All Summer in a Day
by Ray Bradbury
Feature Menu
Introducing the Story
Literary Skills Focus: Setting
Reading Skills Focus: Sequencing
Writing Skills Focus: Think as a
Reader/Writer
TechFocus
All Summer in a Day
by Ray Bradbury
What truths about ourselves can we learn in
extreme, dangerous, or unusual situations?
All Summer in a Day
Introducing the Story
Click on the title to start the video.
All Summer in a Day
Introducing the Story
What if it never stopped raining?
What if it had been raining . . .
. . . for seven years?
All Summer in a Day
Introducing the Story
How would you describe the
sun to people who had never
seen it?
a penny?
a fire?
a lemon?
What if they didn’t believe you?
[End of Section]
All Summer in a Day
Literary Skills Focus: Setting
Plot is the series of events that make up a story.
Cedric
began
trudging
home.
His boots felt
heavier and
heavier.
Cedric grew
too tired to
move.
Rescue
lights
blinked just
in time.
The basic situation, events, climax, and
resolution in a story make up its plot.
All Summer in a Day
Literary Skills Focus: Setting
Setting is the time and place of a story.
As you read “All Summer in a Day,” think about the
role of the story’s setting and how it influences the
plot.
All Summer in a Day
Literary Skills Focus: Setting
A story’s setting can tell us about
weather
time of day
historical period or era
(past, present, or future)
All Summer in a Day
Literary Skills Focus: Setting
In some stories, setting does not play a big role.
However, in other
stories, setting can
play such an important
role that it shapes the
action from beginning
to end.
All Summer in a Day
Literary Skills Focus: Setting
Where does the paragraph below take place? What
details tell you so?
Cedric Perez began trudging
back “home” to the lunar
capsule. Oxygen inside his
helmet was thinning, and his
boots felt heavier. His crew
appeared on the blank horizon,
but his head throbbed, and he
realized his boots were sinking.
Rescue lights blinked just in
time.
All Summer in a Day
Literary Skills Focus: Setting
Cedric Perez is not in his neighborhood. He’s not
even on the planet Earth!
• The word lunar tells us that Cedric is on a moon.
• He cannot breathe without a helmet to provide
oxygen.
• The “blank horizon” suggests a mood of
emptiness and isolation.
This setting makes heading for home a hard and
dangerous thing to do.
All Summer in a Day
Literary Skills Focus: Setting
As you read “All Summer in a Day,” decide which
actions could happen only on the planet Bradbury
describes.
[End of Section]
All Summer in a Day
Reading Skills Focus: Sequencing
Sequence is the order of events in a story.
By placing story events in correct order, you
better understand key moments in the plot.
Cedric’s head started to
ache not long after the
oxygen hose loosened.
What happened
first—aching or
loosening?
All Summer in a Day
Reading Skills Focus: Sequencing
Into Action Use a chart to keep track of the order
of the main events in this story.
Into Action: Sequence Chart
Event
1.
The children are waiting for the rain to stop.
2.
Margot stands by herself remembering the sun.
[End of Section]
All Summer in a Day
Writing Skills Focus: Think as a Reader/Writer
Find It in Your Reading
Pay attention to unusual words and phrases the
writer uses to describe the setting, such as
Note how Bradbury uses
strong vocabulary and
vivid description to
make the setting come
alive.
[End of Section]
All Summer in a Day
TechFocus
TechFocus
Research the atmosphere of a planet in our solar
system, other than Earth or Venus.
• What harsh elements would people
need protection from?
• What equipment would be
necessary for people to be able to
live there?
[End of Section]
Vocabulary
All Summer in a Day
Vocabulary
frail adj. : not very strong; easily broken.
vital adj.: necessary for life; very important.
consequence n.: of value; importance.
surged v.: moved forward, as if in a wave.
savored v.: delighted in.
All Summer in a Day
Vocabulary
The word frail is often used to describe lack of
strength due to illness or age.
Newborn animals are often
frail and unable to move
as adult animals do.
What suggests that this
colt’s legs may be too
frail for walking?
All Summer in a Day
Vocabulary
The plant grew frail while Uncle Ross was gone on
vacation.
Uncle Ross most likely
a. asked a friend to water
his plant
b. forgot to arrange for
plant watering
All Summer in a Day
Vocabulary
The plant grew frail while Uncle Ross was gone on
vacation.
Uncle Ross most likely
a. asked a friend to water
his plant
b. forgot to arrange for
plant watering
All Summer in a Day
Vocabulary
Vital is a word used to describe something that is
absolutely necessary.
Which one of these is vital to survival?
All Summer in a Day
Vocabulary
You may joke sometimes that french fries are vital
to your survival.
Think of some food items
that truly are vital to
your good health.
What are their qualities?
All Summer in a Day
Vocabulary
The word consequence can be used to mean
“importance.”
Being the last diver to perform was of
no consequence to the relaxed,
well-trained athlete.
All Summer in a Day
Vocabulary
Is having good balance a matter of great
consequence to a tightrope walker?
What would happen
if the tightrope
walker lost his
balance?
All Summer in a Day
Vocabulary
The word surged suggests that a movement
was sudden, powerful, and in one direction.
At the end of the
day, traffic surged
in the southbound
lanes.
All Summer in a Day
Vocabulary
People see huge waves surging toward the shore.
Vacationers on the beach
will probably
a. move cautiously
inland
b. decide to picnic on the
sand
c. settle down on their
towels
All Summer in a Day
Vocabulary
People see huge waves surging toward the shore.
Vacationers on the beach
will probably
a. move cautiously
inland
b. decide to picnic on the
sand
c. settle down on their
towels
All Summer in a Day
Vocabulary
If you have savored an experience, you might
have wished it would never end.
Which person is not
savoring the moment?
All Summer in a Day
Vocabulary
When you think of
the word savored,
what other words
come to mind?
Examples:
Word:
savored
enjoyed
appreciated
really loved
relished
treasured
Sentence:
Students
savored each
morning of
vacation.
Definition:
v.: delighted
in.
Image:
The End