Name. This will count as TWO (2) FIVE-POINT (5) homework grades!

Transcription

1 Name What is Summer Reading all about? o Reading is a life-long skill that one needs to be successful as a student and in life o MCPS has promoted Summer Reading since 1998 Due Date: Thursday, September 3 rd Deadline: Wednesday, September 9 th What is expected? Complete ONE of the following options: Option 1: Option 2: Read A Bad Robot and The Origins of the Internet then use them to complete the paired questions that follow. OR Read Blue Lightning and The Go-Kart then use them to complete the paired questions that follow. If you want to read a book of your choice, please complete the blank organizer at the end and fill in the required information. Attached is a list of recommended reads from Scholastic you DO NOT have to choose from only this list. Please choose something appropriate for your lexile and interests. You are not required to purchase a book; many are available from your local library. This will count as TWO (2) FIVE-POINT (5) homework grades! Resources: Young Adult Library Services Association: What should I read next? Montgomery County Public Libraries If you have any questions, contact Ms. Meredith Lyvers, English Content Specialist: o o Meredith_A_Lyvers@mcpsmd.org

2 50 sizzling summer reads unusual chickens for the exceptional poultry farmer By Kelly Jones, illustrated by Katie Kath. $ Grades 4 6. return to augie hobble By Lane Smith. $ Grades 4 7. the terrible two By Jory John and Mac Barnett, illustrated by Kevin Cornell. $ Grades 4 6. petlandia By Peter Hannan. $8.99. Grades 2 5. frank einstein and the electro-finger By Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Brian Biggs. $ Grades 3 6. cassidy s guide to everyday etiquette (and obfuscation) By Sue Stauffacher. $ Grades 3 7. dragons at crumbling castle By Terry Pratchett. $ Grades 4 7. rude cakes By Rowboat Watkins. $ Grades K 2. circus mirandus By Cassie Beasley. $ Grades 4 8. last of the sandwalkers By Jay Hosler. $ Grades 4 7. ratscalibur By Josh Lieb. $ Grades 3 7. the princess in black By Shannon Hale and Dean Hale, illustrated by LeUyen Pham. $6.99. Grades K 3. nightbird By Alice Hoffman. $ Grades 5 8. pip bartlett s guide to magical creatures By Jackson Pearce and Maggie Stiefvater. $ Grades 3 6. the lost track of time By Paige Britt, illustrated by Lee White. $ Grades 4 7. interstellar cinderella By Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Meg Hunt. $ Grades K 3. welcome to the neighborwood By Shawn Sheehy. $ Grades K 2. emmanuel s dream: the true story of emmanuel ofosu yeboah By Laurie Ann Thompson, illustrated by Sean Qualls. $ Grades K 3. gingerbread for liberty!: how a german baker helped win the american revolution By Mara Rockliff, illustrated by Vincent X. Kirsch. $ Grades 1 4. growing up pedro By Matt Tavares. $ Grades 2 5. a nest is noisy By Dianna Hutts Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long. $ Grades K 3. why d they wear that?: fashion as the mirror of history By Sarah Albee. $ Grades 5 8. the founding fathers!: the horseridin,fiddle-playin, book-readin, guntotin gentlemen who started america By Jonah Winter, illustrated by Barry Blitt. $ Grades 3 5. i will always write back: how one letter changed two lives By Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda, with Liz Welch. $18. Grades 6 8. a handful of stars By Cynthia Lord. $ Grades 3 7. the penderwicks in spring By Jeanne Birdsall. $ Grades 3 7. listen, slowly By Thanhhà Lai. $ Grades 5 8. gone crazy in alabama By Rita Williams-Garcia. $ Grades 4 6. dear hank williams By Kimberly Willis Holt. $ Grades 4 7. ice cream summer By Peter Sís. $ Grades K 3. the way home looks now By Wendy Wan-Long Shang. $ Grades 4 7. fish in a tree By Linda Mullaly Hunt. $ Grades 4 7. lost in the sun By Lisa Graff. $ Grades 5 8. the island of dr. libris By Chris Grabenstein. $ Grades 3 7. echo By Pam Muñoz Ryan. $ Grades 5 9. randi rhodes, ninja detective: the sweetest heist in history By Octavia Spencer. $ Grades 4 7. pieces and players By Blue Balliett. $ Grades 3 7. smashie mcperter and the mystery of room 11 By N. Griffin, illustrated by Kate Hindley. $ Grades 2 5. william & the missing masterpiece By Helen Hancocks. $ Grades K 2. honey By Sarah Weeks. $ Grades 3 7. bayou magic By Jewell Parker Rhodes. $17. Grades 3 7. book scavenger By Jennifer Chambliss Bertman. $ Grades 4 9. last stop on market street By Matt de la Peña, illustrated by Christian Robinson. $ Grades 2 5. sea rex By Molly Idle. $ Grades K 1. an ambush of tigers: a wild gathering of collective nouns By Betsy R. Rosenthal, illustrated by Jago. $ Grades K 3. duncan the story dragon By Amanda Driscoll. $ Grades K 2. marilyn s monster By Michelle Knudsen, illustrated by Matt Phelan. $ Grades K frogs and a little brother By Ken Kimura, illustrated by Yasunari Murakami. $ Grades K 2. how to read a story By Kate Messner, illustrated by Mark Siegel. $ Grades K 3. drum dream girl: how one girl s courage changed music By Margarita Engle, illustrated by Rafael López. $ Grades K 3.

