Sra: Imagine It!, Themes, Risks and Consequences, Nature's Delicate Balance, a changing America, Science Fair, America on the Move, Dollars and Sense, Level 4 [Grade 4]
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- Benjamin Banneker by Ginger Wadsworth illustrated by Greg Hargreaves
- A Changing America: Theme Connections
- Science Inquiry: The Moons Phases
- Vocabulary: Warm-Up Read the article to find the meanings of these words, which are also in "Striking It Rich": * typical distract
- Striking It Rich: The Story of the California Gold Rush
- How did the Gold Rush change the United States What makes people leave their homes to chase a dream
Vocabulary: Warm-Up Read the article to find the meanings of these words, which are also in "Benjamin Banneker: Pioneering Scientist": * astronomy * positions * skill * colonies * site * capital Vocabulary Strategy Appositives are words or groups of words that rename another word in the same sentence. Look at the word astronomy. Look for the use of apposition to find the meaning of astronomy. Nervous and excited, Jorge was seconds away from boarding an airplane for the very first time. He was flying to Maryland to visit his cousin Diego. Diego lived in the city--right in downtown Baltimore. Jorge lived on a huge ranch in Texas. He had never been out of the state. Jorge held his bag tightly and made his way to his seat. Good! He was by a window! The night sky was filled with stars. Jorge loved astronomy , the study of stars and planets. He even had his own telescope. It was quite popular with his family. On their ranch, far from the city, the stars shone brightly. It was easy to track the positions of the planets. But now, the lights from the runway made stargazing difficult.
As the plane took off, Jorge tried to keep his mind off his fears. He tried to remember all he had learned about Maryland in the past couple weeks. He wanted Diego to know he cared about his home state. Remembering was not hard. His teachers told him that memorization was a skill he had perfected long ago. He knew that Maryland was one of America's first colonies . Many important events of the American Civil War happened there too. Jorge hoped to visit a historic battle site . Baltimore was not far from the country's capital city, Washington, D.C. Diego said they planned to spend a day there touring museums and monuments. Jorge wanted to see the Washington monument. Jorge kept thinking of facts about Maryland until he fell asleep. When he woke up, it was time to land. "Diego and Baltimore, here I come!" Game: State Stars On a sheet of paper, draw a large outline of your state. Using a map, find six of the bigger cities in your state, including the one in which you live. Draw a star where each city is located. By each star, write the definition of one of the selection vocabulary words. Ask a classmate to write the correct word by its definition. Then ask him or her to identify the cities you have marked with stars. Concept Vocabulary This lesson's concept word is pioneer. A pioneer is one of the first people to explore or discover something. Now that we are in the twenty-first century, there are not many places left to discover on Earth. If you could have been the first person to explore or discover a certain place in the world, which place would you choose, and why? 264 Genre
A biography is the story of a real person's life that is told by another person. Comprehension Skill: Drawing Conclusions As you read, use information from the text to make statements about characters and events in the story.
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Benjamin Banneker by Ginger Wadsworth illustrated by Greg Hargreaves Production note: this image crosses the gutter to appear both on page 264 and page 265 in the print version. Focus Questions Why was Benjamin Banneker able to do so much? What was Banneker's most important accomplishment? 266
Maryland 1737 Benjamin Banneker was working on his family's tobacco farm. It was hard work for a six-year-old boy. The sun baked his back as he cut weeds with his hoe. He picked bugs off the big, flat leaves. Sometimes he counted the bugs, just before he squished them. He counted all the rows of tobacco plants on the farm. He even counted logs in the cabin he shared with his parents and three sisters. Counting made the lonely work a little more fun. At supper, Benjamin listened to stories about his family. Benjamin's grandmother was white. She had been a servant long ago. She worked for many years without pay. Benjamin's grandfather was black. In Africa, he had been the son of a king. 267 In America, he had been a slave. Benjamin's father had been a slave, too. But no one in Benjamin's family was a slave anymore. Their owners had set them free. Now the Bannekers owned this farm. Benjamin and his family were lucky. Most black men, women, and children in America were slaves. They did not own anything. After supper, Benjamin sat with Grandmother Molly in her cabin. A fire heated the little house. Candles lit the room. Grandmother Molly opened her Bible. It was the only book she owned. Grandmother was teaching Benjamin to read. Benjamin was a fast learner. Everyone in the family was proud of him. He could read and write. And he was especially good at doing math problems. After Grandmother Molly had taught Benjamin everything she could, she sent him to school. 268 Benjamin had never seen so many books! Most of the students at school had white skin, like Grandmother Molly. Everyone sat on benches and listened to the teacher. Sometimes they did math problems. Other times, they read from books. The teacher even let Benjamin take some books home. Benjamin worked hard and learned a lot. After school, he did chores. Then, if he was not too sleepy, he could read his school books. At night, Benjamin lay on his bed and looked out the window. Stars sparkled in the inky-black sky. Some were brighter than others, and Benjamin wondered why. Some groups of stars looked like animals or shapes. Sometimes a star seemed to shoot across the sky. Benjamin wondered why.
