Created by Jennifer Oberc, Language Arts Teacher

Transcription

1 Created by Jennifer Oberc, Language Arts Teacher

2 Joyce Kilmer Middle School Incoming 8 th Grade Summer Slide Student-Parent Manual The goal of this manual is to help students maintain the level of education they are currently at and to not allow summer slide to happen. Summer slide is a regression in skills due to an extended period of time away from instruction. This manual gives students productive work over the summer to keep them on track for the next grade level. Parents should assist their son/daughter with this manual and try the extra activities that accompany most of the mini lessons. It is important to manage your time effectively over the summer in order to complete this manual in time for September. This manual is aligned with the common core state standards and focuses on literature, informational text, and writing.

3 Table of Contents Reading- Literature Character and Plot. 1-7 Supporting an Analysis of Text Theme Summarize Text Drawing and Supporting Inferences Reading- Informational Text Main Idea and Supporting Details Elaborating Key Details Drawing and Supporting Inferences Author s Purpose and Point of View Writing Write an Argument Write an Informative Piece Write a Narrative

4 Reading- Literature Character and Plot Mini Lesson: Here are some important points to remember when you are figuring out the characters and plot. Characters: People, animals, or other creatures in a story or a drama. Plot: The sequence of events that tell a story from the beginning to the end. Conflict: A problem that a character must resolve. Exposition Rising Action Climax Falling Action Resolution Cinderella by The Grimm Brothers A rich man's wife became sick, and when she felt that her end was drawing near, she called her only daughter to her bedside and said, "Dear child, remain pious and good, and then our dear God will always protect you, and I will look down on you from heaven and be near you." With this she closed her eyes and died. The girl went out to her mother's grave every day and wept, and she remained pious and good. When winter came the snow spread a white cloth over the grave, and when the spring sun had removed it again, the man took himself another wife. This wife brought two daughters into the house with her. They were beautiful, with fair faces, but evil and dark hearts. Times soon grew very bad for the poor stepchild. "Why should that stupid goose sit in the parlor with us?" they said. "If she wants to eat bread, then she will have to earn it. Out with this kitchen maid!" They took her beautiful clothes away from her, dressed her in an old gray smock, and gave her wooden shoes. "Just look at the proud princess! How decked out she is!" they shouted and laughed as they led her into the kitchen. There she had to do hard work from morning until evening, get up before daybreak, carry water, make the fires, cook, and wash. Besides this, the sisters did everything imaginable to hurt her. They made fun of her, scattered peas and lentils into the ashes for her, so that she had to sit and pick them out again. In the evening when she had worked herself weary, there was no bed for her. Instead she had to sleep by the hearth in the ashes. And because she always looked dusty and dirty, they called her Cinderella. 1

5 One day it happened that the father was going to the fair, and he asked his two stepdaughters what he should bring back for them. "Beautiful dresses," said the one. "Pearls and jewels," said the other. "And you, Cinderella," he said, "What do you want?" "Father, break off for me the first twig that brushes against your hat on your way home." So he bought beautiful dresses, pearls, and jewels for his two stepdaughters. On his way home, as he was riding through a green thicket, a hazel twig brushed against him and knocked off his hat. Then he broke off the twig and took it with him. Arriving home, he gave his stepdaughters the things that they had asked for, and he gave Cinderella the twig from the hazel bush. Cinderella thanked him, went to her mother's grave, and planted the branch on it, and she wept so much that her tears fell upon it and watered it. It grew and became a beautiful tree. Cinderella went to this tree three times every day, and beneath it she wept and prayed. A white bird came to the tree every time, and whenever she expressed a wish, the bird would throw down to her what she had wished for. Now it happened that the king proclaimed a festival that was to last three days. All the beautiful young girls in the land were invited, so that his son could select a bride for himself. When the two stepsisters heard that they too had been invited, they were in high spirits. They called Cinderella, saying, "Comb our hair for us. Brush our shoes and fasten our buckles. We are going to the festival at the king's castle." Cinderella obeyed, but wept, because she too would have liked to go to the dance with them. She begged her stepmother to allow her to go. "You, Cinderella?" she said. "You, all covered with dust and dirt, and you want to go to the festival? You have neither clothes nor shoes, and yet you want to dance!" However, because Cinderella kept asking, the stepmother finally said, "I have scattered a bowl of lentils into the ashes for you. If you can pick them out again in two hours, then you may go with us." The girl went through the back door into the garden, and called out, "You tame pigeons, you turtledoves, and all you birds beneath the sky, come and help me to gather: The good ones go into the pot; The bad ones go into your crop." 2

6 Two white pigeons came in through the kitchen window, and then the turtledoves, and finally all the birds beneath the sky came whirring and swarming in, and lit around the ashes. The pigeons nodded their heads and began to pick, pick, pick, pick. And the others also began to pick, pick, pick, pick. They gathered all the good grains into the bowl. Hardly one hour had passed before they were finished, and they all flew out again. The girl took the bowl to her stepmother, and was happy, thinking that now she would be allowed to go to the festival with them. But the stepmother said, "No, Cinderella, you have no clothes, and you don't know how to dance. Everyone would only laugh at you." Cinderella began to cry, and then the stepmother said, "You may go if you are able to pick two bowls of lentils out of the ashes for me in one hour," thinking to herself, "She will never be able to do that." The girl went through the back door into the garden, and called out, "You tame pigeons, you turtledoves, and all you birds beneath the sky, come and help me to gather: The good ones go into the pot; The bad ones go into your crop." Two white pigeons came in through the kitchen window, and then the turtledoves, and finally all the birds beneath the sky came whirring and swarming in, and lit around the ashes. The pigeons nodded their heads and began to pick, pick, pick, pick. And the others also began to pick, pick, pick, pick. They gathered all the good grains into the bowls. Before a half hour had passed they were finished, and they all flew out again. The girl took the bowls to her stepmother, and was happy, thinking that now she would be allowed to go to the festival with them. But the stepmother said, "It's no use. You are not coming with us, for you have no clothes, and you don't know how to dance. We would be ashamed of you." With this she turned her back on Cinderella, and hurried away with her two proud daughters. Now that no one else was at home, Cinderella went to her mother's grave beneath the hazel tree, and cried out: Shake and quiver, little tree, Throw gold and silver down to me. Then the bird threw a gold and silver dress down to her, and slippers embroidered with silk and silver. She quickly put on the dress and went to the festival. Her stepsisters and her stepmother did not recognize her. They thought she must be a foreign princess, for she looked so beautiful in the golden dress. 3

7 They never once thought it was Cinderella, for they thought that she was sitting at home in the dirt, looking for lentils in the ashes. The prince approached her, took her by the hand, and danced with her. Furthermore, he would dance with no one else. He never let go of her hand, and whenever anyone else came and asked her to dance, he would say, "She is my dance partner." She danced until evening, and then she wanted to go home. But the prince said, "I will go along and escort you," for he wanted to see to whom the beautiful girl belonged. However, she eluded him and jumped into the pigeon coop. The prince waited until her father came, and then he told him that the unknown girl had jumped into the pigeon coop. The old man thought, "Could it be Cinderella?" He had them bring him an ax and a pick so that he could break the pigeon coop apart, but no one was inside. When they got home Cinderella was lying in the ashes, dressed in her dirty clothes. A dim little oil-lamp was burning in the fireplace. Cinderella had quickly jumped down from the back of the pigeon coop and had run to the hazel tree. There she had taken off her beautiful clothes and laid them on the grave, and the bird had taken them away again. Then, dressed in her gray smock, she had returned to the ashes in the kitchen. The next day when the festival began anew, and her parents and her stepsisters had gone again, Cinderella went to the hazel tree and said: Shake and quiver, little tree, Throw gold and silver down to me. Then the bird threw down an even more magnificent dress than on the preceding day. When Cinderella appeared at the festival in this dress, everyone was astonished at her beauty. The prince had waited until she came, then immediately took her by the hand, and danced only with her. When others came and asked her to dance with them, he said, "She is my dance partner." When evening came she wanted to leave, and the prince followed her, wanting to see into which house she went. But she ran away from him and into the garden behind the house. A beautiful tall tree stood there, on which hung the most magnificent pears. She climbed as nimbly as a squirrel into the branches, and the prince did not know where she had gone. He waited until her father came, then said to him, "The unknown girl has eluded me, and I believe she has climbed up the pear tree. The father thought, "Could it be Cinderella?" He had an ax brought to him and cut down the tree, but no one was in it. When they came to the kitchen, Cinderella was lying there in the ashes as usual, for she had jumped down from the other side of the tree, had taken the beautiful dress back to the bird in the hazel tree, and had put on her gray smock. On the third day, when her parents and sisters had gone away, Cinderella went again to her mother's grave and said to the tree: 4

8 Shake and quiver, little tree, Throw gold and silver down to me. This time the bird threw down to her a dress that was more splendid and magnificent than any she had yet had, and the slippers were of pure gold. When she arrived at the festival in this dress, everyone was so astonished that they did not know what to say. The prince danced only with her, and whenever anyone else asked her to dance, he would say, "She is my dance partner." When evening came Cinderella wanted to leave, and the prince tried to escort her, but she ran away from him so quickly that he could not follow her. The prince, however, had set a trap. He had had the entire stairway smeared with pitch. When she ran down the stairs, her left slipper stuck in the pitch. The prince picked it up. It was small and dainty, and of pure gold. The next morning, he went with it to the man, and said to him, "No one shall be my wife except for the one whose foot fits this golden shoe." The two sisters were happy to hear this, for they had pretty feet. With her mother standing by, the older one took the shoe into her bedroom to try it on. She could not get her big toe into it, for the shoe was too small for her. Then her mother gave her a knife and said, "Cut off your toe. When you are queen you will no longer have to go on foot." The girl cut off her toe, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the prince. He took her on his horse as his bride and rode away with her. However, they had to ride past the grave, and there, on the hazel tree, sat the two pigeons, crying out: Rook di goo, rook di goo! There's blood in the shoe. The shoe is too tight, This bride is not right! Then he looked at her foot and saw how the blood was running from it. He turned his horse around and took the false bride home again, saying that she was not the right one, and that the other sister should try on the shoe. She went into her bedroom, and got her toes into the shoe all right, but her heel was too large. Then her mother gave her a knife, and said, "Cut a piece off your heel. When you are queen you will no longer have to go on foot." The girl cut a piece off her heel, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the prince. He took her on his horse as his bride and rode away with her. When they passed the hazel tree, the two pigeons were sitting in it, and they cried out: Rook di goo, rook di goo! There's blood in the shoe. The shoe is too tight, This bride is not right! 5

