Marigolds
By: Eugenia W. Collier
Previewing Texts
1. Preview the text by looking at the pictures and reading the captions. What do
you predict this story will be about?
2. Fill out the first two boxes of the K-W- L Chart below. Write down what you know
about the topic in Box #1. Write down what you want to find out in Box #2. When you
finish reading the story, write what you learned or discovered in Box#3.
What I KNOW now
Box #1
1. Marigolds are yellow
flowers
2.
3.
4.
What I WANT to find out
Box #2
What I LEARNED
Box #3
1.
1.
2.
2.
3.
3.
4.
4.
Pre-reading Vocabulary
Directions: Write the definition next to each of the following words.
1. Lure:
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2. Abstract:
3. Malicious:
Pre-reading Vocabulary
3. Directions: Write the definition next to each of the following words. Next,
write a sentence that properly uses each word in context.
4. Vigor:
5. Futile:
6. Amorphous:
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Questions For Thought
Directions: Answer the following questions in complete sentences. Be sure to
proofread your answers and be prepared to share.
1. What do you think motivates the children to go to Miss Lottie’s house?
2. What does the description of Miss Lottie’s house tell you about the condition of
her life?
3. Why does Lizabeth destroy the marigolds? Why does she cry as she is doing
so?
Questions For Thought
Directions: Answer the following questions in complete sentences. Be sure to
proofread your answers and be prepared to share.
4. What does the narrator mean when she says “poverty was a cage?”
5. Why does Lizabeth’s father break down and cry?
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6. Why do you think Lizabeth goes to Miss Lottie’s yard in the middle of the
night? What seems to be haunting Lizabeth?
7. Why do you suppose Lizabeth calls this experience the end of her innocence?
8. What do you think Lizabeth means when she says that she has since planted
marigolds in her life?
Literary Focus
Directions: Answer the following questions about the following literary terms.
1. What is indirect characterization? How does Collier utilize this literary
technique in “Marigolds?”
Critical Thinking
Directions: Why do you think Lizabeth thinks of herself as an adult after
destroying Miss Lottie’s Marigolds? What lesson do you think Lizabeth learns
as she works through her own internal conflict?
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