Read Around the World

Transcription

1 Read Around the World With 20 Great Picture & Chapter Books BY TRACEY WEST AND KATHERINE NOLL NEW YORK TORONTO LONDON AUCKLAND SYDNEY MEXICO CITY NEW DELHI HONG KONG BUENOS AIRES

2 Scholastic Inc. grants teachers permission to photocopy the reproducible pages from this book for classroom use. No other part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Teaching Resources, 557 Broadway, New York, NY Cover design by James Sarfati Interior design by Holly Grundon Maps by Jim McMahon Interior illustrations by George Ulrich ISBN: Copyright 2003 by Pure West Productions, Inc. Published by Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A

3 Contents Introduction About This Book Animal Watch (Activity Page) Country Fact Sheet (Activity Page) AFGHANISTAN Caravan by Lawrence McKay Jr AUSTRALIA The Gift Stone by Robyn Eversole BRAZIL Amazon Fever by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld CANADA From Far and Wide: A Canadian Citizenship Scrapbook by Jo Bannatyne-Cugnet CHINA The Year of the Panda by Miriam Schlein GAMBIA Boundless Grace by Mary Hoffman GUATEMALA Abuela s Weave by Omar S. Casta ~ neda INDIA The Sanyasin s First Day by Ned Shank ISRAEL Snow in Jerusalem by Deborah da Costa ITALY Vendela in Venice by Christina Björk JAPAN Turtle Bay by Saviour Pirotta MEXICO My Mexico México mío Poems by Tony Johnston MOROCCO The Storytellers by Ted Lewin NIGERIA Bikes for Rent! by Isaac Olaleye PUERTO RICO Salsa Stories by Lulu Delacre RUSSIA A Symphony of Whales by Steve Schuch SUDAN My Great-Grandmother s Gourd by Cristina Kessler THAILAND Even a Little Is Something by Tom Glass TRINIDAD & A Wave in Her Pocket by Lynn Joseph TOBAGO ZIMBABWE Do You Know Me by Nancy Farmer

4 AFGHANISTAN Caravan BY L AWRENCE M CKAY J R. (LEE & LOW B OOKS, 1995) Afghanistan is surrounded by Iran, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the heart of south-central Asia. The country s most prominent geographical feature is the Hindu Kush mountain range, which connects to the Himalayas. The Hindu Kush divide Afghanistan into three geographical regions. The Central Highlands is a mountainous region that includes the Hindu Kush and Afghanistan s capital, Kabul. The Northern Plains are fertile farmlands north and east of the highlands. And the Southwestern Plateau, south of the highlands, includes salt flats and deserts. About the Book Jura and his family live in the icy Hindu Kush mountains in Northeast Afghanistan. Now that Jura is ten years old, he is allowed to accompany his father and the other men in the village on a twice-yearly trip across the mountains to trade felts and furs for grain in the nearest village. Before reading Caravan, you may wish to introduce children to the story by sharing some of the information in the author s note in the back of the book. Comprehension Questions 1. The caravan travels through the mountains to a city. Do you think the journey was difficult or easy? What clues in the story tell you so? (The journey is not easy. It is very cold; there is danger of an avalanche; traveling on the ice is slippery.) Objectives Students learn about the geography of Afghanistan, especially the mountainous regions. 2. Jura s family lives in the mountains. The men in their village need to travel to the city to trade furs and felts for grain. Why do you think they need to get grain from the city? (It is probably not possible to grow grain in the mountains. However, the mountains are home to animals that provide fur and wool to make felt.) 3. Why do you think it is snowing in some parts of the mountains and not others? (Air temperature gets colder the higher you are, so it is cold enough for snow and ice on the high mountain peaks, but not in the lower valleys.) 9

