• Practice for every day of the school year • Help students prepare for standardized testing

Think about why the author wrote the passage.
A Small Beginning
Trees grow larger than other plants, including flowers and bushes. And yet, 
most trees begin as tiny seeds.
The seed is the first stage in a tree’s growth. A seed has a hard shell that 
protects the plant inside. When the plant is ready to grow, it sprouts, or pushes out 
of the seed. The new, small plant is called a 
seedling
. The seedling needs air, 
light, and water to grow. It also needs to be planted in good soil.
As the seedling gets bigger, it looks more like a tree. The shoot, or stem, of the 
seedling grows into a 
sapling
. This young tree grows bark on its trunk and leaves 
on its branches. The sapling will continue to grow until it is a large tree.
All seeds have a built-in code. Tree seeds have a code that tells seedlings the 
kind of tree they will become. For example, an acorn will grow into an oak tree. A 
pine seed will grow into a pine tree. The size of the seed has nothing to do with 
how tall a tree grows. The code inside the seed determines a tree’s type and size.
SKILL PRACTICE
Read the question. Fill in the bubble next to the correct answer.
 1. The author wrote the passage to 
.
A 
explain how to do something
B 
make you laugh
C 
give information
D 
talk you into doing something
 2. What does the author want you 
to know most?
A 
Seeds grow in stages to become trees.
B 
Seeds have built-in codes.
C 
Seedlings grow into saplings.
D 
Different trees have different seeds.
 3. Why does a small redwood seed grow to be 
one of the tallest trees in the world?
A 
The redwood seed is the largest seed.
B 
The seed’s code tells it to be very tall.
C 
The seed is planted in very good soil.
D 
The saplings are very tall.