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Name: ______________________________

WINTER BREAK READING AND SOCIAL STUDIES

HOMEWORK ACTIVITIES ANSWER KEY

Grade 5

December 2008 – January 2009

Prince George’s County Public Schools

Division of Academics Department of Curriculum and Instruction

Activities are open-ended. Answers will vary based on experiences of students. The Social Studies answer key begins on pg. 20.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Winter Break Reading Activities……………………………… 4 Reading Response Pages……………………………………… 14 Social Studies Informational Text…………….……………… 16 Independent Reading Log…………………………………….. 24

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WINTER BREAK READING AND SOCIAL STUDIES HOMEWORK ACTIVITIES

DIRECTIONS

Complete any three (3) activities from pages 5-13. Write your responses on the Response Pages provided at the end of the packet (pages 14-15). Activities can be from one or more than one category.

Each bullet represents an activity. Students are to return the completed Response Pages to their teachers on January 5, 2009. The activities will be part of the homework grade for the second quarter. Parents are encouraged to assist in the following ways:

• Make a plan to complete the activities during the Winter Break.

• Provide a quiet space and time for your child to work on the homework.

• Review and discuss your child’s responses. Provide positive feedback.

• Praise sincere effort and independence on these activities.

• Sign the Student Response Sheets after your child has completed the assignments. Feel free to write a comment to your child’s teacher.

• Insure that this packet is in plain view on the breakfast table on January 5,

2009 so it may be returned on time!

• Encourage daily reading of 20 -30 minutes of a self-selected book. Record the books read on the independent reading log attached.

• When returned by the teacher, save this packet and enjoy some of the

activities in it with your child at other appropriate times throughout the year.

Thank you for helping your child succeed on the Maryland School Assessment for Reading.

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NEWSPAPER ACTIVITIES

Find synonyms in the newspaper. Cut them out and paste them together. Find at least 5 synonym pairs.

Read the comics. Decide which is the funniest. Cut it out and write a paragraph explaining why you think this comic is funny.

Have someone else in your family cut apart a comic strip. Then paste it back together in the correct order. Underneath, write a paragraph explaining the clues you used to put it in order.

Create your own comic about your family, winter break, or some other event in your life.

TRAVEL OR WAITING ACTIVITIES

After you play the game, write a paragraph explaining what you liked and didn’t like about the game. How would you change it to make it more fun?

SENSES GAME. Each person describes how one thing they did today smelled, tasted, looked, felt, and/or sounded. The others guess what they did.

LICENSE PLATE SAYINGS: Make up a saying using the letters of license plates you see on the road. Example: GPE 623 = goofy purple elephant.

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COOKING ACTIVITIES

Make a shopping list for a holiday meal. After helping to cook the meal, write a paragraph describing the meal. Use senses words: how it looked, smelled, tasted, felt, and sounded at your meal.

Make a menu for a holiday meal. After eating the meal, write a paragraph evaluating the menu. What was good and what would you have changed in the menu?

Help an adult cook a favorite recipe. Write down the recipe. Write a paragraph about your experience using the recipe to cook. Include which parts of the recipe were easy to follow, and which parts were difficult, and any changes you would make in the way the recipe was written.

MOVIE REVIEW ACTIVITY

Write a review of a movie you saw over the winter break. Include in your review a short summary of the

movie, and whether or not you recommend the movie to others. Support your review with examples from the

movie. If you like, include an illustration.

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POETRY ACTIVITIES

Use one of the poems in this packet, or choose your own favorite poem or holiday song.

Read the poem aloud. Practice reading it FLUENTLY: with expression, making it sound like you think the poet meant each word to sound. Then read it aloud to someone else. Be ready to read it to your class when you return to school.

Talk about what the poem meant to you and why you liked it. Ask a family member or friend to share his/her ideas about the poem. How are your ideas alike or different from your family member or friend? Write a paragraph comparing your thoughts about the poem.

Describe the tone of the poem. Explain how the language the poet used created this tone. (See below for some words describing tone.)

