Skill: course-build → write-mcqs → write-explanation @ efd8fba (v1); v2 renumbering and rewrites after the blind read, the guidance review and the figure review @ fb37d14; v3 polish after Reader C's full re-read @ e23b67f
Topic 32 — question types in the PP100 bank, one exemplar each (2 October 2026)
James reviews a bank as its question TYPES first, one exemplar each (vault: 50 Decisions/A bank is reviewed as its question types first, one exemplar each.md). This sheet lists the types the Grade 4 Topic 32 bank runs on and prints one exemplar per type as it ships in content/G4T32_pp100_bank.py. The bank is built (James, 2 Oct 2026: Grade 4 goes straight to the lessons); the sheet is the reading order, not a gate.
One cluster. The topic is one PP100 cluster of five atoms (SPA4-020 → 021 → 022 → 023 → 024, capstone 024). Items per atom: 8 · 12 · 12 · 10 · 12 = 54. Tiers (v2): 16 easy · 25 medium · 13 hard (4 typed, 3 order, 1 multi-select, 7 drawn discs, 4 drawn BEFORE cards, 3 drawn card rows). SPA4-020 carries easy and medium; 021 easy and medium; 022 easy to hard; 023 medium and hard; 024, the capstone, medium and hard only. MCQ keys (v2) A 11 · B 13 · C 10 · D 12 (of 46). v2 renumbering (2 Oct 2026): PP-48 (typed: the Sun) and PP-50 (the why) were retagged medium and joined the medium block after its last item, so they are now PP-40 and PP-41; the hard tier runs PP-42–54 (old 40→42, 41→43, 42→44, 43→45, 44→46, 45→47, 46→48, 47→49, 49→50; 51–54 unchanged). Every PP number below is the v2 built position.
v3 (2 Oct 2026, Reader C's re-read; keys and numbering unchanged). PP-20's options are four bare phrases of one shape ("the whole circle lit" / "half lit, on the left" / "more than half lit, on the left" / "a thin sliver lit, on the left"); PP-45 starts from a half Moon lit on the left (pp_before_half_l) and asks two weeks on (key "a half Moon lit on the right"; "more than half lit, on the right" and "a new Moon" are the distractors), because a thin left crescent plus one week reached two answers by rounding; PP-30's stem names its start ("Starting from a new Moon, a girl's month of Moon pictures shows two half Moons…"); PP-5's second option is "how bright the Moon looks to him", a distractor of the key's kind. Type 13's hard end is now the two-week run through the new Moon.
Fixed sets whitelisted from the length check by name: NAMES (a full Moon / a half Moon / a crescent Moon / a new Moon — "a crescent Moon" is the longest word under every item, so no cue exists); TIME4 (about a day / week / month / year, ordered); BIG4 (It gets bigger. / It gets smaller. / It stays the same. / It changes … with no pattern.).
The bar list (things a generated bank must never use because they break a taught claim or a rule): "phase", "waxing", "waning", "gibbous", "quarter Moon" (grades 6-8 and the US test names — a question for James); "the Moon grows / shrinks" (the lit part we see gets bigger / smaller); "Earth's shadow" as a key (it is named only as the belief a key corrects); why the full Moon is not in Earth's shadow (deliberately omitted — the tilted path is grade 6-8); "the Moon makes its own light" as a key; an eclipse; the Moon in the daytime (outside the five atoms); "gravity"; the lit side the other way round (the course draws the US sky: lit on the right while getting bigger); any lesson, quiz, attached or practice scene (a back yard and fence, a notebook, a poster, a car and grandma's house, a night walk, a lamp and a ball on a stick, blinds, a camping trip, a porch, Texas, a car window, an orange and a flashlight, a sailor); "strand"; "biggest / smallest" for a count or a time.
⟂ draw constraints (pairs never served in one PP100 draw: one item states what another asks):
- PP-2 (about a month, TIME4) ⟂ PP-47 (type the number of weeks to the next new Moon: 4 / a month) ⟂ PP-51 (why about a month).
- PP-36 (how much is lit at one time: one half) ⟂ PP-50 (type the amount: half) ⟂ PP-41 (the why: "the Sun lights one half" is its first idea) — and PP-36 ⟂ PP-39 (the dark part is the half the Sun is not lighting).
- PP-37 (whole lit half faces Earth → full) ⟂ PP-52 (a balloon shows a new Moon → where is the light) — the second's why names the first's rule.
- PP-35 (half lit on the left tonight → one week → new) ⟂ PP-45 (the same card → two weeks → half lit on the right): PP-35's why is PP-45's first step (v3).
