Day One
Types of Teeth
Everyone has several different types of teeth. Each type has a unique name and a different
purpose. The teeth in the front of your mouth, and the easiest to see, are called incisors. There are four
incisors on the top and four on the bottom. Incisors are shaped like tiny chisels with flat ends that are sharp.
These teeth are used for cutting and chopping food. They are the first teeth to chew most food we eat. The
pointed teeth on either side of your incisors are called canine teeth. People have a total of four canine teeth,
two on top and two on the bottom. Because they are pointed and sharp, they are used to tear food.
Next to your canine teeth are the premolars. You have eight premolars in all, four on top and four
on the bottom. They have a completely different shape than both the incisors and canines. That is because
premolars are bigger, stronger, and have ridges – all of which makes them perfect for crushing and grinding
food. Finally, there are your molars. You have eight of these - four on the top and four on the bottom. Molars
are the toughest of the teeth. They are wider and stronger than premolars, and they have more ridges.
Molars work closely with your tongue to help you swallow food. The tongue sweeps chewed food to the
back of your mouth, where the molars grind it until it is mashed up and ready to be swallowed.
By age twenty, four more molars grow in the back of the mouth, one in each corner. These are
called the wisdom teeth. People do not need wisdom teeth now, but many years ago these teeth were
necessary to help people chew tough plants, which were an important part of the human diet. Now, many
people get their wisdom teeth pulled to keep them from crowding their other teeth.
The next time you eat, pay attention to which teeth do which jobs. Having a cookie? Incisors do a
good job of biting into that tasty treat. What about a carrot? Molars get the job done, not the teeth in front.
How about a slice of pizza or a piece of bread? Your canines will help you tear at the food, and your
premolars and molars will help you grind up that pepperoni pizza or peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Quiz Prep: *what do the different types of teeth do? * how are they shaped? why? *what else could you
name this passage? * what does the tongue do?
Day Two
Paper Dragon Fairy Tale
Once upon a time, on a wall in a little house in a country far away, there hung a beautiful paper
dragon. It was carefully folded and looked almost lifelike. The dragon was painted the colors of the rainbow,
and its tail was spread wide like the tail of a peacock.
Many years went by, and the people who lived in the house enjoyed the picture of the colorful
dragon. People who came to visit the house stopped to see the brightly-colored dragon, but no one ever
asked about where it had come from. A couple of times, someone took it down from the wall, only to put it
on another wall in the little house, and arrange the tail slightly differently. Doing this, they felt a feeling of
energy and of life. Something about holding the paper dragon made them feel free.
Once, a stranger on his journey passed by the house and happened to see the beautiful dragon
hanging on the wall. Struck by its beauty, he stared closely at the dragon. Without asking permission, he
lifted down the dragon from the wall. He hung it over his arm and went out into the yard. With skilled fingers
he tied a string around the dragon’s body and quickly went to an open place. As a breeze began, the
stranger carefully let out the string and ran into the wind. Up the dragon lifted into the air and it soared high
above like a kite. The dragon seemed to be pulling higher and higher into the air, almost as though it was
flying.
The people who lived in the house came outside to watch the man with the dragon. They were
surprised to see their beautiful paper dragon flying above them, brightly colored and with its long tail flowing
behind it. They began to think that maybe there was something about this dragon that they had not noticed
before.
As the wind blew, the dragon happily danced in the air above. Without warning, the string broke,
and the dragon flew higher and further away from them. The people below squinted as they looked up at the
brightly colored dragon. Suddenly, the little paper dragon began growing; its paper wings stretched wide and
long. Its paper body began to change and the small creature flew higher and higher. The people below
looked in amazement as the dragon came to life and flew away. Turning to them, the stranger said, “Some
things are just meant to be free.”
Quiz Prep: *what is the sequence of the story? (what happened first, second, etc.) * what else could you
name this passage? *how do the characters feel throughout this story? * what is the meaning of the
underlined vocabulary?
Day Three
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks was born February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama. She spent her childhood in
Alabama. When she was 11, she enrolled in the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls. Later, she worked
as a seamstress in Montgomery.
Rosa Parks has been called the “mother of the Civil Rights Movement” and one of the most
important citizens of the 20th century. In the early 1950s, the bus system in Montgomery, as in many parts of
the United States, was segregated. Blacks were required to board the bus at the front, buy their tickets, and
then re-board the bus in the back. Sometime, they weren’t able to get on the bus again before it drove away.
They were not allowed to sit in the front of the bus, which sometimes made it difficult to get off at the right
stop. Even if they were sitting in the “black section”, they were still required to give their seats up to a white
passenger if the “white section” was full. In December of 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a
city bus to a white passenger. The bus driver had her arrested. She was tried and convicted of violating a
local ordinance.
Her act sparked a citywide boycott of the bus system. This refusal to ride the bus introduced the
country to a clergyman named Martin Luther King, Jr. who gained national prominence, leading the protest
with the words: “There comes a time that people get tired”. Eventually, the US Supreme Court made a
decision outlawing segregation on city buses. In December 1956, Montgomery’s public transportation
system was legally integrated.
Over the next four decades, Rosa Parks helped make her fellow Americans aware of the history of
the civil rights struggle. This pioneer in the struggle for racial equality earned many honors, including the
Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Congressional
Gold Medal. She is an example of courage and determination and an inspirational symbol to all Americans.
She died on October 24, 2005, in Detroit, Michigan. She was 92.
Quiz Prep: *what do you think Rosa Parks would be most proud of? *what is the main idea? *what role did
the Supreme Court play? *what is the meaning of the underlined vocabulary?
Day Four
Standing at the Foul Line
There are only 55 seconds left on the scoreboard
And the game is tied
I concentrate and try to clear my mind,
But I am worried I might miss.
I dribble the ball
Taking time to breathe and relax
I arch my hands and lift the ball
Sinking the first shot swish right through the net.
I have one more shot to go,
Can I make it a two-point game?
I lean forward and repeat the same steps
And then,
I make it once again.
Who will win the game now?
Quiz Prep: *what is the main idea? *what are some facts you know about the subject of this poem? * why is
the narrator worried at the beginning? *what is the meaning of the underlined vocabulary?