Storm Over the Pecan Trees — Poetry Comprehension — Answers
Answer sheet with model answers and success criteria for the 5th Grade reading comprehension comprehension exercise.
Success TutoringWorksheetsAnswer sheet5th Grade · English · Reading ComprehensionStorm Over the Pecan Trees — Poetry Comprehension — Answers
Part A: Find the facts
Answer: Very hot and still: “the heat lay still” and “the road burned like hot sand.”
Answer: From the west.
- Ablack and white
- Bpurple and gray
- Cpink and orange
- Dblue and green
Answer: purple and gray
“tall towers of purple and gray.”
Answer: Rooftops and pickup trucks.
Answer: The mockingbird.
Part B: How the poem works
Answer: The heat is compared to a heavy quilt. It suggests the heat pressed down on everything and felt thick, smothering and uncomfortable.
Answer: “the wind woke up” (stanza 2) or “grumbling off to the east” (stanza 4). It makes the wind or storm seem alive, like a person waking up or grumbling as it leaves, which helps the reader picture its mood.
Answer: drumming, hammered, rushed.
Answer: The second and fourth lines rhyme (land/sand, gray/away, down/town, east/feast); the first and third lines do not rhyme.
Answer: It starts heavy, hot and still, becomes loud and wild in the storm, and ends fresh, calm and relieved.
Part C: Poetry words
- Aa simile
- Bonomatopoeia (a word that sounds like the noise it describes)
- Ca metaphor
- Da rhyme
Answer: onomatopoeia (a word that sounds like the noise it describes)
“Crack!” imitates the sound of thunder.
- Asimile
- Bmetaphor
- Cquestion
- Drhyme
Answer: simile
It compares the road to hot sand using the word “like.”
- Asaying hello
- Bgladly received
- Cvery loud
- Ddifficult
Answer: gladly received
After the hot afternoon, the cool air was something people were glad to have.
Part D: Your turn
Model answer: The fog crept in on quiet feet and swallowed the road and the trees; the streetlights glowed like sleepy eyes and blinked in the misty breeze.
Success criteria:
- Four lines about one kind of weather
- At least one simile or metaphor
- At least one example of personification
- Lines 2 and 4 rhyme, or careful word choice that helps the reader picture the weather
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.
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