- PP-46 (type weeks from full to new: 2) ⟂ PP-34 (a calendar: full on the 10th → the 24th) ⟂ PP-32 (full tonight → one week → half).
- PP-15 / PP-16 (after a new / full Moon the lit part gets bigger / smaller) ⟂ PP-23 / PP-24 (drawn disc: getting bigger or smaller) ⟂ PP-30 (which half Moon came first) — the rule items hand the drawn items their rule.
- PP-27 (the shape just before a full Moon: more than half lit, on the right) ⟂ PP-20 (which words fit this shape: more than half lit).
- PP-11 (a Moon lit on one side with a straight edge → half Moon) ⟂ PP-19 (which of these is a half Moon: the stem phrase is the key option) — reader B.
- Near-duplicate pairs, draw one: PP-7 (a whole bright circle over the field → full) and PP-12 (drawn full disc → full); PP-9 (none of the lit part faces the club → new) and PP-21 (at a new Moon, where is the Moon).
- Quiz-side constraints (served together on one page, so an ORDER constraint, not a draw one): L01-q4 ⟂ L01-q6 (the same contrast inverted; q6's third distractor is now the lit side); PR-2 ⟂ PR-4 (PR-2 no longer says "orbit"; PR-4's distractor is "a spin", so "lap" in PR-2 and PR-3 hands nothing over).
The types
| # | Question type | Exemplar | Items | Count | Hard end |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What changes and what stays the same over a month: the lit part changes; the Moon ball stays whole; the rest of a sliver Moon is there in the dark. | PP-1 | PP-1, 3, 5, 6 | 4 | none — easy |
| 2 | How long: all the shapes come back round in about a month (TIME4); one night to the next changes a little. | PP-2 | PP-2, 4 | 2 | none — easy |
| 3 | Name a DESCRIBED shape on a fresh scene (fixed set NAMES). | PP-7 | PP-7, 9, 11, 13 | 4 | none — easy |
| 4 | Name a DRAWN shape (a disc; blind text gives the lit side and how much, never the name; fixed set NAMES). | PP-8 | PP-8, 10, 12, 14 | 4 | none — easy |
| 5 | After a new / full Moon, what the lit part does over the next nights (BIG4). | PP-15 | PP-15, 16 | 2 | none — easy |
| 6 | The month-later drawing: what a drawing looks like about four weeks after a given one. | PP-17 | PP-17 | 1 | medium |
| 7 | Tell the shapes apart: which description is a half Moon; which words fit a more-than-half disc; which other shape has a side. | PP-19 | PP-19, 20, 22 | 3 | medium |
| 8 | A claim fixed as wrong in the stem; pick the sentence that shows it (reason form, never verdict + reason): a cloud hides half; a half Moon again next Monday; Earth's shadow makes the shapes. | PP-18 | PP-18, 21, 48, 49 | 4 | PP-48, PP-49 (hard: the reason needs two ideas read together) |
| 9 | Read the lit side: is this drawn Moon getting bigger or smaller; which of two half Moons came first in the month. | PP-23 | PP-23, 24, 30 | 3 | medium |
| 10 | Which named shape comes next (or came just before) a given shape with its lit side (NAMES or a four-shape set). | PP-25 | PP-25, 26, 27 | 3 | medium |
| 11 | ORDER lettered cards from the first night to the last, from the named starting shape (three, four, five cards). | PP-29 | PP-28, 29, 42 | 3 | PP-42 (five cards, one unnamed shape) |
| 12 | Predict by weeks from a TOLD shape: one week after a new Moon; a calendar date two weeks on; three weeks on. | PP-31 | PP-31, 34, 44 | 3 | PP-44 (three steps) |
| 13 | Predict from a DRAWN before card (TONIGHT): one week later; the hard end two weeks later. | PP-32 | PP-32, 33, 35, 45 | 4 | PP-45 (v3: a half Moon lit on the left, two weeks on: through the new Moon, the side switches; "more than half lit, on the right" is a distractor here) |
| 14 | The lit half: how much the Sun lights; which shape when the lit half faces Earth / away. | PP-37 | PP-36, 37, 38 | 3 | medium |
| 15 | The why: what the dark part is; why different shapes through the month; why about a month. | PP-41 | PP-39, 41, 51 | 3 | PP-51 (the lap and the lit half chained); PP-41 is medium (v2: one taught chain picked, not built) |
| 16 | Multi-select: every shape whose lit part is getting bigger (a set answer). | PP-43 | PP-43 | 1 | hard |
| 17 | Type the number of weeks (numeric): full → new (2); new → new again (4). | PP-46 | PP-46, 47 | 2 | hard, typed |
| 18 | Type the word (text): the thing whose light lights the Moon (the Sun); how much of the Moon it lights (half). | PP-50 | PP-40, 50 | 2 | PP-50 hard, typed; PP-40 medium (v2: a Grade 3 fact recalled, one step) |
| 19 | Transfer to a model (a spotlight and a balloon on a stage): run backward (the shape seen → where the light is); map the parts (which thing stands for Earth). | PP-52 | PP-52, 53 | 2 | hard |
| 20 | A counterfactual: the Moon stops traveling — what the lit shape would do. | PP-54 | PP-54 | 1 | hard |
(Numbering in type_ follows this table; PP numbers are positions in the built, tier-sorted bank.)
