STAAR Released Questions English

STAAR Practice #1

Read the text in the next slide and answer the following questions.

Multiple Choice

Which statement best expresses the thesis of the excerpt?

• Ancestral Puebloans were attracted to the cliffs of Colorado

  centuries ago.

• Ancestral Puebloans left behind the ruins of their communities

  in the cliffs.

• Ancestral Puebloans were innovators who created a flourishing

  civilization.

• Ancestral Puebloans lived in complex communities in

  southwestern Colorado.

Multiple Choice

Which quotation from the excerpt best supports the conclusion that

the Ancestral Puebloans made efficient use of limited resources?

• The low height of the doorways indicates that people then were

  shorter than they are today. (paragraph 4)

• However, the farmers were expert in dryland farming, creating

  check dams and channels to direct rainwater to their crops.

  (paragraph 10)

• Now the Ancestral Puebloans no longer lived on top of the mesa.

  (paragraph 12)

• Around 1270, the Ancestral Puebloans left Mesa Verde, although

  we are not entirely sure why they left. (paragraph 13)

Multiple Choice

In paragraphs 9, 10, and 12, the details support the key idea that the

Ancestral Puebloans —

• developed new construction skills

• frequently faced challenges in surviving

• often moved in search of a better home

• outgrew the available resources

Multiple Choice

Which detail from the section titled “The Cliff Dwellings at Mesa Verde”

(paragraphs 3–7) supports the key idea that social interaction was

important to Ancestral Puebloan communities?

• The size of the living areas

• The location of the kiva

• The function of the courtyard

• The proximity of the dwellings

Multiple Select

Why does the author most likely include the illustrations in the excerpt?

Select TWO correct answers.

• To explain how the Ancestral Puebloans used different resources

• To show how the Ancestral Puebloans designed and built structures

• To demonstrate the challenges of building dwellings in the cliff

• To show how the different parts of the cliff dwellings fit together

• To contrast different types of buildings built by the Ancestral

  Puebloans

Multiple Choice

Read this quotation from paragraph 8.

How does the author’s choice of words in this quotation contribute

to the tone of the excerpt?

• Phrases such as “thriving community” and “skilled craftsmen”

  create an admiring tone.

• Phrases such as “adept farmers” and “difficult, dry land” create a

  somber tone.

• Phrases such as “many thousands” and “Native American people”

  create a precise tone.

• Phrases such as “about 700 years” and “now referred to” create an

  accessible tone.

Multiple Choice

What is the most likely reason the author wrote this excerpt?

• To persuade the reader to visit an important archaeological site

  to learn about an ancient society

• To provide information about how an ancient society managed to

  prosper in an inhospitable region

• To describe the impact of an ancient civilization on the history of

  a populated region

• To share the history of how two cowboys accidentally discovered

  the ruins of an ancient civilization

Multiple Choice

How does the author organize the section titled “The Ancestral

Puebloans” (paragraphs 8–13) to develop the thesis?

• By describing the events that forced the Ancestral Puebloans to

  adapt to changes in their environment

• By listing the agricultural skills necessary to master farming the

  land in the Mesa Verde area

• By explaining how the Ancestral Puebloans altered the natural

  landscape in ever more significant ways

• By recounting the establishment of increasingly complex and

  sophisticated structures in the Mesa Verde area

Multiple Choice

Which idea about society is developed in the excerpt?

• Communities form in order to satisfy the human desire for

  new experiences.

• Civilizations are defined by specific beliefs and economic goals.

• People adapt to environmental conditions to help their

  civilizations thrive.

• People are more likely to survive in communities than on their own.

Thank you! I hope you got most of them right!

You can always retry if you didn't do so great. Check out my other STAAR Review quizziz.