April 20th - Hernando De Soto

1. What is a meaning of the word disease? A. sickness B. approval C. disgust

2. What is another meaning of the word disease? A. travel in outer space

B. a significant and current news story . C. any condition that is considered not normal

Please use each answer choice only once. Choose the one word that best completes the sentence.

3. It was spoiled, _____, sore and running. A. disease B. diseases C. diseased

4. Their work has helped scientists who do research on brain _____ and diabetes. A. disease B. diseases C. diseased

5. He's helping doctors identify, or diagnose, different _____. A. disease B. diseases C. diseased

6. Please write your own sentence using the word disease. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

April 21 - Famous African Americans: Maya Angelou

1. According to the text, what did Maya Angelou face in her difficult childhood? A. discrimination and a divided family B. illness and homelessness C. struggle to read and write D. bullying and discrimination

2. The text sequences major events in Maya Angelou’s life. What happened in Maya Angelou’s life in January 1993? A. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama. B. She was asked by President-elect Bill Clinton to recite a poem at his

inauguration. C. She went to live with her grandmother in Arkansas. D. She published her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

3. How could Maya Angelou best be described? A. shy and hesitant B. honest and loud C. strong and creative D. rebellious and rude

4. What is the main idea of this passage? A. People who are mute as children have a hard time becoming actors and

singers. B. Maya Angelou and her brother did many jobs together as teens. C. Maya Angelou had a successful career, despite the hardships she had faced. D. President Clinton enjoyed the poetry of Maya Angelou.

5. What statement from the text does the following information support?

“In 1969, she published her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Sings. It was her biggest literary success. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is still taught in many schools and colleges. [. . .] “She was asked by President-elect Bill Clinton to recite a poem at his inauguration . She was only the second poet in U.S. history to have that honor. Later, Angelou was awarded the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama.”

A. Her loving grandmother taught her the value of hard work and education. B. Through education, Angelou started to discover the power of her voice. C. Angelou had a difficult childhood in which she faced discrimination and a

divided family. D. Maya Angelou is celebrated for her contributions to literature, the arts, and

the fight for equality and civil rights.

April 22 - All About Earth

1. Describe Earth's surface using details from the text. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Why is Earth's atmosphere important for the life on Earth? Support your answer with evidence from the text. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. What is the main idea of this text? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

April 23 - A Day on the Slopes

1. Which winter sport are Bobby and his dad doing? A. skiing B. snowboarding C. sledding D. snowshoeing

2. Bobby gets frightened when he rides the chairlift. How does Bobby deal with this problem? A. Bobby closes his eyes. B. Bobby hums to himself. C. Bobby plays games and talks. D. Bobby holds on to his dad.

3. Bobby has gotten better at skiing since the first time he skied. What evidence from the passage best supports this conclusion? A. “Luckily, there was lots of powdery Colorado snow on this mountain, and

definitely not as much ice as there was on the mountains he had skied in New England.”

B. “During his first time skiing, Dad taught him how to do the ‘pizza,’ skiing with his skis in a wedge like a slice of pizza. Bobby had advanced since then and could now do the ‘french fries,’ skiing with his skis parallel and straight like two french fries side by side.”

C. “When he felt himself going too fast, he would point his skis to the side instead of down the mountain. That would help bring him to a stop.”

D. “When Bobby got to it, he had gained some speed and even got a few inches of air. He wobbled for a second, but quickly regained his balance.”

4. How can Bobby best be described? A. timid B. crafty C. aggressive D. Adventurous

5. How does Bobby feel before and after skiing the glades? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Movement of the Earth

1. What are the two ways that Earth moves? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Think of the two ways that Earth moves. Which of those ways is responsible for Earth's seasons? Support your answer with evidence from the text. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. How does earth's movement cause us to experience daytime and nighttime? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. What is the main idea of this text? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A Day on the Slopes

A Day on the Slopesby Jaclyn Einis

No matter how many times Bobby rode the chairlift, he always got frightened when he looked down. If he stared down long enough to get that tingly feeling, he'd grip the bar in front of him, take stock of the bar between his two legs, and reassure himself that he was secure.

