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A TSI Graphics—Prentice Hall Literature Gr.6 Selection Support 1R
Name _____________________________________________________
A T
Date ___________________
“Aaron’s Gift” by Myron Levoy
“Water” by Helen Keller
Build Vocabulary
Using Related Words: Forms of console
The Word Bank word consoled means “comforted.” As you can see, the following words are
forms of the word console. All three words are related in meaning.
Consolation means “comfort.”
Inconsolable means “unable to be comforted.”
A. DIRECTIONS: Use one of the forms of console to complete each sentence.
1. The little boy cried for a long time after losing his favorite toy; he seemed to be
___________________________
2. Losing the game was a disappointment, but knowing that we had enjoyed our best season
ever was a ___________________________
3. Tanya’s friends ___________________________ her when her beloved cat Rusty died.
Using the Word Bank
frenzied
mascot
coaxed
consoled
drawing
B. DIRECTIONS: Answer each of the following questions to demonstrate your understanding of
the Word Bank words. Circle the letter of your choice.
1. Which of the following might be a school’s mascot?
a. a cartoon-character bulldog
b. a football team
2. Which of the following would need to be consoled?
a. someone who had just won an election
b. someone who had just lost an election
3. Which of the following would a young child need to be coaxed to do?
a. clean up his or her room
b. watch his or her favorite video
4. Where would you see someone drawing water?
a. at a pump connected to a well
b. at a table at a restaurant
5. When might a crowd of spectators at a race become frenzied?
a. while waiting for the race to begin
b. while watching the finish of the race
Recognizing Antonyms
C. DIRECTIONS: Circle the letter of the word or phrase that is most nearly opposite in meaning to
the word in CAPITAL LETTERS.
1. FRENZIED:
2. CONSOLED:
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a. frantic
a. soothed
b. surprised
b. upset
c. calm
c. repaired
d. unharmed
d. greeted
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A TSI Graphics—Prentice Hall Literature Gr.6 Selection Support 1R
Name _____________________________________________________
Date ___________________
“Aaron’s Gift” by Myron Levoy
“Water” by Helen Keller
Build Spelling Skills: Adding Endings to Words Ending in y
Spelling Strategy When adding an ending to a word that ends in y, follow
these strategies:
try + ed = tried
try + ing = trying
study + ed = studied
study + ing = studying
happy + est = happiest
happy + ness = happiness
Unit 2: Reaching Out
• If a consonant precedes the final y, change the y to i. However, if the ending begins with i,
the y does not change.
• If a vowel comes before the y, just add the ending.
enjoy + ed = enjoyed
enjoy + ing = enjoying
journey + ed = journeyed
enjoy + ment = enjoyment
journey + ing = journeying
A. Practice: Add the indicated ending to each word. Write the new word on the line.
1. buy + ing ___________________________
6. employ + er ___________________________
2. fry + ing ___________________________
7. spy + ed ___________________________
3. apply + ed ___________________________
8. survey + ing ___________________________
4. weary + ness ___________________________
9. sturdy + ness ___________________________
5. scary + er ___________________________
10. annoy + ing ___________________________
B. Practice: Complete the paragraph by adding the indicated ending to each given word. Write
the new words on the lines provided.
With the help of her teacher, Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller went on to live a life of remarkable
achievement. She continued (apply + ing) ___________________________ herself to learning new
words and soon learned to speak, read, and write. She (study + ed) ___________________________
hard and gained entrance to Radcliffe College, from which she graduated with honors in 1904.
In the years that followed, she (enjoy + ed) ___________________________ a distinguished career
as a writer, lecturer, and civil rights advocate, (play + ing) ___________________________ an
important role in winning public recognition for the needs and rights of visually disabled
people. The person who had, in her own words, been the wildest and (unruly + est)
___________________________ of children grew up to become one of the most famous and
influential people of our time.
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A TSI Graphics—Prentice Hall Literature Gr.6 Selection Support 1R
Name _____________________________________________________
A T
Date ___________________
“Aaron’s Gift” by Myron Levoy
“Water” by Helen Keller
Build Grammar Skills: Verb Phrases
A verb phrase is a group of words that is made up of a main verb and one or more helping
verbs. A helping verb is a verb that comes before the main verb and adds to its meaning. In a
verb phrase, the main verb is the most important verb. There are many different helping verbs.
The most common ones are shown in the chart below.
Common Helping Verbs
Forms of have
has, have, having, had
Forms of be
am, is, are, was, were, being, been
Other helping verbs
do, does, did, may, might, must, can, could, will, would, shall, should
Look at these sentences. The verb phrase in each one is underlined. The main verb is in
bold type. Note that, in one case, the word not interrupts a verb phrase.
The pigeon was trying to fly.