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The Clock Maker After only four years of school, Benjamin had to quit. He was young and strong. His family needed him to work on the farm full time. But school had made Benjamin hungry to learn. He still kept his eyes on the sky. Sometimes he did hard math problems in the dirt. He used a stick instead of a pencil. At night, Benjamin read books by candlelight. Production note: this image crosses the gutter to appear both on page 268 and page 269 in the print version. Like most farmers, Benjamin told time by watching the position of the sun. But sometimes the sun was hidden behind trees or clouds. Clocks had been around for a long time. But in the 1750s, only rich people had clocks. Benjamin decided to make his own. When he was 20 years old, Benjamin borrowed a friend's pocket watch. He took it apart and studied each tiny piece. How did the thin hands go around and around, ticking off each minute? He drew a sketch of each piece. Then he carved new parts out of wood. He worked on his clock through the winter and summer. 270 After two years of carving, Benjamin put together the pieces he had made. His new clock worked! A bell rang once an hour. Benjamin no longer needed to look at the sky to tell time. His clock did the job. Lots of people came to see Benjamin's clock. They wanted to meet the clock maker, too. When Benjamin was 27 years old, the lonely farm life got even lonelier. His father died. His sisters had married and moved away. And Grandmother Molly had died. Only Benjamin and his mother were left to do all the farm work. There was so much to do, Benjamin had little time for studying. Sometimes he stayed up late and read his math books. Some nights he played his flute or violin and thought about his father. 271 Benjamin began to make friends with other farmers who lived nearby. Many could not read or write. They didn't know much about math, either. Benjamin showed his new friends how to weigh their tobacco crop. He helped them figure out how much it was worth. He also helped them write letters. Benjamin often met other farmers at a nearby store. They read newspapers there and talked about the tough questions of farming. Was it time to plow? Was it going to snow again? Was it too early to plant seeds? Maybe someday Benjamin could help his friends with these questions, too. Revolution! 1775 After Benjamin's mother died, he had to run the whole farm by himself. It was harder than ever to find time to study. At least he had friends at the store to keep him company. Important news gave Benjamin and his friends a lot to talk about. Maryland was one of 13 American colonies ruled by Great Britain. Many Americans thought the colonies should be free to rule themselves. They did not like paying taxes to the British king. 272
In April, British soldiers attacked Americans in Massachusetts. The Americans quickly formed an army. George Washington was their leader. Soldiers marched up and down the roads near Benjamin's farm. A war had begun. After many battles, the colonies won the Revolutionary War in 1783. A new country was born! George Washington became the first president of the United States of America. During the war, Benjamin had kept farming and studying. He had also begun learning a new skill. His friend, George Ellicott, was a surveyor. George measured land and made plans so new roads could be built. He taught Benjamin about surveying. As usual, Benjamin wanted to learn more and more. George also taught Benjamin about astronomy. Astronomy is the science of studying the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets. George even had a telescope. Benjamin had always wondered about the stars. Now he learned that the brightest stars were not stars at all. They were distant planets. Benjamin studied George's astronomy books. He learned how to follow the positions of the planets. With this information, Benjamin could tell what the weather would be like next year. His new knowledge also made him a better surveyor.
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Benjamin dipped his pen in the ink bottle over and over again. Piles of paper covered his table. On some, he had written math problems. Some had notes about the sky and the weather. When the rooster crowed, Benjamin put away his work. It was time to milk the cows. 275
Helping to survey the capital was a great honor for Benjamin. Very few black people in the 1790s got a chance to do such important work. And it was fun, too. Benjamin loved using Andrew's excellent surveying tools. Benjamin worked during the cold, damp, winter nights. Sometimes he slept only a few hours in his tent. After three months, the work and weather were wearing Benjamin down. He was almost 60 years old. He loved his job, but he was ready to go home. It was time to finish his almanac. 276
At home, Benjamin wrote and wrote. When he stopped, it was only to sharpen his pen tip with his knife. He checked his math many times. Sometimes he forgot to do the farm chores. It took Benjamin four months to write an almanac for the year 1792. His book was packed with information that people needed--especially farmers. Benjamin made four copies of his almanac in his best penmanship. He sent one copy to Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was the secretary of state of the United States. He was also a farmer, like Benjamin. Like many white farmers, Jefferson owned slaves. Benjamin sent a long letter to Jefferson along with the almanac. He wrote that slavery was cruel. Black people deserved to be treated the same as white people. He argued that no one should own slaves--not even important American leaders. A few weeks later, Benjamin received a letter from Jefferson. Jefferson thanked Benjamin for his almanac. He said he hoped things would improve in the future for black people. But Jefferson did not free his slaves.
