What did Xiomara write under her name on the card?
Basic Understanding of a Variety of Texts · TELPAS Grades 4–5 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.
Say It Right
On her first day at Riverside Elementary, Xiomara waited for Mr. Patterson to call her name. When he got to her, he stopped and squinted at his list. “Zy... Zy-o-mara?” he tried. A few kids giggled. Xiomara’s cheeks grew warm, and she just nodded.
That night, she told her mother what had happened. “Everyone says it wrong,” she said. “Maybe I should just tell people to call me Mara.”
Her mother put down the dish she was drying. “Your name belongs to you,” she said. “Your great-grandmother had it, too. But people can’t learn to say it if no one shows them how.”
Xiomara thought about that. Then she took out a marker and a card. On the front, she wrote her name in big letters. Under it, she wrote: see-oh-MAH-rah. She drew a small star over MAH, so people would know which part to say the loudest.
The next morning, she taped the card to the front of her desk. Mr. Patterson stopped beside it and read it slowly. “See-oh-MAH-rah,” he said. “That’s a beautiful name. Thank you for teaching me.”
By the end of the week, even the kids who had giggled were saying it right.
The question
Choose the best answer.
What did Xiomara write under her name on the card?
- her great-grandmother's name
- the nickname Mara
- how to say her nameCorrect answer
- a thank-you note to Mr. Patterson
Why “how to say her name” is correct
This is a detail question with a twist: the text shows what she wrote, "see-oh-MAH-rah," but does not call it a pronunciation guide. The student has to recognize that these letters show how to say her name. The star over MAH is a further clue.
Why the other answers are wrong
- her great-grandmother's name — Her mother mentions her great-grandmother, but that is not on the card.
- the nickname Mara — She thinks about using Mara, but she does not write it on the card.
- a thank-you note to Mr. Patterson — Mr. Patterson is the one who says thank you.
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.