9 He looked down at her foot and saw how the blood was running out of her shoe, and how it had stained her white stocking all red. Then he turned his horse around and took the false bride home again. "This is not the right one, either," he said. "Don't you have another daughter?" "No," said the man. "There is only a deformed little Cinderella from my first wife, but she cannot possibly be the bride." The prince told him to send her to him, but the mother answered, "Oh, no, she is much too dirty. She cannot be seen." But the prince insisted on it, and they had to call Cinderella. She first washed her hands and face clean, and then went and bowed down before the prince, who gave her the golden shoe. She sat down on a stool, pulled her foot out of the heavy wooden shoe, and put it into the slipper, and it fitted her perfectly. When she stood up the prince looked into her face, and he recognized the beautiful girl who had danced with him. He cried out, "She is my true bride." The stepmother and the two sisters were horrified and turned pale with anger. The prince, however, took Cinderella onto his horse and rode away with her. As they passed by the hazel tree, the two white pigeons cried out: Rook di goo, rook di goo! No blood's in the shoe. The shoe's not too tight, This bride is right! After they had cried this out, they both flew down and lit on Cinderella's shoulders, one on the right, the other on the left, and remained sitting there. When the wedding with the prince was to be held, the two false sisters came, wanting to gain favor with Cinderella and to share her good fortune. When the bridal couple walked into the church, the older sister walked on their right side and the younger on their left side, and the pigeons pecked out one eye from each of them. Afterwards, as they came out of the church, the older one was on the left side, and the younger one on the right side, and then the pigeons pecked out the other eye from each of them. And thus, for their wickedness and falsehood, they were punished with blindness as long as they lived. 6

10 What is the main conflict in the Grimm s brother s Cinderella? How is the conflict resolved? What are two character traits that you would use to describe Cinderella s stepsisters? Support your answer with evidence from the text. How is the Grimm s Brothers version of Cinderella different from the version told to young children? Support your answer with evidence from the text. What is the lesson being taught in this fairy tale? 7

11 Reading- Literature Supporting an Analysis of Text Mini Lesson: When you analyze text, you think about it to get a better understanding of the reading. Examining word choice, character development, and plot are ways you can analyze the story. Evidence: Text that comes directly from the story. Rikki-tikki-tavi From The Jungle Books, Volume two by Rudyard Kipling At the hole where he went in Red-Eye called to Wrinkle-Skin. Hear what little Red-Eye sayth: ``Nag, come up and dance with death!'' Eye to eye and head to head, (Keep the measure, Nag.) This shall end when one is dead; (At thy pleasure, Nag.) Turn for turn and twist for twist- (Run and hide thee, Nag.) Hah! The hooded Death has missed! (Woe betides thee, Nag!) This is the story of the Great War that Rikki-tikki-tavi fought singlehanded, through the bath-rooms of the big bungalow in Segowlee cantonment. Darzee, the tailor-bird, helped him, and Chuchundra, the musk-rat, who never comes out into the middle of the floor, but always creeps round by the wall, gave him advice; but Rikki-tikki did the real fighting. He was a mongoose, rather like a little cat in his fur and his tail, but quite like a weasel in his head and his habits. His eyes and the end of his restless nose were pink; he could scratch himself anywhere he pleased, with any leg, front or back, that he chose to use; he could fluff up his tail till it looked like a bottle-brush, and his war-cry, as he scuttled through the long grass, was: ``Rikk-tikk-tikki-tikki-tchk!'' One day, a high summer flood washed him out of the burrow where he lived with his father and mother, and carried him, kicking and clucking, down a roadside ditch. He found a little wisp of grass floating there, and clung to it till he lost his senses. When he revived, he was lying in the hot sun on the middle of a garden path, very draggled indeed, and a small boy was saying: ``Here's a dead mongoose. Let's have a funeral.'' ``No,'' said his mother; ``let's take him in and dry him. Perhaps he isn't really dead.'' They took him into the house, and a big man picked him up between his finger and thumb, and said he was not dead but half choked; so they wrapped him in cotton-wool, and warmed him, and he opened his eyes and sneezed. 8

12 ``Now,'' said the big man (he was an Englishman who had just moved into the bungalow); ``don't frighten him, and we'll see what he'll do.'' It is the hardest thing in the world to frighten a mongoose, because he is eaten up from nose to tail with curiosity. The motto of all the mongoose family is ``Run and find out''; and Rikki-tikki was a true mongoose. He looked at the cotton-wool, decided that it was not good to eat, ran all around the table, sat up and put his fur in order, scratched himself, and jumped on the small boy's shoulder. ``Don't be frightened, Teddy,'' said his father. ``That's his way of making friends.'' ``Ouch! He's tickling under my chin,'' said Teddy. Rikki-tikki looked down between the boy's collar and neck, snuffed at his ear, and climbed down to the floor, where he sat rubbing his nose. ``Good gracious,'' said Teddy's mother, ``and that's a wild creature! I suppose he's so tame because we've been kind to him.'' ``All mongooses are like that,'' said her husband. ``If Teddy doesn't pick him up by the tail, or try to put him in a cage, he'll run in and out of the house all day long. Let's give him something to eat.'' They gave him a little piece of raw meat. Rikki-tikki liked it immensely, and when it was finished he went out into the verandah and sat in the sunshine and fluffed up his fur to make it dry to the roots. Then he felt better. ``There are more things to find out about in this house,'' he said to himself, ``than all my family could find out in all their lives. I shall certainly stay and find out.'' He spent all that day roaming over the house. He nearly drowned himself in the bath-tubs, put his nose into the ink on a writing table, and burnt it on the end of the big man's cigar, for he climbed up in the big man's lap to see how writing was done. At nightfall he ran into Teddy's nursery to watch how kerosene-lamps were lighted, and when Teddy went to bed Rikki-tikki climbed up too; but he was a restless companion, because he had to get up and attend to every noise all through the night, and find out what made it. Teddy's mother and father came in, the last thing, to look at their boy, and Rikki-tikki was awake on the pillow. ``I don't like that,'' said Teddy's mother; ``he may bite the child.'' ``He'll do no such thing,'' said the father. ``Teddy's safer with that little beast than if he had a bloodhound to watch him. If a snake came into the nursery now --- '' But Teddy's mother wouldn't think of anything so awful. Early in the morning Rikki-tikki came to early breakfast in the verandah riding on Teddy's shoulder, and they gave him banana and some boiled egg; and he sat on all their laps one after the other, because every wellbrought-up mongoose always hopes to be a house-mongoose some day and have rooms to run about in, and Rikkitikki's mother (she used to live in the General's house at Segowlee) had carefully told Rikki what to do if ever he came across white men. Then Rikki-tikki went out into the garden to see what was to be seen. It was a large garden, only half cultivated, with bushes as big as summer-houses of Marshal Niel roses, lime and orange trees, clumps of bamboos, and thickets of high grass. Rikki-tikki licked his lips. ``This is a splendid hunting-ground,'' he said, and his tail grew bottle-brushy at the thought of it, and he scuttled up and down the garden, snuffing here and there till he heard very sorrowful voices in a thorn-bush.

13 It was Darzee, the tailor-bird, and his wife. They had made a beautiful nest by pulling two big leaves together and stitching them up the edges with fibers, and had filled the hollow with cotton and downy fluff. The nest swayed to and fro, as they sat on the rim and cried. ``What is the matter?'' asked Rikki-tikki. ``We are very miserable,'' said Darzee. ``One of our babies fell out of the nest yesterday, and Nag ate him.'' ``H'm!'' said Rikki-tikki, ``that is very sad --- but I am a stranger here. Who is Nag?'' Darzee and his wife only cowered down in the nest without answering, for from the thick grass at the foot of the bush there came a low hiss --- a horrid cold sound that made Rikki-tikki jump back two clear feet. Then inch by inch out of the grass rose up the head and spread hood of Nag, the big black cobra, and he was five feet long from tongue to tail. When he had lifted one-third of himself clear of the ground, he stayed balancing to and fro exactly as a dandelion-tuft balances in the wind, and he looked at Rikki-tikki with the wicked snake's eyes that never change their expression, whatever the snake may be thinking of. ``Who is Nag?'' said he. ''I am Nag. The great god Brahm put his mark upon all our people when the first cobra spread his hood to keep the sun off Brahm as he slept. Look, and be afraid!'' He spread out his hood more than ever, and Rikki-tikki saw the spectacle-mark on the back of it that looks exactly like the eye part of a hook-and-eye fastening. He was afraid for the minute; but it is impossible for a mongoose to stay frightened for any length of time, and though Rikki-tikki had never met a live cobra before, his mother had fed him on dead ones, and he knew that all a grown mongoose's business in life was to fight and eat snakes. Nag knew that too, and at the bottom of his cold heart he was afraid. ``Well,'' said Rikki-tikki, and his tail began to fluff up again, ``marks or no marks, do you think it is right for you to eat fledglings out of a nest?'' Nag was thinking to himself, and watching the least little movement in the grass behind Rikki-tikki. He knew that mongooses in the garden meant death sooner or later for him and his family, but he wanted to get Rikkitikki off his guard. So he dropped his head a little, and put it on one side. ``Let us talk,'' he said. ``You eat eggs. Why should not I eat birds?'' ``Behind you! Look behind you!'' sang Darzee. Rikki-tikki knew better than to waste time in staring. He jumped up in the air as high as he could go, and just under him whizzed by the head of Nagaina, Nag's wicked wife. She had crept up behind him as he was talking, to make an end of him; and he heard her savage hiss as the stroke missed. He came down almost across her back, and if he had been an old mongoose he would have know that then was the time to break her back with one bite; but he was afraid of the terrible lashing return-stroke of the cobra. He bit, indeed, but did not bite long enough, and he jumped clear of the whisking tail, leaving Nagaina torn and angry. ``Wicked, wicked Darzee!'' said Nag, lashing up as high as he could reach toward the nest in the thorn bush; but Darzee had built it out of reach of snakes, and it only swayed to and fro. Rikki-tikki felt his eyes growing red and hot (when a mongoose's eyes grow red, he is angry), and he sat back on his tail and hind legs like a little kangaroo, and looked all round him, and chattered with rage. But Nag and Nagaina had disappeared into the grass. 10

