TELPAS Practice

What happens right after a bluebonnet seed sprouts?

Basic Understanding of a Variety of Texts · TELPAS Grade 3 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.

Reporting category 2: find the main idea and key details, and follow what happens in stories and informational texts.

Read the passage. Then answer the questions.

Bluebonnets

The bluebonnet is the state flower of Texas. It got its name because its petals are shaped a little like bonnets, or sun hats, that women wore long ago.

Bluebonnets are mostly blue with a white tip at the top. In early spring, they cover fields and the sides of roads in many parts of Texas. Some families drive out to see them and take pictures of their children sitting in the flowers.

A bluebonnet’s life starts in the fall. The seed sprouts after the fall rains, and the small plant stays close to the ground all winter. When the weather warms up in spring, the plant grows taller and blooms. Later, it makes seeds inside pods. The pods dry out and pop open, and the seeds fall to the ground. There they wait for the next fall.

The question

Choose the best answer.

What happens right after a bluebonnet seed sprouts?

  • The plant blooms.
  • The pods pop open.
  • The small plant stays low all winter.Correct answer
  • Families take pictures in the flowers.

Why “The small plant stays low all winter.” is correct

This is a sequence question about paragraph 3. The seed sprouts after the fall rains, and the next step is that the small plant stays close to the ground all winter. Blooming and making seeds come later, in spring.

Why the other answers are wrong

  • The plant blooms. — Blooming happens in spring, after the plant has waited through the winter.
  • The pods pop open. — The pods open near the end of the plant’s life, after it blooms.
  • Families take pictures in the flowers. — Pictures are taken in spring when the flowers bloom, not right after the seed sprouts.

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.