martes, 12 de mayo de 2009

LEAH`S PONY

VOCABULARY
Words to know:
Chores, pasture, sturdy, pony, swift, dust, saddle.

LEAH´S PONY
By Elizabeth Friedrich


The year the corn grew tall and straight, Leah´s papa brought her a pony. The pony was strong and swift and sturdy, just a snip of white at the end of his soft black nose. Papa taught Leah to place her new saddle right in the middle of his back and tighten the girth around his belly, just so.
That whole summer, Leah and her pony crossed through cloud-capped cornfields and chased cattle through the pasture.
Leah scratched that special spot under her pony´s mane and brushed him till his oat glistened like satin.
Each day Leah loved to ride her pony into town just to hear Mr. B shout from the door of his grocery store, “That´s the finest pony in the whole county”.
The year the corn grew no taller than man´s thumb, Leah´s house became very quiet. Sometimes on those hot, dry nights, Leah heard Papa and Mama´s hushed voices whispering in the kitchen. She couldn´t understand the words but knew their sad sound.
Some days the wind blew so hard it turned the sky black with dust. It was hard for Leah to keep her pony´s coat shining. It was hard for Mama to keep the house clean. It was hard for Papa to carry buckets of water for the sow and her piglets.
Soon Papa sold the pigs and even some of the cattle. “These are hard times”, he told Leah with a puzzled look. “That´s what these days are, all right, hard times”.
Mama used flour sacks to make underwear for Leah. Mama threw dishwater in her drooping petunias to keep them growing. And no matter what else happened, Mama always woke Leah on Saturday with the smell of fresh, hot coffee cake baking.
One hot, dry dusty day grasshoppers turned the day to night. They ate the trees bare and left only twigs behind.
The next day the neighbors filled their truck with all they owned and stopped to say good-bye. “We´re off to Oregon” they said. “It must be better there” Papa, Mama, and Leah waved as their neighbors wobbled down the road in an old truck overflowing with chairs and bedsprings and wire.
The hot, dry dusty days kept coming. On a day you could almost taste the earth in the air, Papa said, “I have something to tell you, Leah, and I want you to be brave. I borrowed money from the bank, I bought seeds, but the seeds dried up and blew away. Nothing grew. I don´t have any corn to sell. Now I can´t pay back the bank” Papa paused.
“They are going to have an auction, Leah. They are going to sell the cattle and chickens and the pickup truck”
Leah stared at Papa. His voice grew husky and soft. “Worst of all, they are going to sell my tractor. I will never be able to plant corn when she´s gone. Without my tractor, we might even have to leave the farm. I told you, Leah, these are hard times”.
Leah knew what an auction meant. She knew eager faces with strange voices would come to their farm. They would stand outside and offer money for Papa´s best bull and Mama´s prize rooster and Leah´s favorite calf.
All week Leah worried and waited and wondered what to do. One morning she watched as a man in a big hat hammered a sign into the ground in front of her house.
Leah wanted to run away. She raced her pony past empty fields lined with dry gullies. She galloped past a house with rags stuffed in broken windowpanes. She sped right past Mr. .B sweeping the steps outside his store.
At least Leah knew what she had to do. She turned her pony around and rode back into town. She stopped in front of Mr. B´s store. “You can buy my pony” she said.
Mr. B stopped sweeping and stared at her. “Why would you want to sell him?” he asked. “That´s the finest pony in the county”.
Leah swallowed hard. “I´ve grown a lot this summer”, she said. “I´m getting too big for him”.
Sunburned soil crunched under Leah´s feet as she walked home alone. The auction had begun. Neighbors, friends, and strangers – everyone clustered around the man in the big hat. “How much for this wagon?” boomed the man. “Five dollars, ten dollars. Sold for fifteen dollars to the man in the green shirt”.
Papa´s best bull.
Sold.
Mama´s prize rooster.
Sold.
Leah´s favorite calf.
Sold.
Leah clutched her money in her hand. “It has to be enough,” she whispered to herself. “It just has to be”.
“Here´s one of the best items in this entire auction,” yelled the man in the big hat. “Who will start the bidding at five hundred dollars for this practically new, all-purpose Farmall tractor? It´ll plow, plant, fertilize, and even cultivate for you”.
It was time, Leah´s voice shook. “One dollar”.
The man in the big hat laughed. “That´s a low starting bid if I ever heard one,” he said, “Now let’s hear some serious bids”.
No one moved. No one said a word. No one even seemed to breathe.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this tractor is a beauty! I have a bid for only one dollar for it. One dollar for this practically new Farmall tractor! Do I hear any other bids?”
Again no one moved. No one said a word. No one seemed to breathe.}
“This is ridiculous!” the man´s voice boomed out from under his hat into the silence. “Sold to the young lady for one dollar”.
The crowd cheered. Papa´s mouth hung open. Mama cried. Leah proudly walked up and handed one dollar to the auctioneer in the big hat.
“The young lady bought one fine tractor for one very low price”, the man continued. “Now how much am I bid for this flock of healthy young chickens?”
“I´ll give you ten cents”, offered a farmer who lived down the road.
“Ten cents! Ten cents is mighty cheap for a whole flock of chickens,” the man said. His face looked angry.
Again no one moved. No one said a word. No one even seemed to breathe.
“Sold for ten cents!”
The farmer picked up the cage filled with chickens and walked over to Mama. “These chickens are yours”, he said.
The man pushed his big hat back on his head. “How much for this good Ford pickup truck?” he asked.
“Twenty -five cents,” yelled a neighbor from town.
Again no one moved. No one said a word. No one even seemed to breathe.
“Sold for twenty- five cents”! The man in the big hat shook his head. “This isn´t supposed to be a penny auction”! he shouted.
The neighbor paid his twenty-five cents and took the keys to the pickup truck. “I think these will start your truck”, he whispered as he dropped the keys into Papa´s shirt pocket.
Leah watched as friends and neighbors bid a penny for a chicken or a nickel for a cow or a quarter for a plow. One by one, they gave everything back to Mama and Papa.
The crowds left, the sign disappeared. Chickens scratched in their coop, and cattle called for their corn. The farm was quiet. Too quiet. No familiar whinny greeted Leah when she entered the barn. Leah swallowed hard and straightened her back.
That night in Leah´s hushed house, no sad voices whispered in the kitchen. Only Leah lay awake and listening to the clock chime nine and even ten times. Leah´s heart seemed to copy its slow sad beat.
The next morning Leah forced open the heavy barn doors to star her chores. A loud whinny greeted her. Leah ran and hugged the familiar furry neck and kissed the white snip of a nose.
“You´re back” she cried. “How did you get here?”
Then Leah saw the note with her name written in big letters:
Dear Leah,
This is the finest pony in the county. But he´s a little bit small for me and a little bit big for my grandson.
He fits you much better.
Your friend.
Mr. B.
P.S. I heard how you saved your family´s farm. These hard times never last forever