14 When a snake misses its stroke, it never says anything or gives any sign of what it means to do next. Rikki-tikki did not care to follow them, for he did not feel sure that he could manage two snakes at once. So he trotted off to the gravel path near the house, and sat down to think. It was a serious matter for him. If you read the old books of natural history, you will find they say that when the mongoose fights the snake and happens to get bitten, he runs off and eats some herb that cures him. That is not true. The victory is only a matter of quickness of eye and quickness of foot, -- snake's blow against mongoose's jump, -- and as no eye can follow the motion of a snake's head when it strikes, that makes things much more wonderful than any magic herb. Rikki-tikki knew he was a young mongoose, and it made him all the more pleased to think that he had managed to escape a blow from behind. It gave him confidence in himself, and when Teddy came running down the path, Rikki-tikki was ready to be petted. But just as Teddy was stooping, something flinched a little in the dust, and a tiny voice said: ``be careful. I am death!'' It was Karait, the dusty brown snake ling that lies for choice on the dusty earth; and his bite is as dangerous as the cobra's. But he is so small that nobody thinks of him, and so he does the more harm to people. Rikki-tikki's eyes grew red again, and he danced up to Karait with the peculiar rocking, swaying motion that he had inherited from his family. It looks very funny, but it is so perfectly balanced a gait that you can fly off from it at any angle you please; and in dealing with snakes this is an advantage. If Rikki-tikki had only known, he was doing a much more dangerous thing that fighting Nag, for Karait is so small, and can turn so quickly, that unless Rikki bit him close to the back of the head, he would get the return-stroke in his eye or lip. But Rikki did not know: his eyes were all red, and he rocked back and forth, looking for a good place to hold. Karait struck out. Rikki jumped sideways and tried to run in, but the wicked little dusty gray head lashed within a fraction of his shoulder, and he had to jump over the body, and the head followed his heels close. Teddy shouted to the house: ``Oh, look here! Our mongoose is killing a snake''; and Rikki-tikki heard a scream from Teddy's mother. His father ran out with a stick, but by the time he came up, Karait had lunged out once too far, and Rikki-tikki- had sprung, jumped on the snake's back, dropped his head far between his fore-legs, bitten as high up the back as he could get hold, and rolled away. That bite paralyzed Karait, and Rikki-tikki was just going to eat him up from the tail, after the custom of his family at dinner, when he remembered that a full meal makes a slow mongoose, and if wanted all his strength and quickness ready, he must keep himself thin. He went away for a dust-bath under the castor-oil bushes, while Teddy's father beat the dead Karait. ``What is the use of that?'' thought Rikki-tikki. ``I have settled it all''; and then Teddy's mother picked him up from the dust and hugged him, crying that he had saved Teddy from death, and Teddy's father said that he was a providence, and Teddy looked on with big scared eyes. Rikki-tikki was rather amused at all the fuss, which, of course, he did not understand. Teddy's mother might just as well have petted Teddy for playing in the dust. Rikki was thoroughly enjoying himself. That night, at dinner, walking to and fro among the wine-glasses on the table, he could have stuffed himself three times over with nice things; but he remembered Nag and Nagaina, and though it was very pleasant to be patted and petted by Teddy's mother, and to sit on Teddy's shoulder, his eyes would get red from time to time, and he would go off into his long war-cry of ``Rikk-tikk-tikki-tikki-tchk!'' Teddy carried him off to bed, and insisted on Rikki-tikki sleeping under his chin. Rikki-tikki was too well bred to bite or scratch, but as soon as Teddy was asleep he went off for his nightly walk round the house, and in the dark he ran up against Chuchundra, the muskrat, creeping round by the wall. Chuchundra is a broken-hearted little beast. He whimpers and cheeps all the night, trying to make up his mind to run into the middle of the room, but he never gets there. 11

15 ``Don't kill me,'' said Chuchundra, almost weeping. ``Rikki-tikki, don't kill me.'' ``Do you think a snake-killer kills musk-rats?'' said Rikki-tikki scornfully. ``Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes,'' said Chuchundra, more sorrowfully than ever. ``And how am I to be sure that Nag won't mistake me for you some dark night?'' ``There's not the least danger,'' said Rikki-tikki; ``but Nag is in the garden, and I know you don't go there.'' ``My cousin Chua, the rat, told me --'' said Chuchundra, and then he stopped. ``Told you what?'' ``H'sh! Nag is everywhere, Rikki-tikki. You should have talked to Chua in the garden.'' ``I didn't -- so you must tell me. Quick Chuchundra, or I'll bite you!'' Chuchundra sat down and cried till the tears rolled off his whiskers. ``I am a very poor man,'' he sobbed. ``I never had spirit enough to run out into the middle of the room. H'sh! I mustn't tell you anything. Can't you hear, Rikki-tikki?'' Rikki-tikki listened. The house was as still as still, but he thought he could just catch the faintest scratchscratch in the world, -- a noise as faint as that of a wasp walking on a window-pane, -- the dry scratch of a snake's scales on brick-work. ``That's Nag or Nagaina,'' he said to himself; ``and he is crawling into the bath-room sluice. You're right Chuchundra; I should have talked to Chua.'' He stole off to Teddy's bath-room, but there was nothing there, and then to Teddy's mother's bathroom. At the bottom of the smooth plaster wall there was a brick pulled out to make a sluice for the bath-water, and as Rikki-tikki stole in by the masonry curb where the bath is put, he heard Nag and Nagaina whispering together outside in the moonlight. ``When the house is emptied of people,'' said Nagaina to her husband, ``he will have to go away, and then the garden will be our own again. Go in quietly, and remember that the big man who killed Karait is the first one to bite. Then come out and tell me, and we will hunt for Rikki-tikki together.'' ``But are you sure that there is anything to be gained by killing the people?'' said Nag. ``Everything. When there were no people in the bungalow, did we have any mongoose in the garden? So long as the bungalow is empty, we are king and queen of the garden; and remember that as soon as our eggs in the melon-bed hatch (as they may to-morrow), our children will need room and quiet.'' ``I had not thought of that,'' said Nag. ``I will go, but there is no need that we should hunt for Rikki-tikki afterward. I will kill the big man and his wife, and the child if I can, and come away quietly. The bungalow will be empty, and Rikki-tikki will go.'' Rikki-tikki tingled all over with rage and hatred at this, and then Nag's head came through the sluice, and his five feet of cold body followed it. 12

16 Angry as he was, Rikki-tikki was very frightened as he saw the size of the big cobra. Nag coiled himself up, raised his head, and looked into the bath-room in the dark, and Rikki could see his eyes glitter. ``Now, if I kill him here, Nagaina will know; and if I fight him on the open floor, the odds are in his favor. What am I to do?'' said Rikki-tikki-tavi. Nag waved to and fro, and then Rikki-tikki heard him drinking from the biggest water-jar that was used to fill the bath. ``That is good,'' said the snake. ``Now, when Karait was killed, the big man had a stick. He may have that stick still, but when he comes in to bathe in the morning he will not have a stick. I shall wait here till he comes. Nagaina -- do you hear me? -- I shall wait here in the cool till daytime.'' There was no answer from outside, so Rikki-tikki knew Nagaina had gone away. Nag coiled himself down, coil by coil, round the bulge at the bottom of the water-jar, and Rikki-tikki stayed still as death. After an hour he began to move, muscle by muscle, toward the jar. Nag was asleep, and Rikki-tikki looked at his big back, wondering which would be the best place for a good hold. ``If I don't break his back at the first jump,'' said Rikki, ``he can still fight; and if he fights -- O Rikki!'' He looked at the thickness of the neck below the hood, but that was too much for him; and a bite near the tail would only make Nag savage. ``It must be the head,'' he said at last; ``the head above the hood; and when I am once there, I must not let go.'' Then he jumped. The head was laying a little clear of the water-jar, under the curve of it; and, as his teeth met, Rikki braced his back against the bulge of the red earthenware to hold down the head. This gave him just one second's purchase, and he made the most of it. Then he was battered to and fro as a rat is shaken by a dog -- to and fro on the floor, up and down, and round in great circles; but his eyes were red, and he held on as the body cart-whipped over the floor, upsetting the tin dipper and the soap-dish and the flesh-brush, and banged against the tin side of the bath. As he held he closed his jaws tighter and tighter, for he made sure he would be banged to death, and, for the honor of his family, he preferred to be found with his teeth locked. He was dizzy, aching, and felt shaken to pieces when something went off like a thunderclap just behind him; a hot wind knocked him senseless, and red fire singed his fur. The big man had been awakened by the noise, and had fired both barrels of a shot-gun into Nag just behind the hood. Rikki-tikki held on with his eyes shut, for now he was quite sure he was dead; but the head did not move, and the big man picked him up and said: ``It's the mongoose again, Alice; the little chap has saved our lives now.'' Then Teddy's mother came in with a very white face, and saw what was left of Nag, and Rikki-tikki dragged himself to Teddy's bedroom and spent half the rest of the night shaking himself tenderly to find out whether he was really broken into forty pieces, as he fancied. When morning came he was very stiff, but well pleased with his doings. ``Now I have Nagaina to settle with, and she will be worse than five Nags, and there's no knowing when the eggs she spoke of will hatch. Goodness! I must go and see Darzee,'' he said. Without waiting for breakfast, Rikki-tikki ran to the thorn-bush where Darzee was singing a song of triumph at the top of his voice. The news of Nag's death was all over the garden, for the sweeper had thrown the body on the rubbish-heap. ``Oh, you stupid tuft of feathers!'' said Rikki-tikki angrily. ``Is this the time to sing?'' ``Nag is dead -- is dead -- is dead!'' sang Darzee. ``The valiant Rikki-tikki caught him by the head and held fast. 13

17 The big man brought the bang-stick, and Nag fell in two pieces! He will never eat my babies again.'' ``All that's true enough; but where's Nagaina?'' said Rikki-tikki, looking carefully round him. ``Nagaina came to the bath-room sluice and called for Nag,'' Darzee went on; ``and Nag came out on the end of a stick -- the sweeper picked him up on the end of a stick and threw him upon the rubbish-heap. Let us sing about the great, the red-eyed Rikki-tikki!'' and Darzee filled his throat and sang. ``If I could get up to your nest, I'd roll all your babies out!'' said Rikki-tikki. ``You don't know when to do the right thing at the right time. You're safe enough in your nest there, but it's war for me down here. Stop singing a minute, Darzee.'' ``For the great, the beautiful Rikki-tikki's sake I will stop,'' said Darzee. ``What is it, O Killer of the terrible Nag?'' ``Where is Nagaina, for the third time?'' ``On the rubbish-heap by the stables, mourning for Nag. Great is Rikki-tikki with the white teeth.'' ``Bother my white teeth! Have you ever heard where she keeps her eggs?'' ``In the melon-bed, on the end nearest the wall, where the sun strikes nearly all day. She hid them there weeks ago.'' ``And you never thought it worthwhile to tell me? The end nearest the wall, you said?'' ``Rikki-tikki, you are not going to eat her eggs?'' ``Not eat exactly; no. Darzee, if you have a grain of sense you will fly off to the stables and pretend that your wing is broken, and let Nagaina chase you away to this bush. I must get to the melon-bed, and if I went there now she'd see me.'' Darzee was a feather-brained little fellow who could never hold more than one idea at a time in his head; and just because he knew that Nagaina's children were born in eggs like his own, he didn't think at first that it was fair to kill them. But his wife was a sensible bird, and she knew that cobra's eggs meant young cobras later on; so she flew off from the nest, and left Darzee to keep the babies warm, and continue his song about the death of Nag. Darzee was very like a man in some ways. She fluttered in front of Nagaina by the rubbish heap, and cried out, ``Oh, my wing is broken! The boy in the house threw a stone at me and broke it.'' Then she fluttered more desperately than ever. Nagaina lifted up her head and hissed, ``You warned Rikki-tikki when I would have killed him. Indeed and truly, you ve chosen a bad place to be lame in.'' And she moved toward Darzee's wife, slipping along over the dust. ``The boy broke it with a stone! shrieked Darzee's wife. ``Well! It may be some consolation to you when you're dead to know that I shall settle accounts with the boy. My husband lies on the rubbish-heap this morning, but before the night the boy in the house will lie very still. What is the use of running away? I am sure to catch you. Little fool, look at me!''

