in the sentence and give its classification.

The bystander is often seen everywhere.