Storytown Grade 6 Lesson 4

CONTENTS
Text Structure: Chronological Order . . . . . . . . . . .110
Analyze texts organized in chronological order.
Vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112
Read, write, and learn the meanings of new words.
“Wilma Unlimited” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
by Kathleen Krull • illustrated by David Diaz
• Learn the features of a biography.
• Learn how to use a graphic organizer to show events
in chronological order.
“The World’s Fastest” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126
from Scholastic Book of World Records
Read almanac entries about the world’s fastest animals.
Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
• Compare texts.
• Review vocabulary.
• Reread for fluency.
• Write a sports report.
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Bio
Genr e:
g r a p hy
Genr e: Alm a n a c
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Text Structure:
Chronological Order
You have learned that authors of nonfiction texts organize
information in specific ways called text structures. The way
an author organizes the facts depends on the subject. When
a sequence of events is important, an author usually uses
chronological order. Authors use different kinds of clue words
to indicate sequence.
• Time-order words such as first, next, and finally indicate the
sequence of events.
• Terms such as meanwhile and simultaneously signal that two or
more events happened at the same time.
• Time indicators such as dates help readers place events in
history and in relation to one another.
First
Next
Then
Finally
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Read the paragraph below, and look at the diagram
that follows. It shows three important events that appear
in the paragraph. The clue words that indicate the
sequence of these events appear in boldface type.
Glenn Cunningham was born in Kansas in
1909. When he was six, his legs were badly
burned in an explosion. Doctors said that
he would never walk again. Over the next
several months, Glenn proved them wrong.
He pushed himself not only to walk but also
to run. He became a high school track star. In
1931, he entered college, and one year later,
he competed in the 1932 Olympic Games.
Glenn Cunningham was born in 1909.
His legs were burned in an explosion when he was six.
Over the next few months, Glenn taught himself to
walk and run.
Try This
Look back at the paragraph. What important events could you
add to the diagram? What clue words help you understand
where in the sequence these events belong?
www.harcourtschool.com/storytown
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Build Robust Vocabulary
intense
fumble
luxury
astonishment
propel
triumphant
lunged
remedies
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Track-and-field events are intense physical
competitions. Even after months of training, a
long jumper can stumble. A relay runner can
lose a race over the tiniest fumble. Olympic
champion Jackie Joyner-Kersee owes her
many wins to her fine physical condition
and to her positive mental approach to
competition.
Few athletes have had the luxury of
competing in more than two Olympic
Games. However, JoynerKersee won medals in three
Olympic Games. At the
1996 games, the crowd
looked on in astonishment
as she placed third in the
long jump despite a leg
injury she had suffered just
days earlier.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee started competing in
multiple track-and-field events at the age
of twelve.
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This feat served to propel her
into world history as the first
athlete ever to win multi-event
medals in three Olympic Games.
Following the 1998 Goodwill
Games, Joyner-Kersee retired,
smiling and triumphant. As she
lunged across the finish line
of the 800-meter race in that
competition, she broke her own
world record in the seven-event
heptathlon.
Throughout her career, Joyner-Kersee battled
asthma. Today, her work includes educating young
people about asthma and the remedies available
to them.
www.harcourtschool.com/storytown
Word Detective
Your mission this week is to search for
Vocabulary Words outside the classroom. You
might find them in a book or a magazine, or
you might hear them on TV or in a conversation somewhere.
Each time you see or hear a Vocabulary Word, write it in your
vocabulary journal. Be sure to tell where you found the word.
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WILMA
B i o g r a p hy
Genre Study
A biography tells about a
person’s life and is written by
another person. As you read,
look for
• information telling why the
person is important.
• events told in chronological
order.
First
Next
Then
Finally
Comprehension
Strategy
Use graphic organizers like
the one shown above to keep
track of the sequence of events.
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U N L I M I T E D
H o w W il m a R
udo
t h e W o r ld 's F lp h B e c a m e
a s t e s t Wo m a n
b y K a th le e n
K r u ll
il lu s tr a te d b y
D a v id D ia z
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N
o one expected such a tiny girl to have a first birthday. In Clarksville,
Tennessee, in 1940, life for a baby who weighed just over four pounds at
birth was sure to be limited.
But most babies didn’t have nineteen older brothers and sisters to
watch over them. Most babies didn’t have a mother who knew home
remedies and a father who worked several jobs.
Most babies weren’t Wilma Rudolph.