And they didn´t.

BRAVE IRENE

VOCABULARY
Words to know
Howling, whipped, wind, snatched, whirled, stumble


BRAVE IRENE
By William Steig
.
Mrs. Bobbin, the dressmaker, was tired and had a headache but she still managed to sew the last stitches in the gown she was making.
“It is the most beautiful dress in the whole world!” said her daughter Irene. “The duchess will love it”. “It is nice”, her mother admitted. “But, dumpling, it´s for tonight ball, I don´t have the strength to bring it. I feel sick”
“Poor Mama” said Irene. “I can get it there”.
“No, cupcake, I can´t let you, said Mrs. Bobbin. “Such a huge package and it´s such a long way to the palace. Besides, it´s starting to snow.”
“But I love snow” Irene insisted. She coaxed her mother into bed, covered her with two quilts, and added a blanket for her feet. Then she fixed her some tea with lemon and honey and put more wood in the stove.
With great care, Irene took the splendid gown down from the dummy and packed it in a big box with plenty of tissue paper.
“Dress warmly, pudding,” her mother called in a weak voice, and “don´t forget to button up. It´s cold out there, and windy.”
Irene put her fleece-lined boots, her red hat and muffler her heavy coat, and her mittens. She kissed her mother´s hot forehead six times, then once again, made sure she was tucked in snugly, and slipped out with the big box, shutting the door firmly behind her.
It was really cold outside, very cold. The wind whirled the falling snowflakes about, this way, that way, and into Irene´s face. She set out on the uphill path to Farmer Bennett’s sheep pasture. By the time she got there, the snow was up to her ankles and the wind was worse. It hurried her along and made her stumble. Irene resented this; the box was the problem enough. “Easy does it”! She cautioned the wind leaning back against it.
By the middle of the pasture, the flakes were falling thicker. Now the wind drove Irene along so rudely she had to hop, skip, and go helter-sheltering over the ground. Cold snow sifted into her boots and chilled her feet. She pushed out her lip and hurried on. This was an important errand. When she reached Apple Road, the wind decided to put on a show. It ripped branches from trees and got in front of Irene to keep her from moving ahead. Irene turned around and pressed on backwards.
“Go home”! the wind squalled. “Irene… go hooooome…”
I will not do such thing she snapped.
For a short second, Irene wondered if she shouldn´t heed the wind´s warning. But no! The gown had to get the duchess!
The wind wrestled her for the package- walloped it, twisted it, shook it. But Irene wouldn´t yield. “It´s my mother´s work”! She screamed.
Then the box was wrenched from her mittened grasp and sent bumbling along in the snow. Irene went after it.
She pounced and took hold, but the ill-tempered wind ripped the box open. The ball gown flounced out and went through the air with the tissue-paper. Irene watched the beautiful gown disappear.
How could anything so terribly wrong be allowed to happen? Tears froze on her lashes. Her dear mother´s hard work, all those days of measuring, cutting pinning, stitching… for this? And the poor duchess! Irene decided she would have to trudge on with just the box and explain everything in person.
She went shuffling through the snow. Would her mother understand, she wondered, that it was the wind´s fault, not hers? Would the duchess be angry?
Suddenly Irene stepped in a hole and fell over with a twisted ankle. She blame it on the wind. “Keep quiet”, she scolded. “You´ve done enough damage already. You´ve spoiled everything! Everything!” The wind swallowed up her words.
She sat in the snow in great pain, afraid she wouldn´t be able to go on. But she managed to get her feed and start moving. It hurt. Home where she longed to be, where she and her mother could be warm together, was far behind. It´s got to be closer to the palace, she thought. But where any place was in all this snow, she couldn´t be sure.
Am I still going the right way, she wondered. There was no one around to advise her. Whoever else there was in this snow-covered world was far, far away, and safe indoors. Soon night took over. She knew in the dark that the muffled snow was still falling –she could feel it. She was cold and alone in the middle of nowhere. Irene was lost.