Conversation helped distract him. He loved meeting people from all over the country, and even the world, on the chairlift. Games helped distract him, too. "I spy in my little eye, something...orange," Bobby challenged.

"The plastic fence down there," guessed Dad.

"Nope!"

"The square with the number on that pole," Dad said, pointing to one of the big poles holding up the chairlift.

"Nope."

"The stripe on that guy's jacket in front of us."

"Nope."

"Um...the sunshine?"

"No way. The sun looks more yellow than orange right now, Dad."

"Okay, fine. I give up!" Dad said, throwing his head back in defeat.

"The writing on the band of your goggles!"

"Tricky, tricky. I'll stump you next time."

Bobby loved winning, but he was no longer focused on playing "I Spy." They were close to the top.

"Ready?" Dad asked.

"Ready," Bobby replied, removing his hands from the bar and skis from the little footrests connected to the bar between his legs.

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A Day on the Slopes

Dad pulled the bar up and over their heads, and they looked forward. Skis straight and poles held tightly, they pushed themselves away from the seat and down the small hill their skis touched at the top.

This was Bobby's second time skiing, and he was getting the hang of it. During his first time skiing, Dad taught him how to do the "pizza," skiing with his skis in a wedge like a slice of pizza. Bobby had advanced since then and could now do the "french fries," skiing with his skis parallel and straight like two french fries side by side. When he felt himself going too fast, he would point his skis to the side instead of down the mountain. That would help bring him to a stop.

Normally, Bobby stayed far away from the forest, while avoiding big groups of people and ice. Luckily, there was a lot of powdery Colorado snow on this mountain and definitely not as much ice as there was on the mountain he had skied in New England.

"Want to try skiing the glades?" Dad asked when they had stopped for a rest mid-trail. Dad nodded to where a path veered off the trail and into the woods. Bobby saw a few skiers follow the path into the trees. About 10 seconds later, they popped out a little ways down the trail.

Bobby felt nervous and excited. "Let's do it!" he said with a grin.

"Okay, you go, and I'll be right behind you. Don't go too fast. Keep your eyes on the trail, and try to stay focused and relaxed."

"Here we go!" Bobby hollered as he glided to the side of the trail, his skis falling in line with a path on the left that gradually curved into the woods. There were trees on either side of Bobby, and the narrow path dipped down and then up a bit, down and then up. It felt like a waterslide but better, because he was in control. There was one last bump on the path, where it exited the woods. When Bobby got to it, he had gained some speed and even got a few inches of air. He wobbled for a second, but quickly regained his balance.

"Awesome!" he thought.

They were near the bottom of the hill, and the lifts were about to close.

"Up for one more run?" Dad asked.

"No time for talking!" Bobby said, hurrying back to the chairlift.

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All About Earth

All About EarthThe text and images are from NASA Space Place.

What is Earth like?

Our home planet Earth is a rocky, terrestrial planet. It has a solid and active surface with mountains, valleys, canyons, plains and so much more. Earth is special because it is an ocean planet. Water covers 70% of Earth's surface.

Our atmosphere is made mostly of nitrogen and has plenty of oxygen for us to breathe. The atmosphere also protects us from incoming meteoroids, most of which break up in our atmosphere before they can strike the surface as meteorites.

Since we live here, you might think we know all there is to know about Earth. Not at all, actually! We have a lot we can learn about our home planet. Right now, there are many satellites orbiting Earth taking pictures and measurements. This is how we can learn more about weather, oceans, soil, climate change, and many other important topics.

Earth Facts

· Earth is the only planet in our solar system we know of that supports life.

