Grappling with Maths

Read the passage and answer the questions. ALEX clutched his maths quiz in his hand as he opened the front door. He’d really tried this time, but he still barely passed.

And now Mrs Gregory was making everyone take their quizzes home to be signed.

Sounds from the kitchen and the smell of fresh chocolate chip cookies greeted Alex at the door. His stomach grumbled. No way would he be allowed to have cookies after he showed Mom this quiz. Unless... He could wait until the morning and have her sign the quiz before school !

Alex shoved the paper in his backpack and ran to the kitchen.

“Hi, Mom. The cookies smell great.” “Thanks.” Mom poured a glass of milk and put it on the table for Alex. “I figured you’d need a pickme-up after you got your maths quiz back.”

Alex dropped his cookie on the floor. How did she know?

“Mrs Gregory called,” Mom said, as Ralph, their golden retriever, snatched up the fallen cookie. Here it comes, Alex thought. I’m grounded.

“I told Mrs Gregory how hard you studied for that quiz,” Mom said, handing Alex another cookie. Alex was shocked. Mom wasn’t mad?

“I think maybe we need to get you a tutor. Someone who can help you understand maths a little better. What do you think?”

“A tutor?” Alex asked, still waiting for Mom to start yelling.

“Yeah. Mrs Gregory said she’d be happy to work with you after school, but if you’d rather we could ask Michael down the street. He’s a maths whiz.” Alex nodded. “I guess Michael could help me.” “That’s what I thought you’d say. I’ll call him tonight after dinner.” Mom put her hand out, waiting for the paper to sign.

Alex pulled it out of his backpack, but he held it tight. “How come you aren’t mad?”

Mom smiled. “I know you tried your best. I can’t be mad about that. Now if you said you didn’t want to be tutored, I might be a little upset.”

“I don’t want to fail maths.”

“Tell you what. Let’s have some milk and cookies and then we’ll call Michael together.”

Alex handed the quiz to his mom and sat down at the table. Being tutored by Michael wouldn’t be so bad. And hopefully he wouldn’t have to worry the next time he had to get his maths quiz signed.

1. Why didn’t Alex want to show the maths test to his mother? a. He failed the test. b. He didn’t study for the test. c. He thought his mother would be upset. d. He forgot to bring the test home.

2. Alex didn’t want to show his mother the test that afternoon. He wanted to wait until the next morning instead. Why?

3. Why didn’t Alex wait until morning to have his mom sign the test?

4. Match each character with their description. Michael a.) family pet

5. Why wasn’t Alex’s mom upset with him?

Fill in the missing letters to create a vocabulary word from the story.

1. ___ a ___ e ___ y _______________________________ _____ hint: by a very small amount

2. ___ i ___ n ___ d _______________________________ _____ hint: wrote a cursive name on a paper

3. ___ t o ___ ___ c ___ ___________________________ _________ hint: belly

4. ___ i g ___ ___ e d _____________________________ _______ hint: thought

5. ___ e ___ ___ i e ___ ___ r _______________________ _____________ hint: type of dog that likes to fetch items and bring them back

6. ____ n ___ t ___ h ___ d ________________________ ____________ hint: grabbed

7. ____ r ___ u ___ d ___ d ________________________ ____________ hint: punishment in which privileges are lost

8. ___ ___ ___ o r ________________________________ ____ hint: a person hired to help someone learn

9. ___ a ___ l ____________________________________ hint: opposite of pass fail 9. tutor 8. grounded 7. snatched 6. retriever 5. figured 4. stomach 3. signed 2. barely 1. story. the from word vocabulary a create to letters missing the in Fill

quiz. the on best his tried and studied he knows She 5.

maths with struggling boy b.) Alex teacher