TELPAS Practice

In paragraph 1, the flags are “snapping back and forth.” What does this tell the reader?

Understand Words and Language Structures · TELPAS Grade 3 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.

Reporting category 1: work out what words and phrases mean from context, and understand how sentences and word forms work.

Read the passage. Then answer the questions.

Lucía's Kite

On Saturday, Lucía and her grandpa went to the park near their house in Corpus Christi. The wind was strong, and the flags by the gate were snapping back and forth.

Lucía held her new red kite up high. Grandpa let out the string, and the kite jumped into the sky. It climbed higher and higher until it looked as small as a bird.

Then the wind changed. The kite dipped and spun, and its long tail caught on a branch of a tall oak tree. Lucía pulled on the string, but the kite only shook.

“Don’t pull so hard,” Grandpa said. “Let the string go loose and wait.” Lucía waited. When the next gust of wind came, the kite lifted off the branch by itself.

Lucía grinned. “The wind got it stuck, and the wind got it out,” she said.

The question

Choose the best answer.

In paragraph 1, the flags are “snapping back and forth.” What does this tell the reader?

  • The flags are torn.
  • The wind is blowing hard.Correct answer
  • Someone is waving the flags.
  • The flags are falling down.

Why “The wind is blowing hard.” is correct

This tests whether the student can use a descriptive phrase to understand what is happening. Flags only snap back and forth when a strong wind pushes them, and the same sentence says “The wind was strong.” The phrase is a clue about the weather, which matters for the rest of the story.

Why the other answers are wrong

  • The flags are torn. — Nothing in the story says the flags are damaged.
  • Someone is waving the flags. — No person touches the flags; the wind moves them.
  • The flags are falling down. — The flags move back and forth, not down.

Practice more of this

More reading practice for Grade 3, or see the TELPAS practice test for 3rd grade.

This is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Texas Education Agency or the official TELPAS program. All questions here are original practice material written to match the published test design.