3 A Bad Robot A Bad Robot By ReadWorks Bonnie Graham just had to admit it: EARL was a bad robot. No longer could she overlook his many faults. He played music that was just embarrassingly bad. He seemed incapable of cool robot things like dancing the robot or cutting steel with his laser eyes. At night his pistons and spinning gears made so much noise that Bonnie could hardly sleep, even when she got really mad and squeezed him into the closet. And then yesterday happened. Bonnie had spent months building her robot. She called it Electronic Armed Robotic Laserdeath (EARL), a name she chose last year when her mother seemed totally cool with the whole laser eyed robot living in our house idea. Bonnie later discovered her mother was joking; the project s first setback. From there, Bonnie did all the engineering herself. She designed EARL s remote stabilization system, using an air filled bladder in the machine s belly to keep its torso upright. She machined the hands from steel bearings coated in vulcanized rubber. Bonnie used lathes at her mom s tool and die company to sculpt EARL s face, with slanting eyes and a mouth full of jagged metal teeth, which made him look terrifying and awesome. For 10 months, building EARL consumed all Bonnie s free time. Her friends at Garrett Morgan High School made a website called WheresBonnie.com, where they posted pictures of Bonnie s face crudely superimposed onto people climbing the Himalaya Mountains, or shopping in Tokyo. Ok, seriously I don t remember the last time I saw you after school, Nicole Akmal, one of Bonnie s closest friends, wrote in an . Maybe this robot is actually that new boy Chas Phelps? Call me, nerdbreath. So yesterday Bonnie brought EARL to school. She knew he wasn t quite ready his software still had bugs, and sometimes his right leg seized. But she couldn t handle her friends needling any longer, or the weird looks from kids she didn t know. And man, EARL made one sweet entrance. Trotting up the stairs beside Bonnie, the robot reflected sunlight like a mirror. Everyone fell silent as the two of them passed, and no one heard EARL s loud buzzing motorized arms and legs over the idling buses ReadWorks, Inc. All rights reserved.

