The Discovery of the North Pole

Transcription

1 The Discovery of the North Pole Name On a sweltering July day in 1908 the good ship Roosevelt slipped out of New York Harbor for Cape York, Greenland. It was on the start of a trip toward the North Pole. On board were Robert E. Peary and a carefully selected group of men. Peary rested at Cape York, their final northern port. There he hired some Inuit helpers he had come to know so well during his many years in the North. They were glad to help him again. They climbed aboard with their wives, children, tents, sleds, and dogs. Peary had spent twenty years seeking the Pole, giving up a promising career in the US Navy. He had met many hardships and repeated defeats. On the last trip he and his men had barely returned alive after getting within 174 miles of the Pole. This time he was determined to reach his goal or die trying. Robert Peary North Pole The Roosevelt worked its way from Baffin Bay into the narrow channels between Greenland and Ellesmere Island, almost to the Polar Sea. There, with the Roosevelt locked in the ice, they spent the winter. Meanwhile, the Inuit built sleds and hunted for extra food musk ox, caribou, and seal. The Inuit women sewed fur clothing, which Peary had found warmer and more durable than any civilized man s garments. The Polar explorers toughened themselves for the job ahead in temperatures as low as 60 degrees below zero. The Pole was believed to be in the center of the ice-jammed Arctic Sea. The problem was one of traveling from the last point of land to the Pole and back again about a 1000-mile round trip carrying the lightest possible equipment. Everything needed for men and dogs had to be carried by sled. Therefore, only a few men would go to the Pole itself. The plan was to form several groups to go ahead to break trail, leave food supplies, and build igloos for shelter. Then a picked group would follow this trail at top speed, with no heavy loads, to within 150 miles of the Pole. There the last supply party would turn back, while the freshly-picked group would make a dash for the Pole and Mark Aaron Teachers Pay Teachers

2 try to get back before spring tides broke up the ice. It was a race against time, weather, water, and death. Before the long winter night had lifted, the polar dash began. It was George Washington s Birthday, February 22, For six days the men were held up by that familiar problem open water caused by the drifting Arctic ice pack. When the ice froze solid again, they hurried on only to meet more open water. Then the ice closed again, and they trudged on northward. Captain Bob Bartlett, with the last supply sled, turned back on April 1. He was just 133 miles from the Pole and his task was to try and keep the return trail open. Peary pushed on with his best sled driver, an African American named Matthew Henson, and four Inuit. The amazing Henson was a member of Peary s team on seven voyages over a period of twenty-three years leading up to this final journey. A skilled navigator, craftsman, and an expert on the Inuit and their language, many years later Henson was honored as the first African American member of The Explorers Club. There was just enough food now for the round trip. Haste was necessary. Marches were lengthened to 25 and 30 miles a day. At 10 o clock in the morning of April 6, 1909, the party reached the North Pole. There Peary planted the American flag and took possession of the region for the United States. Records of the discovery were stored away in the ice. Peary spent 30 hours at the Pole, verifying that he had actually ascertained the exact spot of the North Pole. In 1984 the National Geographic Society, a major sponsor of Peary s 1909 expedition, concluded that Peary had actually missed reaching the North Pole by five miles! But today in the 21 st century most people still credit Peary as the discoverer of the North Pole. The party had less than an even chance of getting back alive. They had to travel even faster than on the way south because the spring tides would soon break up the ice. Peary increased the distance covered each day over the return trail. Spare clothing was cast aside. Food ran low. The party slept only a few hours in igloos built on the way up. Some of the dogs fell exhausted, but the men hurried on. Finally they reached base camp. There they ate their fill and slept for two days. Then they pushed on to the Roosevelt. Peary had triumphed at last! He had arrived at the North Pole and claimed it for the United States. In 1911 Peary was given the rank of Rear Admiral backdated to April 6, 1909 the day he had reached the North Pole.

