A kindergarten teacher notes that a student can clap the syllables in "butterfly," produce rhyming words for "cat," and identify which of two words is longer. When asked to say the first sound in "sun," the student says "sun." Which next step is most appropriate?

Use sound boxes to isolate and say each individual phoneme

Begin teaching the student to read short decodable texts

Provide more practice clapping syllables in longer words

Move on to matching uppercase and lowercase letter pairs

A Crow found a pitcher with a little water at the very bottom. She pushed her beak inside, but the water lay far beyond her reach. A passing Sparrow chirped, "Give up, friend. That pitcher was not made for crows." The Crow said nothing. She flew to the riverbank, picked up a small pebble, and dropped it into the pitcher. Then she fetched another, and another. All afternoon the Sparrow laughed at her as she flew back and forth. By sunset the water had risen to the brim, and the Crow drank deeply while the Sparrow, who had found no water all day, sat thirsty on the fence. Which statement best expresses the theme of the fable?

Steady effort can solve a problem others think is hopeless.

Birds of different kinds should not try to work together.

It is unwise to drink from containers that belong to others.

Friends should share what they find with those in need.

A student researching the Lewis and Clark expedition has gathered four items about the route. Which one is a primary source?

a river map that Clark sketched while the party traveled

a painting of the explorers made by an artist a century later

a biography of Sacagawea that quotes the expedition's journals

a modern atlas that traces the route using the explorers' journals

A bar graph shows weekly sales: Store A sold 92 units and Store B sold 96 units. The vertical axis begins at 90, so Store B's bar looks three times as tall as Store A's. A student says the graph proves Store B sold three times as many units as Store A. Which response best corrects the student?

The axis starts at 90, so Store B sold only 4 more units, about 4% more.

Bar graphs compare widths, not heights, so the stores sold the same amount.

Store B's bar is three times as tall, so it did sell three times as many units.

The axis starts at 90, so Store B sold 6 more units, about 6% more than A.

A student writes: "Long ago giraffes had short necks. They stretched to reach high leaves, and their necks grew longer, so their babies were born with longer necks." Which idea should the teacher emphasize to correct the student's explanation?

Traits gained during an animal's life are not passed to its offspring

Changes in a species happen only when the environment remains constant

Individual animals evolve new body parts whenever they need them to survive

Giraffes developed long necks mainly to watch for approaching predators

A teacher says the sounds /m/ /a/ /p/ with a pause between each, and a student responds, "m...a...p," repeating the separate sounds without saying a word. Which teacher response is most appropriate?

Model stretching continuous sounds together without pauses

Show the printed word map and ask the student to copy it twice

Ask the student to name three words that rhyme with map

Switch to a phoneme deletion task using the same word

Which message does the cartoonist most likely intend?

Students are given more homework than is reasonable.

School board members are generous with their donations.

Homework helps students grow stronger and more capable.

Students should carry fewer books to protect their backs.

A fourth-grade teacher in Oregon is planning a unit on the Oregon Trail and wants students to understand that the same events were experienced differently. Which activity best meets this goal?

Compare a settler's diary with an account from a Native nation in the region

Read a biography of a famous pioneer leader and summarize his greatest deeds

Have students play a game in which their wagon must reach Oregon before winter

Have students trace the trail on a map and label each river crossing and fort

A student's life-cycle poster for a grasshopper shows four stages in a circle: egg, larva, pupa, adult. What feedback should the teacher give about the poster?

Grasshoppers go from egg to nymph to adult with no pupa stage

The poster is correct because all insects pass through four stages

Grasshoppers hatch as adults and skip the young stages completely

The pupa stage should come before the egg stage in the cycle shown

NES Elementary Education Subtests I and II (102/103)

Free NES Elementary Ed (102/103) Practice Questions

10 sample questions for the NES Elementary Education Subtests I and II (102/103), with the correct answer and an explanation for each. No account needed. Try each one before you open the answer.

Sections covered on the exam: Language Development, Emergent Literacy, and Word Recognition, Geography and Social Studies Inquiry, Numbers, Operations, and Number Sense, Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, and Texts, The Arts, Health, and Fitness.

