EXTENSION for the Readings

Your assignment headings will look like this:

Your Name
Reading Fun
Extension
Title of Reading 

Directions:

• Use the Reading Packet to complete the following activities.
• There is one assignment for each reading. They are all a little different, so be sure to read the instructions carefully!
• Check the Alignment document to see which standards you will be working on as you complete this work.
• Take care to do thoughtful, best work. If your work is not up to standard you will redo it if you want credit.
• Please ask questions if you have them as you work.
• Please start a new page for each reading.

The United States Mail on the Move by Jane Harrigan

The central idea in this story is the history of postal service. Your primary goal is to find the official website for United States Post Office History. Once there, you have a few assignments to complete.

• Type the EXACT search term you used in Google. Copy and paste the top 5 results Google gave you. Check out each of those links - is one of them what you want? How are you sure? If you don't get it right away, KEEP SEARCHING and KEEP LOGGING what you searched for and what the results were.
• Whenever you get the right site, CIRCLE it in your list. Write a short paragraph explaining how you know that is the right site and how you'd get to it even faster next time.
• NOW that you have a valid place for more research, do some skimming and scanning. You should find information you already know and some that you don't. List three facts that were repeats and three facts that were new.
• NEXT, make up 2 short essay questions that require you to use information from both the reading and the website to answer. Type out the questions and the answers.
• FINALLY, answer this essay question:

Explain how the history of Postal Service is also the history of our country.

United States Postal Delivery Time Line

You will be using the Internet to research one entry on the timeline: The Pony Express

• Type the EXACT search term you used in Google. Copy and paste the top 5 results Google gave you. Check out each of those links - is one of them what you want? How are you sure? If you don't get it right away, KEEP SEARCHING and KEEP LOGGING what you searched for and what the results were.
• Whenever you get the right site, CIRCLE it in your list. Write a short paragraph explaining how you know that is the right site and how you'd get to it even faster next time.
• FINALLY, answer these essay questions:

When did the Pony Express system start and end?

Why did it end?

Why isn't there more information on the Pony Express in the timeline?

The Carvers by Alex Whitney

Please answer the first 2 questions BEFORE you do some research on the Internet.

• What clues made you think this was more of a "fable" than an historically accurate account?
• What culture do you think this fable/myth came from? What clues does the story provide to make you think that?
• NOW it is time to research. Get on the Internet and find out where the story does come from!
• Type the EXACT search term you used in Google. Copy and paste the top 5 results Google gave you. Check out each of those links - is one of them what you want? How are you sure? If you don't get it right away, KEEP SEARCHING and KEEP LOGGING what you searched for and what the results were.
• Whenever you get the right site, CIRCLE it in your list. Write a short paragraph explaining how you know that is the right site and how you'd get to it even faster next time.

Katherine Dunham: Bringing African Tradition to American Dance by Andrea Davis Pinkney

• Find the PBS biography on Katherine Dunham. What did they use as their source of information?
• Use the Internet to find out about the history of a type of dance (urban, hip hop, ballroom, ballet, etc.) Find another "key transition" person like Katherine Dunham that helped a form of dance to evolve and incorporate new moves (an innovator). Read enough to compare what they did with what Katherine did in a short (one page) paper. BE SURE TO CITE YOUR SOURCES!

Coming to America : Memories from the Ellis Island Oral History Project selected by Veronica Lawlor

• Explain the difference between a primary and secondary source.
• Find the Ellis Island website. Look at pictures and read about the experiences people remember from their immigrant experience.
• Imagine being an immigrant to America then and now. Make a list of things you think immigrants would be excited about and nervous about - no matter when their immigration took place.
• Pretend you live outside the USA and want to be an immigrant. Find the website that would tell you what is required if you wish to immigrate here today. Copy and paste the site address. Summarize what you learned about the requirements for immigration to the USA.

Émigré' by W.S Merwin

• Rewrite the poem in more "everyday" language and format.
• Explain one of the challenges this poem warns emigrants about.
• If you were forced, or chose, to leave the USA for a country that did not share the same culture, language, etc., what would you be most nervous about?
• How would you define "an American"?

Eruptions in Paradise story and photos by Joel Simon

You have two choices for this reading…

• Draw a world map that shows the Pacific Ring of Fire, each of the volcanoes mentioned in the article, and the most popular volcanoes to visit. LIST THE SOURCES YOU USED in creating your map!

OR

• Use the Internet to plan a trip to see Mt. Yasur. Create a trip from Seattle and include all the information like: which airline(s)? where fly to? Where stay? Cost? Etc. Be detailed and CITE THE SOURCES YOU USED in creating the trip. Type up a trip itinerary showing all the needed info to make the trip.

Sea Offers Up Ancient Lore, Loot by Michael Kilian

This article explains a whole new way of exploring and understanding our past. For each of the following ways to "learn" history, write a paragraph that explains the pros and cons of each. AND write one more paragraph explaining which way you prefer to learn history and why.

• traveling to the actual places and examining artifacts
• reading primary sources from people writing about themselves
• reading primary sources from people writing about the people you are studying
• secondary sources
• examining the people's arts: poems, legends/stories, statues, paintings, etc.