"The Stray" Plot Check For Understanding

Select the part of the plot that is the EXPOSITION.

• Mr. Lacey puts the dog in the car to take it to the pound
• Mr. Lacey brings the dog back
• Doris is shoveling the driveway and sees a stray dog 

Tags

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.5.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.4.5

CCSS.RL.5.5

What is the main conflict?

• It is snowing outside.

• Doris wants to keep a dog her family can't afford.

• Mrs. Lacey grudgingly lets Doris feed the dog table scraps.

• The conditions of the pound are very bad.

Tags

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.2.10

CCSS.RL.2.2

CCSS.RL.2.3

CCSS.RL.4.4

What sets the story in motion?

• Mr. Lacey takes the dog to the pound.

• During dinner, Doris tries to convince the family to keep the dog. .

• Doris is allowed to put the dog in the basement.

• Doris finds a stray dog and brings it home.

Tags

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.2.10

CCSS.RL.2.2

CCSS.RL.2.3

CCSS.RL.4.4

Why does Doris hope that the weather will never clear?

• When the weather clears, her father will go back to work.
• When the weather clears, she will have to go back to school.
• She loves playing with the puppy in the snow.
• When the weather clears, her father will take the puppy away.

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.1

CCSS.RI.6.1

CCSS.RL.5.1

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.6.1

The snowstorm is important to the story because-

• the pound would not have had as many dogs in the summer

• it permitted for Doris to find the dog in the street while she shoveled snow.

• it closed schools and businesses

• it allowed for Doris's parents to let Doris keep the dog.

What event was important to the rising action?

• The dog was lying on the top basement step all stretched out.

• A puppy wandered onto the Lacey's property.

• The puppy was very well behaved

• Mr. Lacey returns from the pound with the dog.

Doris does not give the dog a name because

• she hasn't found the perfect name yet
• she has been too upset to think about a name
• she thinks the dog's next owners should name it
• she does not want to grow too attached to the dog

Tags

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.5.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.3.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

Which line from the story best expresses the turning point?

• But she started feeling hungry, and she knew she’d have to make herself get out of bed and eat some dinner. She wanted not to go into the kitchen, past the basement door. She wanted not to face her parents.

• “You’d better feed that mutt before it dies of starvation,” Mr. Lacey aid.

   Doris turned around. “What?”

   “I said, you’d better feed your dog, I figure it’s looking for you.”

• “Worst looking place I’ve ever seen. Ten dogs to a cage. Smell was enough to knock you down. And they give an animal six days to live. They they kill it with some kind of shot.”

• Her parents were sitting at the table, dinner over, drinking coffee. They looked at her when she came in, but she kept her head down. No one spoke.

What happens during the RESOLUTION of "Stray"?

• Mr. Lacey takes the dog to the pound

• Doris sees the dog while shoveling

• Mr. Lacey explains why he brought the dog back from the shelter and tells Doris to feed the dog

Which of the following is the best summary of the story?

• It was a cold January day when Doris was out shoveling the snow after a snowstorm. She saw a stray dog in the street and brought him inside for warmth. Her parents told her they couldn't keep him, and she cried when he left.

• During a snowstorm that closed jobs and schools, Doris found a stray dog. Her parents agreed to let her keep the dog until the snow cleared, but then they would be taking it to the pound. Doris begged to let her parents keep the puppy, but ultimately, they took the puppy to the pound.

• Doris found a stray puppy in the street while she was shoveling her driveway after a storm that left schools and jobs closed. She was allowed to keep the dog until the storm ended, but she was not allowed to get attached to it since they didn't have enough money to keep it. They kept the puppy for nine days, and the puppy was such a good dog, and Doris tried her best to beg her parents to keep him. Then, the weather cleared up, and it had to go back to the pound. The pound, however, was in terrible condition, so the dad agreed to let Doris keep the puppy.

• Doris found a stray puppy during a bad snowstorm, she took the puppy in to give it warmth, but her parents only allowed her to keep it until the roads were good to take him to the pound. Despite the puppy being a well-behaved dog, when the weather cleared Mr. Lacey took the dog to the pound. However, the conditions of the pound were so awful that Mr. Lacey didn't want to leave the dog, so in the end, Doris got her puppy.