18 Darzee's wife knew better than to do that, for a bird who looks at a snake's eyes gets so frightened that she cannot move. Darzee's wife fluttered on, piping sorrowfully, and never leaving the ground, and Nagaina quickened her pace. Rikki-tikki heard them going up the path from the stables, and he raced for the end of the melon-patch near the wall. There, in the warm litter about the melons, very cunningly hidden, he found twenty-five eggs, about the size of a bantam's eggs, but with whitish skin instead of shell. ``I was not a day too soon,'' he said; for he could see the baby cobras curled up inside the skin, and he knew that the minute they were hatched they could each kill a man or a mongoose. He bit off the tops of the eggs as fast as he could, taking care to crush the young cobras, and turned over the litter from time to time to see whether he had missed any. At last there were only three eggs left, and Rikki-tikki began to chuckle to himself, when he heard Darzee's wife screaming: ``Rikki-tikki, I led Nagaina toward the house, and she has gone into the verandah, and -- oh, come quickly -- she means killing!'' Rikki-tikki smashed two eggs, and tumbled backward down the melon-bed with the third egg in his mouth, and scuttled to the verandah as hard as he could put foot to the ground. Teddy and his mother and father were there at early breakfast; but Rikki-tikki saw that they were not eating anything. They sat stone-still, and their faces were white. Nagaina was coiled up on the matting by Teddy's chair, within easy striking-distance of Teddy's bare leg, and she was swaying to and fro singing a song of triumph. ``Son of the big man that killed Nag,'' she hissed, ``stay still. I am not ready yet. Wait a little. Keep very still, all three of you. If you move I strike and if you do not move I strike. Oh, foolish people, who killed my Nag!'' Teddy's eyes were fixed on his father, and all his father could do was to whisper, ``Sit still, Teddy. You mustn't move. Teddy, keep still.'' Then Rikki-tikki came up and cried: ``Turn round Nagaina; turn and fight!'' ``All in good time,'' said she, without moving her eyes. ``I will settle my account with you presently. Look at your friends, Rikki-tikki. They are still and white; they are afraid. They dare not move, and if you come a step nearer I strike.'' ``Look at your eggs,'' said Rikki-tikki, ``in the melon-bed near the wall. Go and look, Nagaina.'' The big snake turned half round, and saw the egg on the verandah. ``Ah-h! Give it to me,'' she said. Rikki-tikki put his paws one on each side of the egg, and his eyes were blood-red. ``What price for a snake's egg? For a young cobra? For a young king-cobra? For the last -- the very last of the brood? The ants are eating all the others down by the melon-bed.'' Nagaina spun clear round, forgetting everything for the sake of the one egg; and Rikki-tikki saw Teddy's father shoot out a big hand, catch Teddy by the shoulder, and drag him across the little table with the teacups, safe and out of reach of Nagaina. ``Tricked! Tricked! Tricked! Rikk-tchk-tchk!'' chuckled Rikki-tikki. ``The boy is safe, and it was I -- I -- I that caught Nag by the hood last night in the bathroom.'' 15

19 Then he began to jump up and down, all four feet together, his head close to the floor. ``He threw me to and fro, but he could not shake me off. He was dead before the big man below him in two. I did it. Rikki-tikki-tchk-tchk! Come then, Nagaina, come and fight with me. You shall not be a widow long.'' Nagaina saw that she had lost her chance of killing Teddy, and the egg lay between Rikkitikki's paws. ``Give me the egg, Rikki-tikki. Give me the last of my eggs, and I will go away and never come back,'' she said, lowering her hood. ``Yes, you will go away, and you will never come back; for you will go to the rubbish-heap with Nag. Fight, widow! The big man has gone for his gun! Fight!'' Rikki-tikki was bounding all round Nagaina, keeping just out of reach of her stroke, his little eyes like hot coals. Nagaina gathered herself together, and flung out at him. Rikki-tikki jumped up and backward. Again and again and again she struck, and each time her head came with a whack on the matting of the verandah, and she gathered herself together like a watch-spring. Then Rikki-tikki danced in a circle to get behind her, and Nagaina spun round to keep her head to his head, so that the rustle of her tail on the matting sounded like dry leaves blown along by the wind. He had forgotten the egg. It still lay on the verandah, and Nagaina came nearer and nearer to it, till at last, while Rikki-tikki was drawing breath, she caught it in her mouth, turned to the verandah steps, and flew like an arrow down the path, with Rikki-tikki behind her. When the cobra runs for her life, she goes like a whip-lash flicked across as horse's neck. Rikki-tikki knew that he must catch her, or all the trouble would begin again. She headed straight for the long grass by the thorn-bush, and as he was running Rikki-tikki heard Darzee still singing his foolish little song of triumph. But Darzee's wife was wiser. She flew off her nest as Nagaina came along, and flapped her wings about Nagaina's head. If Darzee had helped they might have turned her; but Nagaina only lowered her hood and went on. Still, the instant's delay brought Rikki-tikki up to her, and as she plunged into the rat-hole where she and Nag used to live, his little white teeth were clenched on her tail, and he went down with her -- and very few mongooses, however wise and old they may be, care to follow a cobra into its hole. It was dark in the hole; and Rikki-tikki never knew when it might open out and give Nagaina room to turn and strike at him. He held on savagely, and struck out his feet to act as brakes on the dark slope of the hot, moist earth. Then the grass by the mouth of the hole stopped waving, and Darzee said: ``It is all over with Rikki-tikki! We must sing his death song. Valiant Rikki-tikki is dead! For Nagaina will surely kill him underground.'' So he sang a very mournful song that he made up on the spur of the minute, and just as he got to the most touching part the grass quivered again, and Rikki-tikki, covered with dirt, dragged himself out of the hole leg by leg, licking his whiskers. Darzee stopped with a little shout. Rikki-tikki shook some of the dust out of his fur and sneezed. ``It is all over,'' he said. ``The widow will never come out again.'' And the red ants that live between the grass stems heard him, and began to troop down one after another to see if he had spoken the truth. Rikki-tikki curled himself up in the grass and slept where he was -- slept and slept till it was late in the afternoon, for he had done a hard day's work. ``Now,'' he said, when he awoke, ``I will go back to the house. Tell the Coppersmith, Darzee, and he will tell the garden that Nagaina is dead.'' 16

20 The Coppersmith is a bird who makes a noise exactly like the beating of a little hammer on a copper pot; and the reason he is always making it is because he is the town-crier to every Indian garden, and tells all the news to everybody who cares to listen. As Rikki-tikki went up the path, he heard his ``attention'' notes like a tiny dinner-gong; and then the steady ``Ding-dong-tock! Nag is dead -- dong! Nagaina is dead! Ding-dong-tock!'' That set all the birds in the garden singing, and frogs croaking; for Nag and Nagaina used to eat frogs as well as little birds. When Rikki got to the house, Teddy and Teddy's mother (she still looked very white, for she had been fainting) and Teddy's father came out and almost cried over him; and that night he ate all that was given him till he could eat no more, and went to bed on Teddy's shoulder, where Teddy's mother saw him when she came to look late at night. ``He saved our lives and Teddy's life,'' she said to her husband. ``Just think, he saved all our lives!'' Rikki-tikki woke up with a jump, for all the mongooses are light sleepers. ``Oh, it's you,'' said he. ``What are you bothering for? All the cobras are dead; and if they weren't, I'm here.'' Rikki-tikki had a right to be proud of himself; but he did not grow too proud, and he kept that garden as a mongoose should keep it, with tooth and jump and spring and bit, till never a cobra dared show its head inside the walls. What is the main conflict in Rikki-tikki-tavi? After the conflict with Karait, Rikki-tikki is amused. What can you infer about the character of the young mongoose? After the death of Nag, Rikki-tikki says that Nagaina will be worse than five Nags. Why do you suppose that is?