Wilma did celebrate her first birthday, and everyone noticed that
as soon as this girl could walk, she ran or jumped instead.
She worried people, though—she was always so small and sickly. If
a brother or sister had a cold, she got double pneumonia. If one of them
had measles, Wilma got measles, too, plus mumps and chicken pox.
Her mother always nursed her at home. Doctors were a luxury for
the Rudolph family, and anyway, only one doctor in Clarksville would
treat black people.
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Just before Wilma turned five, she got sicker than ever. Her sisters
and brothers heaped all the family’s blankets on her, trying to keep
her warm.
During that sickness, Wilma’s left leg twisted inward, and she
couldn’t move it back. Not even Wilma’s mother knew what was wrong.
The doctor came to see her then. Besides scarlet fever, he said,
Wilma had also been stricken with polio. In those days, most children
who got polio either died or were permanently crippled. There was
no cure.
The news spread around Clarksville. Wilma, that lively girl, would
never walk again.
But Wilma kept moving any way she could. By hopping on one foot,
she could get herself around the house, to the outhouse in the backyard,
and even, on Sundays, to church.
Wilma’s mother urged her on. Mrs. Rudolph had plenty to do—
cooking, cleaning, sewing patterned flour sacks into clothes for her
children, now twenty-two in all. Yet twice every week, she and Wilma
took the bus to the nearest hospital that would treat black patients,
some fifty miles away in Nashville. They rode together in the back, the
only place blacks were allowed to sit.
Doctors and nurses at the hospital helped Wilma do exercises to
make her paralyzed leg stronger. At home, Wilma practiced them
constantly, even when it hurt.
To Wilma, what hurt most was that the local school wouldn’t let
her attend because she couldn’t walk.
Tearful and lonely, she watched her
brothers and sisters run off to school
each day, leaving her behind. Finally,
tired of crying all the time, she decided
she had to fight back—somehow.
Wilma worked so hard at her
exercises that the doctors decided she
was ready for a heavy steel brace. With
the brace supporting her leg, she didn’t
have to hop anymore. School was
possible at last.
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But it wasn’t the happy place she had imagined. Her classmates
made fun of her brace. During playground games she could only sit on
the sidelines, twitchy with impatience. She studied the other kids for
hours—memorizing moves, watching the ball zoom through the rim of
the bushel basket they used as a hoop.
Wilma fought the sadness by doing more leg exercises. Her family
always cheered her on, and Wilma did everything she could to keep
them from worrying about her. At times her leg really did seem to be
getting stronger. Other times it just hurt.
One Sunday, on her way to church, Wilma felt especially good. She
and her family had always found strength in their faith, and church
was Wilma’s favorite place in the world. Everyone she knew would be
there—talking and laughing, praying and singing. It would be just the
place to try the bravest thing she had ever done.
She hung back while people filled the old building. Standing alone,
the sound of hymns coloring the air, she unbuckled her heavy brace and
set it by the church’s front door. Taking a deep breath, she moved one
foot in front of the other, her knees trembling violently. She took her
mind off her knees by concentrating on taking another breath, and then
another.
Whispers rippled throughout the gathering. Wilma Rudolph was
walking. Row by row, heads turned toward her as she walked alone
down the aisle. Her large family, all her family’s friends, everyone from
school—each person stared wide-eyed. The singing never stopped; it
seemed to burst right
through the walls and into
the trees. Finally, Wilma
reached a seat in the front
and began singing too, her
smile triumphant.
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Wilma practiced walking as often as she could after that, and
when she was twelve years old, she was able to take off the brace
for good. She and her mother realized she could get along without
it, so one memorable day they wrapped the hated brace in a box and
mailed it back to the hospital.
As soon as Wilma sent that box away, she knew her life was
beginning all over again.
After years of sitting on the sidelines, Wilma couldn’t wait to
throw herself into basketball, the game she had most liked to watch.
She was skinny but no longer tiny. Her long, long legs would propel
her across the court and through the air, and she knew all the rules
and all the moves.
In high school, she led her basketball team to one victory after
another. Eventually, she took the team all the way to the Tennessee
state championships. There, to everyone’s astonishment, her team lost.
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Wilma had become accustomed to winning. Now she slumped
on the bench, all the liveliness knocked out of her.
But at the game that day was a college coach. He admired
Wilma’s basketball playing but was especially impressed by the
way she ran. He wanted her for his track-and-field team.