4 A Bad Robot The euphoria didn t last long. Once inside, EARL noticed all the metal lockers, the tops of which have metal slats reminiscent of the robot s face. EARL slipped his rubber hand free of Bonnie s to inspect the lockers, shoving students aside in the process. EARL. Cancel Directive! Bonnie said. EARL heard nothing over the din of shrieking students running away in fear. Finally, the robot found a bashed in locker door, probably the work of roughhousing football players. More than the other lockers, this one s bent metal door resembled EARL. The robot grabbed it in both hands and ripped it off its hinges. Bonnie was struck with horror. He s destroying the school! He s going to get me expelled! EARL! CANCEL DIRECTIVE!! she screamed. EARL froze. The robot s head spun toward Bonnie as he clutched the locker door closer to his anodized steel chest. Looks like your stupid robot found a friend, said Brian Cotterman, a classmate who always teased Bonnie about her braces. Shut up, weasel, Bonnie shot back. But she was shaking. EARL s arms could generate 1,200 pounds of pressure per square inch, enough to crush bowling balls. But how could its 2.1 gigahertz microprocessor brain, torn right from her dad s old laptop, possibly malfunction like this? EARL. Drop, Bonnie said. The robot walked to her side, but it did not drop the locker door. Bonnie sighed. Reprogramming the robot and reducing its arm strength meant weeks of work, but this was not the time. We re late for homeroom, said Bonnie, surprised to hear herself say we. EARL is a tool, Bonnie s mother kept reminding her, not a friend or a puppy. Don t anthropomorphize it, honey, Bonnie s mom said one night after she found Bonnie dancing around her bedroom with the metal contraption. It s a walking blender. Never forget that. Right, Bonnie thought, standing in the school hallway. Walking blender. With a shaky hand, she took EARL by the elbow and guided him it! into homeroom ReadWorks, Inc. All rights reserved.

5 A Bad Robot Why hello, Bonnie! said Mrs. Grube, the homeroom teacher for Bonnie s freshman class. From her open expression, it didn t seem the teacher had heard the commotion down the hall. I see you ve brought your experiment. What is that he s carrying? A wave of suppressed giggles swept across the classroom. Um, it s a programming error, Bonnie said. I can fix it. Hmm, Mrs. Grube said, pausing for a few uncomfortable seconds, her eyebrows knotted as she figured what to do next. Well, said the teacher, her mood brightening, We ve all heard a lot about your robot. Why don t you tell us about him? Bonnie exhaled. Great! she said. EARL. Initiate Demonstration Program 1. The robot turned and faced the class. The students backs stiffened. Only now did they see the thing s true height. Demonstration Program 1 called for EARL, using his right index finger, to press Play on the ipod embedded in his chest. The song Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger by Daft Punk would flow from speakers in his hips, and EARL would dance, making karate chops with his hands as the wheels in his feet executed perfect moonwalks. Unfortunately there was a locker door in EARL s right hand, and he refused to let go. So the robot defaulted to Demonstration Program 2, tapping the ipod with his left index finger. Bonnie watched in horror as her robot waltzed to Celine Dion s My Heart Will Go On. She had forgotten all about Demonstration Program 2. It was written months ago, back when she doubted EARL could handle pop and lock dance moves. Tears filled Bonnie s eyes. She didn t even like Celine Dion anymore! EARL! Cancel Directive! Bonnie shouted. The robot heard nothing over the lyrics. Near, far, where EVER you are! The terrible screeching caterwauled through EARL s thigh speakers. I believe that the heart does go on! 2014 ReadWorks, Inc. All rights reserved.

6 A Bad Robot Mrs. Grube s eyes stood as wide open as her mouth. Bonnie s classmates pushed back in their chairs, unsure whether to laugh or run for cover. I cannot stand one more second of this, Bonnie thought. As EARL pivoted left in his waltz, she moved in behind him, reached into the seams in the robot s lower back, and disconnected the red and black clamps holding power lines to EARL s battery pack. As the big machine slumped to the ground, its collapsing torso squeezed air from the inflated bladder, making a noise like a balloon rapidly losing air. The classroom lost it. Weasel Brian Cotterman and his four stupid friends laughed so hard they fell off their seats and rolled across the floor. Bonnie felt like she might explode. Tears pouring, she bolted out of the classroom. That night Bonnie got her first good night s sleep in weeks. She was worn out from all the crying. Plus her dad moved his car from the garage and put EARL in there instead, so finally Bonnie couldn t hear the machine s clicks and whirs. When she finally woke up, she walked out to the garage and found EARL. He slouched in the far corner, one arm draped over her mother s drill press, the other wrapped tight around the school locker door. Bonnie smiled. The robot had found some friends, and now it was time for Bonnie to find hers. She took her phone from the pocket of her shorts and called Nikki Akmal. Hey dorknugget, Bonnie said. What are you doing later? 2014 ReadWorks, Inc. All rights reserved.