21 Each time Rikki-tikki faces a new conflict from Karait to Nagaina he grows more and more capable. Rikki-tikki destroys all of the cobra eggs, save one. This last egg is important for Nagaina because it represents her family s survival. In the final conflict between Rikkitikki and Nagaina, the cobra grabs the egg and carries it to her underground nest. How did Rikki-tikki s actions foreshadow his final conflict with Nagaina? Use the ACE strategy to answer this question, use cite examples from the story to support your response. 18

22 Reading- Literature Theme Mini Lesson: Here are some important points to remember when you are figuring out the theme of a piece of writing. Theme: The main idea, moral, or message in a piece of writing. Key Point: The reader must analyze the story in order to decide what the theme is. Thinking about the characters actions and the plot help the reader determine the theme. A Dream Within a Dream by Edgar Allan Poe Take this kiss upon the brow! And, in parting from you now, Thus much let me avow -- You are not wrong, who deem That my days have been a dream; Yet if hope has flown away In a night, or in a day, In a vision, or in none, Is it therefore the less gone? All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream. I stand amid the roar Of a surf-tormented shore, And I hold within my hand Grains of the golden sand -- How few! yet how they creep Through my fingers to the deep, While I weep -- while I weep! O God! can I not grasp Them with a tighter clasp? O God! can I not save One from the pitiless wave? Is all that we see or seem But a dream within a dream?. 19

23 What is the theme of Poe s poem A Dream Within a Dream? Does the speaker really believe all of life is a dream within a dream, or does he seem doubtful? How can you tell? What effect does the rhyme have on the poem's content? Does it make it seem more or less serious? Why do you think the woman is in this poem? What effect does she have on its themes and message? Is she just a metaphor, or is she a real figure? Is this poem about the nature of reality or the nature of loss? Can it be about both? 20

24 Reading- Literature Summarize Text Mini Lesson: Here are some important points to remember when you are summarizing a story. Summarize: The process of retelling what a story or text is mainly about in your own words. Key Point: You include the most important information about the plot, characters, setting, and theme. Do not include any personal opinions about the story! The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas. There was clearly nothing left to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating. While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second, take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the look-out for the mendicancy squad. In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring. Also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name "Mr. James Dillingham Young." The "Dillingham" had been flung to the breeze during a former period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30 per week. Now, when the income was shrunk to $20, the letters of "Dillingham" looked blurred, as though they were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D. But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called "Jim" and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as Della. Which is all very good. Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by the window and looked out dully at a grey cat walking a grey fence in a grey backyard. To-morrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn't go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. 21

25 Something fine and rare and sterling--something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim. There was a pier-glass between the windows of the room. Perhaps you have seen a pier-glass in an $8 Bat. A very thin and very agile person may, by observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal strips, obtain a fairly accurate conception of his looks. Della, being slender, had mastered the art. Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass. Her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length. Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim's gold watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair. Had the Queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out of the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and gifts. Had King Solomon been the janitor, with all his treasures piled up in the basement, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see him pluck at his beard from envy. So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her, rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. And then she did it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet. On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she cluttered out of the door and down the stairs to the street. Where she stopped the sign read: "Mme Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds." One Eight up Della ran, and collected herself, panting. Madame, large, too white, chilly, hardly looked the "Sofronie." "Will you buy my hair?" asked Della. "I buy hair," said Madame. "Take yer hat off and let's have a sight at the looks of it." Down rippled the brown cascade. "Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the mass with a practiced hand. "Give it to me quick" said Della. Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget the hashed metaphor. She was ransacking the stores for Jim's present. She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation--as all good things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim's. It was like him. Quietness and value--the description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and she hurried home with the 78 cents. With that chain on his watch Jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company. Grand as the watch was, he sometimes looked at it on the sly on account of the old leather strap that he used in place of a chain. When Della reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason. She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love. 22

26 Which is always a tremendous task dear friends--a mammoth task? Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the mirror long, carefully, and critically. "If Jim doesn't kill me," she said to herself, "before he takes a second look at me, he'll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl. But what could I do--oh! What could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents?" At 7 o'clock the coffee was made and the frying-pan was on the back of the stove hot and ready to cook the chops. Jim was never late. Della doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door that he always entered. Then she heard his step on the stair away down on the first flight, and she turned white for just a moment. She had a habit of saying little silent prayers about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: "Please, God, make him think I am still pretty." The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two--and to be burdened with a family! He needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves. Jim stepped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail. His eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face. Della wriggled off the table and went for him. "Jim, darling," she cried, "don't look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn't have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It'll grow out again--you won't mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say 'Merry Christmas!' Jim, and let's be happy. You don't know what a nice-what a beautiful, nice gift I've got for you." "You've cut off your hair?" asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet, even after the hardest mental labor. "Cut it off and sold it," said Della. "Don't you like me just as well, anyhow? I'm me without my hair, ain't I?" Jim looked about the room curiously. "You say your hair is gone?" he said, with an air almost of idiocy. "You needn't look for it," said Della. "It's sold, I tell you--sold and gone, too. It's Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it went for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered," she went on with a sudden serious sweetness, "but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?" Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Della. For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction. Eight dollars a week or a million a year--what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. I his dark assertion will be illuminated later on. Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table. "Don't make any mistake, Dell," he said, "about me. I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you'll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first."

27 White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat. For there lay The Combs--the set of combs, side and back, that Della had worshipped for long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise-shell, with jeweled rims--just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair. They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession. And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone. But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and say: "My hair grows so fast, Jim!" And then Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried, "Oh, oh!" Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly upon her open palm. The dull precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of her bright and ardent spirit. "Isn't it a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You'll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it." Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled. "Dell," said he, "let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while. They're too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on." The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise men-who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi. Write a summary of the passage. 23

28 Several passages in the story give subtle clues about Jim. Identify at least three passages that reveal aspects of Jim s character and explain their significance. What aspects of the story would be revealed or hidden if it were told from another point of view? For instance, how would the story change if it were told completely from Jim s perspective? Who is the protagonist? Who or what is the antagonist? Explain Does the story end the way that you expect? Why or why not? 24

29 Reading- Literature Drawing and Supporting Inferences Mini Lesson: Here are some important points to remember when you are figuring out inferences in a story or drama. Inference: To make an inference you must think about what you already know and what the author tells you. What I read What I + = know My Inference! Perseus Greek Mythology Once there was a king named Acrisius, he had a beautiful daughter named Danae. The oracle of Apollo told Acrisius that Danae's son would one day kill him. Acrisius could not let that happen, so he locked Danae in a bronze tower so that she would never marry nor have children. The tower had no doors, but it had one very small window. Danae was very sad, but one day a bright shower of gold came through the small window. A man appeared, he had a thunderbolt in his hand and Danae knew he was a god, but she didn't know which. The man said, "Yes, I am a god and I wish to make you my wife. I can make this dark prison a wonderful sunny land with many flowers All happened as he said, the horrible prison became fields almost as wonderful as the Elysian Fields themselves, but one day Acrisius saw light coming out of the small window. He told his men to tear down one of the walls. He walked into the tower and saw Danae with a baby on her lap, smiling she said, "I have named him Perseus." Acrisius was furious; he shut Danae and baby Perseus up in a large chest and cast them out to sea. Somehow they got safely to the island of Seriphos where Polydectes was king. The king s brother, who was a fisherman, caught them in his net and pulled them to shore, his name was Dictys. Perseus grew up to become a strong young man. Polydectes heard about Danae and wanted her to marry him, but she rejected him. Polydectes would have married Danae by force if Perseus wasn't there to protect her. Polydectes decided on a plan to get rid of Perseus. Polydectes pretended to be marrying a daughter of a friend of his. Everybody had to bring a present, including Perseus. Polydectes pretended to be furious when Perseus arrived empty-handed, for he was not only very strong and brave but very poor. 25

30 "What, no wedding present?" yelled Polydectes. "I don't have any money." exclaimed Perseus. "That's what you get for a lazy good-for-nothing." said Polydectes. Perseus was furious. "I can bring you any present in the world, anything." he said. "Then bring me the head of the gorgon Medusa!" replied Polydectes. "Fine!" said Perseus. So he went off on his perilous voyage. For days he wandered, searching for the gorgon s lair. One night in an unknown country he realized how hopeless things were. The gorgons were horrible, instead of hair they had black serpents that writhed on their head, they had brazen hands that could have squashed poor Perseus, but worst of all if you looked a gorgon you were instantly turned to stone. Then suddenly a tall woman and a young man with winged sandals appeared. The man said, "I am Hermes and this is our sister Athena. Yes, you are a son of Zeus. We have some things that may help you in slaying Medusa. Here are my winged sandals and the sickle which Cronos used to overpower Uranus and Zeus used against mighty Typhoeus." "And here is a gifts from Me." said Athena, "Use this shield to reflect the image of Medusa so you won't be turned to stone." "You must find the Graeae and get them to tell you how to get to the Nymphs of the North, they will give you the cap of darkness and give you a magic wallet and tell you how to get to the Gorgons' lair." Hermes said. So Perseus went to the cave of the Graeae. The Graeae were strange women, there were three of them having only one eye for all three of them which they constantly fought over. Perseus hid behind some bushes and watched them. When one took out the eye to give to another Perseus sprang from his hiding place and snatched the eye from them. Then he said, "I have your eye and if you don't tell me how to find the Nymphs of the North you shall never have it back!" So they reluctantly told them how to find the Nymphs of the North. He gave them back their eye and flew off on his winged sandals. The kindly Nymphs of the North gave him the Cap of Darkness which has the power to make its wearer invisible and the magic wallet. They told him how to reach the gorgons' lair. Perseus went farther north until he found an island surrounded by rocks and statues which used to be men. Perseus raised his shield and saw Medusa and her sisters asleep; he put on the Cap of Darkness and flew down. He swung the sickle and felt it tearing through sinew and bone. Still looking into the shield, he put Medusa's head in the magic wallet. Medusa's sisters woke up and attacked Perseus. He flew quickly away on his winged sandals and was not hurt. On his way back to Seriphus he had many adventures, one was that when he saw the Atlas holding up the sky Perseus was sorry for Atlas and turned him to stone by showing him the head of Medusa so he could no longer feel the weight of his burden. Later he saw what looked like a statue chained to a rock, he flew down. He saw that it was not a statue, but a woman. He asked why she was chained to the rock. "My name is Andromeda and I have been punished because of my vain mother. She boasted that I was more beautiful than the Nereids. Poseidon was angered and said that I must be sacrificed to a sea monster," she said. Even as she spoke a monster rose from the sea. 26

31 Perseus pulled Medusa's head out of the wallet and the sea monster turned to stone and crumbled to pieces. Perseus cut Andromada's chains and took her to her father, King Cepheus of Phoenicia. When Perseus asked Andromeda's hand in marriage Cepheus gladly agreed. So Perseus - with Andromeda in his arms set off for Seriphus. On the way they stopped at Larisa so Perseus could compete in some games, but when he threw a discus it hit an old man in the stands who was Acrisius. So the prophecy came true and after mourning for a while Perseus and Andromeda left. When they arrived at Seriphus, the first person they met was Dictys the fisherman who brought Danae and Perseus to shore after they sailed in the trunk. Dictys told Perseus and Andromeda how Polydectes had never really married, but since Danae wouldn't marry Polydectes, he forced her to be his handmaiden. Perseus was furious. He told Dictys to take care of Andromeda. Perseus stormed to the palace, walked in and said, "Let all who are my friends shield their eyes!" So saying he raised Medusa's head and Polydectes and his courtiers were changed to statues. Perseus and Andromeda lived happily for many years and their descendants became great kings, but the greatest of these was Heracles the strongest man in the world. Later Perseus was killed by Dionysus. Perseus and Andromeda were put up in the sky as constellations. Write at least two inferences that you can make from the passage. Cite evidence from the passage and your prior knowledge to support your inferences. Do you think this was a fair punishment for Andromeda? Justify your answer. What two character traits best describes Perseus? Support your answer by using the text. 27

32 Main Idea and Supporting Details Reading- Informational Text Mini Lesson: Here are some important points to remember when you are differentiating between main idea and supporting details. Main Idea: The most important or central thought of a text, which tells the reader what the text is about. Supporting Details: Examples, facts, quotations, and definitions are supporting details. They help explain the main idea. Dogs at War: Smoky, a Healing Presence for Wounded WWII Soldiers For centuries military dogs have played important roles on the battlefield. Rebecca Frankel for National Geographic MAY 20, 2014 Every day waves of Japanese planes attacked the Allied airfield at Lingayen Gulf on Luzon, the largest of the Philippine Islands. The onslaught was taking a toll on communication, and the American commanders urgently needed to run telephone lines through a pipe that stretched roughly 70 feet underground from the base to three separate squadrons, but they lacked the proper equipment. The pipe was just eight inches in diameter, and the only way to put the lines in place would be to do the job by hand having dozens of men dig a trench to get the wires underground, a dangerous job that would've taken days and left the men exposed to the constant enemy attacks. 28 Bill Wynne holds Smoky, the Yorkshire terrier he adopted in the Philippines while serving with the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II.