The exemplars, in full
Type 1 — PP-1 (easy, SPA4-020). A lighthouse keeper in Maine looks at the Moon every clear night for a month. What does she see change?
Options: the size of the Moon ball · the color of the Moon · how far away the Moon is from Earth · the lit part of the Moon (v2: key at D).
Why: The Moon itself stays a whole ball. The part of the Moon we see lit changes a little each night. So she sees the lit part change.
Type 2 — PP-2 (easy, SPA4-020). About how long does the Moon take to go through all its lit shapes and come back to the same one?
Options: about a day · about a week · about a month · about a year.
Why: The Moon's lit shape changes a little each night. It comes back round in about a month. So the Moon takes about a month.
Type 3 — PP-7 (easy, SPA4-021). At a baseball game, a girl sees the Moon as a whole bright circle over the field. What is this shape called?
Options: a full Moon · a half Moon · a crescent Moon · a new Moon.
Why: A full Moon is a whole lit circle. The girl sees a whole bright circle. So this shape is a full Moon.
Type 4 — PP-8 (easy, SPA4-021; figure pp_disc_crescent_l). [A square of dark blue night sky with the Moon in it: a thin slice on the left lit, about one eighth of the disc.] Look at this Moon. What is this shape called?
Options: a full Moon · a half Moon · a crescent Moon · a new Moon.
Why: A crescent Moon is a thin curved sliver of light. Only a thin curved sliver of this Moon is lit, on the left. So it is a crescent Moon.
Blind text (data, no name): "disc: a thin slice on the left lit, about one eighth of the disc". (v2: no disc's blind or alt text says "half" or "most" — a half is "the right side lit, up to a straight edge down the middle"; more than half is "the disc lit except for a thin dark slice on the left".)
Type 5 — PP-15 (easy, SPA4-022). Last night was a new Moon. Over the next ten nights, what happens to the lit part of the Moon?
Options: It gets bigger. · It gets smaller. · It stays the same. · It changes from night to night with no pattern.
Why: From new Moon to full Moon, the lit part gets bigger each night. The nights after a new Moon are the start of that run. So the lit part gets bigger.
Type 6 — PP-17 (medium, SPA4-020). A girl draws the Moon as a whole bright circle on the 2nd of the month. About what will her drawing look like on the 30th?
Options: a whole bright circle again · a thin sliver lit on the left · half of a circle, lit on the left · no Moon at all.
Why: The Moon's lit shape comes back round in about a month. The 30th is four weeks after the 2nd, about a month. So her drawing is a whole bright circle again.
Type 7 — PP-19 (medium, SPA4-021). Which of these is a half Moon?
Options: the Moon as a whole bright circle · the Moon lit on one side, with a straight edge down the middle · the Moon as a thin curved sliver · the Moon with most of its circle lit and a thin dark slice on one edge.
Why: A half Moon is lit on one side, with a straight edge down the middle. Only the second Moon has one side lit with a straight edge. So that one is a half Moon.
Type 8 — PP-18 (medium, SPA4-020). On a clear night with no clouds, a boy sees half of the Moon lit, and his sister says a cloud must be hiding the other half. Which sentence shows she is wrong?
Options (v2): Earth's shadow is covering the other half of the Moon. · The Moon ball itself is smaller tonight. · The other half of the Moon has broken off and will come back next month. · The other half of the Moon is there, just not lit.
Why: The sky is clear, so no cloud is in front of the Moon. The other half of the Moon is there, in the dark, and it is too dark to see. So the sister is wrong.
Type 9 — PP-23 (medium, SPA4-022; figure pp_disc_crescent_r). Look at this Moon. Is the lit part getting bigger or getting smaller each night?
Options: getting bigger · getting smaller · staying the same · you cannot tell from one picture.
Why: From new Moon to full Moon, the lit part gets bigger and is on the right. This Moon is lit on the right. So the lit part is getting bigger.
Type 10 — PP-25 (medium, SPA4-022). Tonight the Moon is a crescent Moon lit on the right. Which named shape comes next?