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A book publisher wanted to print and sell Benjamin's almanac. It was the first published almanac written by a black person. Printed on the cover were the words Benjamin Banneker's Almanac . The publisher sold many copies, and Benjamin became famous. People wrote him letters, thanking him for the helpful information. They came to his cabin to meet him, just as they had when he built the clock. Benjamin stayed busy. He had to write an almanac for 1793. And he wrote one for the next year, too. He wrote a new almanac every year for six years. Production note: this image crosses the gutter to appear both on page 276 and page 277 in the print version. When Benjamin was too old to run the farm, he sold his land. He stayed on in the little cabin where he had grown up. He still worked on math problems and read books. He still played his violin or flute as the sun went down. At night, he wrapped himself in a cloak and went outside to look at the stars. Benjamin Banneker never stopped wondering why. 278
Ginger Wadsworth With a family like hers, it makes sense that Wadsworth is creative! Her mother was a teacher and artist. Her father wrote books set in the Old West. When Wadsworth was little, her father traveled to old towns and forts to research his stories. She often went with him. These trips made her love both nature and history.
Greg Hargreaves Becoming an illustrator was an easy decision for Hargreaves. Art was always his best subject in school, and he "worked at it all the time." Hargreaves says his job is always interesting because he gets to work with different people and subjects. The hard part is "the rejection you feel when you don't get an assignment you really wanted." He enjoys camping, hunting, canoeing, fishing, and bird watching. Production note: this image crosses the gutter to appear both on page 278 and page 279 in the print version. 279
Within the Selection 1. Why does Benjamin Banneker have to quit school after only four years? 2. What is an almanac? Across Selections 3. What are some traits Benjamin Banneker had in common with the Framers of the Constitution? 4. In what other selection does a character observe the night sky and use the information? Beyond the Selection 5. What are some of your favorite subjects to study? 6. Benjamin's great-grandfather was a king in Africa. What is something interesting or special about your family? Write about It! Tell about a time when you wondered why. Remember to check the Concept/Question Board to see whether someone has been able to answer a question you posted. 280
Genre
Expository Text tells people something. It contains facts about real people, things, or events. Feature
Diagrams are drawings that are used to show the relationship among different objects. For example, a diagram might show how something works. Have you ever wondered about the shape of the moon? The sun is always big and round, but the moon keeps changing shape. Actually, the moon is not changing at all. We just get a different view of it each night as it orbits around Earth. Our Earth is in orbit around the sun. Only half of the moon is ever lit by the sun. As the moon changes positions , we see different portions that are lit by the sun. The different shapes we see are called phases. It takes a month for the moon to orbit Earth, so each phase happens once a month. When the moon looks full and round like the sun, this is called a full moon. A moon that resembles a fingernail is called a crescent moon. When the moon is a half-circle, it is a quarter moon. An oval-shaped moon is a gibbous moon. When the moon is directly between Earth and the sun, the back of the moon is completely lit, and the side facing Earth is completely dark. This is a new moon. A new moon cannot be seen from Earth. In one month, the moon changes and goes from new to crescent to quarter to gibbous to full. Then it goes from full to gibbous to quarter to crescent to new. What shape will you see tonight? 281
Think Link Phases of the Moon Look at the diagram. What is the difference between a waxing crescent and a waning crescent? Find the image of a quarter moon. Why do you think it is called a quarter moon when it looks like half of a circle? Why can we not see a new moon? Try It! As you work on your investigation, think about how you can use a diagram to show your facts. 282
* typical distract elegant abundance rumors deserted impressed Vocabulary Strategy Context Clues are hints in the text that help you find the meanings of words. Look at the words distract and rumors. Use context clues to find each word's meaning. It was a typical summer day. Lynn was riding her bike to Sara's house down the street. Suddenly she slammed on the brakes, and her bike screeched to a halt. In the middle of the sidewalk was a tiny puppy with fluffy white fur. "Whoa, boy!" Lynn said. "Good thing nothing was around here to distract me. If I had not been watching the sidewalk, I would have hit you!" She hopped off her bike and scooped up the shivering puppy. "Don't be frightened, little guy. We will find your owner." She took a quick look around. No one was in sight. "Maybe Sara will know where you belong," she said. She left her bike on the sidewalk and carried the puppy to Sara's house. 