Some words that describe the tone: happy, sad, humorous, uplifting, melancholy, inspiring, angry, playful, silly,

scary, wistful…

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What I Love About Winter

Frozen lakes Hot pancakes Lots of snow Hot cocoa Skates and skis Evergreen trees Funny hats Thermostats Sunset blaze Holidays Snowball fights Fireplace nights Chimneys steaming Winter dreaming By Douglas Florian

Night

The sun descending in the west The evening star does shine; The birds are silent in their nest, And I must seek for mine. The moon like a flower In heaven’s high bower, With silent delight Sits and smiles on the night. From: Sing a Song of Poetry By: Gay Su Pinnell and Irene C. Fountas

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Mr. Nobody

I know a funny little man As quiet as a mouse, Who does the mischief that is done In everybody’s house! There’s no one who ever sees his face, And yet we all agree That every plate we break was cracked By Mr. Nobody. It’s he who always tears our books, Who leaves the door ajar. He pulls the buttons from our shirts, And scatters pins afar. He puts damp wood upon the fire, That kettles cannot boil; His are the feet that bring in mud And all the carpets soil. The finger marks upon the door By none of us are made; We never leave the blinds unclosed, To let the curtains fade. The ink we never spill; the boots That lying ‘round you see Are not our boots—they all belong To Mr. Nobody. From: Sing a Song of Poetry by Gay Su Pinnell and Irene C. Fountas

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Celebrate!

Celebrate the heroes who stood before a crowd and spoke of peace and freedom- equality, out loud. Celebrate the valiant who found the strength within to stay where they weren’t welcome and force change to begin. Celebrate the leaders, who tired but never quit and risked their lives for freedom, for they believed in it. Honor all the people, together and alone, who stood with dignity to claim what was their right to own. From: The Big Book of Classroom Poems By: Kathleen M. Hollenbeck (Scholastic)

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TELEVISION ACTIVITIES

Use the character traits list attached to describe at least two characters from the show you watch. Support your opinion with examples of what the characters did in the show.

Tell how a character in the show made you feel (happy, angry, confused, etc.). Support your response with examples of what the characters did in the program.

At each commercial, write down your prediction of what will happen next in the story and what clues in the story made you make that prediction. Then write next to your prediction what actually happened.

Analyze a commercial. Explain what propaganda techniques are used to try to persuade you to buy the product.

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Character Traits (for TV Shows)

A B C D E amusing able awesome admirable adorable affectionate agile agreeable amazing animated astonishing athletic attentive aware accomplished active

beautiful benevolent blissful boisterous bold brave bright beloved

calm capable carefree captivating casual charitable cheerful careful clairvoyant comfortable compatible civilized clever comical competent confident considerate courteous creative committed

darling dauntless decisive delightful delicate devoted different dignified diligent disciplined driven daring

eager earnest eccentric effective efficient emotional eloquent enchanting encouraging energetic enjoyable enthusiastic entertaining expressive exuberant evasive easy-going

F G H I J

faithful famous fashionable fearless flashy forgiving formal friendly fun funny fun-loving fabulous flamboyant forceful

gallant glorious good gorgeous graceful grateful gutsy great giving greathearted grounded gentle

handsome handy happy harmless heroic hilarious honest humble humorous high-minded honorable humorous

inhibited illustrious imaginative impressive innocent intellectual intelligent irresistible immaculate individual

jolly joyful just jovial jumpy joyous jaunty

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K

L

M

N

O

knowing keen knowledgeable kind

liberal lively logical loving lovely lamblike leader lean

magnanimous majestic marvelous mature merry mighty mild model motivated musical mysterious magic masterful meek mellow

natural neat neighborly naïve noble notorious nurturing

obedient obliging observant opinionated orderly organized original outrageous outstanding open-hearted open-minded open

P Q R S T particular passionate patient peaceful perceptive perfect poetic poignant polite popular positive powerful practical precious profound pure promising

quick-witted quaint quizzical qualified quick quiet

radiant radical rare reasonable refined refreshing reliable remarkable respectable romantic

scrupulous sensible sensitive sentimental serious sharp silly splendid sincere skillful smart smug sociable successful strong

talented talkative tender thoughtful trendy true terrific

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

understanding unique useful unbelievable

verbal vigorous vivacious valuable venturesome vibrant vital

warm watchful welcoming wholesome wild wise witty wonderful worldly

yielding

zealous zestful zany

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NAME: ______________________________

MY RESPONSE PAGES

Use these pages to write the responses for the 3 activities

you chose.

ACTIVITY 1: _____________________________________________ __________________________________________________________

_______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ ACTIVITY 2: _____________________________________________ __________________________________________________________

_______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________

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ACTIVITY 3: _____________________________________________ __________________________________________________________

_______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ Parent/Guardian Signature: ______________________________ (Please feel free to add any comments to your child’s teacher here.)

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Social Studies Informational Text General Directions

• Read the selection carefully so that you can do your best when answering the selected response (SR) and brief constructed response (BCR) questions.

• Write your responses in this booklet, unless your teacher gives you other directions.

• For SRs circle the answer that is your choice. • For BCRs, use the response box. It is approximately the same

amount of space you will have on the MSA. Be sure to answer all parts of the question completely and provide appropriate details and examples.

• You will see arrows at the bottom right corner of some pages. This tells you that the task continues onto the next page.

Helpful Hints

• Carefully review the Questions to Remember When Answering Brief Constructed Responses on page 19 before and after you have answered the BCR. This will help you be sure that you have written the best response you can!

• To help get ready for the MSA, try to time yourself : o Each of the reading selections is less than ten minutes; o Each SR should take 1 minute, 30 seconds; o For each BCR, you may have 7 minutes. o Each selection is marked with the maximum number of

minutes permitted for reading and responding to the questions for that selection.

Practice now will make the MSA easier!

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Comprehending Informational Texts Comprehension means “understanding.” You have to do more than just read the words on a test. You have to understand how the words go together and what it all means. Here are some key skills necessary for comprehending reading selections and answering questions. Main Idea The main idea of a paragraph or article is what the author wants you to remember most. The main idea can come at the beginning, middle, or end. When you finish reading a paragraph, a selection, or even a book, you should be able to say, “The author’s main idea is _____.” Details All the specific information that a writer includes is there so that the main idea is clear. As you read, you have to pay attention to the details and facts in order to make sense of the main idea. Inferences and Conclusions This is where the author wants you to be part of the story or article. You have to put details or references of something you have seen or read with something you already know to make inferences, draw conclusions, or make generalizations about what you are reading. Making Predictions Predicting what will happen next in a selection means you understand the parts and details of what you are reading and you use what you know to make a guess about what will happen next. Sequence and Chronological Order What happened first? Then what? It’s not always easy to figure out the sequence or order in a reading selection. Clue words (such as “first,” “then,” and “later”) and hints can help you. Prior Knowledge Use what you already know to help you make sense of a reading selection. You know more than you think! Summarizing and Paraphrasing You may need to summarize to answer questions in writing. When you summarize, you retell the main ideas, events, or facts in your own words. The key to summarizing is picking out only the key points. When you paraphrase, you use your own words to tell about what you have read, seen, or heard. Paraphrasing can help whenever you’re having trouble understanding a written passage or graphic.

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DIRECTIONS: Read this selection and answer the questions that follow. (21 minutes)

Chief Luther Standing Bear

from

My Indian Boyhood

By Chief Luther Standing Bear

Chief Standing Bear lived from around 1868 until 1939. His memoir of his childhood, dedicated to "the boys and girls of America," was published in 1931. He wrote this book so that children of other races would better understand Sioux children.

My parents belonged to that Great Plains tribe which is now called the Sioux [soo]. But before the white man came, we called ourselves the Lakotas. The first white men to come to this country thought they had discovered India, a land they had been searching for, so they named the people they found here Indians. Through the mistake of these first white settlers, we have been called Indians ever since. Now the big Missouri River runs through the country that my people inhabited. The part of the tribe that lived on the east side of the river called themselves Dakotas, and those who lived on the west side of this stream called themselves Lakotas. And I was born a Lakota.

Vocabulary memoir: a record or a journal of events Great Plains: a region of land in central part of the United States that extends from Canada to Texas dignified: of high honor, of high esteem cardinal principle: very important rule of action or conduct territory: a area (region) of land belonging to a state or nation plains: a large are of level, usually treeless land tanning: to make animal skin into leather

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Later, when many white people arrived in this country, they saw that my tribe was a very powerful and independent one. We kept our land to ourselves by making all other tribes stay away from us. Our warriors were brave and noted for their skill in fighting. Therefore, they were feared by all other tribes. The white people, seeing that we were feared by the tribes that surrounded us, began to fear us too, so they called us Sioux. The word "Sioux" is a French word and means "cutthroat." So that is how we became known as the Sioux. Some writers have called us the "Fighting Sioux"; others have called us the "Mighty Sioux." Our people were full of pride, but our women were quiet and gentle and our men were brave and dignified. We earned our right to pride, for it was a cardinal principle for the Sioux to be brave, and to be a coward was unforgivable... The home of my tribe, the Western Sioux, was the territory which is now called North and South Dakota, and all this land once belonged to my people. It was a beautiful country. In the springtime and early summer the plains, as far as the eye could see, were covered with velvety green grass. Even the rolling hills were green, and here and there was a pretty stream. Over the hills roamed the buffalo and in the woods that bordered the streams were luscious fruits that were ours for the picking. In the winter everything was covered with snow, but we always had plenty of food to last through the winter until spring came again... A tipi was my first home. My earliest recollection is playing around the fire and being watched over by my Indian mother. As a baby I swung in an Indian cradle from poles in the tipi. I was the first son of a chief, and I was expected to grow up brave and fearless like my father. I was named Plenty Kill. My parents called me Ota K'te, for that was the way to say "Plenty Kill" in Sioux. As I grew up, my father began to teach me all the things that a little Indian boy should know. When I was old enough to be put on a pony, he taught me to ride. He tied my pony to his with a rope, and I rode this way until I had learned to handle the pony myself. When I had learned to ride, I went on short hunts with him, and he taught me how to butcher small game. Finally, the eventful day came when I went on a buffalo hunt. That was an important day in my life when I went home to the tipi and told my mother I had killed a buffalo. She was proud of me and that made me happy.

I learned about the habit of wild animals and how to trap them. I learned to shoot birds with a bow and arrow and to roast them on the fire. I soon came to know much about the weather and how to prepare for the coming of winter by tanning skins for warm clothing. By knowing all these things, we had no fear of Nature, but on the contrary loved Nature. She seemed bountiful to us with all the things she had provided for our comfort. At this time we lived close to Nature and knew nothing but Nature. We observed everything in the outdoors, and in this way learned many things that were good and helpful for us to know. The Indian knows that Nature is wise, and that by keeping our eyes open, we learn her wise ways.

From Building A Nation (Scott Foresman)

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Directions: Answer the following questions based on the reading selection. 1. The overall tone of the selection tells the reader that Chief Luther Standing Bear was A. happy B. nervous C. sad D. proud

2. How is paragraph 5 in the selection My Indian Boyhood organized? A. cause and effect B. main idea and details C. sequential order D. similarities and differences 3. Which of the following was not important to the Sioux Indians? A. nature B. bravery C. other tribes D. hunting 4. Read the sentence in the box below. In this sentence, bountiful means _____. A. nice

B. money C. generous D. not enough

5. Which sentence best paraphrases the ideas of paragraph 7?

A. Chief Luther Standing Bear learned to appreciate nature and all that it gives.

B. Chief Luther Standing Bear tanned skins for clothing. C. Chief Luther Standing Bear learned to shoot birds with a bow and

arrow. D. Chief Luther Standing Bear knew that Nature is wise.

She seemed bountiful to us with all the things she had provided for our comfort.

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STUDENT RESPONSES AND THE MSA READING RUBRIC

Writing is a performance activity that allows students to reflect and elaborate on how they think and what they know. It is important to extend student understanding of the expectations of the rubric with repeated opportunities to write 5-7 minute Brief Constructed Responses.

The MSA Reading Rubric is one that many schools are using not only in Reading/English/ Language Arts but across the curricula. Your teacher will use the MSA Reading Rubric to score the BCR in this packet.

As you complete your BCR response, you should refer back to this page so that you can check your response against Questions to Remember When Answering Brief Constructed Responses.

Questions to Remember When Answering

Brief Constructed Responses

1) Can my teacher tell that I read the passage?

2) Did I answer the question?

3) Did I support my answer with information (details) from the text?

4) Did I make a relevant inference or interpretation when answering my question?

Adapted from Maryland State Department of Education

June 2006

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6. How does the selection help the reader to understand the life of Sioux children? In your response, use information from the selection that supports your explanation. Write your answer in the space below.

_After reading My Indian Boyhood, I learned many things about the life of Sioux

children. I learned that they had plenty of food that they gathered from the land. The

article says that they got luscious fruits from the woods along the stream and they

hunted for buffalo that roamed the hills. I also learned that the first son of a chief was

expected to grow up brave and fearless. The chief spent lots of time teaching the son

how to ride and hunt buffalo. Being able to hunt and kill buffalo brought a great

sense of pride. The little boys learned how to trap wild animals and how to even use

their skins for warm clothing. There are many things that the Sioux children learned

about Nature and how to use her wisdom to survive.____________

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READING LOG

Name: ___________________________________ Booklists may be found at The Prince George’s County Memorial Library System—Kid Center www.pgcmls.info, The International Reading Association www.reading.org, and Houghton Mifflin Reading www.eduplace.com. Date Book Author Pages Read Comments

Parent/Guardian’s Signature: _______________________________