A Walk with Teddy
“We left London on the morning of June 9…Getting off the train at
Basingstoke, we drove to the pretty, smiling valley of the Itchen. Here we
tramped for three or four hours, then again drove, this time to the edge of
the New Forest, where we first took tea at an inn, and then tramped through
the forest to an inn on its other side, at Brockenhurst. At the conclusion of
our walk my companion made a list of the birds we had seen…
The bird that most impressed me on my walk was the blackbird. I had
already heard nightingales in abundance near Lake Como… but I had never
heard either the blackbird, the song thrush, or the blackcap warbler; and
while I knew that all three were good singers, I did not know what really
beautiful singers they were. Blackbirds were very abundant, and they
played a prominent part in the chorus which we heard throughout the day…
In its habits and manners the blackbird strikingly resembles our American
robin… ”
Answer The following.
1- What is the genre of the text?
__________________________________________________________
2- Who are the characters?
__________________________________________________________
3- Extract a homograph from the text.
__________________________________________________________
4- What is the setting?
__________________________________________________________
5- What is the moral of the text?
__________________________________________________________
Fill in the cause-effect organizer.
cause
1
2
effect
Reading Between the Dots
“Brittany, you have so many library books in this house, it isn’t funny!” my
grandmother yelled from the living room. You would think 30 library
books in the house wouldn’t be a pain, right? Wrong. That’s because these
books were Braille books. For those of you who don’t know, Braille is a
raised-dot code, invented by Louis Braille, that blind or visually disabled
individuals read using their fingers. Braille takes up a lot of room on a
page. One book in print can be many volumes in Braille.
My work as a library volunteer started in the summer of 2008. The
Baltimore public school system required all of its students to do community
service before graduation. I decided to volunteer at my state library for the
blind and physically handicapped.
On my first day, I made six Braille copies of a booklet. No, I didn’t have to
make all of those bumps by hand! Like other Braille documents and books,
the booklet was typed on a computer. A special program converted the print
file into a Braille file. Then a machine called a Braille embosser was
hooked up to a computer and made six copies of the booklet in a matter of
minutes.
Answer The following.
1- What is the genre of the text?
__________________________________________________________
2- Who are the characters?
__________________________________________________________
3- What is the theme of the story?
__________________________________________________________
4- What is the setting?
__________________________________________________________
5- What is the moral of the text?
__________________________________________________________
Fill in the plot organizer.
beginning
middle
end
Why the Sun Is Red
“I’m wondering,” said the King to his horseman, while pointing to the rosy
sunset. “Why is the Sun red while setting and rising, but yellow the rest of
the day?”
“Perhaps it’s not for us to know,” said the horseman.
“The Sun’s mother must know,” said the King. “You’re just the one to find
her, in her amber house. Its surface glows bright orange. If you find the
answer to my question, I’ll fill your hat with gold!” said the King. “But if
you don’t, you must leave my kingdom forever.”
For seven days the horseman searched. Then, one rainy evening, he saw a
glow. It was the amber house! An old woman opened the door. It was the
Sun’s mother.
Answer The following.
1- What is the genre of the text?
__________________________________________________________
2- Who are the characters?
__________________________________________________________
3- Extract a word with a suffix? What does the suffix mean?
__________________________________________________________
4- What is the moral of the text?
__________________________________________________________
Fill in the following organizer.
Main Idea
Detail
Detail
Get a Backbone!
Most animals in the world fit in one of two groups. Some have
backbones. The others do not. People, lizards, owls, frogs, and sharks all
have backbones. Touch the back of your neck. That’s where your backbone
starts. It’s a string of bones that goes all the way down your back to your
tailbone.
What would you be like without a backbone? You couldn’t walk or sit
up. You’d have to slither around like a worm or swim like an octopus.
Those animals have no backbones.
Animals with backbones are called vertebrates. All vertebrates have
backbones. However, not all vertebrates are alike. They have different
features. Some are tiny. Others are huge. Some swim, while others fly.
Vertebrates can be birds, amphibians, fish, reptiles, or mammals.
Animals in each group share a unique quality that makes them special.
Answer The following.
1- What is the genre of the text?
__________________________________________________________
2- Who are the characters?
__________________________________________________________
3- Are humans vertebrates? Why?
__________________________________________________________
4- What is the moral of the text?
__________________________________________________________
5- What is the point of view of the author?
__________________________________________________________
Fill in the following organizer.
Problem
Solution
Susan B. Anthony Takes Action!
Susan Brownell Anthony was born in Massachusetts in 1820. Her family
believed that all people are equal. At the time Susan was born, however,
this idea of equality was very unusual. Men and women did not have the
same rights. Women could not vote and they could not own property. Life
was different for Susan. She learned to read and write at the age of three,
even though she was a girl.
Susan gave as many as 100 speeches around the country every year for
forty-five years. She always stayed excited and hopeful about her work.
Not everyone agreed with her ideas. Susan and her friend Elizabeth
Cady Stanton had to fight hard for many years for the rights of all people.
They always did their work peacefully. It was not until fourteen years after
Susan died that women in the United States were allowed to vote. The long
struggle would not have been successful without the work of Susan B.
Anthony.
Answer The following.
1- What is the genre of the text?
__________________________________________________________
2- Who are the characters?
__________________________________________________________
3- Find a word with a prefix. What is the meaning of the prefix?
__________________________________________________________
4- What is the moral of the text?
__________________________________________________________
5- What is the point of view of the author? Support your answer with
evidence from the text.
__________________________________________________________
Fill in the following timeline.
In 1820,
At the age of
three,
Fourteen years
after Susan died,
Power for All
Every day, students in many countries are in a race against the Sun.
Many don’t have electricity. For this reason, they must do their homework
during the daylight hours or use dangerous oil lamps or candlelight at night.
In Tsumkwe (CHOOM-kwee), a small town in Namibia, Africa,
villagers were lucky. Until recently, they got all their electricity from a
generator powered by oil. However, there were problems with the
generator. It cost a lot of money. And it only produced electricity for three
hours each day.
Answer The following.
1- What is the genre of the text?
__________________________________________________________
2- Who are the characters?
__________________________________________________________
3- Extract as many homophones, from the text, as you can.
__________________________________________________________
4- What is the moral of the text?
__________________________________________________________
5- What is the point of view of the author? Support your answer with
evidence from the text.
__________________________________________________________
Fill in the following organizer.
Cause
Effect