1. Superdam
by Mel Boring

2. IC11: Demonstrate understanding of major ideas and supportive details
1 What is the main idea of the selection?
A. Constructing a large dam takes many years.
B. Building dams requires thousands of people.
C. Constructing dams can help solve water shortages.
D. Building a massive dam requires extraordinary efforts.
IC11: Demonstrate understanding of major ideas and supportive details
(Reading GLE 2.1.3)

3. IA15: Demonstrate understanding of text features (titles, headings and
2 Explain two ways that the text box helps the reader understand the size of Hoover Dam. Include information from the text box in your answer.
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IA15: Demonstrate understanding of text features (titles, headings and
other information divisions, table of contents, indexes, glossaries, prefaces, appendices,
captions) and graphic features (Reading GLE 2.2.2)

4. 2
A 2-point response provides text-based information to identify two ways that the text box helps readers understand the size of Hoover Dam.
Example: The text box tells how the dam created the largest lake in the U.S., and it says you could float a five-story house through the dam’s tunnels. 1
A 1-point response provides text-based information to identify one way that the text box helps readers understand the size of Hoover Dam.
Text-based information may include, but is not limited to:
The dam is constructed of enough concrete to build a highway from New York to San Francisco
The dam required the largest cement mixer ever seen / makes sixteen and a half tons of concrete a minute
The dam created the largest lake (reservoir) in the U.S.
You could float a five-story house through each of the dam’s tunnels / 4,000-foot-long tunnels

5. 2 Explain two ways that the text box helps the reader understand the size of Hoover Dam. Include information from the text box in your answer. 2
D. “…you could float a five story house through the long tunnels…”
B. “…required building the largest mixing machine that had ever been seen. It could make
sixteen and a half tons of concrete a minute!”
C. “…the largest lake in the United States is lake mead created by the dam.”

6. 2 Explain two ways that the text box helps the reader understand the size of Hoover Dam. Include information from the text box in your answer. 2
D. “…you could float a five-story house through each of the dam’s 4,000-foot-long tunnels...”
B. “...The largest lake built in the U.S. is Lake Mead the reservoir created by the dam.”

7. 2 Explain two ways that the text box helps the reader understand the size of Hoover Dam. Include information from the text box in your answer. 1
A. “It had a nuff concreat to pave a 16 Ft wide road from San Francisco to New York City.”

8. 2 Explain two ways that the text box helps the reader understand the size of Hoover Dam. Include information from the text box in your answer.
The score for this response is a 0. This did not include specific information from the text box.

9. IC13: Make inferences or predictions based on the reading (Reading GLE
3 Based on the selection, what assumption can be made about planning a large dam?
A. Transporting the materials for a massive dam is a simple process.
B. Few people will build a massive dam because it is dangerous.
C. Geography is ignored when planning a massive dam.
D. Building a massive dam provides many jobs.
IC13: Make inferences or predictions based on the reading (Reading GLE
2.1.5)

10. 4 What difficulties were associated with building the Hoover Dam
4 What difficulties were associated with building the Hoover Dam? Include four examples from the selection in your answer.
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IA17: Make connections (cause and effect) within a text (Reading GLE 2.3.1)

11. Text-based examples may include, but are not limited to: 4
A 4-point response provides four text-based examples of difficulties that were associated with building the Hoover Dam.
Example: To build the Hoover Dam, builders had to stop the Colorado River by building a fourteen billion pound concrete plug. Then they had to worry about 120 degree temperatures that killed 14 men. Next, they had to build a railroad to transport materials, and finally, they had to construct factories to provide the Materials. 3
A 3-point response provides three text-based examples of difficulties that were associated with building the Hoover Dam. 2
A 2-point response provides two text-based examples of difficulties that were associated with building the Hoover Dam. 1
A 1-point response provides one text-based example of a difficulty that was associated with building the Hoover Dam.
Text-based examples may include, but are not limited to:
Had to stop the Colorado River with a huge plug / built a fourteen-billion-pound concrete plug / holding back 244 million gallons of water / Colorado was wildest river in West
The river occasionally floods
Had to dig four tunnels / divert the river
Had to wait for the ground to dry to pour cement
Needed 5,250 workers / required lots of workers
Five years to build the dam / required lots of time
Had 120 degree temperatures / heat killed 14 men / death / Mojave Desert
Materials did not get to the site fast enough / had to build a railroad to transport materials
Needed bigger things than even the railroad could carry / had to construct factories to make materials
Required the largest mixing machine for concrete ever made
Needed huge quantities of materials / cement / steel / pipe / water valves

12. 4 What difficulties were associated with building the Hoover Dam
4 What difficulties were associated with building the Hoover Dam? Include four examples from the selection in your answer. 4
G. “…people died from heat exhaustion.”
I. “…they had to build factories right next to the dam.”
C. “…they had to make 4 seperate tunnels.”
D. “…they had to wait until the river bed was completly dry before laying down the
cement.”

13. 4 What difficulties were associated with building the Hoover Dam
4 What difficulties were associated with building the Hoover Dam? Include four examples from the selection in your answer. 4
G. “…the weather reached 120°F…”
K. “…a lot of material needed …”
I. “…factories…needed to be built.”
H. “…railroads needed to be built.”

14. 4 What difficulties were associated with building the Hoover Dam
4 What difficulties were associated with building the Hoover Dam? Include four examples from the selection in your answer. 3
G. “…it was so hot a couple people died from heat exhaustion…”
A. “…it had to be fourteen billion pound concrete plug.”
E. “…about 5,250 people were needed…”

15. 4 What difficulties were associated with building the Hoover Dam
4 What difficulties were associated with building the Hoover Dam? Include four examples from the selection in your answer. 2
G. “...heat killed some people... the tempruture reach 120°...”
I. “...they had to get big materils that trains could not carry so they had to bild a fatery...”

16. 4 What difficulties were associated with building the Hoover Dam
4 What difficulties were associated with building the Hoover Dam? Include four examples from the selection in your answer. 1
G. “…weather was about 120 degress…14 people died because of the hot weather.”

17. 4 What difficulties were associated with building the Hoover Dam
4 What difficulties were associated with building the Hoover Dam? Include four examples from the selection in your answer.
The score for this response is a 0. This student did not use specific text-based examples.

18. A. Some modern dams are less dangerous than Hoover Dam.
5 According to the selection, which statement tells how Hoover Dam and some modern dams are different?
A. Some modern dams are less dangerous than Hoover Dam.
B. Hoover Dam is more attractive than some modern dams.
C. Some modern dams are larger than Hoover Dam.
D. Hoover Dam is wider than some modern dams.
IA16: Compare and contrast information presented in texts (Reading GLEs
2.3.1, 2.4.6)

19. 6 What is the author’s purpose for writing this selection?
A. To persuade the reader to visit the massive Hoover Dam
B. To entertain the reader with tales of controlling the Colorado River
C. To describe the problems encountered when building the Hoover Dam
D. To inform readers about the amount of materials used during construction
IT18: Analyze author’s purpose (including distinguishing between fact and
opinion) and evaluate effectiveness for different audiences (Reading GLEs 2.4.2, 2.4.3, 2.4.4)