Options: a full Moon · a half Moon · a crescent Moon · a new Moon.
Why: From new Moon to full Moon, the lit part gets bigger and is on the right. Tonight's crescent is lit on the right, so the lit part is getting bigger. So the next named shape is a half Moon.
Type 11 — PP-29 (medium, SPA4-022; figure pp_order_jklm, cards J crescent lit right · K all lit · L none lit · M right side lit to a straight edge). Cards J, K, L and M show the Moon on four nights in one month, starting from the new Moon. Tap the cards in order, from the first night to the last.
Key (first → last): L, J, M, K (computed by figures.order_key("pp_order_jklm", "new") from the one list ORDER_SETS).
Why: The month of shapes starts at the new Moon, L. The crescent J and the half M are lit on the right, so the lit part was getting bigger: J, then M. The full Moon K comes last, so the order is L, J, M, K.
Type 12 — PP-31 (medium, SPA4-023). Tonight the Moon is a new Moon. About what shape will the Moon be one week from tonight?
Options: a full Moon · a half Moon · a crescent Moon · a new Moon.
Why: New Moon, half Moon, full Moon and half Moon come about a week apart. Tonight is a new Moon. So one week from tonight, the Moon is a half Moon.
Type 13 — PP-32 (medium, SPA4-023; figure pp_before_full). [A square of night sky, the whole disc lit, chip TONIGHT.] Here is the Moon tonight. About what shape will it be one week from tonight?
Options: a full Moon · a half Moon · a crescent Moon · a new Moon.
Why: Tonight the whole circle is lit, so tonight is a full Moon. One week after a full Moon, we see a half Moon. So one week from tonight, the Moon is a half Moon.
Type 14 — PP-37 (medium, SPA4-024). Tonight the Moon is on the far side of Earth from the Sun, so its whole lit half faces Earth. What shape do we see?
Options: a full Moon · a half Moon · a crescent Moon · a new Moon.
Why: The Sun lights one half of the Moon. When the whole lit half faces us, we see a whole lit circle. So we see a full Moon.
Type 15 — PP-41 (medium in v2, SPA4-024). Why do we see different lit shapes of the Moon through the month?
Options: The Sun lights a different amount of the Moon on each night of the month. · We see the Moon's lit half from different sides as it travels around Earth. · Earth's shadow covers a different amount of the Moon on each night of the month. · The Moon turns its dark side toward the Sun once a month.
Tag (v2): medium — the taught chain is picked, not built; the hard end of the type is PP-51 (why about a month), which chains the lap and the lit half.
Why: The Sun lights one half of the Moon on every night. As the Moon travels around Earth, we see that lit half from different sides. So the lit shape we see changes through the month.
Type 16 — PP-43 (hard, SPA4-022, multi-select). Select every Moon whose lit part is getting bigger each night.
Options: a crescent Moon lit on the right · a half Moon lit on the left · a half Moon lit on the right · a crescent Moon lit on the left.
Hard because: a set answer — every right-lit shape must be picked and both left-lit shapes left out.
Type 17 — PP-46 (hard, SPA4-023, numeric). A hotel calendar marks tonight as a full Moon. In about how many weeks will the Moon be a new Moon? Type the number of weeks.
Accept: 2 · two · 2 weeks · two weeks · about 2 · about two weeks · in 2 weeks · … (list WEEKS2).
Hard because: the number is produced from the week pattern, not picked.
Type 18 — PP-40 (medium in v2, SPA4-024, text). The Moon makes no light of its own. Type the name of the thing whose light lights up the Moon.
Accept: the Sun · Sun · sun · sunlight · the Sun's light · light from the Sun · … (list SUN).
Tag (v2): medium — a Grade 3 fact recalled in one step; the hard typed item of the type is PP-50 (how much the Sun lights: half).
Type 19 — PP-52 (hard, SPA4-024). On a dark stage, one spotlight shines. A boy holds a white balloon at arm's length, and it shows him the shape of a new Moon. Where is the spotlight?
Options (v2): behind his head, shining past him · off to his left side, level with the balloon · straight above the balloon, pointing down · behind the balloon, away from him.
Hard because: transfer to a model, run backward — the shape seen is given and the position of the light must be worked out.
Type 20 — PP-54 (hard, SPA4-024). Imagine the Moon stopped traveling around Earth and stayed in one place on its path. What would happen to the lit shape we see?
Options (v2): It would stay almost the same shape from one night to the next. · It would change faster than it does now. · It would be a full Moon on every night of the month. · It would be a new Moon on every night of the month.
Hard because: a counterfactual — the cause is removed and the student must say what the pattern would do.
