History of Halloween

Transcription

1 Name 1 Homework Monday: Directions: Read the article below using 3-word-nitty-gritty. After you have read the article answer the multiple choice questions that follow. History of Halloween By ReadWorks Makayla gently placed her black witch s hat on top of her black curls as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her mom had painted her skin green and outlined her eyes in purple paint. She wore tall, black boots underneath a long, purple dress. It was October 31st, and she was ready for trick- or- treating on Halloween night. Makayyyla! her mom called out from downstairs. Makayla s two friends, Colden and Porter, had arrived. Colden stood in the doorway, his costume blowing in the wind. A white sheet hung over his head, and his eyes peered out from two cut- out holes. Porter decided to dress like his favorite superhero, Batman. A black mask covered his face and a long cape trailed behind him. They carried plastic pumpkin bowls to collect candy later in the evening. The two boys greeted Makayla with equal levels of excitement. Hi, Makayla! Colden said. You ready to go trick- or- treating? Porter asked. She nodded her head and ran to grab her coat. Let s go, everyone! her mom called out, and they all marched out the front door. All around them, children and parents walked from door to door in colorful costumes. Carved Jack- o- lanternssat in front of houses, candlesshimmering inside the orange pumpkins. A breeze blew past Makayla and her friends, making hershiver. The weather had juststarted to get colder. Makayla remembered her class earlier that day, when her teacher talked about the origins of Halloween. Mrs. Narula told Makayla and her classmates that the holiday started with an ancient festival called Samhain, 2,000 years ago in Ireland. The word Samhain means summer s end in Gaelic, a language spoken in Ireland and Scotland. Mrs. Narula looked at different documents from the American Folklife Center to find out about Halloween s history. She found that the festival celebrated the end of summer and the beginning of winter a time to gather crops to prepare for the colder months. The Celtic people who celebrated this festival also believed it was the time when all the souls who had died that year traveled to the next world. To keep the dead spirits away, people lit bonfires. For ceremonies, some dressed in animal furs to disguise themselves so that the dead spirits would not be able to recognize them. Mrs. Narula said this is one reason why we might still dress up in costumes today. Later, the festival of Samhain was replaced with All Souls Day, a Christian holiday that honored the dead. People celebrated with bonfires and parades. They also dressed up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils.

2 Name 2 Porter reached up and pressed the doorbell at the house across the street. Diiiing- dong. A big, green Frankenstein pulled open the door, holding a big bowl of wrapped treats. Makayla and her friends gasped, and then laughed when they realized it was just Mr. Clock dressed up. Trick- or- treat! the three sang with big smiles. As Mr. Clock sprinkled candy into their baskets, Makayla thought of Mrs. Narula again. In the 1800s, many people from Ireland and Scotland came to the United States to start a new life, the teacher told her students earlier that day. Even though their ancestors had their own trick- or- treating traditions, they started their own in their new country. Mrs. Narula had read an article by Benjamin Radford, a man who researches science and history. He wrote that teenagers in those communities started to play pranks during Halloween celebrations. Adults tried to stop the pranks by giving children candy instead. And the tradition still remains today with children all around the world dressing up for candy!

3 Name 3 Homework Tuesday: Directions: Read the article below using 3-word-nitty-gritty. After you have read the article answer the multiple choice questions that follow. Inside and Outside Carlsbad Caverns By ReadWorks Imagine watching hundreds of thousands of bats swirl around you, swarming to form a large, black mass that flies off into the horizon. At Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, this scene is a regular occurrence. The caverns, located in a United States National Park, are home to around 400,000 Mexican free- tailed bats that fly out into the night sky each evening at dusk to feed on nearby moths and insects, returning at dawn to their caves. The spectacle draws crowds from around the world into the Chihuahuan Desert, where the park is located. One such visitor was Laurel Mathews, who once visited the caves with her family on a road trip. At the entrance to one of the caves, there s stadium seating for visitors to watch the bats, she remembers. We waited a long time to see them. Finally, they started circling out of the cave and they flew off out came more and more and more, all of them flying in loops and then out into the sky. It was amazing that there were so many! Laurel also remembers the sound the bats made, describing the high, screeching noise. It was really creepy, but also really cool, she says. Laurel recalls her family s arrival at the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. It didn t look very spectacular when we first drove in, she admits. But then we started exploring the big network of underground caves. The formation of the caves is a result of a fossilized reef that existed 250 to 280 million years ago in an inland sea that has long since disappeared. Since limestone is typically made up of fragments of coral, a large limestone deposit eventually formed in the area. Today, you can still find several fossilized plants and animals in the caves limestone that date back to a time before dinosaurs walked the earth. Starting sometime between four and six million years ago, water from the earth s surface began moving through the cracks in the stone deposit. There is a type of acid in surface water. When this water combined with rainwater, the two mixed to form another type of acid as a result of their chemical compositions. This acid slowly dissolved the limestone to eventually form the winding caves that exist today in Carlsbad Caverns. This is a very common process that happens to limestone many caves all around the world exist in limestone deposits due to the stone s solubility (the ability of a substance to be dissolved) in a mixture of water and acid.