283 Sara was surprised. "I don't know of anyone around here who has a puppy like that. Look at his tiny collar. Are those diamonds? That is pretty elegant for a dog." Lynn and Sara took the puppy upstairs to show Sara's mom. "Why not go door-to-door and try to find out who his owner is?" she suggested. "There is definitely an abundance of dog lovers in our neighborhood." An hour later, Lynn and Sara returned with the puppy. "No one has any idea where he came from," Sara told her mom. "His collar doesn't give us any clues, except that his owner is wealthy. Shane is spreading rumors that he belongs to a celebrity!" "I cannot believe someone deserted him like this," Lynn said. "He is so adorable and helpless." "Mom, can Lynn and I keep him until we solve the mystery?" Sara asked. "Of course," said her mom. "I am impressed with your concern for him." Game: Card Game Write each vocabulary word on an index card (or small piece of paper). Then write each definition on a separate card. You will need fourteen cards in all. Have a classmate mix up the cards and hold them up one at a time. If the card is a vocabulary word, you must give its definition. If the card shows a definition, you must give the vocabulary word that goes with it. Concept Vocabulary This lesson's concept words are gold rush. In a gold rush, people race to newly discovered gold fields in an attempt to get rich. Why do you think money is so important to some people? Why do you think people would rather discover gold than earn their money the old-fashioned way (hard work)? What other ways do people instantly become rich? 284
Striking It Rich: The Story of the California Gold Rush by Stephen Krensky Genre
Comprehension Strategy: Asking Questions As you read, ask questions about things or events in the text. Look for the answers as you continue to read the selection.
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Focus Questions
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News Travels Fast: Gold The news was big if it was true-- but was it? San Francisco might be a sleepy little town, but it had heard these stories before. There were always plenty of rumors, boasts, and outright lies when it came to finding gold in the hills. The facts behind this latest story were plain enough. They began with James Marshall, a carpenter. He was helping to build a sawmill on the American River, a hundred miles to the east.
Marshall had little education, but he had sharp eyes and was nobody's fool. On January 24, 1848, he was digging in the riverbed. There he spotted a glittering yellow rock, no bigger than his thumbnail. Gold, thought Marshall, or maybe iron pyrite, which looks like gold but is more brittle. He struck the metal with a hammer. It flattened but did not break--a good sign. But Marshall was a busy man. He stuck the rock in his hat and went back to work.
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Later, he rode to Sutter's Fort to see his boss, John A. Sutter. Born in Switzerland, Sutter had been a farmer, a trader, and a fur trapper. He had never been too successful. Sutter and Marshall carefully examined the rock. They bit it to see if it was soft like gold. It was. They dabbed it with acid to see if its shine would dim. It didn't. Then they weighed it against silver and other things they knew were lighter than gold. The rock passed every test. It was gold, all right. Sutter told Marshall to keep the gold a secret. It might not amount to much, but it could still distract the men from their jobs. But secrets like that don't last. Sutter's men soon learned what Marshall had found. On Sundays, their day off, they began to look for nuggets and gold dust. Some workers collected enough gold in an hour to equal a month's pay.
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By the spring of 1848, more and more tales were reaching San Francisco, which was home to 800 people. Miners were bragging about scraping gold off rocks with their knives. Why, one fellow had hit a $50 nugget while digging a hole for his tent pole. Didn't there have to be a little truth to these reports? Many people thought so, and the gold fever spread. Lawyers dropped their clients and soldiers deserted their posts. The schoolhouse closed after its only teacher ran off. Then the mayor disappeared. And nobody could complain to the sheriff because he was gone, too. By the end of June, San Francisco was almost a ghost town. Stores were empty. Doors blew open in the wind. Dogs roamed the streets and wooden sidewalks with only their shadows for company. Everyone, it seemed, had left for the hills. 289 Directory: books -> 0-00-NIMAC books -> Active Vocabulary books -> Books we finished XIV books -> The theology of the balaam oracles: a pagan diviner and the word of god books -> The rhetoric of the father 0-00-NIMAC -> Sra: Imagine It!, Themes, Taking a Stand, Ancient Civilizations Ecology, Great Expectations, Earth in Action, Art and Impact, Level 6 books -> You Can If You Try Unit 7 Nonfiction books -> How to Get the Most Out of books -> The tregenza family Download 1.43 Mb. Share with your friends:
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