Why do Valeria and Natalia laugh at the end of the story?
Analyze and Evaluate Information and Ideas · TELPAS Grades 4–5 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.
Reporting category 3: make inferences, draw conclusions, and think about why the author wrote a text and how it is built.
Read the passage. Then answer the questions.
The Recital
Valeria had practiced the dance for six weeks. She knew every heel tap and every swirl of her wide, ruffled skirt. But on the night of the folklórico recital, standing behind the curtain, her legs felt like wet noodles.
“What if I forget the steps?” she whispered to her sister Natalia, who had danced with the group for three years.
Natalia straightened the red ribbons in Valeria’s hair. “Then you keep smiling and keep moving,” she said. “Nobody in the audience knows the steps. They only notice if you stop.”
The music began, and the dancers swept onto the stage. For the first minute, everything went perfectly. Then, halfway through the song, Valeria turned the wrong way. For one terrible second, she was facing the girl beside her instead of the audience.
She remembered Natalia’s words. She smiled, swung her skirt in a wide circle, and slipped back into line as if she had planned it all along. Her feet found the rhythm again.
When the song ended, the audience clapped and cheered. Valeria’s parents were standing up in the third row. Afterward, her father hugged her and said, “That big spin in the middle was my favorite part!”
Valeria looked at Natalia, and both of them burst out laughing.
The question
Choose the best answer.
Why do Valeria and Natalia laugh at the end of the story?
- Their father loved a spin that hid a mistake.Correct answer
- Their father forgot to clap when Natalia danced.
- Valeria tripped and fell during the big spin.
- Natalia also turned the wrong way in the dance.
Why “Their father loved a spin that hid a mistake.” is correct
This is an inference question about humor. The father loves "that big spin in the middle," but the sisters know the spin was how Valeria covered her wrong turn. The reader has to connect paragraph 5 to paragraph 6 to see the joke. This kind of question is a good one to talk through aloud.
Why the other answers are wrong
- Their father forgot to clap when Natalia danced. — Nothing in the story says the father forgot to clap.
- Valeria tripped and fell during the big spin. — Valeria does not trip; the spin goes smoothly.
- Natalia also turned the wrong way in the dance. — Only Valeria turns the wrong way.
Practice more of this
More reading practice for Grades 4–5, or see the TELPAS practice test for 4th and 5th 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.