Drummer Boys by James Collett

Transcription

1 North arolina Testing Program NEXTEND2 EOG Reading Grade 4 Sample Items Drummer oys by James ollett Young William Diamond beat his shiny new drum in the predawn stillness of olonial Massachusetts. He sounded the muster call he had practiced so many times during the past winter. t the age of sixteen, he was beginning the most important day of his life. It was one o clock on the morning of pril 19, The place was the village of Lexington. Paul Revere had just brought his famous warning. Minutemen dashed from the darkness in answer to the young drummer s summons. few hours later, they would face the ritish rmy and begin the merican Revolution. Throughout much of merican history, drummer boys made a small but important contribution to merican military units. These children, some as young as nine years old, courageously faced the enemy with little more than a drum and a pair of sticks. few became the first to fall in the line of duty. Early merican armies were largely volunteer affairs. Few formal age restrictions existed, and youngsters who lied about their age were often enlisted with little scrutiny. Those who were clearly underage sometimes became drummers. typical drummer boy was between twelve and sixteen years old, although a few even younger boys managed to enlist. 5 Drummers served in all our early conflicts the Revolutionary War, frontier battles, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the ivil War. These young soldiers played a vital role, as they served as the primary means of communication between officers and men. The drum and fife called troops to arms, signaled changes in strategy, and provided the cadence for marching. The drummers communication function was so important that they often had their own special uniforms. In early merican armies, they wore reversed colors, meaning that the combination of colors they wore was opposite that worn by the troops. This allowed officers to locate the musicians quickly for changing commands. Page 1

2 North arolina Testing Program NEXTEND2 EOG Reading Grade 4 Sample Items 1. What is the main purpose of this selection? to provide information about drummers to express an opinion about drum music to describe how to make a drum 2. What word best describes the drummer boys? scared brave angry Page 2

3 North arolina Testing Program NEXTEND2 EOG Reading Grade 4 Sample Items 3. What is true about drummer boys? They were very tall for their age. They went to bed early. They were as young as nine years old. 4. In paragraph 5, what does the word cadence mean? rhythm direction power Page 3

4 North arolina Testing Program NEXTEND2 EOG Reading Grade 4 Sample Items 5. What was one of the drummer s duties during battle? to muffle the sounds of battle to signal changes in strategy to confuse the enemy 6. Why were young boys who enlisted often made drummers? They were considered too young to be soldiers. They followed orders better than older men. They liked wearing special uniforms. Page 4

5 North arolina Testing Program NEXTEND2 EOG Reading Grade 4 Sample Items 7. What was the main role of drummer boys? to entertain the men with music to teach the men how to play drums to provide a means of communication between officers and troops End of Sample Items In compliance with federal law, including the provisions of Title IX of the Education mendments of 1972, the Department of Public Instruction does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, or military service in its policies, programs, activities, admissions of employment. Page 5

6 KNOWLEDGMENTS The North arolina Department of Public Instruction wishes to express gratitude to the following authors and publishers, whose generous permission to reprint literary selections has made these tests possible. Every effort has been made to locate the copyright owners of material reprinted in this test booklet. Omissions brought to our attention will be corrected in subsequent editions. Drummer oys by James ollett excerpted from obblestone s January, 1989 issue: hildren Who Shaped History, copyright 1989, obblestone Publishing ompany, 7 School St., Peterborough, NH Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

7 Grade 4 Reading TestID: 3940 NEXTEND2 EOG Reading Grade 4 Sample Items Selection Title QID orns Thinking Skill ObjNum Drummer oys(text excerpt & photograph) 1 nalyzing 2.04 Drummer oys(text excerpt & photograph) 2 nalyzing 3.01 Drummer oys(text excerpt & photograph) 3 Knowledge 2.02 Drummer oys(text excerpt & photograph) 4 Knowledge 1.03 Drummer oys(text excerpt & photograph) 5 nalyzing 2.02 Drummer oys(text excerpt & photograph) 6 nalyzing 3.01 Drummer oys(text excerpt & photograph) 7 Knowledge 2.02 Wednesday, December 05, 2007 Page 1