Aaron was not sure what his mother would say about his new-found pet.
Helen Keller did not know that, before day’s end, she would be learning new words.
A. Practice: On the lines, write the verb phrase or phrases in each sentence. Then underline
the main verb in each phrase.
1. Aaron had come to the park with his roller skates. ________________________________________
2. If you had seen him, you would have said that he is a fantastic skater.
3. Before coming to the U.S., Aaron’s grandmother had lived in the Ukraine.
4. What would have happened to Helen without Miss Sullivan?
B. Writing Application: Complete the paragraph by writing a verb phrase in each blank. Use
the verb phrases below or provide your own. When you are finished, underline the main verb in
each verb phrase that you wrote.
would bring
did bring
had made
had brought
will recall
could become
About a month after Aaron ___________________________ Pidge home, Carl, the gang leader,
told him that he ___________________________ a member if he ___________________________ the
bird to be the gang’s mascot. Aaron ___________________________ the pigeon to the club house,
but he soon realized that he ___________________________ a terrible mistake. The boys intended
to throw Pidge into the fire while making Aaron swear a loyalty oath! As you ___________________,
however, Aaron and Pidge managed to escape.
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A TSI Graphics—Prentice Hall Literature Gr.6 Selection Support 1R
Name _____________________________________________________
Date ___________________
“Aaron’s Gift” by Myron Levoy
“Water” by Helen Keller
Reading Strategy: Using Context to Clarify Meaning
Aaron twisted and turned and kicked and punched back, shouting “Cossacks! Cossacks!” And somehow the word gave him the strength to tear away.
Looking up the word Cossack gives you more background: Cossacks are a people living on
the steppes of Russia, noted as horsemen. However, that doesn’t explain why Aaron would use
this word—these bullies are not Russian horsemen. To clarify the meaning here, you need to
consider the larger context of the story.
DIRECTIONS: Read the following excerpt from “Aaron’s Gift,” noting that it comes well before the
scene described above. Then explain how it clarifies Aaron’s use of the word “Cossacks.” Write
your answer on the lines below.
Often, in the evening, Aaron’s grandmother would talk about the old days long ago in
the Ukraine, in the same way that she talked to the birds on the back fire escape. She had
lived in a village near a place called Kishinev with hundreds of other poor peasant families
like her own. . . .
One day, a thundering of horses was heard coming toward the village from the direction
of Kishinev. The Cossacks! The Cossacks! someone had shouted. The Czar’s horsemen!
Quickly, quickly, everyone in Aaron’s grandmother’s family had climbed down to the cellar
through a little trapdoor hidden under a mat in the big central room of their shack. But his
grandmother’s pet goat, whom she’d loved as much as Aaron loved Pidge and more, had
to be left above, because if it had made a sound in the cellar, they would never have lived
to see the next morning. They all hid under the wood in the woodbin and waited, hardly
breathing.
*
*
*
But they had been lucky. For other houses had been burned to the ground. And everywhere, not goats alone, nor sheep, but men and women and children lay quietly on the
ground. The word for this sort of massacre, Aaron had learned, was pogrom. It had been a
pogrom. And the men on the horses were Cossacks. Hated word. Cossacks.
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Unit 2: Reaching Out
Often, the only way you can determine precisely what a word or passage means is to consider its context. You may remember that context is the material that surrounds the word or
passage you are trying to clarify. Often, the words or sentences immediately before and after an
unfamiliar word, or a familiar word used in a novel manner, will provide all the context you
need to clarify meaning. Sometimes a larger context needs to be considered, such as the subject of the story or the background of a character. For example, there is little in the sentences
around the word Cossacks in this passage to let you know what it means.
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A TSI Graphics—Prentice Hall Literature Gr.6 Selection Support 1R
Name _____________________________________________________
A T
Date ___________________
“Aaron’s Gift” by Myron Levoy
“Water” by Helen Keller
Literary Analysis: Climax
The moment of high tension in a story is known as the climax, or turning point. It is the
point at which the story could go one way or another. Writers who build up to climaxes shape
their stories and accounts carefully. They present the events that lead up to this decisive
moment in a part of a story known as the rising action. They also let readers know what
happens after the climax; this part of the story is know as the conclusion.
DIRECTIONS: Use the diagrams below to record the events that lead up to the climaxes in
“Aaron’s Gift” and “Water.” Also note what happens in each work’s climax and conclusion in
the spaces indicated.
“Aaron’s Gift”
Climax
io
n
Event
Ri
sin
g
Ac
t
Event
Event
Conclusion
“Water”
Climax
Event
Ac
t
Ri
sin
g
Event
io
n
Event
Conclusion
In a sentence or two, identify the climax of each work.
“Aaron’s Gift”:
“Water”:
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