The Best Dancer--Baseline

Mrs. Coolidge says that Annabelle is very what?

• kind

• beautiful

• snooty

• gifted

Annabelle devises a plan that somehow involves a bag of earthworms and Sally. What motivates Annabelle's actions?

• She wants to stop Sally from getting the lead part in the school ballet.

• She wants to prove that she is a more gifted ballet dancer than Sally.

• She wants to get the other ballet students to stop liking Sally so much.

• She wants Mrs. Coolidge to think that Sally is dirty and gross.

Annabelle wants to be the best at ballet. What evidence from the story best supports this conclusion?

• "Mrs. Coolidge would prefer it if Annabelle simply liked to dance."

• "In the following weeks, however, it became clear that Annabelle had grossly underestimated Sally's dancing abilities."

• "Annabelle, she believed, was inspired, but inspired to win, to outdo, to beat everyone else."

• "She had prepared a beautiful piece in which she slid across the stage on her toes, emulating a flowering tulip."

How can Annabelle best be described?

• honest

• competitive

• helpful

• generous

What is the main idea of the passage?

• Sally gets the lead part in the school ballet because she tricks Annabelle.

• Annabelle gathers earthworms in a bag, but she loses the bag.

• Two young ballet dancers start off as rivals, but soon become friends.

• Annabelle is jealous of a new student who is a better dancer than her.

Read the following sentences: "Annabelle smirked. This girl would be no competition for Annabelle and her graceful, gifted performances. In the following weeks, however, it became clear that Annabelle had grossly underestimated Sally's dancing abilities. In fact, Sally was not a gifted dancer, but Sally was an incredibly gifted dancer. She leapt and twirled and bowed and moved in ways Annabelle hadn't imagined possible for such a short girl."

As used in this sentence, what does the word underestimate most nearly mean?

• think someone is lower in ability than they really are.

• accurately guess how good someone's ability is

• think someone is higher in ability than they really are

• make a guess with very little information about something

During Annabelle's audition, Sally drops the earthworms that Annabelle had collected on her and mouths, "Nice try." Based on this information, what can you conclude about Sally?

• Sally isn't a nice person.

• Sally isn't very good at ballet.

• Sally knew that Annabelle was going to try to ruin Sally's audition.

• Sally thinks cheating is the only way she will get the lead role.