7 The Origins of the Internet The Origins of the Internet All of the men were nervous as they waited. But Len Kleinrock was the most nervous. The year was 1969, and just over 20 people were crowded into the room. A group of pale men in their 20s and 30s, the computer scientists stood beside executives from big telephone companies. The men tapped their feet impatiently. They waited. The computer itself loomed along the wall, 15 feet wide and 35 feet long. A long grey cable snaked from the computer to a smaller machine, the router or switch, in the corner. The two machines were important, but the real reason the men had gathered was the activity happening in that long grey cable. They were about to see whether information could successfully flow between a computer and router, for the first time in history. At the center of the group was Len Kleinrock, the 35 year old star of computer networking. Kleinrock was a professor at UCLA and was the one who had engineered this system. Everybody was ready to point the finger if it didn t work, said Kleinrock. Happily, the bits began to flow from the host to router. I like to refer to that day as when the Internet took its first breath of life, first connected to the real world. It s like when a baby is born and has its first experience of the outside world. For Kleinrock, that moment had been almost a decade in the making. He originally became interested in the problem of network connection while working on the East Coast. He recalled, I looked around at MIT and Lincoln Laboratories: I was surrounded by computers and recognized that one day they re going to have to talk to each other. And it was clear that there was no adequate technology to allow that.

8 The Origins of the Internet At the same time that Kleinrock was growing absorbed in the problems of network connection, the United States government was ramping up its investment in science and technology research. The Soviet Union s famous launch of a satellite called Sputnik had been an embarrassment for the United States the United States thought that it should be the leader of space travel. Eisenhower created a branch within the Department of Defense to ensure that the scientific leadership of America wouldn t be eclipsed again in the future. This new organization, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), became one of the major engines of technological innovation throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In 1962, while Kleinrock was finishing up graduate school, ARPA created a new department devoted to computer science. The head of this division was J.C.R. Licklider, a fellow scientist at MIT who also worked on network structures. He was one of those visionaries who foresaw the advantages of combining humans with computer, said Kleinrock of his former colleague and boss. He created a concept called man computer symbiosis, recognizing that if you put the two together, you could get very significant results. Licklider ran into political problems at ARPA and ultimately left to return to MIT, but not until he had planted the idea of networking as a concept worthy of funding. Bob Taylor took over ARPA s computer science division in 1966 and reinvigorated the project. Taylor had been funding different projects in computer science departments at universities across the country and realized it was growing too costly to give each department the machines and resources to do every task. What he needed was a way for geographically far flung research centers to somehow share each other s computing resources. Taylor needed to create a network. The man he brought in to build it, Larry Roberts, happened to be Kleinrock s old officemate at MIT. We were all intimately familiar with each other s work so when they asked, Roberts said, Look, I know exactly what this technology should be and I know it can work. Len Kleinrock has already proven it, recalled Kleinrock. And bang, the project came to life. After a number of years, it came to action. And so it was that all of the men were crowded into the room watching a long grey cable. An air conditioner hummed in the background, fighting against both the heat outside and the heat generated by the massive machine in the room. Cheers broke out when they saw that the information was flowing, but the real test was to come a few weeks later. The first message between two computers was sent on October 29, This time the room was empty, except for Kleinrock and one other engineer. They didn t know that it was such an important milestone so there was no camera or tape recorder. The two men were trying to log onto a computer at the Stanford Research Institute and successfully got through two letters of the message login before the system crashed.

9 The Origins of the Internet It was not until this thing called the Internet hit the consumer world that we recognized this network was really important. At that point we looked back and said, What was the first message ever sent on the Internet? Kleinrock remembered. Samuel Morse sent, What hath God wrought? Alexander Graham Bell said, Come here Watson I need you. Neil Armstrong had his giant leap. These guys were smart and they understood media. We had no such concept but the message we created, lo, [short for login ] that s the most prophetic, succinct, powerful message we could have come up with by accident.