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All About Earth

· Earth is a terrestrial planet. It is small and rocky.· A Day on Earth lasts a little under 24 hours, but since you live here, you probably knew that already.

· One year on Earth lasts 365.25 days. That 0.25 extra means every four years we need to add one day to our calendar. We call it a leap day (in a leap year).

· Earth's atmosphere is the right thickness to keep the planet warm so living things like us can be [here]. It is mostly nitrogen, and it has plenty of oxygen for us to breathe.

· We have known about our own planet since ancient times, of course. But we didn't know our place in the solar system or universe for a long time.

· We have one moon. We're the only planet to have just one moon.· Earth has lots of spacecraft watching it. There is still a lot we can learn about our home planet.

What does Earth look like?

This Apollo 11 picture taken by an astronaut in 1969 shows the Earth rising over the moon. Doesn't it look small?

This is a view of Earth looking just at the northern portion.

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All About Earth

A NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite took this picture of the entire sunlit side of Earth from one million miles away.

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Famous African Americans: Maya Angelou

Famous African Americans: Maya Angelouby ReadWorks

Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. Angelou had a difficult childhood in which she faced discrimination and a divided family. When she was very young, her parents got divorced. Angelou and her brother, Bailey, were sent to live with their grandmother in Arkansas. Her loving grandmother taught her the value of hard work and education.

As a young girl, Angelou suffered some terrible experiences. The challenges of her early life led Maya to become mute. She did not speak for almost five years.

Through education, Angelou started to discover the power of her voice. After high school, she worked many different jobs. Eventually, she became a singer, dancer, actor, and activist.  Later, her career as writer took off. She wrote more than 30 best-selling books. In 1969, she published her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. It was her biggest literary success. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is still taught in many schools and colleges.

In January 1993, Angelou received a great honor. She was asked by President-elect Bill Clinton to recite a poem at his inauguration. She was only the second poet in U.S. history to have that honor. Later, Angelou was awarded the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama.

Maya Angelou died in 2014. She is celebrated for her contributions to literature, the arts, andthe fight for equality and civil rights.

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Hernando de Soto

Hernando de SotoThis text is adapted from an original work of the Core Knowledge Foundation.

Core Knowledge Foundation

De Soto and Pizarro took riches from the people of Peru and shipped them back to Spain.

Hernando de Soto was born in Spain and came to the Americas when he was only fourteen or fifteen years old. He became a soldier and explorer. In the early 1530s, de Soto was part of a Spanish expedition that conquered the Inca empire in Peru, South America. De Soto was second in command to the expedition's leader, Francisco Pizarro. Both Pizarro and de Soto became very rich. They exploited the people and the riches of Peru.

Core Knowledge Foundation

Native Americans had not seen horses or armor before.

De Soto took his riches from South America back to Spain. For several years, he lived quietly, enjoying his great wealth. Then in 1538, he set out again on another expedition to find more riches. His desire for more treasure was so great, he even helped pay for his own expedition.

De Soto sailed first to the West Indies. Then he headed for Florida. He landed on the west coast of Florida, not far from Tampa Bay. Once on land, de Soto and his men began marching north.

De Soto knew that Native Americans in Florida had fought against Ponce de Len, the first Spanish explorer to discover Florida. So, de Soto arrived in Florida with about six hundred men with European weapons. They were ready to use those weapons against the Native Americans.

The Native Americans who saw de Soto's men must have been surprised. The Spaniards traveled with animals the Native Americans had never seen before, including horses and pigs. The Spaniards also had metal tools and nails. They had guns and armor. These things were unknown to the Native Americans.

When the Spaniards attacked, the Native Americans fought bravely. But they could not hope to win against the soldiers' weapons. De Soto continued to march north. He and his men burned ReadWorks.org · This article is based on an original work of the Core Knowledge® Foundation made available through licensing under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. This does not in any way imply that the Core Knowledge Foundation endorses this work. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ 

Hernando de Soto

Native American villages, and they forced Native American prisoners into slavery.

