Shirley Jackson - Charles (Grade 6)

In the first paragraph, what does the word "renounced" most nearly mean?

"The day my son Laurie started kindergarten he renounced

corduroy overalls with bibs and began wearing blue jeans

with a belt; I watched him go off the first morning with the

older girl next door, seeing clearly that an era of my life was

ended, my sweet-voiced nursery-school tot replaced by a longtrousered, swaggering character who forgot to stop at the corner and wave good-bye to me."

• forgot

• lost

• stopped using

• started using

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.4

CCSS.RL.5.1

CCSS.RL.5.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

Who is the story's narrator?

• Charles

• Laurie

• the teacher

• the mother

• the father

Tags

CCSS.RL.2.10

CCSS.RL.2.2

CCSS.RL.2.3

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.4.4

What does the following dialogue represent?

“Did you learn anything?” his father asked.

Laurie regarded his father coldly. “I didn’t learn nothing,”

he said.

“Anything,” I said. “ Didn’t learn anything”

• The teacher is correcting the grammar of the student.

• The parents are kindly reminding their child about Trait #6, English Convention.

• The Parents are coldly reminding the child about Trait #6, English Convention.

• The parents are repeating what their child learned during the first day of school.

Tags

CCSS.RL.2.6

CCSS.RL.8.3

In the following excerpt, the word "fresh" most nearly means what?

“The teacher spanked a boy, though,” Laurie said, addressing his bread and butter. “For being fresh,” he added, with his mouth full.

• new

• clean

• ready

• rude

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.4

CCSS.RL.5.1

CCSS.RL.5.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

Based on this passage, what is Charles' punishment at the end of the week?

The third day— it was Wednesday of the first week— Charles

bounced a see-saw on to the head of a little girl and made

her bleed, and the teacher made him stay inside all during recess. Thursday Charles had to stand in a corner during storytime because he kept pounding his feet on the floor. Friday Charles was deprived of blackboard privileges because he threw chalk.

• He threw chalk.

• He was not allowed to use the blackboard.

• He had to write on the blackboard over and over, like Bart Simpson.

• He had to face the wall next to the blackboard.

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.1

CCSS.RI.7.1

CCSS.RL.5.1

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

Based on this passage, how do the attitudes of the parents differ regarding life and behavior problems at school?

On Saturday I remarked to my husband, “Do you think

kindergarten is too unsettling for Laurie? All this toughness,

and bad grammar, and this Charles boy sounds like such a bad influence.”

“It’ll be all right,” my husband said reassuringly. “Bound to

be people like Charles in the world. Might as well meet them

now as later.”

• The father supports the mother.

• The mother supports the father.

• The mother is worried, the father sees it as an opportunity.

• The mother and father are worried about Charles' bad influence.

Tags

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.5.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

What evidence exists in this selection that Laurie has behavior problems?

“You know what Charles did?” he demanded, following me

through the door. “Charles yelled so in school they sent a boy in from first grade to tell the teacher she had to make Charles keep quiet, and so Charles had to stay after school. And so all the children stayed to watch him.”

“What did he do?” I asked.

“He just sat there,” Laurie said, climbing into his chair at

the table. “Hi, Pop, y’old dust mop.”

“Charles had to stay after school today,” I told my husband.

“Everyone stayed with him.”

“What does this Charles look like?” my husband asked

Laurie. “What’s his other name?”

• Charles has to stay after school.

• Charles yells in school.

• All the children stay to watch Charles.

• He calls his father a disrespectful name.

Tags

CCSS.RF.5.4C

CCSS.RI.6.1

CCSS.RL.5.1

CCSS.RL.6.1

CCSS.RL.7.1

In this passage, which literary device is being used for the name Charles?

With the third week of kindergarten Charles was an institution in our family; the baby was being a Charles when she cried all afternoon; Laurie did a Charles when he filled his wagon full of mud and pulled it through the kitchen; even my husband, when he caught his elbow in the telephone cord and pulled telephone, ashtray, and a bowl of flowers off the table...

• simile

• oxymoron

• allusion

• metaphor

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

In the following passage, what does the term "reformation" most nearly mean?

During the third and fourth weeks it looked like a reformation in Charles; Laurie reported grimly at lunch on Thursday of the third week, “Charles was so good today the teacher gave him an apple.”

• reflection

• improvement

• instancia

• reward

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.4

CCSS.RI.6.4

CCSS.RI.7.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

When the mother learns that Charles is improving, she has trouble believing it and speaks with her husband. The father expresses "cynicism" as demonstrated by the word "plotting." What does the word "plotting" most nearly mean in this context?

“Can this be true, about Charles?” I asked my husband that

night. “Can something like this happen?”

“Wait and see,” my husband said cynically. “When you’ve

got a Charles to deal with, this may mean he’s only plotting.”

• planning

• acting

• pretending

• playing

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.4

CCSS.RI.7.4

CCSS.RL.5.1

CCSS.RL.5.4

CCSS.RL.7.4