4 Name 4 Eventually, speleothems formations that arise from mineral deposits in caves began to take shape in the lower levels of the caverns. In fact, these speleothems existed during the last ice age, when instead of a desert, a pine forest sat above the caves. Over the years, park employees and rangers have found clues that hint at the caves history. For example, according to the National Park Service, people have found some bones of ancient ice age animals scattered around the entrance to some of the caves. In 2003, an employee found a part of a stone scraper dating back to the last ice age near a cave entrance as well. Clearly, the caves have a long history researchers have discovered that American Indians first inhabited the area sometime between 12,000 and 14,000 years ago. Ever since then, the caves have been explored by several groups, including Spanish explorers in the 1500s, and later by American explorers and guides who drew attention from all across the country to the natural phenomenon. Laurel remembers this phenomenon very well. It took us between one and two hours to get all the way to the bottom, she says, recounting the windy pathway leading deeper and deeper into the heart of the caves. The park had put in blue and red lights to highlight the beautiful rock formations. Once they reached the bottom, Laurel says that she had to take an elevator to get back to the top. My ears popped so much in the elevator! she remembers. It took a really long time to reach the top; I didn t realize how far down we were until we were on our way back up.

5 Name 5 Homework Wednesday: Directions: Read the article below using 3-word-nitty-gritty. As you are reading use CONTEXT CLUES to determine the meaning of the words that are in bold. The Spider Chronicle By Pearl Tesler What do you do when tarantulas invade your town? Celebrate! In the small mountain town of Coarsegold, Calif., fall brings everything you might expect of the season: crisp air, falling acorns, autumn colors. It also brings something you might not expect. Tarantulas. Thousands of them. Everywhere. Each year from September to November, a tidal wave of tarantulas descends on the town and the surrounding countryside, crawling along roads, climbing walls, and parading across backyards. Found in 12 states stretching from California to Louisiana, this species of tarantula favors the foothills setting of Coarsegold for many of the same reasons that people do high, dry terrain without too much rain or development. I have to dodge them when I m driving home, says one Coarsegold resident. We even found a few in our swimming pool. If horror seems like an appropriate reaction to the invasion, that s exactly what resident Diane Boland felt when she moved to this quaint former goldmining town. I saw one in front of my car, and I deliberately drove over it, she confesses. That murderous maneuver earned her a chewing out from a longtime resident. It also started Boland down a path of tarantula education and acceptance. Inspired by her new appreciation for Coarsegold s arachnid visitors, Boland founded the Coarsegold Tarantula Festival. The first of its kind in the world, the festival is still going strong in its fourteenth year. Write a summary of this section of the text of The Spider Chronice. In your summary be sure to state the main idea, at least 2 pieces of evidence, and include a closing sentence.

6 Name 6 Homework Thursday: Directions: Read the article below using 3-word-nitty-gritty. As you are reading use CONTEXT CLUES to determine the meaning of the words that are in bold. Screaming match The first thing I hear is screaming. The piercing shrieks come one after the next, each one louder and more terrifying than the last. Uh-oh! Someone s already been attacked by a tarantula! The screaming turns out to be just part of the fun. I ve come across the Scream-Off, a contest in which competitors vie for prizes by letting out their most bloodcurdling screams. Tarantulas are actually nothing to be afraid of, says tarantula dealer Scott Bemis, who often attends the festival. Most of them are quite docile, he explains, holding a tarantula the size of a hamburger in his hand. No one has ever been killed by a tarantula bite. That s something you can t say for bees. Like all spiders, tarantulas are venomous they secrete a toxic fluid to defend themselves or kill prey. The venom of tarantulas isn t powerful enough to harm humans, though. A tarantula bite isn t pleasant It feels about like a bee sting, says Bemis but it s easy to avoid. They give you warning signs. They raise up on their legs, bare their fangs. They let you know. Despite all the shrieking at the festival, there s no fear in the crowd. I even see people walking around with tarantulas climbing all over them. One boy has a tarantula in one hand and a piece of pumpkin pie in the other. Don t mix those up! I say. Later I learn that fried tarantulas are a tasty treat in Cambodia. Turns out tarantulas have more reason to fear us than we do them. If people aren t on a tarantula s menu, what is? Young tarantulas graduate from ants and mites to larger prey, including beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, lizards, and even small rodents. The Goliath birdeater, which lives in the rain forests of South America, is the largest known tarantula. It earned its name with a 12-inch leg span and a taste for the occasional small bird or bat. Like all spiders, tarantulas have spinnerets organs that spin silk. Tarantulas don t rely on webs to catch their prey, though. They venture out of their underground burrows and hunt on foot. Typically, a tarantula sits very still, waits until its prey wanders close by... and then pounces. Write a summary of this section of the text of The Spider Chronice. In your summary be sure to state the main idea, at least 2 pieces of evidence, and include a closing sentence.

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