Chapter: 1

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"You must be my duckling" said the proud mother to the ugly duckling. "Why, look how well you swim. Come. Let me show you to my friends," she said and took her ducklings to meet the other ducks.      The other ducks were not at all kind to the ugly duckling. "What a strange duckling!" they said. "Send him away! He's too ugly to be with us."      The ducks picked on the ugly duckling to no end. They bit his neck and legs. As time went on, things didn't get any better.    The duckling felt so ugly and alone that he ran away.      The sad, little ugly duckling went very far. When night came, he saw a house. The door was open a bit, so he went in. A woman lived in the house with her cat and her hen. When she saw the ugly duckling, she thought he could lay eggs like a hen.     "Now I'll have duck eggs" said the woman. She let the ugly duckling stay.    The cat and the hen were very hard to live with. They picked on the ugly duckling all of the time because he could not lay eggs like a hen or climb like a cat. Once again, the ugly duckling felt sad and alone.      One day the ugly duckling thought of how he missed the country. He thought of the bright sun and the lovely green grass. But more than anything, he wanted to be in the pond. He wanted to swim and feel the water all around him. He told the cat and the hen about it.

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"How silly you are, you poor, ugly duckling," they said. "No one who is anything would want to be in water."     "You don't understand," said the ugly duckling.   "Be quiet," said the cat, "and be glad you have friends who can tell you what's right. Just see to it that you lay some eggs soon." The ugly duckling knew it was time to leave the woman s house, so off he went.      Fall came. The leaves turned red and yellow. Soon they fell off the trees and began to blow about. The wind grew stronger and stronger. The air grew colder and colder.      One day, the ugly duckling saw some big birds fly out from behind some trees. He had never seen such beautiful birds. They were white, with long, lovely necks and strong wings.      The ugly duckling watched them fly higher and higher into the air. He felt very strange. He didn't know what the birds were called or where they were going, but he felt so close to them in his heart. He wanted to be with them. As they flew away, the ugly duckling let out a sad cry. He would always remember those beautiful birds.    Winter came. It grew very, very cold. The duckling had to keep moving through the wind and the snow and the ice, so he would not freeze.

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	It would be too sad to tell all the hard times the ugly duckling had that winter. Lets just say that the sun began to get warm again, and spring came at last.    One warm spring day, the duckling flew up into the air. His wings felt very strong. He had never gone so high or so fast. He felt proud. Soon he was flying over a lovely garden with a pond. In the pond were those beautiful, white birds he had seen before. When the ugly duckling saw them, he got that same strange feeling again.   "I must be near them," he thought. "I know they will not talk to me because I am so ugly. But I must go to them. They are so beautiful." And then he flew down to the pond.    The ugly duckling swam near the beautiful, white birds. They saw him and swam close to him. The poor duckling put his head down in shame, because he thought he looked so ugly. But when he looked down, what did he see in the water?    He saw a beautiful, white bird, not an ugly duckling. He was just like the others. He could not believe it was true. Two children were playing in the garden. They called out with joy, "Look! Look at the new swan. He is the most beautiful swan of all."    Then three great swans came up to the new swan and stroked him with their beaks. They, too, thought he was beautiful. He was proud and full of joy, for he had friends at last.   Hans Christian Andersen
Page 4     Questions 1) Why did the ugly duckling run away?    A. The other ducklings made fun of him.    B. He wanted to be with the swans.    C. He was looking for his mother.   2) Why did the other animals make fun of the ugly duckling?    A. They were jealous of his beauty.    B. He looked different from them.    C. He scared them.   3) How did the way they treated the ugly duckling make him feel?    A. He didn't care.    B. He felt proud.    C. He felt ashamed.   4) How does the ugly duckling feel when he sees the beautiful white birds?    A. sad    B. happy    C. confused    D. angry   5) Why does the ugly duckling put his head down in shame when he sees the beautiful white birds?    A. He feels ashamed because they are beautiful and he is ugly.    B. He feels ashamed because he cannot fly like them.    C. He dropped something on the ground.     Page 5
	6) What did the ugly duckling see in the water?    A. an ugly duckling    B. a beautiful duck    C. himself   7) What is the best message for this story?    A. Some people do not care whether we are beautiful or ugly.    B. How we feel about ourselves changes the way we see ourselves.    C. We shouldn't laugh at people for being different.    D. Ugly ducklings can turn into beautiful swans.   Write two or three sentences to explain whether or not the ugly duckling is ugly.    ________________________________________________________________________________    ________________________________________________________________________________    ________________________________________________________________________________    ________________________________________________________________________________   Story Blocks An author is a person who writes a story or other text.    Examples: Hans Christian Andersen, Harry Allard, Polly Powell   1) What is an author?    A. a mechanic    B. a doctor    C. a writer    D. a teacher   2) Who is the author of the story "The Ugly Duckling"?    A. Harry Allard    B. Ben Morris    C. Hans Christian Andersen    D. Polly Powell   3) If you were an author, what would you write about?    ________________________________________________________________________________    ________________________________________________________________________________
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	An illustrator is a person who draws or points the pictures for a story or other text.    Examples: Maria Wernicke, Walter Torres, Nivea Ortiz   1) What is an illustrator?    A. a surgeon    B. a laborer    C. a writer    D. an artist   Letters and Sounds Words are made up of letters. Some letters are called consonants. Consonants may appear at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a word.    Examples: duck, garden, pond   Circle the consonants that each group has in common.   1) pond     grape     jump   2) climb     beak     table   3) room     water     spring   4) leaves     shell     world   Change one consonant in each word to create a new word.      1) hen     ____________    2) far       ____________    3) hard    ____________    4) joy      ____________   5) cat     ____________ 6) tall     ____________ 7) wing  ____________ 8) kind   ____________
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	Consonant clusters are two or more consonants that appear together in a word and keep their own sounds when read aloud.    Examples: proud, blow, swim, strange, heart, world   Circle the consonant clusters.   1) pond     stroke     great   2) climb     break     heart   3) farm     cold     spring   4) warm     country     world     Circle the consonant clusters and then match the words that begin with the same consonant cluster.    proud      swan      close      strong   swim   stroke   pride   cloud   strange   climb   sweet   precious       Circle the consonant clusters. Then match the words that end with the same consonant cluster.    frost      soft    land    word   wind   fast   bird   left   hard   hand   lift   best
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	Grammar: The Sentence A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. A sentence always begins with a capital letter and ends with a period, exclamation point, or question mark.    Examples: "The ugly duckling swam near the beautiful white birds." - This is a sentence because it                        expresses a complete thought.                      "The Ugly Duckling" - This is not a sentence because it does not express a complete                                   thought. What  about the ugly duckling? What did he do?                      "swam near the beautiful white birds." - This is not a sentence because it does not express                        a complete thought. Who or what did this? Read the following groups of words. Think about whether they express a complete thought. Then mark the complete sentences.    __ 1. a beautiful day in the country    __ 2. The sun shone.    __ 3. The grass near the pond.    __ 4. The pond was a lovely place.    __ 5. The eggs began to hatch.    __ 6. the swan   Write another ending for "The Ugly Duckling". Make sure your sentences have complete thoughts.    ________________________________________________________________________________    ________________________________________________________________________________    ________________________________________________________________________________    ________________________________________________________________________________    ________________________________________________________________________________   Match the groups of words to form complete sentences.    __ 1. The ducks    __ 2. The sad, little, ugly duckling    __ 3. A woman    __ 4. She thought he    __ 5. The cat and the hen    __ 6. Once again, the ugly duckling   A. felt sad and alone. B. could lay eggs like a hen. C. picked on the ugly duckling. D. lived in the house with her cat and hen. E. ran away. F. were very hard to live with.   Write the word that best completes the sentences.    1. The egg cracked/climbed _______________ and a duck/duckling _______________ came out.    2. The beautiful/ugly duckling _______________ was proud/ashamed _______________.    3. He liked to blow/swim _______________ in the pond/farmhouse _______________ in the         tree/country _______________.
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	The Maglev Train    Is it a bird, is it a plane...? No, it's the new Chinese Maglev train - the fastest train in the world! Hold on to your seat, because this train travels very fast! It travels from downtown Shanghai, the largest and richest city in China, to the airport. This train has no wheels or engine. Magnets lift the train off the tracks and control its movement and speed. The Maglev travels at 300 kilometers an hour! The 30 kilometer journey takes minutes. So hold on!   Look up in the dictionary.    1. magnets: __________________________________________________    2. lift the train: _________________________________________________    3. tracks: _____________________________________________________   Answer.    1. What is different about this train?    ______________________________________________________________    2. How does it move so fast?    ______________________________________________________________    3. How fast does it travel?    ______________________________________________________________   Complete.    The train is located in _______________. It's name is the ______________ train. It is the ______________ train in the _________________.
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