She had to keep moving, she was hoping she´d come to a house, any house at all, and be taken in. She badly needed to be in someone´s arms. The snow was above her knees now. She shoved her way through it, clutching the empty box.
She was asking how long a small person could keep this struggle up, when she realized it was getting lighter. There was a soft glow coming from somewhere below her. She waded toward this glow, and soon was gazing down a long slope at a brightly it mansion. It had to be the palace!
Irene pushed forward with all her strength and, she plunged downward and was buried. She had fallen off a little cliff. Only her hat and the box in her hands stuck out above the snow. Even if she could call for help, no one would hear her. Her body shook, her teeth chattered. Why not freeze to death, she thought, and let all these troubles end. Why not? She was already buried.
And never see her mother´s face again? Her good mother who smelled like fresh- baked bread? In an explosion of fury, she flung her body out to free herself and was finally able to climb up on her knees and look around.
How to get down to that glittering palace? As soon as she raised the question, she had the answer. She laid the box down and climbed aboard. But it pressed into the snow and stuck. She tried again, and this time, instead of climbing on, she leaped. The box shot forward, like a sled.
The wind raced after Irene but couldn´t keep up. In a moment she would be with people again, inside where it was warm. The sled slowed and jerked to stop on paving stones. The time had come to break the bad news to the duchess. With the empty box clasped to her chest, Irene strode nervously toward the palace.
But when her feet stopped moving and her mouth fall open. She stated. Maybe this was impossible, yet there it was, a little way off and over to the right, hugging the trunk of a tree – the beautiful ball gown! The wind was holding it there.
“Mama”! Irene shouted. “Mama, I found it”!
She managed somehow, despite the wind´s meddling to get the gown off the tree and back in the box. And in another moment she was at the door of the palace.
She was welcomed by cheering servants and delirious duchess. They couldn´t believe she had come over the mountain in such a storm, all by herself. She had to tell the whole story, every single detail. And she did.
Then she asked to be taken right back to her sick mother. But it was out of the question, they said; the road that ran out the mountain wouldn´t be cleared till morning.
“Don´t fret, child” said the duchess. “Your mother is surely sleeping now. We´ll get you there first thing tomorrow”.
Irene was given a good dinner as she sat by the fire, the moisture steaming off her clothes. The duchess, meanwhile, got into her freshly ironed gown before the guests began arriving in their sleighs.
What a wonderful ball it was! The duchess in her new gown was like a bright star in the sky. Irene in her ordinary dress was radiant. She was swept up into dances by handsome aristocrats, who kept her feet off the floor to spare her ankle. Her mother would enjoy hearing about it.
Early the next morning, when the now had long since ceased falling, Mrs. Bobbin woke from a good night´s sleep feeling much improved. She hurried about and got a fire going in the cold stove. Then she went to look in on Irene.
But Irene´s bed was empty! She ran to the window and gazed at the white landscape. No one out there. Snow powder fell from the branch of a tree.
“Where is my child?” Mrs. Bobbin cried. She whipped her coat to go out and find her.
When she pulled the door open, a wall of drift faced her. But peering over it, she could see a horse-drawn sleigh hastening up the path. And seated on the sleigh, between two large footmen, was Irene herself, asleep but smiling.
Would you like to hear the rest?
Well, there was a bearded doctor in the back of the sleigh. And the duchess had sent to Irene´s mother a ginger cake with white icing, some oranges and a pineapple, and spice candy of may flavors, along with a note saying how much she cherished her gown, and what a brave loving person Irene was. Which of course, Mrs. Bobbin knew. Better than the duchess.

MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE

NOTA: esta es la segunda historia, apenas pude subirla al blog, pero he tenido problemas tecnicos con el internet. En un rato subo las 2 historias que faltan.
Saludos chicos y cuidense mucho.
Los extraña. Miss Karla


MORE THAN AYTHING ELSE

Vocabulary
Words to know
Alphabet magic cabin newspaper learning tales

Before light -while the stars still twinkle- Papa, my brother John, and I leave our cabin and take the main road out of town, headed to work. The road hugs the ridge between the Kanawha River and the mountain. We travel it bye lantern My stomach rumbles, for we had no morning meal. But it isn’t really a meal I want, though I would not turn one down. More than anything else, I want to learn to read.
But for now, I must work. From sunup to sundown, we pack salt in barrels at the saltworks. A white mountain of salt rises above Papa’s head. All day long we shovel it, but it refuses to grow smaller.
We stop only to grab a bite –sweet potatoes and corn cakes that Papa has brought along in his coat pocket. As I eat every crumb of my meal, I stare at the white mountain. Salt is heavy and rough. The shiny white crystals leave cuts on your hands, your arms, your legs, the soles of your feet.
My arms ache from lifting the shovel, but I do not think about the pain there. I think about the hunger still in my head. –reading. I have seen some people –young and old – do it. I am nine years old and I know, if I had a chance, I could do it too.
I think there is a secret in those books. In the chill of the evening, I follow Papa and John back up the road, stopping to catch a frog. The frog wiggles and slips, but I hold on tight and let go when I want to.

There is something different about this place where we live now. All people are free to go where they want and do what they can. Book learning swims freely around in my head and I hold it long as I want. Back in town, coal miners, river men, loggers, and coopers gather on the corner. They are worn-out as me, but full of tales.
I will work until I am the best reader in the county. Children will crowd around me, and I will teach them to read. But Papa taps me on the shoulder. “Come on.” And John tugs at my shirt. They don’t see what I see. They don’t see what I can be.

We hurry home. “Mama, I have to learn to read”, I say. She holds my hand and feels my hunger racing fast as my heart.
It is a small book – a blue the color of midnight. She gives it to me one evening in the corner of our cabin, pulling it from under the clothes that she washes and irons to make a little money.
She doesn’t say where she got it. She can’t read it herself. But he knows this is something called the alphabet. She thinks it is a sing-y kind of thing. A song on paper.
After work, even though my shoulders still ache and my legs are stained with salt, I study my book. I stare at the marks and try to imagine their song.
I draw the marks on the dirt floor and try to figure out what sounds they make, what story their picture tells.
But sometimes I feel I am trying to jump without legs. And my thoughts get slippery, and I can’t keep up with what I want to be, and how good I will feel when I learn this magic, and how people will look up to me I can’t catch the tune of what I see. I get a salt-shoveling pain and feel my dreams are slipping away.
I have got to find him –that newspaper man. I look everywhere. Finally, I find that brown face of hope.
He tells me the songs –the sounds the marks make. I jump up and down singing it. I shout and laugh like when I was baptized in the creek. I have jumped into another world and I am saved.
But I have to know more “Tell me more”, I say. “What’s your name?” he asks.
“Booker,” I say.
And he takes the sound of my name and draws it on the ground. I linger over that picture. I know I can hold it forever.