Question 1 · Language Development, Emergent Literacy, and Word Recognition
A kindergarten teacher notes that a student can clap the syllables in "butterfly," produce rhyming words for "cat," and identify which of two words is longer. When asked to say the first sound in "sun," the student says "sun." Which next step is most appropriate?
- A.Begin teaching the student to read short decodable texts
- B.Provide more practice clapping syllables in longer words
- C.Move on to matching uppercase and lowercase letter pairs
- D.Use sound boxes to isolate and say each individual phoneme
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Use sound boxes to isolate and say each individual phoneme
The student has mastered larger phonological units (syllables, rhyme) but cannot yet isolate a single phoneme, so instruction should move to the phoneme level, and sound (Elkonin) boxes make each sound concrete. More syllable clapping repeats a skill the student already has, and decodable text assumes phonemic awareness that is not yet in place.
Question 2 · Language Development, Emergent Literacy, and Word Recognition
A Crow found a pitcher with a little water at the very bottom. She pushed her beak inside, but the water lay far beyond her reach. A passing Sparrow chirped, "Give up, friend. That pitcher was not made for crows." The Crow said nothing. She flew to the riverbank, picked up a small pebble, and dropped it into the pitcher. Then she fetched another, and another. All afternoon the Sparrow laughed at her as she flew back and forth. By sunset the water had risen to the brim, and the Crow drank deeply while the Sparrow, who had found no water all day, sat thirsty on the fence.
Which statement best expresses the theme of the fable?
- A.Birds of different kinds should not try to work together.
- B.Steady effort can solve a problem others think is hopeless.
- C.It is unwise to drink from containers that belong to others.
- D.Friends should share what they find with those in need.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Steady effort can solve a problem others think is hopeless.
The Crow keeps dropping pebbles despite the Sparrow's mockery and finally reaches the water, so the lesson is about persistence. The ending contrasts her success with the thirsty Sparrow, but the fable never says she should have shared. Magazine advertisement: A photo shows a crowded playground. Every child is wearing the same brand of sneaker. Large text reads: "Over a million kids have already made the switch. Don't be the one left behind."
Question 3 · Geography and Social Studies Inquiry
A student researching the Lewis and Clark expedition has gathered four items about the route. Which one is a primary source?
- A.a painting of the explorers made by an artist a century later
- B.a biography of Sacagawea that quotes the expedition's journals
- C.a river map that Clark sketched while the party traveled
- D.a modern atlas that traces the route using the explorers' journals
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. a river map that Clark sketched while the party traveled
A primary source is created at the time by someone who took part in or witnessed the events, and a map Clark drew on the journey meets that test. A later painting, atlas, or biography is a secondary source even when it is based on or quotes the original journals.
Question 4 · Numbers, Operations, and Number Sense
A bar graph shows weekly sales: Store A sold 92 units and Store B sold 96 units. The vertical axis begins at 90, so Store B's bar looks three times as tall as Store A's.
A student says the graph proves Store B sold three times as many units as Store A. Which response best corrects the student?
- A.The axis starts at 90, so Store B sold only 4 more units, about 4% more.
- B.Bar graphs compare widths, not heights, so the stores sold the same amount.
- C.Store B's bar is three times as tall, so it did sell three times as many units.
- D.The axis starts at 90, so Store B sold 6 more units, about 6% more than A.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. The axis starts at 90, so Store B sold only 4 more units, about 4% more.
Because the axis is truncated at 90, the visible bar heights are 2 and 6, which exaggerates the difference. The actual difference is 96 − 92 = 4 units, and 4 ÷ 92 is a little more than 4%. Reading 6 more units comes from the visible height of Store B's bar rather than the actual values.
Question 5 · Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, and Texts
A student writes: "Long ago giraffes had short necks. They stretched to reach high leaves, and their necks grew longer, so their babies were born with longer necks."
Which idea should the teacher emphasize to correct the student's explanation?
- A.Traits gained during an animal's life are not passed to its offspring
- B.Changes in a species happen only when the environment remains constant
- C.Individual animals evolve new body parts whenever they need them to survive
- D.Giraffes developed long necks mainly to watch for approaching predators
