Safety Pioneer Reading Assessment
Grade 5 ELA • Reading Comprehension Practice Interim Assessment
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Directions: Read the informational article below about inventor Garrett Morgan. Then answer questions 1 through 6.
Inventing for Life: How Garrett Morgan Solved Everyday Dangers
by Marcus Vance
1 At the start of the twentieth century, Cleveland, Ohio was booming. Factories hummed with heavy machinery, automobiles began chugging down paved avenues, and electric streetcars clanged through bustling intersections. Yet as American cities grew larger and faster, new hazards appeared. Workplaces were filled with toxic smoke and fumes, and crowded streets had become chaotic racetracks. Many people believed that tragic accidents were simply the unavoidable cost of modern life. Garrett Morgan, however, thought differently.
2 Born in Kentucky in 1877 to formerly enslaved parents, Morgan had moved north with only an elementary school education. Despite having little formal schooling, he possessed an extraordinary gift for mechanics. Morgan looked at the bustling world around him with deep curiosity and conviction. To him, accidents are not inevitable. He believed that whenever modern industry created a new peril, human creativity could craft a practical shield to protect human lives.
3 During the early 1900s, one of the deadliest hazards in growing cities was smoke inhalation. When factory blazes erupted, firefighters struggled to enter burning buildings. Firefighters often tied wet bandannas over their noses and mouths, but this offered almost no protection against suffocating gases and thick black smoke. Many rescue workers collapsed within minutes of stepping through the doorway.
4 Morgan studied how air moved during a fire. He observed that hot smoke and deadly gases naturally rise toward the ceiling because heated air is less dense than cool air. That meant a narrow layer of cooler, cleaner, and breathable air lingered right along the floor.
5 In 1912, Morgan invented a revolutionary device he called the "Safety Hood." It featured a canvas hood that fit snugly over a person’s head. Two long flexible tubes hung down from the hood toward the ground, drawing in the cooler air that remained near the floor. Inside the tubes, moist sponges filtered out soot and dust, while a clever one-way valve allowed the wearer to exhale without letting smoke inside.
Grade 5 ELA Interim Assessment GO ON → Page 1 of 4
Garrett Morgan: Inventing for Life Article Continued
6 At first, fire chiefs hesitated to purchase the strange-looking invention. Morgan had to demonstrate its power in person, even stepping inside smoke-filled tents to prove he could breathe safely. But the ultimate test of the safety hood arrived suddenly in the summer of 1916.
7 On the night of July 24, 1916, disaster struck beneath Lake Erie. Workers were tunneling 250 feet underground to install a clean water intake pipe for Cleveland when they hit a pocket of explosive natural gas. A blast ripped through the tunnel, trapping more than thirty men in pitch darkness. Two rescue squads attempted to enter the shaft, but both were overcome by toxic sulfur fumes. In desperation, city officials contacted Morgan in the middle of the night. Still in his pajamas, Morgan and his brother Frank grabbed four safety hoods, raced to the lakefront, and plunged into the darkness.
8 Working through impenetrable smoke and poisonous air, Morgan brought survivors up to safety on his own back and helped guide other volunteers into the tunnel. The daring rescue proved without question that his device worked. Orders for Morgan’s safety hood poured in from fire departments across the country, and the United States Navy later adapted his design for early gas masks used by soldiers in World War I.
9 Morgan did not rest on his success. As more automobiles hit American roads, city intersections turned into dangerous tangles of horse buggies, delivery wagons, bicycles, and cars. At the time, traffic was directed either by police officers waving their arms or by simple mechanical signs that switched abruptly between "STOP" and "GO." Drivers frequently could not brake in time when the sign flipped, resulting in smashed vehicles and injured pedestrians.
10 After witnessing a frightening collision between a car and a horse-drawn carriage that threw a young girl into the street, Morgan set to work once more. In 1923, he patented an automated, T-shaped traffic signal. Morgan’s crucial innovation was introducing a third position: a warning interval that brought traffic in all directions to a temporary halt before the next lane was cleared to move. This vital pause gave drivers enough time to slow down and clear the intersection safely.
11 Morgan’s warning concept transformed traffic management and paved the way for the modern three-color traffic light used worldwide today. General Electric recognized the brilliance of the design and bought the rights for $40,000, an immense fortune at the time. Yet for Garrett Morgan, the greatest reward was not wealth. He had proved that when human ingenuity is guided by compassion, everyday problems can be solved and countless lives can be saved.
¹ hazard: a serious danger or risk to human safety
² patent: an official legal document granting an inventor the exclusive right to make, use, or sell an invention
Grade 5 ELA Interim Assessment GO ON TO QUESTIONS → Page 2 of 4
Grade 5 ELA Interim Assessment Session 1 • Questions 1–3
1
What idea is developed in paragraphs 3 through 5?
A Garrett Morgan preferred working in factories rather than fighting fires.
B Firefighters preferred using wet bandannas instead of mechanical machines.
