Discussion Director:
*Your job is to come up with questions from the section that your group can talk about.  Include:
    -1 MCEOG
    -1 Fact / Opinion
    -1 Genre
    -1 Compare / Contrast
    -1 Prediction

MCEOG
1. Who is telling the story of the Dust Bowl?
    a. Matthew
    b. Father
    c. Grandpa
    d. Grandma
(Page 5 - Answer: c.)

Fact / Opinion
2. State one fact and one opinion from the story.
    -Grandma and Grandpa were young and lucky the first year they farmed the land.  (Fact,
      page 5)
    -"It's not as bad as the last drought."  (Opinion, page 3- Grandpa thinks that this is true but
      there is no way to prove it)

Genre
3. What genre is this book?  How do you know?
    page 5-26, Answer: This book is historical fiction.  This is because the book deals with an
    actual even in history (The Dust Bowl / Great Depression) and it is told by fictional
    characters.

Compare / Contrast
4. Tell how Matthew's life and the life of his Grandpa's when he was younger are alike and how
    they are different.
    -Matthew and Grandpa both have lived during a time of drought and poor crops.  Matthew
    lives in a more modern time than his Grandpa did in his youth, so Matthew has a little more
    technology in his life.  Yet both Grandpa and Matthew make/made a living off of farming.

Prediction
5. What do you think will happen next?  Will the dust ever settle?  Will they ever get rain?
    -I think that the dust eventually has to settle and that they will get some rain.  The crops
    probably will not get back to normal right away but they will eventually grow and Grandpa
    will have his farm and his job back.
 

Passage Picker:
*Your job is to pick passages from the section that you feel are important or interesting.  You will discuss these passages with your group.  Choose four passages that satisfy these categories:
-Descriptive
-Figurative Language
-Important/Historical
-Cause / Effect

1. Descriptive
a. Page 9, Paragraph 1, Line 1
b. "Just the...the ground."
c. I chose this passage because it describes the climate so well and contrasts the two farming
    seasons in such a descriptive way.
d. Find an example of personification in this passage.  Answer: "When the sun took control it
    baked the land,..."  The sentence implies that the sun "took control" which is a human
    characteristic.
e. Author's purpose: To Describe

2. Figurative Language
a. Page 1, Paragraph 1, Line 4
b. "From the...at him."
c. I chose this passage because it is descriptive and you can almost envision the pictures smiling
    back at Matthew.  There is also a good simile in this sentence.
d. Did the pictures themselves really smile at Matthew?  Answer: No.  They are pictures and they
    cannot really smile, although the people in the pictures are probably smiling.
e. Author's purpose: To Describe

3. Important / Historical
a. Page 12, Paragraph 2, Line 1
b. "That wind...dust bowl."
c. I chose this passage because it sums up everything that had been going on at Grandpas farm
    and all over that area of the country.  The passage informs us of  a major event (The Dust Bowl)
    that was taking place during this time period.
d. According to the passage, how long did the winds blow?  Answer: two solid weeks
e. Author's purpose: To Inform and Describe

4. Cause / Effect
a. Page 13, Paragraph 1, Line 1
b. "The dirt...and mouth."
c. I picked this passage because it described some of the things that people did to deal with the
    dust.
d. This passage describes people's actions and how they are dealing with a situation.  What is the
    cause to this cause/effect relationship?  Answer: There is a terrible drought that is causing the
    land to dry up and dust to form.  The dust is being blown everywhere and in effect, the people
    are coming up with ways to deal with it.
e. Author's purpose: To Inform and Describe
 

Word Wizard:
*Your job is to choose four words from the passage that are unfamiliar or special.

1. sideboard (page 1, paragraph 1)
a. "From the sideboard, the pictures of his mother and grandma smiled at him."
b. sideboard-(noun) a piece of dining room furniture that has compartments and shelves for
    holding things
c. I placed the silverware in one of the sideboard drawers.
d. See word wizard card below

2. drought (page 3, paragraph 4)
a. "It's not as bad as the last drought."
b. drought-(noun) a period of dryness that lasts for a long time and causes damage to crops or
    prevents crops from growing successfully
c. Because of the drought, my family could not grow any vegetables in our garden.
d. See word wizard card below

3. prairies (page 8, paragraph 1)
a. "The prairies became a one-crop country."
b. prairie-(noun) land in or predominantly in grass; a tract of grassland
c. Laura Ingalls Wilder lived on a prairie in South Dakota.

4. harvested (page 9, paragraph 1)
a. "We harvested what we could, but your grandma and I began to worry."
b. harvest-(verb) to gather in a crop
c. When living on a farm, people harvest crops on a regular basis in order to have food to eat and
    sell.
 

Character Sketcher:
*Your job is to select a character from the story and describe this character in detail.  You will:
-find 3 words that describe the character, for each word/trait you will give an example from the
    reading to show why you chose that trait
-find 1 goal of the character; what the character wants to do or accomplish  in this section
-find 1 problem that the character has
-write a solution or possible solution to that problem
-illustrate your character

Grandpa

Character Traits:
1. p. 3, par. 4
    optimistic-because he says that the rain will come and the crops will grow again, even
        though he doesn't know this for sure.
2. p. 8, par. 1&2
    determined-because he worked so hard on the farm to grow as much wheat as possible, no
        matter what it took.
3. p. 9, par. 1
    concerned-because the soil dried up and the heat was so bad that he could not harvest his
        crops.

Goal:
-Grandpa wants to grow a successful crop and get back to a good way of life.

Problem:
-There is no rain and the land is drying up.  Crops cannot be harvested on this land.

Possible Solution:
-Grandpa could pack up the family and move to a place that is not plagued by drought.

Investigator:
*Your job is to search for information on the time period being studied, in this case The Dust Bowl and The Great Depression.  By finding this information, the group will better understand the story.  Some suggestions of things to look for:

1. What was the Dust Bowl?  Describe some prominent characteristics.
2. When and where did it occur?
3. Name and discuss some important people from this time period in history.
4. What events were taking place in other parts of the country at this same time?  (ex. Great
    Depression)
5. What was life like during this time?