33 So instead, they pinned their hopes on an unconventional solution: send a tiny Yorkshire terrier through the pipe with kite string tied to her collar. The string could then be used to thread the wires through the pipe. Calling to her, coaxing her forward was her owner, Corporal Bill Wynne, a 22-year-old Ohio native, who'd adopted her while he was in New Guinea. The little dog reached the other side, the communication network was established, and she was credited with saving the lives of some 250 men and 40 planes that day. But in the years to come, the little Yorkie would achieve much greater acclaim for her healing effect on wounded soldiers. Bill Wynne (left) and linesman Bob Gapp send Smoky into a pipe to help string telephone wire beneath an airstrip heavily targeted by the Japanese. She is credited with saving 250 men and 40 U.S. planes from possible destruction over a three-day period. Finding Smoky When Wynne first set eyes on this dog in March 1944, while he was stationed with the U.S. Army Air Corps in Nadzab, New Guinea, she'd seemed almost too small to be taken seriously, weighing a mere four pounds, standing only seven inches tall, with a head the size of a baseball. One of his tent mates had found her in an abandoned foxhole on the side of the road and was willing to sell her. She was underfed and scrawny. And because another soldier had thought the small dog was too hot under all her fur, he'd crudely sheared her, leaving her once-long, silky hair sticking out in uneven tufts. 29

34 But Wynne, who had been around dogs all his life, quickly decided to keep this scraggly little animal, and so he shelled out the soldier's asking price, two Australian pounds ($6.44 U.S.) a fair chunk of his overseas pay and called her Smoky. And during the next year and a half, Wynne and the little dog would survive air raids, typhoons, and 12 combat missions together. Not long after Wynne adopted Smoky, he caught dengue fever and was sent to the 233rd Station Hospital. After a couple of days, Wynne's friends brought Smoky to see him, and the nurses, charmed by the tiny dog and her story, asked if they could bring her around to visit with other patients who had been wounded in the Biak Island invasion. During the five days he spent in the hospital, Smoky slept with Wynne on his bed at night, and the nurses would collect her in the morning to take her along on patient rounds, returning her at the end of the day. Wynne had noticed what a powerful effect the dog had on the soldiers around him, how Smoky lightened the mood, not only with her presence but also with her personality. They laughed as she chased the wildly colorful Queen Alexandra's bird wing butterflies that, with a wingspan of 14 inches, were far larger than she was. And of course, they loved the tricks Wynne had taught her mostly to relieve the tedium. The duo's repertoire started modestly enough with basic commands, and Wynne soon had his diminutive charge playing dead. When Wynne would point one finger at her and yell "bang!" not only would Smoky fall over to the ground at the command, but she also would lie there listless while Wynne came over to poke and prod her and even as he lifted her from the ground. Eventually, he trained her to walk a tightrope, ride a handmade scooter, and even "spell" her own name Smoky would pick up the large cutout letters in her mouth as he called them out to her. A Red Cross worker brings Smoky on patient rounds at a U.S. Army hospital. The four-pound Yorkie became a popular and effective diversion for wounded men in the Philippines as well as back home after the war. 30

35 Trailblazing Therapy Dog Word of their act spread, and while Wynne and Smoky were on convalescence furlough in Australia, they were invited to perform at a few hospitals. As he watched the men in wheelchairs holding Smoky in their arms, he could see the difference that the tiny dog was making. "There's a complete change when we came into the room," he says. "They all smiled; they all loved her." Smoky was hardly the only dog aiding in the recovery of wounded veterans in the aftermath of the Second World War. At an Air Force convalescent home in Pawling, New York, the medical staff witnessed the remarkable effect one dog had on a reluctant patient, completely changing his mental outlook. After that, they brought more dogs into the hospital and eventually built a kennel on the grounds to house them all. The trend caught on, and in much the same way patriotic owners volunteered their dogs to serve with American forces fighting overseas, they brought their pets to serve as hospital dogs to provide uplift for injured soldiers as they recovered from their wounds. By 1947 civilians had donated about 700 dogs. In many ways, these dogs were the first therapy dogs, whose curative abilities were not only recognized but also harnessed to great effect. After the war was over, Wynne and Smoky continued to tour hospitals, bringing their act to recuperating soldiers back home. Smoky retired in 1955, and she died in her sleep two years later in 1957 at the age of 14. As Bill Wynne remembers it, for the wounded soldiers Smoky was a complete diversion something to pull them away from what ailed them, something they could await with happy anticipation. In his mind her ability to make a difference was really quite simple: "She was just an instrument of love." What is the overall message or argument being made by the author about the topic of this article? What are two examples or facts from the passage that supports the main idea? 31

36 How do the three pictures add to your knowledge about this topic? In what other professions are dogs used to help humans? To learn more about all different types of service dogs, click on the link below! Service Dogs! Did you know? Dogs are capable of understanding up to 250 words and gestures, can count up to five and can perform simple mathematical calculations. The average dog is as intelligent as a two-year-old child The Beatles song A day in the Life has an extra high-pitched whistle, audible only to dogs. It was recorded by Paul McCartney for the enjoyment of his Shetland sheepdog. The wetness of a dog s nose is essential for determining what direction a smell is coming from 32

37 Elaborating Key Details Reading- Informational Text Mini Lesson: Here are some important points to remember when you are elaborating with key details. Key Detail: Supports the main idea in an important way. Anecdote: A little story or small piece of information that connects to the main idea. Shark-Eat-Shark: Are Great White Sharks Cannibals? By: Jennifer Viegas for Discovery.com A "colossal cannibal great white shark" made headlines this week after it supposedly gulped down a 9-foot great white shark as though it were a steak dinner, but the jury is still out and many experts believe that great whites are pickier eaters than most people might think. The colossal cannibal theory is posited in the forthcoming documentary film "Hunt for the Super Predator," which airs in the United States on June 25. In the film, researchers find a tracking device that had previously been planted on the 9-foot-long great white. The device washed up on an Australian beach, and recorded that it had undergone a 30-degree spike in temperature before plunging down 1,900 feet in the ocean. The heat could have resulted from the shark (and tracking device) going into another animal's digestive system before the hunter nose-dived into the watery depths, filmmaker Dave Riggs explained, adding that large great white sharks were later spotted where the possible fatal plunge took place. Top 10 Most Incredible Shark Journeys The great white eats great white shark tale has since gone viral. "I too have heard portions of the 'white shark cannibalism' story in the popular press and over the radio," John McCosker, chair of aquatic biology at the California Academy of Sciences, told Discovery News. "I don't hold much stock in anything that I have heard, and suspect that there is a more reasonable explanation," he added. 33

38 Thus far, the only direct evidence appears to be the missing shark, the rogue tag, its data, and the presence of other sharks in the area. If this incident involved people, the accused could not be convicted. Even the fate of the 9-footer is unclear. If the shark did become another animal's supper, orcas also live in Australian waters and have been filmed feasting on great whites. In other words, killer whales can kill killer sharks. 5 Sharks, Rays Needing Urgent Protection It's true that great white sharks have been documented practicing cannibalism, but this occurs primarily before birth. "Great whites come out fighting; they are born well developed and must fend for themselves from day one," Stephen Wroe, a senior research fellow in the University of New South Wales' Evolution & Ecology Research Center, told Discovery News. Wroe added that "intrauterine (pre-birth) cannibalism is practiced by white shark pups, and it is likely that any white shark that makes it into the big wide world has already eaten one or more of its siblings. It's a hard life!" As teenagers, he said, great whites primarily feast on fish and go through an awkward hunter stage when they cannot hunt large prey very effectively. "It seems paradoxical that the iconic jaws of great white sharks, made infamous by the classic Steven Spielberg movie "Jaws," are actually rather vulnerable when these sharks are young," Wroe's colleague Toni Ferrara said. "Great white sharks are not born super-predators; they take years to become formidable hunters." It might seem that, as adults, great whites would dine often and well during their ocean migrations. Prior research, however, has found that the sharks fuel up -- especially with elephant seal flesh -- before moving offshore. Godzilla Shark Had Teeth on Its Lips Great white sharks store energy in the form of oil in their massive livers. The oil also helps with buoyancy, Barbara Block and her team from Stanford University found. Too much girth would weigh the sharks down, so there is not much incentive for an adult great white to overeat, or to practice cannibalism, if it is not starving to death and if other desirable prey is available. In fact, when great whites scavenge on whale carcasses, they are rather picky. Researchers from Apex Expeditions, in collaboration with University of Miami Scientists, determined that adult great whites preferentially feed on the whale's fluke, leaving the lower quality parts for smaller, younger sharks. 34

39 McCosker indicated that adult great whites are capable of eating each other, and mentioned that other shark species, such as seven gill cow sharks, regularly feed on other sharks. Newly Found Godzilla Shark Featured Teeth Like Namesake "However, I don't know if they are cannibalistic," he said. "I am not aware of adult white sharks cannibalizing other adults." If the "colossal cannibal great white shark" theory does prove true over time, it's likely to have been similar to the Donner Party tragedy: rare and out of desperation. What is the main idea of the passage? What is a key detail that supports the main idea? What were two surpising facts that you learned about the Great White Shark that you did not know before? In your opinion, what are two research questions that scientists should consider investigativng when it comes to Great White Sharks? Don t forget to watch Shark Week this summer on the Discovery channel!! Did you know? The great white is at the top of the food chain and has few threats in the ocean. Only orcas and larger sharks pose a risk. 35