3 Exercise A: Before each bold-type word or phrase, write the letter of its meaning as used in the article. (RI.6.4) 1) sweltering (a) windy (b) stormy (c) blisteringly hot (d) freezing 2) hardships (a) blessings (b) sufferings (c) well-built boats (d) successes 3) channels (a) icebergs (b) points of land (c) islands (d) water passages 4) durable (a) thick (b) lasting (c) thin (d) heavy 5) break trail (a) map a path on paper (b) track animals (c) open a path (d) follow a path 6) trudged (a) moved slowly (b) tiptoed (c) slipped (d) raced 7) haste (a) rest (b) a plan (c) energy (d) rapid movement 8) verifying (a) arranging (b) confirming (c) authorizing (d) understanding 9) ascertained (a) overlooked (b) helped (c) discovered (d) credited 10) base camp temporary shelter (a) at the foot of a mountain (b) farthest inland (c) farthest north (d) for supplies Exercise B: Find in the article answers to the following questions. (RI.5.1) A. Write the dates for Peary s Timetable. When did Peary 1) start from New York Harbor? 2) begin the polar dash? 3) begin the last lap of the polar dash? 4) reach the North Pole? 5) begin working with Matthew Henson? B. Write the numbers asked for below: 6) How close did Peary get to the North Pole on his last unsuccessful attempt? 7) How close was Peary to the North Pole when Captain Bartlett turned back with the last supply sled? 8) How far was it from the last point of land to the North Pole? 9) For how many miles did Peary s helpers break trail? 10) About how many days did it take to travel the last lap where no trail had been broken? 11) How many men besides Peary reached the North Pole?

4 Exercise C: The North Pole and the South Pole were both first visited in the early 1900s. Many people think they have much in common, but they actually do not. Read about the differences between them below. The South Pole is part of a mountainous and windy continent called Antarctica. The North Pole is in the middle of a frozen ocean called the Arctic and is flat sea-ice. Antarctica has an average temperature of -49 degrees Fahrenheit and the Arctic has an average temperature of -30 degrees Fahrenheit. Polar bears live only in the Arctic and Northern Hemisphere and penguins live only in Antarctica and the Southern Hemisphere. Antarctica has not been permanently inhabited and developed by humans; other than researchers almost no one has ever lived there. The Arctic has been inhabited by human communities for thousands of years. Antarctica contains 90% of the ice on the Earth. Think about the above facts. Do you think reaching the North Pole or South Pole would be a greater achievement? Use the information given and your own to support your belief and write an opinion paragraph on the lines below. Remember to write an introductory sentence, supporting detail sentences, and a concluding sentence in your answer. (RI.6.2) Mark Aaron Teachers Pay Teachers

5 ANSWERS Exercise A: 1) c 2) b 3) d 4) b 5) c 6) a 7) d 8) b 9) c 10) d Exercise B: 1) July, ) February 22, ) April 1, ) April 6, ) ) 174 miles 7) 133 miles 8) 500 miles (1000 mile roundtrip) 9) 350 miles (it was 500 miles to the Pole and the trail went to within 150 miles of it) 10) 5 days 11) 5 Exercise C: Answers will vary. I recommend evaluating student work based on three components of a good piece of writing: GUMS (grammar, usage, mechanics, and spelling), Content, and Organization. For this assessment the use of an introductory sentence, supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence are the key to a high grade in the organization component. Most students who are successful with the content will likely conclude that attempting to reach the South Pole is much more difficult. They would probably use these details from the information set to support their answer. The Antarctic is mountainous and not flat like the Arctic, thus probably harder to travel. The Antarctic is colder than the Arctic and that would make travel more difficult or painful. The Antarctic has never been inhabited so there is no experience from locals or local guides to help explorers. Mark Aaron Teachers Pay Teachers

6 **With great thanks to the National Archives of the United States of America for historical records used in researching and writing this passage.** I hope you find this FREE product useful with your classes! This is another example of over 100 Common Core Informational Text Standards passages and assessments I offer for Grades 3-9, both in individual format and in value-priced grade-level bundles. Help your students practice close reading skills and nail down those informational text standards with engaging texts and rigorous questioning! Simply type Mark Aaron in the search function on the TpT homepage to view any of my 200+ products or to visit my TpT Store. And please consider becoming a follower of my store to receive automatic notifications of new releases, as I am working hard to add great new freebies and informational texts with assessments each month! Mark Aaron. All rights reserved. This work is bound by copyright laws and the redistributing, editing, selling, or posting of this item (or any part thereof) on the Internet are all strictly prohibited without first gaining permission from the author. Violations are subject to the penalties of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Any claims of correlation or alignment to the Common Core State Standards are solely those of Mark Aaron and have not been evaluated or endorsed by the NGA. Mark Aaron is the sole creator of this product and does not claim endorsement or association with the creators of the CCSS.