Here are the answers to the comprehension questions about Grandma Essie's covered wagon story: 1. Grandma Essie is telling the story. 2. Grandma Essie's family first settled in Kansas. 3. A drought forced them to sell their farm in Kansas. 4. The men of her family found work as ranch hands in Oklahoma. 5. Grandma Essie never moved away from the house she bought because it reminded her of the hard times her family endured and the journey they took in the covered wagon. The house represented her family's perseverance and survival.

1. April 21, 2010
Prairie
from a poem by Carl Sandburg
I speak of new cities and new people.
I tell you the past is a bucket of ashes.
I tell you yesterday is a wind gone down,
a sun dropped in the west.
I tell you there is nothing in the world
only an ocean of tomorrows,
a sky of tomorrows.
I am a brother of the cornhuskers who say
at sundown:
Tomorrow is a day.

2. April 21, 2010
Listen again...
This time, listen for things contrasted in the
poem....Name two things.
Listen one more time...
What time word does the poet use to refer to
the past? What time word does the poet use
to refer to the future?

3. April 21, 2010
In your reading notebook...list the steps you
follow to brush their teeth...tell the steps in
order
Oleksandr: Anthony: Kaila:
Wash my brush Put toothpaste on my Eat breakfast
put toothpaste on my toothbrush Upstairs and get
brush Wash my toothbrush toothbrush
Next you brush your Brush my teeth put toothpaste on it
teeth Water in my mouth brush teeth
Rinse your rinse toothbrush
toothbrush rinse mouth
put your brush away dry your face.

4. April 21, 2010
Steps in a Process
Packing for the Move
Today is moving day for my family. Yesterday I packed
everything in my room. First, Dad helped me tape the
bottoms of several cartons. Then, we labeled the outside of
each box. Next, I packed all my books in the box labeled
"Nathan's Books." I put my games and stuffed animals in
another box. My clothes went in a big box called a wardrobe
container. Finally, I had everything ready for the movers
except my hamster, Jolly. I didn't think he'd like being in a
box. I was glad when Dad said I could hold him on my lap
while we drive to our new home!

5. April 21, 2010
Going West
1. The bashful student grew quite bold as he talked about his
summer vacation.
2. He had traveled to the Midwest and had ridden in a canvas-
covered wagon.
3. Inside the wagon, the boy sat beneath shelves stacked with
plates, pots, and a granite percolator, which was blue and
speckled with white.
4. The wagon stopped at a building - featuring a sign lettered
"children's Home" over the doorway - which had once been an
orphanage.
5. The walls of the building had been torn down during a violent
storm, or tornado.
6. Looking at the markers in the nearby cemetery the boy
wondered if the storm had taken lives as well.

6. April 21, 2010
Vocabulary
· bashful - shy around people.
· canvas - strong, heavy cloth
· granite - a type of enameled ironware.
· orphanage - place that takes in and cares for
parentless children
· tornado - powerful storm with winds that whirl in
a funnel-shaped cloud
· cemetery - place where the dead are buried.

7. April 21, 2010
Grandma Essie's Covered Wagon
Story Comprehension
1. Who is telling the story?
2. Where did Grandma Essie's family first
settle?
3. Why did her family have to sell their farm?
4. What work did the men of her family find in
Oklahoma?
5. Why do you think Grandma Essie never
moved away from the house she bought?