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Traits gained during an animal's life are not passed to its offspring
Natural selection acts on inherited variation: giraffes born with slightly longer necks survived and reproduced more, so the trait became more common over many generations. Stretching does not change genes, so acquired traits are not inherited. The claim that individuals evolve parts when needed repeats the same error.
Question 6 · Language Development, Emergent Literacy, and Word Recognition
A teacher says the sounds /m/ /a/ /p/ with a pause between each, and a student responds, "m...a...p," repeating the separate sounds without saying a word. Which teacher response is most appropriate?
- A.Show the printed word map and ask the student to copy it twice
- B.Ask the student to name three words that rhyme with map
- C.Switch to a phoneme deletion task using the same word
- D.Model stretching continuous sounds together without pauses
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Model stretching continuous sounds together without pauses
The student cannot yet blend phonemes; stretching continuous sounds (mmmaaap) shrinks the gaps and makes blending easier. Deletion is a harder manipulation task, and rhyming works at a larger unit than the phoneme level the student needs.
Question 7 · Language Development, Emergent Literacy, and Word Recognition
Which message does the cartoonist most likely intend?
- A.Students are given more homework than is reasonable.
- B.School board members are generous with their donations.
- C.Homework helps students grow stronger and more capable.
- D.Students should carry fewer books to protect their backs.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Students are given more homework than is reasonable.
Exaggerated size, the label Homework, and the cheerful adult adding more all use symbolism and irony to argue that the homework load is excessive. The backpack is a symbol, so reading it as literal advice about posture misses the point. Letter to the editor: (1) The city plans to close Maple Street Library on weekends. (2) Last month, the library's Saturday story hour drew more than 150 children. (3) Only a heartless, penny-pinching council would rob our kids this way. (4) The library's own records show weekend visits rose for three years in a row.
Question 8 · Geography and Social Studies Inquiry
A fourth-grade teacher in Oregon is planning a unit on the Oregon Trail and wants students to understand that the same events were experienced differently. Which activity best meets this goal?
- A.Compare a settler's diary with an account from a Native nation in the region
- B.Read a biography of a famous pioneer leader and summarize his greatest deeds
- C.Have students play a game in which their wagon must reach Oregon before winter
- D.Have students trace the trail on a map and label each river crossing and fort
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Compare a settler's diary with an account from a Native nation in the region
Pairing a settler's account with one from a Native nation such as the Cayuse or Nez Perce shows that migration that meant opportunity to one group meant loss of land to another. The game and map work show only the settlers' view, and a single biography gives one perspective.
Question 9 · Numbers, Operations, and Number Sense
A teacher wants students to display how one seedling's height changed from week to week over ten weeks. Which display is most appropriate?
- A.A stem-and-leaf plot
- B.A line graph
- C.A circle graph
- D.A box plot
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. A line graph
A line graph shows how one quantity changes over time, so it reveals when the seedling grew fastest. A circle graph shows parts of a whole, and stem-and-leaf plots and box plots summarize the distribution of a data set while losing the order in time. A student writes: 1 + 3 = 4 1 + 3 + 5 = 9 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 = 16 "So the sum of the first n odd numbers is always n^2."
Question 10 · Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, and Texts
A student's life-cycle poster for a grasshopper shows four stages in a circle: egg, larva, pupa, adult.
What feedback should the teacher give about the poster?
- A.The poster is correct because all insects pass through four stages
- B.Grasshoppers hatch as adults and skip the young stages completely
- C.The pupa stage should come before the egg stage in the cycle shown
- D.Grasshoppers go from egg to nymph to adult with no pupa stage
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Grasshoppers go from egg to nymph to adult with no pupa stage
Grasshoppers undergo incomplete metamorphosis: a nymph that resembles a small, wingless adult molts several times and becomes an adult. The four-stage cycle with larva and pupa describes complete metamorphosis in insects such as butterflies and beetles, not all insects.

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