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Students Give Creek a Second Chance — Reading Comprehension — Answers

Answer sheet with model answers and success criteria for the Year 6 reading comprehension comprehension exercise.

Year 6 · English · Reading Comprehension

Students Give Creek a Second Chance — Reading Comprehension — Answers

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Part A — Right there in the text

Find each answer in the article.

1.How many students took part in the clean-up?[1 mark]

Answer: Fifty-three.

2.Who organised the clean-up?[1 mark]
  1. Athe local council
  2. Bthe Year 6 and 7 environment club
  3. CMayor Linda Tran
  4. DFrank Mancini

Answer: the Year 6 and 7 environment club

The article says it was 'organised by the school's Year 6 and 7 environment club'.

3.What did the club ask the council for?[1 mark]

Answer: Gloves, bags and skip bins.

4.What was the most common item of rubbish found?[1 mark]
  1. Achip packets
  2. Bshopping trolleys
  3. Cplastic drink bottles
  4. Dsoft-drink cans

Answer: plastic drink bottles

'Plastic drink bottles were the most common item'.

5.How often will the club return to the creek?[1 mark]

Answer: Once a term.

6.Why are the students planting native grasses along the bank?[1 mark]

Answer: To stop soil washing into the water.

Part B — Reading between the lines

Use evidence from the article to explain your answers.

7.What does the Mayor mean when she says every bag of rubbish removed is 'a bag that will never reach the ocean'?[2 marks]

Answer: Because the creek flows into the river and then the bay, rubbish left in the creek would eventually end up in the ocean. Cleaning the creek protects the sea too.

8.What does the canteen campaign tell you about what the students learnt from the clean-up?[2 marks]

Answer: They learnt that single-use plastic bottles are a big part of the problem, so they want to stop the waste at its source rather than just clean it up.

9.Why does the reporter include Frank Mancini's memory of catching yabbies?[2 marks]

Answer: It shows the creek was once clean and full of life, and suggests the clean-up might help it return to that state.

10.Why do you think the council workers, not the students, removed the tyres and trolleys?[2 marks]

Answer: They were too heavy and possibly dangerous for children to lift safely.

Part C — Word meanings

11.The creek was choked with plastic. This means it was...[1 mark]
  1. Aslightly dirty
  2. Bcompletely blocked and full of
  3. Csurrounded by
  4. Dcleaned by

Answer: completely blocked and full of

'Choked with' means so full that it is blocked, like a throat that cannot breathe.

12.Remarkable means...[1 mark]
  1. Aordinary
  2. Bworth noticing; impressive
  3. Cdifficult
  4. Dquick

Answer: worth noticing; impressive

Remarkable means so good or unusual that it deserves a remark or comment.

13.What does single-use plastic mean?[1 mark]

Answer: Plastic that is used once and then thrown away, such as drink bottles and chip packets.

Part D — Extended response

14.Write a paragraph persuading students at another school to organise their own creek or park clean-up. Use at least two facts from the article to support your argument.[5 marks]

Model answer: Have you ever walked past rubbish and thought someone else would deal with it? The students at Blackwood Heights decided to deal with it themselves. In just one morning, 53 students removed more than 40 bags of rubbish and 212 drink bottles from their local creek. Their mayor called it remarkable. If they can do it, so can you.

Success criteria:

  • Opens with a hook such as a question or strong statement
  • Includes at least two facts or figures from the article
  • Uses persuasive language (should, must, imagine)
  • Ends with a clear call to action
  • Full sentences with correct punctuation
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Marking tips

  • Give credit for correct method even when the final answer slips — the working shows where the thinking went right.
  • For open-ended tasks, use the success criteria as a checklist rather than looking for one "right" answer.
  • Celebrate what went well first, then pick one thing to work on next.