40 Drawing and Supporting Inferences Reading- Informational Text Mini Lesson: Here are some important points to remember when you are elaborating with key details. Key Detail: Supports the main idea in an important way. Anecdote: A little story or small piece of information that connects to the main idea. Soot and Dirt Is Melting Snow and Ice Around the World New report highlights increased loss in Greenland ice cap from dust and soot. The snow in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado is covered in dirt in May Dennis Dimick for National Geographic It's easy to imagine new snow so bright that we must avert our eyes even while wearing sunglasses. What scientists are discovering, though, is this brilliant whiteness of snow and ice is increasingly being dimmed by air pollution. 36

41 From Greenland's ice sheets to Himalayan glaciers and the snow packs of western North America, layers of dust and soot are darkening the color of glaciers and snow packs, causing them to absorb more solar heat and melt more quickly, and earlier in spring. This trend toward darker snow from soot and dirt has been observed for years. Sources vary from dust blowing off deserts and snow-free Arctic land, to soot from power plants, forest fires, and wood-burning stoves. But now soot and dust are taking a greater toll, according to a report released this week, causing Greenland's ice sheets to darken and melt at a faster rate in spring than before This matters because Greenland is mostly covered in ice, and melting water from thawing continental glaciers like those found in Greenland and Antarctica flows into the ocean, causing seas to rise. Greenland, the world's largest island, holds enough ice that if it all melted seas would rise likely over centuries up to 20 feet. This darkening of Greenland ice by soot and dirt will probably cause seas to rise faster toward the end of this century than previously forecast. (Reports last month indicated portions of the Antarctic ice sheet were also melting faster than forecast.) The springtime darkening of the Greenland ice sheet since 2009 may be attributable to an increase in the amount of impurities such as soot in snow. Whiteness and Melting Albedo, or "whiteness," is a scientific term meaning reflectivity. It is the fraction of solar energy that Earth reflects back into space. Lighter colored areas of Earth those covered in new snow and ice reflect most solar energy back into space. Darker areas of Earth oceans, forests, and cities absorb more solar heat. 37

42 This whiteness is why snow-covered areas can stay cold, while dark spots like pavement and black roofs heat up. So when the white color of snow and ice is darkened by dirt and soot, more of the sun's heat is absorbed, and snow and ice melt faster. Researchers have also attributed some Arctic ice cap melting to darkening from soot. Further, as Arctic Ocean ice thaws in spring and summer, more adjacent dark, heat-absorbing water is exposed. This dark water is warmed by the sun's rays, and in turn melts even more ice nearby. In what scientists call a "feedback loop," melting causes even more melting, more heat-absorbing dark water is exposed as more ice melts, and even more ice melts because more dark water is exposed, and so on. Satellite images in 1979 first revealed the size of the Arctic ice cap, and since then Arctic ice has retreated about 12 percent per decade in summer. This is a trend that has accelerated since 2007, driven primarily by rising global temperatures. In September 2012 nearly half the ice cap melted in summer, leaving a record low amount of ice, and in May 2014 Arctic sea ice extent was third lowest on record. Showing this dramatic Arctic ice loss is one of the most striking changes in the National Geographic atlas's long history, according to National Geographic Geographer Juan José Valdés, who calls it the map's "biggest visible change other than the breakup of the U.S.S.R." Dirt Darkening Mountain Snow It's not just Greenland and Arctic ice caps being affected by soot and dust. Atmospheric dirt is changing Himalayan glaciers in Asia and snow packs in the mountains of western North America. Studies show cooking stoves that burn dung and wood darken snow packs and ice in the Tibetan Plateau of the Himalayas. Soot from these biomass stoves falls on and darkens snow and ice in this region, whose extensive glaciers give birth to Asia's largest rivers the Yangtze, Yellow, Mekong, and Ganges and provide water for two billion people. A 2009 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences documented how soot is playing a role in the retreat of Himalayan glaciers. Efforts are under way to produce cleaner-burning cook stoves that reduce pollution and improve the health of people who rely on them. Wind storms that carry dirt off the deserts of the U.S. Southwest are darkening the snow packs of the Colorado Rockies with layers of red dust, causing snow to melt up to six weeks earlier than in the 1880s. This early snowmelt causes streams to swell earlier in spring before plants are ready to use the water, and streams run low later in the year when the water is most needed for drinking and irrigation. But western snow packs aren't suffering from just dust and dirt. Rising temperatures and lack of snow this winter in the Sierras and the Cascade Range signal an emerging "new normal" in the western United States. On May 1, when researchers traveled to high mountain sites in the Sierras to measure snowpack, there was little snow to measure. 38

43 And researchers expect mountain snows to keep shrinking. This week in early June, no snow remains at measuring locations in the Sierras, according to California's Department of Water Resources. We can expect these trends to continue. A May 2014 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported a link between black carbon from northern boreal forest fires and faster melting in 2012 of the Greenland ice sheet. And a study in 2013 documented that boreal fires in Alaska are burning more frequently now than at any time in the past 10,000 years. A 2011 U.S. Geological Survey study suggests we will see more dust storms in the U.S. Southwest in years ahead, as continued warming and drying makes survival of shrubs and grasses plants whose roots help keep soil in place more difficult. The National Climate Assessment released last month indicates the Southwest will also be more vulnerable to fires. So it's likely we could be looking forward to more dust, more melting, and a long ride on the global warming feedback loop. Write at least two inferences that you can make from the passage. Cite evidence from the passage and your prior knowledge to support your inferences. What are some other ways you can think of to help stop global warming? 39

44 Make two connections (text to self, text to text, text to world) from this article. Explain three cause and effects that you found in this article. Check out the link below to see what you can do to stop global warming and save our planet! Climate Kids- NASA 40

45 Reading- Informational Text Author s Purpose and Point of View Mini Lesson: Here are some important points to remember when you figuring out author s purpose and point of view. Author s Purpose: The reason an author writes something. An author may want to persuade, inform, or entertain their audience (PIE) Point of View: How the author thinks about a certain topic How the Children of Birmingham Changed the Civil-Rights Movement By: Lottie L. Joiner for The Daily Beast Fifty years ago, thousands of students left their classrooms and marched on downtown Birmingham, Alabama. Their Child ren s Crusade changed a nation. Lottie L. Joiner talks with some of the participants. Fifty years ago, Charles Avery left his high school in Jefferson County, Alabama, to lead about 800 of his fellow students on a 10-mile walk to Birmingham City. They were stopped by the sheriff s department, arrested, and jailed. 41

46 I was put in the paddy wagon with Dick Gregory and his writer, says Avery, who was 18 at the time and president of his senior class. I would never forget that day. In 1963 Birmingham was known as one of the most racist cities in the South. Martin Luther King Jr. had described it as a symbol of hard-core resistance to integration. Activists had nicknamed it Bombingham, because of the frequency of violent attacks against those fighting the system of segregation. It was the Rev. James Bevel, a leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and adviser to King, who came up with the idea of a protest group made up of children. In May 1963 they launched the Children s Crusade and began a march on Birmingham. By the time Avery made it to the city May 7, more than 3,000 black young people were marching on the city. It was King s words that inspired 16-year-old Raymond Goolsby to participate in the march. Rev. Martin Luther King stood right beside me, remembers Goolsby, 66. He said, I think it s a mighty fine thing for children, what you re doing because when you march, you re really standing up; because a man can t ride your back unless it is bent. And, boy, I mean he talked so eloquent and fast, after he finished his motivational speech, I was ready. Pictures of the bravery and determination of the Birmingham children as they faced the brutal fire hoses and vicious police dogs were splashed on the front pages of newspapers all across America. On May 2, 1963, Goolsby joined thousands of students who left their classrooms and gathered at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. It was there where they spilled out in groups of 50 to march downtown. My group was the first of 50 to march, says Goolsby. Our job was to decoy the police. We got arrested about a block and a half from 16th Street. The next day, the police, led by infamous commissioner of public safety Bull Connor, brought out fire hoses and attack dogs and turned them on the children. It was a scene that caused headlines across the nation and around the world. Pictures of the bravery and determination of the Birmingham children as they faced the brutal fire hoses and vicious police dogs were splashed on the front pages of newspapers all across America and helped turn the tide of public opinion in support of the civil-rights movement s fight for justice, says Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children s Defense Fund. Jessie Shepherd, then 16, was soaked when she was loaded up in a paddy wagon. I was told not to participate, says Shepherd, now a retired clinical diet technician. But I was tired of the injustice. I couldn t understand why there had to be a colored fountain and a white fountain, says Shepherd. Why couldn t I drink out the fountain that other little kids drank out of? As I got older, I understood that s just the way it was, because my skin was black, and we were treated differently because of that. So she marched. 42

47 Soon the city s jails were so overcrowded that students were sent to the local fair ground. They slept on cots and sang freedom songs while waiting for movement leaders to raise money for their bail. I didn t anticipate the outcome being so drastic, says Shepherd. Gwen Gamble had just been released from jail and didn t want to go back. Shortly before the crusade, the teenager had been arrested for participating in a lunch-counter sit-in and jailed for five days. We were put in with people who had actually broken the law. It was scary. They weren t nice, says Gamble, who was 15. She and her two sisters were trained by the movement to be recruiters for the Children s Crusade. On the first day of the march, they went to several schools and gave students the cue to leave. They then made their way to 16th Street Baptist. We left the church with our picket signs and our walking shoes, says Gamble. Some of us even had on our rain coats because we knew that we were going to be hosed down by the water hoses. Under intense public pressure, Birmingham negotiated a truce with King, and on May 10, Connor was removed from his position. The Children s Crusade had worked. The Birmingham campaign was a crucial campaign, says Clayborne Carson, director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. He had never led a massive campaign of civil disobedience before, and there were not enough adults prepared to be arrested. So the Children s Crusade turned the tide of the movement. Carson also notes that had King failed in Birmingham, his legacy wouldn t be what it is. If he hadn t won, there probably wouldn t have been an I Have a Dream speech or a Man of the Year award or a Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, says Carson. In honor of the 50th anniversary of the march, there will be a reenactment of the Children s Crusade and the opening of an exhibit on the children s march at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Today Birmingham has an African-American mayor, a majority-black City Council, and a black superintendent of schools. Had it not been for those children going out in the streets of Birmingham making a difference, going to jail, protesting, I really don t believe what we have today would be possible, says Gamble. I definitely say there would not be a Barack Obama." 43

48 What is the author s purpose for writing this article? Imagine yourself from the point of view of a child marching in Birmingham. How would you be feeling? What do you think some long terms affects would be after having experienced such discrimination and hatred? How did the Children s Crusade support Martin Luther King Jr s role as a public figure? State specific examples from the text. In the article, Martin Luther King Jr. is quoted as saying, I think it s a mighty fine thing for children, what you re doing because when you march, you re really standing up; because a man can t ride your back unless it is bent. Explain what this quote means in your own words. To learn more about the Civil Rights Movements check out these books!

49 Writing Write an Argument Mini Lesson: Here are some important points to remember when you are writing an argument. Argument: Writing that is a personal point of view which others may disagree. Claim: States the author s point of view. Key details: An argument should be supported with reasons, facts, and evidence. Organize your writing into supporting paragraphs. Argument Prompt The Milltown Board of Education is seriously considering making the school day longer by adding an extra hour. The purpose for lengthening the school day is to provide more time for instruction and practice in the existing school curricula. They believe that greater student achievement can be accomplished by making the school day longer. They point out that there are experts in the field of education who agree with them. The school board is seeking input from all community members. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of lengthening the school day by an hour. Think about what position you will take and what evidence you will use to support your side of the issue. Finally, write an essay, in the form of a letter to the Board of Education, explaining your reasoning. Remember, a strong and effective piece of argument writing: Takes the audience into account Has a clear introduction States a focus/position statement clearly, precisely, and thoughtfully Uses specific evidence from the text(s) to support and develop the position, and explains that evidence logically Takes into account what people who disagree with you might think and tries to respond to that Concludes effectively Uses precise language Shows control over conventions 45

50 Use this graphic organizer to plan your argument writing. Claim Reason #1 Evidence/Facts Reason #2 Evidence/Facts Reason #3 Evidence/Facts Concluding Statement 46

51 Write your argument essay on the lines below. 47

52 48

53 Writing Write an Informative Piece Mini Lesson: Here are some important points to remember when you are writing an informative piece. Informative: Writing that explains or describes a topic. It is nonfiction and tells about real people, real events, and other real-life subjects. Thesis statement: Informative writing has a thesis statement, which is a short statement that summarizes the main point or claim, and is developed, supported, and explained in the writing. Key details: Develop informative writing with facts, specific details, and examples. Informative Prompt Great historical events often have deep effects upon the people who live through them. Depending on the person and the situation, those effects can be very different or not. The Great Depression of the 1930s, in the United States, was one of these events. Lasting for nearly ten years, the Great Depression closed thousands of banks, put millions of people out of work, and seared itself into the memory of those who lived through it. The President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, responded by creating new government programs to help Americans, known as the New Deal. You are going to read three texts about the Great Depression: a memoir called Digging In by Robert Hastings, a poem, Debts by Karen Hesse, and a short text about the programs of the New Deal of President Roosevelt. As you read and re-read these texts, think about what the texts show you about how the Great Depression seems to have affected the individual people who lived through it. Finally, using these texts, you will write an essay, explaining your thinking. For the essay, your Focusing Question is: According to these texts, what effect did the Great Depression have on people who lived through it? Be sure to use evidence from the texts to support and develop your thinking. Remember, a good informative essay: Has a clear introduction States a focus/topic clearly, precisely, and thoughtfully Uses specific evidence from the text(s) to support and develop the topic and explains that evidence Concludes effectively Uses precise language Shows control over conventions 49

54 Digging In By Robert J. Hastings The closing of Old West Side Mine meant the end of anything resembling a steady job for the next eight years. From 1930 on, it was a day s work here and a day s work there, a coal order from the welfare office, a few days on WPA, a garden in the back yard, and a few chickens and eggs. We weathered the storm because of Dad s willingness to take any job and Mom s ability to stretch every available dollar. It was not so much a matter of finding a job as of filling in with odd jobs wherever and whenever you could, and most of the jobs were those you made for yourself. My diary shows that Dad sold iron cords door to door, worked a day in the hay, bought a horse to break gardens, rented an extra lot for a garden on the shares, picked peaches, raised sweet potato slips, traded an occasional dozen of eggs at the grocery, hung wallpaper, painted Don Albright s house for $5, picked up a day or two s work at the strip mines, guarded the fence at the county fairgrounds, cut hair for boys in the neighborhood, sold coal orders, and when he had to and could, worked intermittently on WPA. With no dependable income, we cut back on everything possible. We stopped the evening paper, turned off the city water and cleaned out our well, sold our four-door Model T touring car with the snap-on side curtains and isinglass, stopped ice and milk delivery, and disconnected our gas range for all but the three hot summer months. There was no telephone to disconnect, as we didn t have one to start with! We did keep up regular payments on two Metropolitan Life Insurance policies. Page after page of old receipt books show entries of 10 cents per week on one policy and 69 cents a month on another. As long as we could, we made house payments to the Marion Building and Loan, but a day came when we had to let those go, too. Fortunately, we were able to save our house from foreclosure. When so many borrowers defaulted, the Marion Building and Loan went bankrupt. Creditors were allowed to pay just about any amount to satisfy the receivers. But that was the catch who had just about any amount to pay? A house behind ours sold for $25. Many good houses in Marion sold for $5 to $100 and were torn down and moved to nearby towns. We settled with the loan company for $125, or ten cents on the dollar for our $1250 mortgage. I ll never forget the day Dad cleared it all up, making two or three trips to town to bring papers home for Mom to sign. He was able to borrow the $125 from his aunt, Dialtha James, who as the widow of a Spanish-American war veteran had a small pension. Looking back, I find it amazing what we did without. A partial list would include toothpaste (we used soda), toilet paper (we used the catalog), newspaper or magazine subscriptions, soft drinks, potato chips and snacks, bakery goods except bread and an occasional dozen of doughnuts, paper clips, rubber bands and restaurant meals. 50

55 We had no water bill, sewer bill, telephone bill, no car expenses gasoline, tires, batteries, licenses, insurance, repairs no laundry service, no dry cleaning (we pressed woolens up with a hot iron and wet cloth), no bank service charge (no bank account), no sales or income tax. We sent no greeting cards except maybe half a dozen at Christmas Typical of the simple economies Mom practiced was keeping the electric bill to $1 a month and the gas bill to $1 a month in June, July, and August.Since our only appliance was an electric iron, the chief use of electricity was for lighting. With only a single bulb suspended by a cord from the ceiling of each room, there weren t many lights to burn On winter evenings, Mom would turn on the kitchen light while she cooked supper. If I had lessons I brought them to the kitchen table or sprawled on the floor between the kitchen and dining room. After supper we turned off the light in the kitchen and moved to the dining-sitting room, where another light was switched on. If we wanted to read on winter afternoons, we sat as near a window as possible, with the curtains pinned back, to save the lights until it was nearly dark Dad had some old-fashioned shoe lasts, and he would buy stick- em-on soles at the dime store to patch our shoes in winter. With simple barber tools he cut my hair and that of other kids in the neighborhood, for maybe ten cents a head. In cold, wet weather, when he worked outdoors on WPA, he often cut strips of cardboard to stuff in the soles of his shoes and keep his feet warm. We took care of what we had. Every cotton cloth was used over as a dish cloth, wash cloth, dust cloth, shoe-shining cloth, window-washing cloth, to scrub and wax floors, make bandages, make quilt pieces, make kite tails, or to tie boxes and papers together. The cotton bags from flour, salt, and cracked chicken feed were washed, bleached, and cut into dish cloths and towels. Some neighbors made curtains or even dresses from feed sacks. Every paper bag was saved for lunches or cut and used for wrapping paper. String was wound into balls for later use. Each August Mom would find someone who was a year ahead of me in school, and buy his used books. One exception was a spelling book used in all eight grades. Since it was to be used for eight years, we decided it would be a wise investment to buy a new one when I started first grade. In the seventh grade, I dropped that speller in the snow. I thought Mom was unfair when she sent me all the way back to school, retracing my steps to look for the book Before the Depression, we hung a four-cornered black-and-white cardboard sign in the front window each morning. The figures in the corners told the iceman how many pounds to bring 25, 50, 75, or 100. But ice was one of the casualties of the Depression, although we managed a small piece two or three times a week for iced tea. About eleven in the morning I would pull a little wagon, filled with a gunny sack and assorted old quilts and tarpaulins, down to the neighborhood ice house to buy a nickel s worth of ice, which was half of a 25-pound chunk. By wrapping it carefully and storing it in a cool, damp spot under the house, we could stretch that piece of ice for two or three days. In rainy, cool weather, maybe four days! It was our glistening prize, and any left over from tea was emptied back into a pitcher of ice water, or used for lemonade that afternoon. So as not to waste any, we chipped only what was needed, with much of the same care used by a diamond cutter. 51

56 Whatever was free was our recreation. This may have included playing records on our wind-up victrola or listening to the radio. You might watch a parachute jump at the airport or a free ball game at the city park, with perhaps a free band concert afterwards the band concerts survived only the first two years of the Depression We liked music, and one of my earliest memories is of Dad singing to me: Two arms that hold me tight, Two lips that kiss goodnight; To me he ll always be, That little boy of mine. No one can ever know, Just what his coming has meant: He s something heaven has sent, That little boy of mine. At one point in the Depression, the cupboard was literally bare of money. We weren t hungry, but we were penniless. Then Dad went back in the pantry and came out with a jar in which he had saved a few nickels and dimes for such an emergency. Later, Mom said to me, I ve learned that whatever happens, your Daddy always has a little dab of money put back somewhere Excerpted from Digging In, Found in Dark Days, Perfection Learning,

57 Debts By Karen Hesse Daddy is thinking of taking a loan from Mr. Roosevelt and his men, to get some new wheat planted where the winter crop has spindled out and died. Mr. Roosevelt promises Daddy won t have to pay a dime till the crop comes in. Daddy says, I can turn the fields over, start again. It s sure to rain soon. Wheat s sure to grow. Ma says, What if it doesn t? Daddy takes off his hat, roughs up his hair, puts the hat back on. Course it ll rain, he says. Ma says, Bay, it hasn t rained enough to grow wheat in three years. Daddy looks like a fight brewing. He takes that red face of his out to the barn, To keep from feuding with my pregnant ma. I ask Ma how, after all this time, Daddy still believes in rain. Well, it rains enough, Ma says, now and again, to keep a person hoping. But even if it didn t your daddy would have to believe. It s coming on spring, and he s a farmer. -March