lunes, 11 de mayo de 2009

GUIAS DE TRABAJO DE INGLES


NOTE: THE FOLLOWING EXERCISE IS NOT IN YOUR GUIDE, BUT IT WILL GIVE YOU SOME EXTRA POINTS. FROM THE GUIDE NUMBER 1 IN HISTORY AND ON, YOU WILL FIND THEM IN YOUR PAPERS.

Read the following statements, and afterwards fill in the blanks. You will find your answers in your history notebook.
Mexico had a conflict with France because a man wanted us to pay him the damage in his bakery, and we know this battle as the_______________.
He was the President who sold part of the Mexican Territoy, he was Antonio Lopez De _________________.
This was a territory in Mexico that declared its Independence in 1845, but later decided to be part of the U.S.A.
These persons fought to defend the Mexican Flag in the Castle of Chapultepec. They were__________
Texas border was in “The Nueces River” but they wanted to have more territory, so they said their territory ended in the ____________________.
When the United States took Mexico City, they had an important battle in this place, because they wanted to have their flag in the Castle of __________________.
It is the name of the document Mexico signed to give The U.S.A. part of its territory, including California and New Mexico.
HISTORY

GUIDE NUMBER 1
Investigate about Porfiriro Diaz, and the “Porfiriato”, then explain in a timeline what happened during that time. You must write a small paragraph explaining each date. Your timeline needs to have 10 different paragraphs.
Remember that you can use books, websites, or encyclopedias for your investigations, you must copy it in your history notebook,and make the timeline on a white sheet of paper.
Guide number 3
Using the timeline and the investigation you did in the guide number one. Now draw a cartoon explaining how was Mexico During the Porfiriato, do not forget to include something about the latifundios.

SCIENCE

GUIDE NUMBER 1
Read in your Science book pages C88 to C91 (What are clouds?), and answer the following questions in your Science Notebook.
1. How does a cloud form?
2. Describe the four kinds of clouds and the weather each may bring.
3. If you see large, dark gray clouds in the sky, What kind of weather is probably coming your way?


GUIDE NUMBER 2

Read in your Science book pages C94 to C97 (What happens to water in clouds?), and answer the following questions in your Science Notebook.
1. How do rain and snow form?
2. Where are four places on the earth water can be found?
3. What are the steps in the water cycle?
4. Make a drawing of the water cycle.

GUIDE NUMBER 3
Read in your Science book pages C100 to C105 (What causes storms?), and answer the following questions in your Science Notebook.
1. How does a thunderstorm form?
2. How and where do hurricanes form?
3. What is a tornado?
4. How is an ice storm different from a blizzard?
5. Pick one type of storm and describe how you can stay safe during it.
6. What causes most storms?

READING
GUIDE NUMBER 1
1. Read the story “Brave Irene” in your Reading book pages 200 to 218.
2. Find in the dictionary the meaning of the vocabulary words from the story write the definition in your reading notebook, and write one sentence with each word.
3. Write the story map. Remember to use complete sentences.
4. Answer your practice book pages 72, 73, 75, and 76.


GUIDE NUMBER 2
1. Read the story “More than anything else” in your Reading book pages 227 to 241.
2. Find in the dictionary the meaning of the vocabulary words from the story write the definition in your reading notebook.
3. Find 10 complete sentences in the story. Do not forget to underline the subject with red, the predicate with blue and to circle the verb with green.
4. Answer your practice book pages 82, 85, 86 , and 87.



GUIDE NUMBER 3
1. Read the story “Leah´s pony” in your Reading book pages 248 to 264.
2. Work with the vocabulary from the story in the way you already know; first give your prediction and write it with a pencil, then find in the dictionary the meaning of the words and write them in your reading notebook.
3. Write the plot mountain of the story. Remember to use complete sentences.
4. Answer your practice book pages 91,92 , 93, 95 and 96.
5. Write an anecdote about you and your pet. If you don´t have a pet write a letter to your parents explaining them why you want to have a pet. Remember to use complete sentences and to write at least half of a page.