10 Paired Text Questions Part 1: Use the article The Origins of the Internet to answer the following questions: 1. This article is mainly about how the Internet began. Where in the article is the word Internet first used? Quote the sentence where it first appears. 2. Why might the author have avoided using the term Internet sooner in the article? Support your answer with evidence from the text. Part 2: Use the article A Bad Robot to answer the following questions: 3. This story is mainly about a bad robot. Where in the story is the bad robot first mentioned? Be as specific as possible in your answer. 4. Why might the author have mentioned EARL to the reader right away? Support your answer with evidence from the text. Part 3: Use the articles The Origins of the Internet & A Bad Robot to answer the following questions: 5. A) Compare where in the text the two authors first mention what their article or story is mainly about. B) Contrast where in the text the two authors first mention what their article or story is mainly about. 6. How might an author determine where in a text to first mention what that text is mainly about? Support your answer with evidence from both texts ReadWorks, Inc. All rights reserved.

11 Blue Lightning Blue Lightning By A.P. Raj Sondra loved cars more than anything else. When she was a kid, she begged her dad to let her join the Boy Scouts, just so she could build a car to race in the Pinewood Derby. Her car was a jagged spike of pinewood painted a glittery, electric shade of blue. She named that car Blue Lightning. Blue Lightning didn t win the Pinewood Derby, but it did come in 2 nd place. Sondra had been so proud, and her dad was proud of her, too. She had doodled drawings of Blue Lightning all over her notebooks. She sometimes dreamt that Blue Lightning became a real car sitting out in her driveway, and she would get in and take it out for a drive. Even though she was too young, and had never driven a car, in those dreams she always knew exactly what to do. Driving Blue Lightning made her feel powerful and free. Then one lazy Saturday in spring, Sondra was flipping through a car magazine she liked, when an ad caught her eye: AMATEUR GO KART RACERS, START YOUR ENGINES! Do you LOVE cars? Do you have a passion for racing? Build your very own go Kart and enter the Go Go Derby! All experience levels welcome! Racers ages 13 and up may enter with parental supervision. Sondra had just turned 13 that fall. She screamed with delight and immediately ran to her dad to beg him for permission to enter. She was ready to build Blue Lightning, Mark II.

12 Blue Lightning Her dad read the magazine ad and frowned. I don t know, Sondra, he said. Building a car for the Pinewood Derby was one thing, but a go kart? That s a whole new level. It sounds kind of dangerous. Not if you help me! she said. That s true. It could be a fun project. And we d both learn a lot, he said. Exactly! So we can do it? Sondra said. Well, I ll ask your mother what she thinks. And I want to know that you re serious about it. So how about this: you do some research into how we re actually going to build this thing, and come back to me in a week with a design. Sondra jumped with joy. You got it, Dad! she said. She gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, and went straight to her computer to start researching go kart designs. In a week, Sondra had a notebook full of drawings and notes about her project, from spending hours after school researching, thinking and planning. Blue Lightning, Mark II looked ready to go. Sondra s design was a lot like the original Blue Lightning, except instead of pinewood, it would be made of steel. And of course, it would be a real vehicle that she could drive. Thrilled at the thought of building it, Sondra brought her sketches and notes to her dad. He put on his glasses and looked over her work, thinking. These are some interesting ideas, honey, he said. I see you ve designed this a lot like your Pinewood Derby car from a few years ago, even down to the lightning bolt shape you love so much. That s right! Sondra said, beaming. Well, it will certainly look unique, he said. But how will it drive? What do you mean? Sondra asked. Well Her dad stopped to think. It seemed like he had something to say, but decided against it. Tell you what. Instead of telling you what I think, why don t we build Blue Lightning, Mark II the way you ve designed it?

13 Blue Lightning Sondra was a bit confused, but she wanted to build the go kart more than anything, so she agreed. They took a trip to the hardware store to buy all the parts they needed: a lot of metal, engines, cables, brackets, bolts and screws. They had to stop at a specialty hobbyist store to pick up the steering wheel and the materials they needed to build the steering block the accelerator and brake pedals, and, of course, a comfy seat for Sondra to sit in. Finally, they stopped at a sporting goods store to buy a helmet and pads for her to wear when she was driving. Back at home, they brought all their new stuff into the garage and went to work. Over two weekends of hard work, they turned Sondra s sketches and notes into a real, working go kart. When they finally mounted the seat on Blue Lightning, Mark II, Sondra felt more proud than she had ever felt in her whole life. She looks great! Sondra said. All we have to do now is the paint job! Before we do, why don t we take it for a test drive? her dad said. Sondra thought she heard some mischief in his voice and thought about how he had almost said something about her design, but had decided not to. What was he up to? Okay, she said. Let s do it! So they took the second Blue Lightning out to a nearby parking lot, and Sondra took it for a spin. Her dad made sure she wore her helmet and pads, and watched her as she drove the gokart around the lot. She noticed that when she tried to go fast, she felt a lot of resistance from the wind. When she slowed down, she didn t notice it as much. After she had her fun, she drove back to where her dad was standing. He was smiling like he expected something from her. Well, that was fun! she said. But I think I know why you wanted me to take it for a test drive. Oh, do you? he said. Please share.