Design-move inventory (every bank item: the move, the scene kind, the nearest lesson-side instance)
PP numbers in this inventory are the v1 positions; read them through the v2 renumbering line at the top (48→40, 50→41, 40→42, 41→43, 42→44, 43→45, 44→46, 45→47, 46→48, 47→49, 49→50). The practice rows changed in v2: PR-6 is a drawn crescent (left), PR-7 a drawn more-than-half (left), PR-9 a drawn new-Moon BEFORE card, PR-11 a yes / no on the lit half — none is a quiz item any more.
| PP | Move | Scene kind | Nearest earlier item |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | what changes over a month | a lighthouse keeper watching | L01-q4 (grandma's porch) — same move, new scene kind (a watcher at work), draw-one with L01-q4 is not needed: quiz and bank are never served together |
| 2 | how long (TIME4) | none | L01-q3 (three options); here four, ordered |
| 3 | the Moon still whole when none is lit | a farmer, two dates | L01-q2 (camping, yes/no claim) — here a four-sentence pick |
| 4 | night-to-night change is small | a lake cabin, Monday and Tuesday | L01-q7 (bare question) — re-scened |
| 5 | what stays the same | a school play's outdoor stage | L01-q6 — re-scened, four options |
| 6 | where the rest of a sliver Moon is | a bus ride | L01-q10 — re-scened, four options |
| 7–14 | name a described / drawn shape | baseball game, telescope club, dog walk, sledding night; four drawn discs (crescent left, half left, full, crescent right) | L02-q1–q6 (camping, Texas, car window; drawn half left, crescent right, full) — different scenes, different drawn instances |
| 15–16 | after new / full, bigger or smaller (BIG4) | "last night was…", ten nights | L03-q2/q3 — re-worded; fourth option added |
| 17 | a drawing a month later | dates 2nd → 30th | L01-q9 (1st → 29th) — same move, different dates; recorded as the near twin, both kept because the bank and the quiz never share a draw |
| 18 | a cloud hides half (reason pick) | a brother and sister | L01-q5 (yes/no) — bank form is the reason pick |
| 19 | which description is a half Moon | none | L02-q9 (which sentence is true of a half Moon, 3 options) — reverse direction, four cases |
| 20 | name a more-than-half disc | drawn disc more left | L02-q7 (is this full? no) — here the fitting words are chosen |
| 21 | where the Moon is at a new Moon | none | L02-q10 (gone away? no) — reason as options |
| 22 | which other shape has a side | none | L02 article line "A crescent Moon can be lit on the right or on the left too." — the only item on that line |
| 23–24 | read the lit side from a drawing | drawn crescent right; half left | L03-q4/q5 (crescent left; more right) — different drawn instances |
| 25–27 | next / previous named shape | told shapes | L03-q6/q7 — different starting shapes (crescent right; half left; full backward) |
| 28–29, 40 | order cards | three from new; four from new; five from full | L03-q8–q10 (three growing; four from new; four from full) — different card sets (ORDER_SETS), five-card run new |
| 30 | which half Moon came first | two told pictures | none — new move |
| 32, 35, 42 | predict by weeks from a told shape | new → 1 week; calendar 10th → 24th; new → 3 weeks | L04-q3/q4/q8 (half → 1 week; dated 3rd → 17th) — different starts and spans |
| 33, 34, 36, 43 | predict from a drawn before card | full; half right; half left; half left two weeks on (v3; was a crescent left one week on) | L04-q5/q6/q7 (full → 1 week; half right → 2 weeks; crescent right → a few nights) — different spans or discs |
| 37–39 | lit half faces us / away; how much is lit | told positions | L05-q4/q5, L05 attached — re-worded with the position named |
| 41 | what the dark part is | a lake cabin | L05-q8 — re-scened, four options |
| 44 | half Moon again next Monday? (reason pick) | a girl and her brother | L04-q9 (full again in a week? no) — different claim, reason form |
| 47 | Earth's shadow makes the shapes (reason pick) | a boy | L05-q7 (yes/no) — reason form |
| 45–46, 48–49 | typed number / word | hotel calendar; bare | PR-9 (typed 2 weeks, bare) — PP-45 re-scened; PP-46, 48, 49 new asks |
| 50, 43 | the why chain | bare; a telescope club's two full Moons | L05-q11 (why a month) — PP-43 re-scened; PP-50 new ask |
| 51–52 | model run backward; model mapping | a stage, a spotlight, a balloon | L05-q9/q10 (orange and flashlight, forward move) — the move is reversed (51) or changed (52) |
| 53 | counterfactual | bare | none — new move |