5 AFGHANISTAN 4. Describe the city. What does Jura see? (The city is home to a marketplace, a mosque, a teahouse, and many buildings. It is noisy Jura hears the clamor of the town. The winter s camp is much smaller, with only a few buildings.) 5. Is Jura happy to be returning home? How can you tell? (Jura says that his heart is singing as he listens to his mare s hooves carrying him home.) Additional Resources Mountains (The Wonders of Our World) by Neil Morris (Crabtree Publishing, 1995) Students can further explore the geography of mountains with help from the spectacular color photos in this book. Afghanistan for Kids asu.edu/~apnilsen/ afghanistan4kids/ index2.html Features fun, age-appropriate information about food, culture, and more, plus activities and printable coloring sheets. Write about a trip that you have taken. Writing Prompt: Whom were you with and how did you travel? What did you see and do as you traveled? Did you stop along the way? How did you feel once you reached your final destination and what did you see there? How did you feel when you returned home? Mountain Metaphors (LANGUAGE ARTS) ountains are giants hovering over us. Repeat this line from the book M with the class (or smaller group). Ask: What kind of image does it create in your mind? Remind students that this description is a metaphor, a literary device in which one word or phrase compares two things. Go around the room and ask students to create other metaphors to describe mountains, or any of the other natural features in the story (snow, ice, the river, the moon, and so on). If students have trouble coming up with metaphors, try similes (comparisons between two things using the words like or as). The narrator of the story, for example, describes the river roaring like a great winged dragon. A Mountain of Words (GEOGRAPHY) Create a mountain shape on a bulletin board using brown construction paper. (One easy way to do this is to make a crude pyramid shape with rows of construction paper sheets that get smaller and smaller as the pyramid gets higher.) Challenge students to decorate the mountain with index cards on which they have written a mountain-related word and its definition. Some words to assign include altitude, hill, mountain, cliff, valley, peak, pass, plateau, volcano, and range. 10

6 Afghanistan s Highest Peaks (GEOGRAPHY, GRAPHS) Objective: Students read a graph to learn about the highest mountains in Afghanistan. Student PAGE 12 Using the Page: Point out that the tops of the bars on the graph correspond to heights on the left side. None of the mountains is higher than 25,000 feet. The lines between 20,000 and 25,000 each stand for 1,000 feet. Answers: 25,000 24,000 23,000 22,000 21,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 0 feet 22,769 Yamit 23,162 Urgend II 24,581 Noshaq 23,083 Urgend III Mountains in Afghanistan Where the Mountains Meet the Sky (GEOGRAPHY) Objective: Students read a map to learn about the mountain ranges in and around Afghanistan. 22,450 Tirgaran 1. Noshaq 2. Tirgaran 3. Urgend III 4. three 5. about 2,000 feet Student PAGE Using the Page: Review the term mountain range (a series of mountains that are connected to one another). Have students locate the symbol for mountains in the key and find the corresponding symbol on the map. 1 3 Animal Watch The caravan relies on the Bactrian camel to carry goods across the mountains. Students can research the camel and add it to their Animal Watch books (page 7). Answers: UZBEKISTAN KYRGYZSTAN TURKMENISTAN TAJIKISTAN CHINA HINDU KUSH PAMIRS AFGHANISTAN PAKISTAN Khyber Pass KARAKORAM RANGE INDIA Key International boundary Mountain Mountain pass 1. the Pamirs 2. the Hindu Kush 3. the Karakoram 4. Afghanistan and Pakistan 11

7 Name Date Afghanistan s Highest Peaks The five highest mountains in Afghanistan are all part of the Hindu Kush mountain range. This graph shows how high these mountains are. Use the graph to answer the questions below. 25,000 24,000 23,000 22,000 21,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 0 feet Yamit Urgend II Noshaq Urgend III Tirgaran Mountains in Afghanistan 1 Which is the tallest mountain on the graph? 2 Which is the shortest mountain on the graph? 3 Which mountain is taller, Yamit or Urgend III? 4 How many mountains are taller than 23,000 feet? 5 About how many feet taller is Noshaq than Tirgaran? 12

8 Name Date Where the Mountains Meet the Sky In Caravan, Jura hopes he will travel to the Pamirs some day. The Pamir mountain range connects to the Hindu Kush and Karakoram mountain ranges. Use the map to answer the questions below. UZBEKISTAN KYRGYZSTAN TURKMENISTAN TAJIKISTAN PAMIRS CHINA HINDU KUSH AFGHANISTAN PAKISTAN Khyber Pass KARAKORAM RANGE Key International boundary Mountain Mountain pass INDIA 1 What mountain range is mainly located in Tajikistan? 3 Which mountain range passes through both India and Pakistan? 2 What mountain range is mainly located in Afghanistan? 4 A mountain pass is a low area in a mountain range that is easy to get across. Find the Khyber Pass on the map. What two countries does it connect? 13