14 Blue Lightning I noticed that there was a lot of push back when I would drive it fast, she said. Yes, and? And I think it s because of the lightning bolt shape. The wind pushes in and kind of gets caught in the zigzagging part of the frame, she said. Very good! her dad said. So, why didn t you tell me about that problem in the first place? Sondra said. She was a little bit annoyed. Her dad laughed. Where s the fun in that? Didn t I ever tell you the story about teaching someone to fish? If you give a man a fish, he ll eat for a day, Sondra said, mimicking a very wise tone her parents used when they were teaching her lessons. But if you teach a man to fish, he ll eat for a lifetime. Exactly, kiddo, he said. You may be annoyed now, but I promise, you ll thank me when you re older. Sondra rolled her eyes. You always say that! It s always true, her dad said, laughing. So, now what? she said. Now, we get ice cream. But after that, it s back to the drawing board for you. Sondra smiled. Sounds good to me. Designing is half the fun anyway! So Sondra went back to researching, sketching and taking notes. Her dad ed her an article about aerodynamics: the science of how air interacts with solid objects. After she read it, she felt silly about her lightning bolt design. But her dad told her that sometimes, the only way we learn how to do something right is by doing it a few times first, and making silly mistakes along the way.

15 Blue Lightning You know who makes more mistakes than anybody? he said. Great inventors! That inspired Sondra and she worked harder than ever. Her next design wasn t shaped like a lightning bolt at all, but more like a Formula One racecar. She started to understand why they were designed the way they were. She showed her dad her new design, and he nodded with pride. Once again, they went to work, taking apart the first go kart they d built and putting it back together again. When Sondra test drove the newest Blue Lightning, it came a lot closer to living up to its name. What do you think, Dad? she asked. Do we need to go back to the drawing board again? You can always make improvements on a design, he said. But the race is in two weeks! So they decided that Blue Lightning, Mark II was in racing condition, and painted it with the electric blue paint Sondra loved. When the time came to race in the Go Go Derby, Sondra wasn t worried about whether she came in first place in her mind, she had already won, by building something better than she had ever built before.

16 The Go-Kart The Go-Kart Michael and Sam had been neighbors for as long as they could remember, but they only just started loving go-karts a few months before. Sam s dad took the boys to the go-kart track for the first time as soon as school let out for the summer, and since then, they had been obsessed with getting their own go-kart. It would be a few years before Michael and Sam got their driver s licenses, and this seemed like the next-best thing. They would fantasize about go-karting down their block and into the main street, competing with taxis, speeding bikes, and other cars for room on the road. In these dreams they would wear old-fashioned brown helmets and vintage airplane goggles, like in old video footage of the people who got to drive the first-ever cars. One evening, Sam was talking about it again over dinner. Wouldn t it be great? We d be low to the ground so we could even drive under big trucks! We d go so fast, we d be like a blur in all of the traffic. Can I get a go-kart for Christmas? Sam s mom rolled her eyes and set down a helping of spaghetti and meatballs on his plate. I don t think so, she said. Why don t you and Michael just build one? After dinner, Sam went over to Michael s house. My mom had the best idea, Sam said. We should build our own go-kart! Michael was also excited by the idea. His uncle John worked at an auto repair shop, and the boys called him right away to ask if he had any spare parts he would give them, and if he could help them: they had no idea how to build a car. John was thrilled that Michael and Sam were interested, and promised to talk the boys through it later in the week.