It is easy to understand why the Native Americans of Florida were afraid of de Soto and his men. They wanted the Spaniards to leave them in peace. They told de Soto that the gold and silver he was looking for could be found farther north and perhaps farther west. Native Americans told de Soto to just march about ten days in this or that direction. Then he would find what he was looking for. De Soto decided to follow their advice.

Core Knowledge Foundation

De Soto and his men went north and west in search of gold.

Sadly, although the Spanish moved on, they left diseases behind. Without knowing it, the Spaniards had brought diseases from Europe. Because the Native Americans had never faced these sicknesses before, their bodies could not fight them. Large numbers of Native Americans got sick and died. In the years after de Soto's journey in North America, European diseases killed thousands of Native Americans. One deadly disease was smallpox. Diseases, as it turned out, were more harmful to Native Americans than weapons.

As for de Soto, he soon found himself exploring much more territory than he had planned. His travels took him through areas in present-day Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas.

In May 1541, de Soto and his men became the first Europeans to see the river that Native Americans called Mississippi. This probably happened just south of present-day Memphis, Tennessee.ReadWorks.org · This article is based on an original work of the Core Knowledge® Foundation made available through licensing under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. This does not in any way imply that the Core Knowledge Foundation endorses this work. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ 

Hernando de Soto

This was an exciting find. The Mississippi was (and still is) the most important river in North America. It flows from northern Minnesota all the way south to the Gulf of Mexico. Almost all of the rivers between the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains flow into the Mississippi.

The Mississippi and the rivers that flow into it make up a network of rivers that was important to the Native Americans in de Soto's time. Later, this network was very important to the pioneers and farmers who settled the American West. It remains very important to us today.

But de Soto did not understand the importance of his find. He had set out looking for gold, not rivers.

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De Soto died in the land he had come to explore.

In 1542, de Soto caught a fever, grew ill, and died. His men wrapped up his body and placed it in the Mississippi River. Eventually some of de Soto's men floated down the river on rafts and made their way to Mexico.

Like so many Spanish expeditions in America, de Soto's expedition failed to find the gold he was looking for. But the expedition did lead to surprising finds. These discoveries paved the way for the further exploration of North America.

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The Movement of the Earth

The Movement of the EarthThis text is adapted from an original work of the Core Knowledge Foundation.

Our planet, Earth, moves in two ways. The Earth circles around the sun. It takes about 365 days, which is one year, for Earth to orbit the sun.

Earth also moves by spinning, or rotating, on its axis. It is this spinning that makes day and night on Earth and the motion of the sun across the sky from sunrise to sunset. It takes one day for Earth to make one complete rotation on its axis. As Earth rotates and spins, different parts of it face the sun. When the part facing the sun gets sunlight, it is daytime on that side of Earth. The part that faces away from the sun gets no sunlight. So, on that side of Earth, it is nighttime. Did you know that when it is daytime where we live, it is nighttime on the other side of Earth?

Earth spins on its axis. On the side of Earth facing the sun, it is daytime. On the side facing away from the sun, it is nighttime.

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The Movement of the Earth

When Earth rotates on its axis, it is tilted. At certain times of the year, one part of Earth is tilted toward the sun. The sunlight is more direct and it feels hotter. For people living on this part of Earth, it is summer. For people living on the part of Earth tilted away from the sun, there is less sunlight and it is winter. So, when it is summertime for us, there are people living on other parts of Earth where it is winter! So, the fact that Earth is tilted on its axis is what creates the seasons of the year.

When Earth is tilted on its axis towards the sun, it is spring and summer. When Earth is tilted on its axis away from the sun, it is fall and winter.

ReadWorks.org · © 2016 ReadWorks®, Inc. All rights reserved.This article is based on an original work of the Core Knowledge® Foundation made available through licensing under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. This does not in any way imply that the Core Knowledge Foundation endorses this work. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/