With his help, Wilma won a full athletic scholarship to
Tennessee State University. She was the first member of her family
to go to college.
Eight years after she mailed her brace away, Wilma’s long
legs and years of hard work carried her thousands of miles from
Clarksville, Tennessee. The summer of 1960 she arrived in Rome,
Italy, to represent the United States at the Olympic Games—as
a runner.
Just participating in the Olympics was a deeply personal
victory for Wilma, but her chances of winning a race were limited.
Simply walking in Rome’s shimmering heat was a chore, and
athletes from other countries had run faster races than Wilma
ever had. Women weren’t thought to run very well anyway; trackand-field was considered a sport for men. And the pressure from
the public was intense—for the first time ever, the Olympics
would be shown on television, and all the athletes knew that more
than one hundred million people would be watching. Worst of all,
Wilma had twisted her ankle just after she arrived in Rome. It was
still swollen and painful on the day of her first race.
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Yet once it was her turn to compete, Wilma forgot her ankle and
everything else. She lunged forward, not thinking about her fear, her
pain, or the sweat flying off her face. She ran better than she ever
had before. And she ran better than anyone else.
Grabbing the attention of the whole world, Wilma Rudolph of
the United States won the 100-meter dash. No one else even came
close. An Olympic gold medal was hers to take home.
So when it was time for the 200-meter dash, Wilma’s graceful
long legs were already famous. Her ears buzzed with the sound of
the crowd chanting her name. Such support helped her ignore the
rain that was beginning to fall. At the crack of the starting gun, she
surged into the humid air like a tornado. When she crossed the finish
line, she had done it again. She finished far ahead of everyone else.
She had earned her second gold medal. Wet and breathless, Wilma
was exhilarated by the double triumph. The crowd went wild.
The 400-meter relay race was yet to come. Wilma’s team faced
the toughest competition of all. And as the fourth and final runner
on her team, it was Wilma who had to cross the finish line.
Wilma’s teammates ran well, passed the baton smoothly, and
kept the team in first place. Wilma readied herself for the dash to
the finish line as her third teammate ran toward her. She reached
back for the baton—and nearly dropped it. As she tried to recover
from the fumble, two other runners sped past her. Wilma and her
team were suddenly in third place.
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Ever since the day she had walked down the aisle at church,
Wilma had known the power of concentration. Now, legs pumping,
she put her mind to work. In a final, electrifying burst of speed,
she pulled ahead. By a fraction of a second, she was the first to
blast across the finish line. The thundering cheers matched the
thundering of her own heart. She had made history. She had won
for an astounding third time.
At her third ceremony that week, as the band played “The StarSpangled Banner,” Wilma stood tall and still, like a queen, the last
of her three Olympic gold medals hanging around her neck.
W i l m a R u d o l ph, once known as the sickliest child in
Clarksville, had become the fastest woman in the world.
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THINK CRITICALLY
1 What challenges did Wilma Rudolph face in her childhood? NOTE DETAILS
2 Why was participating in the Tennessee state basketball championship
an important event in Wilma Rudolph’s life, even though her team
lost? SYNTHESIZE
3 In chronological order, tell the key moments of Wilma Rudolph’s
performance at the 1960 Olympic Games.
TEXT STRUCTURE: CHRONOLOGICAL
ORDER
4 Think about someone you know or have read about who overcame
great challenges. Compare that person’s experiences with Wilma
Rudolph’s. MAKE CONNECTIONS
5 WR ITE In your opinion, why did Wilma Rudolph become a great
athlete? Use specific details from the selection to support your ideas.
SHORT RESPONSE
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About the Author
KATHLEEN KRULL
Kathleen Krull has loved reading and writing for almost as long as she
can remember. In the fifth grade, she wrote a book she titled Hairdos
and People I Know, a collection of drawings depicting her friends,
family, and neighbors sporting unusual hairdos she had invented
especially for them. Her quirky sense of humor has survived into adult
life. She has written several biographies of famous people, including
Wilma Rudolph. In her “Lives of . . .” series, she not only gives facts
about famous people but also includes amusing details, such as how
they dressed, what their neighbors said about them, and—yes—what
kind of hairdos they had. Today, Kathleen Krull lives with her husband in
San Diego, California.
About the Illustrator
DAVID DIAZ
David Diaz knew he wanted to be an artist when he was in the first
grade. It was not until high school, however, that he seriously considered
an art career. David Diaz has illustrated several children’s books and
won the Caldecott Medal in 1995. He says that when he is working on
a book, he tries to imagine everything that a particular character would
have experienced. Today, David Diaz lives near San Diego, California.
www.harcourtschool.com/storytown
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Math
Alm a n a c
World’s Fastest LAND MAMMAL
CHEETAH
I]ZLdgaYÉh;VhiZhi
`UbXaUaaU`g
1E\MQYQWTIIHMRQMPIWOMPSQIXIVWTIVLSYV
QTL
OTL
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OTL
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OTL
QTL
OTL
QTL
OTL
'LIIXEL
4VSRKLSVR
%RXIPSTI
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These sleek mammals can reach a speed of
65 miles (105 km) per hour for short spurts.
Their quickness enables these large African
cats to easily outrun their prey. All other
African cats must stalk their prey because
they lack the cheetah’s amazing speed.
Unlike the paws of all other cats, cheetah
paws do not have skin sheaths—thin
protective coverings. Their claws, therefore,
cannot pull back.
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FROM SCHOLASTIC BOOK
OF WORLD RECORDS 2005
World’s Fastest FLYER
PEREGRINE
FAL CON
When diving through the air, a peregrine
falcon can reach speeds of up to 175 miles
(282 km) an hour. That’s about the same
speed as the fastest race car in the
Indianapolis 500. These powerful birds can
catch prey in midair and kill it instantly with
their sharp claws. Peregrine falcons range
from about 13 to 19 inches (33 to 48 cm) long.
The female is called a falcon, but the male
is called a tercel, which means “one-third”
in German. This is because the male is about
one-third the size of the female.
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8STWTIIHMRQMPIWOMPSQIXIVWTIVLSYV
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World’s Fastest FLYING INSECT
H AW K
MOTH
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,E[O1SXL
;IWX-RHMER
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,SVRIX
The average hawk moth—which got its name
from its swift and steady flight—can cruise
along at speeds of up to 33 miles (53 km) per
hour. That’s faster than the average speed
limit on most city streets. Although they are
found throughout the world, most species
live in tropical climates. Also known as the
sphinx moth and the hummingbird moth, this
large insect can have a wingspan that reaches
up to 8 inches (20 cm). When alarmed, one
species can produce loud squawking noises
by blowing air through its tongue.
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World’s Fastest FISH
SAILFISH
Although it is difficult to measure the exact
speed of fish, a sailfish once grabbed a fishing
line and dragged it 300 feet (91 m) away in
just 3 seconds. That means it was swimming
at an average speed of 69 miles (109 km) per
hour—just higher than the average speed
limit on the highway! Sailfish are very large—
they average 6 feet (1.8 m) long, but can
grow up to 11 feet (3.4 m). Sailfish eat squid
and surface-dwelling fish. Sometimes several
sailfish will work together to catch their prey.
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Z]g\
6IGSVHIHWTIIHMRQMPIWOMPSQIXIVWTIVLSYV
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Comparing Texts
1. If you could meet Wilma Rudolph, what would
you ask her?
2. How is “Wilma Unlimited” similar to “The
World’s Fastest”? How is it different?
3. What are some qualities that most great athletes share?
Why are those qualities necessary?
Vocabulary Review
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Word Sor t
Work with a small group. Sort
the Vocabulary Words into categories. You might
choose language categories, such as Nouns, Verbs, and
Adjectives. Or you might choose categories based on
meaning or context, such as Words Sportscasters Use.
Compare lists with the other members of your group.
Explain why you put each word in a particular category.
Then choose two Vocabulary Words in each category.
Write a sentence that demonstrates why they belong in
the same category.
intense
fumble
luxury
astonishment
propel
triumphant
lunged
remedies
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Fluency Practice
Timed Reading
Your reading rate is the
speed at which you can
read a passage correctly and
understand what you read.
Reread page 121. Then read
it aloud, using a stopwatch
or clock to time yourself.
Record your time on a
sheet of paper. Repeat the
process several times. Work
to improve your reading rate
each time.
Writing
My Writing Che
Write a Spor ts Repor t
Imagine that you are a reporter for
your school newspaper. Write a short
article describing a game or sports
event you attended or watched on
television recently.
First
Next
Then
cklist
Voice
I organized the
events in
order.
chronological
I used vivid de
tails to make
the article inte
resting.
The voice is co
nsistent with
things a sports
reporter
might say.
Finally
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