17 The Go-Kart That weekend, John came by Michael s apartment with a bunch of different auto parts that they could use for a go-kart, like a steering wheel, brakes, and an ignition pedal, as well as a large poster board. The first thing we need to do is draw how you want the go-kart to look, John said. He laid the poster board flat on Michael s kitchen table and looked at the boys expectantly. Michael and Sam both agreed that they wanted the go-kart to be extremely fast, but other than that, they had no idea how it should look. John showed them a few drawings. They decided that a four-wheeler would be the best, with a long nose and an open top. John wrote a list of materials that they would need. You can get this stuff at a hardware store, he said. Let me know when you have everything, and you can come out to the shop to build it. A few weeks later, the boys showed up at John s auto shop with a cart full of materials to build the go-kart. They had bought most of the hardware with chore money, but had found some of it at a scrap yard by their school. They had tubing, plywood planks, bearings, bolts, and chains. John told them he would provide the frame, petrol tank, driving shaft, engine, and seat all the objects they could get from an auto body shop. Michael, Sam, and John took over a corner of the shop and began to build. Soon they had a prototype go-kart. Let me try it first, Sam begged, grinning at Michael. He jumped into the shiny new go-kart and revved the engine. He pressed his foot down on the pedal, expecting the go-kart to shoot forward out of the garage and into the parking lot. Instead, it crept like a snail towards the open garage door. Woah! Sam said. This is way too slow. Sam stopped the kart and got out. Michael nodded and said, Yeah, I agree. Uncle John, how do we make it go faster? There were a few problems that the boys could fix, Uncle John said. First, the engine that Michael and Sam had chosen the biggest one took up a lot of space and was very heavy, so

18 The Go-Kart it probably dragged the go-kart down. Second, the design they had chosen was not ideal for fast vehicles. Lastly, John said with a smile, it looked like Sam had forgotten to turn off the emergency brake. So the three guys got back to work. They scoured the auto repair shop for a smaller engine, and found one in a small lawnmower that had been taken for disposal into the garage. They had fun taking the lawnmower apart to get to the small, powerful engine inside. The second problem was much more difficult to fix. Would they have to redesign the entire go-kart? Together, they drew some other sample sketches that might make the go-kart less bottomheavy, and even considered taking away one of the wheels so that it would be a three-wheel go-kart. Michael thought it would be a good idea to get lighter materials all around and keep their original design, but John didn t think that would work. Michael, Sam, and John needed to think about ways to maximize the go-kart for its speed: what aspects of their original design were unnecessary? The three of them came to the conclusion that it was probably the long nose. It looked cool, but ultimately, what was more important to Michael and Sam? They had welded the nose to the frame, and used a grinder to break the metal away from the go-kart. When they were finally done, Michael stepped into the go-kart and put on the helmet he and Sam had found at a used-clothing store. He snapped on a pair of swimming goggles, revved the engine, and made sure to take the emergency brake off. All of a sudden, he sped out into the parking lot, and Sam ran after him with a big smile.

19 Texts: Blue Lightning The Go-Kart Paired Text Questions Part 1: Use the article Blue Lightning to answer the following questions: 1. When Sondra took her first go kart for a test drive, she noticed that there was a lot of push back when she drove fast. What aspect of the go kart did Sondra think caused the push back? 2. How did Sondra solve the problem of the push back from the wind? Part 2: Use the article The Go Kart to answer the following questions: 3. The boys first go kart did not go as fast as they wanted it to. One problem was that Sam had forgotten to turn off the emergency brake while driving the go kart. What were two other problems that made the go kart slow? 4. How do the boys improve their go kart s design to make it go faster? Give two details from the text to support your answer. Part 3: Use the articles Blue Lightning & The Go Kart to answer the following questions: 5. Compare the problem that Sondra had with her first go kart with the problems that Michael and Sam had with their first go kart. 6. Compare the ways that Sondra and the boys solved the problems with their first go kart designs. 7. In Blue Lightning, Sondra s dad tells her that sometimes, the only way we learn how to do something right is by doing it a few times first, and making silly mistakes along the way. Give evidence from both texts to support this statement ReadWorks, Inc. All rights reserved.

20 Graphic Organizer for Self-Selected Fictional Reading Character Transformation Title of Book: Author: Character Name & Description: Beginning Trait(s) with text evidence: Ending Trait(s) with text evidence: Evidence of Change: