Discussion Director
Today your job is to be the
discussion director. You will come up with questions that the group
will discuss about this part of the book. Be sure to form questions about
parts of the reading that you feel are important. Be able to tell
the group WHY you feel this way. You will come up with:
1) Where and when does the story take place?
Answer: The story takes place in Nicodemus, Kansas. It is
almost winter time sometime in the early 1800's.
page 7 par 1 and page 12 par 1
MC/EOG
2) Which of the following best describes the winter in Kansas?
a) mean
b) mild
c) cold
d) rainy
Answer: A-mean. The winter is best described this way because it snows and is cold. It is also windy and the people cannot hunt for food or go buy any. It was too cold to do anything. Page 19 par 1
Cause/ Effect
Tell 3 things that happened and give the reasons why it happened.
Answer: 1) The boys and their Dad built a dugout once they got to Kansas. They built this because winter was coming and there was no way that they could build a house before then. They needed a safe and warm place to stay during the long winter. Pages 12-13
2) They boys were very hungry. They were very hungry because they had run out of food. They kept waiting for the supply train to come but it never did. They had no cornmeal, fish, or rabbit stew. Page 19
3) The Indians came to help. The Indians came to help because the supply train never came. They knew that people were starving and needed supplies. At first the people were scared, because they did not want to fight. They were happy when the Indians left them supplies.
Point of View
4) Who is telling the story?
The story is being told in first person by one of the boys. His name is Johnny and he tells the story about the adventures of moving to a new place without a Mom.
5) this question would be a MC/EOG
Passage Picker
Today your job is to be the Passage Picker. You will pick important passages from the pages we have read. You will tell the group why you feel this passage is important and help the group discuss it. For this section choose 4 passages from the following reasons:
Dialect
Pages 10-11 Why thank you - black people
This passage shows southern dialect. When Dad calls the man he meets "brother" and when they are talking he says "shucks." These are both terms that are used mostly in the south.
Why is there smoke coming out of the ground?
Answer: Smoke is coming from the dugouts that have already been made. No one has had time to build a house yet and some are not trained to build houses.
Authors Purpose: to inform
Simile/ Metaphor
Page 19 Winter came- day after day
This passage contains the metaphor winter was mean. Winter is not a person so it usually is not described with a feeling such as mean. However, in this passage, because winter was so cold and hard on the people in Kansas, it was described as mean.
What is another word that could have been used instead of mean?
Answer: Cruel could be used and still have the same meaning in the passage.
Authors Purpose: to describe
Descriptive
Pages 26- 27 We raised- fires burning
This passage describes how the people felt after the Indians brought them food. At first they wanted to make sure the Indians were gone before they came out. Then they were all very excited and thankful because now they would be able to make it through the winter.
Why did the people wait a long time to come out of their dugouts?
Answer: The people did not know if the Indians were their friends or not. They were afraid that they would be attacked it they came out before the Indians left.
Authors Purpose: to describe
Character Sketcher
Today your job is character sketcher. Your
job is to find interesting traits about a character from this section of
reading. You will find 3 words that describe the character.
For each word, or trait, you will give the proof, or example (including
page and paragraph).
Next, you will tell one of your character's goals,
or what the character wants to do in this section.
Then you will find one of the character's problems
in the section and tell the solution or possible solution to the problem.
Finally, you will illustrate your character.
Today your character is: Dad
Traits and Proof
page 7
1) brave- Traveling west to settle in the free land with
his sons.
pages 20-21
2) compassionate- When winter came he wanted to keep his
boys spirits up so he sang and played the banjo.
page 29
3) thankful- When the Osage Indians came and brought them
food and supplies for the rest of the winter.
Goal
To move his family to Kansas and build a new home, but first they have to survive the winter.
Problem
Daddy has moved his family west to Kansas, but they have no home to live in. They do not have time to build a house before winter.
Solution
They build a dugout in the ground where they will live during the winter.
Word Wizard
Your job today is word wizard. You will take the four words given and look them up in the reading. Then look up the word in the dictionary. Using the context clues from the reading write down, in your own words, the definition of the word. Write down the correct part of speech. Next either write down a question and answer about the word for your group to answer or a sentence using your word wizard word. Finally, make your Word Wizard card.
prairie p. 11 par. 1
banjo p. 16 par. 1
feast p. 28 par. 1
carpenter p. 11 par. 1
prairie
But we saw smoke coming out of holes in the prairie.
Noun
--a wide area of level or rolling ground
We want to move west and live on a prairie.
carpenter
I am a carpenter.
Noun
--a profession in which someone builds with wood
We need to hire a carpenter to build us some new cabinets.
Investigator
Your job today is investigator. You dig up some background information on the Osage Indians. The idea is to find one bit of information or material that helps your group understand the book better. Specific things to look for are:
1) Who were the Osage Indians?
2) Where did the Osage Indians live?
3) What were some of the foods they ate?
4) Do the Osage Indians still survive today?
Ways to gather information:
http://www.historicfortosage.com/indian.html
This web site provides a brief history of the Osage Indians. It tells gives a brief description of the culture, along with where they lived in Kansas.
http://ktwu.wuacc.edu/journeys/scripts/1111a.html
This web site is done in interview format. It is an interview with an Osage Indian, and he tells about the culture and traditions of his people.
This is the official web site of the Osage Indians. It contains
much history and cultural information. It also contains recent information
about the tribe today and how they have developed over the years.