C Morgan analyzed how smoke behaves in order to design a life-saving breathing device.
D Natural gas explosions were common occurrences in early twentieth-century cities.
2
Read this sentence from paragraph 7 of the article.
"Still in his pajamas, Morgan and his brother Frank grabbed four safety hoods, raced to the lakefront, and plunged into the darkness."
What does the phrase "plunged into the darkness" suggest about Garrett Morgan?
A He was confused about the depth of the tunnel.
B He acted courageously despite extreme danger.
C He was eager to sell his invention to city officials.
D He was worried that his safety hood would fail under water.
3
What does the phrase "accidents are not inevitable" in paragraph 2 mostly suggest?
A Dangerous hazards can be prevented through thoughtful innovation.
B People in big cities should avoid using automobiles and machinery.
C Inventors should only create products that make money quickly.
D Modern factories are too dangerous for regular workers to operate safely.
Grade 5 ELA Interim Assessment GO ON → Page 3 of 4
Grade 5 ELA Interim Assessment Session 1 • Questions 4–6
4
How does the author support the idea that Morgan's inventions had a lasting impact?
A by describing the exact amount of money Morgan earned from General Electric
B by explaining how his safety hood helped World War I soldiers and his traffic signal influenced modern three-color lights
C by listing the names of all the firefighters who tested the canvas hood in Cleveland
D by comparing the speed of electric streetcars to horse-drawn delivery wagons
5
What is the central idea of this article?
A Early twentieth-century cities were dangerous because of automobile collisions and tunnel explosions.
B Garrett Morgan used keen observation and mechanical skill to invent life-saving solutions for real-world perils.
C Firefighters in Cleveland were the first emergency workers in America to test canvas safety hoods.
D Automated three-position signals were quickly adopted by major manufacturing companies in Ohio.
6
How does the title of the article support a main idea?
A It explains the specific mechanical steps Morgan used to construct the safety hood.
B It highlights that Morgan focused his creative inventions on protecting and preserving human life.
C It describes the advice Morgan received from family members while growing up in Kentucky.
D It emphasizes the financial wealth Morgan gained by selling patents to large corporations.
STOP
Do not turn the page until you are told to do so. You may check your work on this section.
Grade 5 ELA Interim Assessment End of Session 1 Page 4 of 4
Safety Pioneer Teacher Guide
Teacher Resource • Scoring & Annotation Guide Grade 5 ELA Interim Assessment
"Inventing for Life": Exemplar Text Annotations & Standards Map
Instructional Guide for Standards RI.5.1, RI.5.2, RI.5.4, RI.5.5, and RI.5.8
Genre & Text Structure
Informational / Biographical Nonfiction
Organized primarily around a dual Problem-and-Solution framework embedded within a chronological narrative. Features real historical events, cause-and-effect relationships, and technical descriptions.
Topic & Setting
Industrial Perils & Garrett Morgan
Cleveland, Ohio during the Second Industrial Revolution (1900–1923). Focuses on rapid urbanization, deadly workplace smoke, tunnel collapses, and dangerous automobile traffic before modern regulations.
Central / Main Idea Statement
Central Idea: Through acute observation, mechanical ingenuity, and courage, Garrett Morgan rejected the belief that accidents were unavoidable and developed life-saving inventions—the Safety Hood and three-position traffic signal—that safeguarded human lives and shaped modern safety systems.
Author's Major Claims & Text Evidence Map
Claim 1 (Accidents are Preventable): Modern perils are not inevitable costs of progress; human creativity can build protective shields (¶1–2).
Claim 2 (Scientific Observation Solves Crises): Firefighters died because smoke rose and masks failed; observing that cool air stays near floors enabled the Safety Hood (¶3–5).
Claim 3 (Practical Courage Proves Invention): Morgan’s fearless rescue in the Lake Erie tunnel blast verified the hood’s validity and sparked nationwide adoption, including WWI gas masks (¶6–8).
Claim 4 (Transition Intervals Prevent Collisions): Abrupt STOP/GO traffic signs caused fatal crashes; adding a warning interval created time for vehicles to brake safely (¶9–11).
Exemplar Reader Annotations by Paragraph
¶1–2: [Context/Claim] Rapid city growth brings danger; Morgan believes hazards can be solved.
¶3–4: [Problem/Observation] Smoke rises, suffocation kills firefighters; low air is breathable.
¶5–6: [Solution/Challenge] Safety Hood design (tubes + wet sponge); initial public doubt.
¶7–8: [Climax/Evidence] Lake Erie tunnel disaster; Morgan’s brave rescue proves hood works.
¶9–10: [New Problem/Solution] Street collisions; Morgan invents T-signal with warning pause.
¶11: [Impact/Theme] Legacy of modern 3-color light; compassion drives lasting invention.
Safety Pioneer Teacher Guide CONTINUE TO ANSWER KEY → Page 1 of 3
Teacher Answer Key & Rationales Questions 1–3 Alignment
1 Paragraph Development (Modeled after NY IA Q23)
