Amazing Alice
from Coast to Coast with Alice
Genre: Historical Fiction
Author’s Purpose: Entertain
Skill: Summarizing
By: Patricia Rusch Hyatt
Compiled by Terry Sams, Piedmont
Summary
Hermine Jahns, a 15-year-old girl, has the
chance of a lifetime! It's 1909, and she's
going cross-country by car with Alice
Ramsey and Alice's sisters-in-law. Alice
Ramsey is the first woman to ever try such a
feat. The women have many
adventures. Without reliable road maps, it's
hard to find their way. When a bolt falls out,
Alice Ramsey repairs the car with baling wire
and hairpins. They almost get swamped by
flash floods in Utah. Despite these setbacks,
they make it to San Francisco in a recordbreaking 59 days!
Genre: Historical Fiction
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Historical Fiction is fiction that
takes place in the past.
The author makes up the
characters and events, but the
characters and events seem real.
The setting is important, and the
problems and events are based on
things that really did or could have
happened during the time period.
Comprehension Skill:
Summarizing
●A summary give the main ideas of an article,
or it tells what happened in a story.
●A summary is short , and it does NOT
include unimportant details.
●A summary will help you recall and organize
information.
●What is a Summary?
What are the differences among quoting, paraphrasing, and
summarizing?
Comprehension Skill Review –
Graphic Sources
 Authors sometimes include
graphic sources to explain the
information included in their
writing.
 Examples of graphic sources
can be maps, photographs, and
captions for the photographs.
 What are some of the graphic
sources in the story of Alice?
Practice –
Graphic Sources
Source
What They Show or Tell
maps
where they are in each
journal entry, large map
show travel route
photographs
what people and
place look like
captions
information about
photographs
Vocabulary Skill Review :
Synonyms
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Words with similar meanings are
called synonyms.
You can often figure out the
meaning of an unknown word by
finding a synonym in the words
or sentences around it.
Click Here to practice synonyms
Weekly Fluency Check Read with Appropriate Phrasing
● Students should read with appropriate
phrasing.
● Phrasing makes the reading in Alice more
conversational.
● Journals often use interjects, for example,
“Great Golliwogs!” This makes the writing
more like personal conversation rather than a
formal writing.
● Go to pages 471 - 473, beginning with
“August 6, 1909.”
Figurative Language – Simile and
Metaphor
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Figurative language is a language that goes
beyond the ordinary meanings of words.
Similes and metaphors help make the
images in the story richer and clearer.
A simile uses words like or as to compare
two things that are not alike.
Maggie hopped over the railroad ties like a
jackrabbit.
A metaphor also compares two things that
are not alike but it does not use any words
of comparison.
This Iowa is a bathtub of mud.
Review Pages 458-465
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What is the setting of the story?
The story is told by whom?
Who travels on the crosscountry trip?
How is Alice different from other
women?
What problems do the women
have with the Blue Book?
Review Pages 466-474
1.
2.
3.
What is comical about the
women having to get a permit
to cross the bridge?
Summarize the events as they
happened in Wyoming.
How does Alice fix the tie rod
when it breaks? What does this
say about Alice’s character?
Summary
Amazing Alice
Write a summary of this story. Include each
of the following points.
 Setting
 Characters – include how Alice is different
from other women
 What were the women trying to do?
 Problems with the Blue Book
 Were they successful?
 End with your opinion of what these
women did and if you think you could have
done the same thing.
Fun Stuff to Do
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ABC order the spelling words
Vocabulary quiz
Spelling Hangman
Type in a word to find rhymes, synonyms,
definitions, and more:
Practice Same or difference
Synonym Matchup
Synonym Test
History of the First Car
Stagecoaches
Reading Test
Download Shockwave to play same or difference
Say It!
blacksmith
crank
dependable
forge
ravines
telegraph
More Words to Know
chaperones
contraptions
odometer
tiller
trestle
blacksmith

an ironworker
crank
a part of a machine
that sets it in motion
(handle on a
machine)

trestle
a framework
used as a
bridge to
support
railroad tracks
or a road

dependable
reliable; able to
be counted on
forge
a blacksmith's shop

ravines

deep,
narrow
valleys
telegraph
A device
used to send
coded
messages
over wires

chaperones
people
responsible for
other people's
behavior

contraptions
devices or
gadgets

odometer
a gauge used to
measure distance
traveled

tiller
a handle
used to steer
a rudder
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Hayden sent the
message over the
telegraph.
Hayden sent the
message over the
telegraph.
The trestle on the
bridge was damaged
when the train hit.
The trestle on the
bridge was damaged
when the train hit.
The ladies when
along to act as
chaperones.
The ladies when
along to act as
chaperones.
Marty was busy at
work in the forge
making a new crank
for her car.
Marty was busy at
work in the forge
making a new crank
for her car.
The new blacksmith
will work in our shop.
The new
blacksmith will
work in our shop.
That was quite a
contraption they
used to start the
engine of the car.
That was quite a
contraption they
used to start the
engine of the car.
The man anxiously
turned the crank to
get the plane
started.
The man anxiously
turned the crank to
get the plane
started.
The car used a
handle called a tiller
as a steering wheel.
The car used a
handle called a tiller
as a steering wheel.
I will use Tammy as
my babysitter
because she is very
reliable.
I will use Tammy as
my babysitter
because she is very
dependable.
The women traveled
across the
treacherous
landscape that
included ravines.
The women traveled
across the treacherous
landscape that
included ravines.
Ben Franklin
invented the
odometer to tell how
far something has
traveled.
Ben Franklin
invented the
odometer to tell how
far something has
traveled.
My uncle, Jim, works
as a blacksmith at
Dollywood.
My uncle, Jim, works
as a blacksmith at
Dollywood.
Spelling Words –
Prefixes dis-, in-, mis-, re-
dislike
 disappear
 distrust
 dishonest
 disagree
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incomplete
independent
incorrect
invisible
inactive
Spelling Words
Prefixes dis-, in-, mis-, re-
misplace
 misspell
 misled
 mistreat
 misbehave
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rebuild
reuse
react
replace
recall
Word Wall Words

Click and add your word wall words.
Let’s review our spelling
words.
Watch carefully because
they will flash on the
screen for just a moment.
We will clap as we spell
the word .
.
recall
replace
react
reuse
rebuild
misbehave
mistreat
misled
misspell
misplace
inactive
invisible
incorrect
independent
incomplete
disagree
dishonest
distrust
disappear
dislike
GREAT
JOB!