Name:______________________



Name:______________________ Date:____________________ © D. Thomassen 2006

"the gold rush game"

by William F. Wu

Pages 666-681 in Treasures

Answer Key

Genre: Science Fiction (is a fantasy in which an invention involving science or technology affects historic or imaginary characters).

Directions: After reading this text, complete the following organizer parts. Remember to reread any part of the story that confused you. You are a great reader.

Part I: Vocabulary Preinstruction: For younger grades (or grades where students still need phonic assistance), this would be a good time to do an auditory battery in conjunction with your vocabulary preinstruction.

|Vocabulary Word: |How it is used in this story: |

|annoyed |“I’m doing it.” Annoyed, Eric pressed the button. |

|prospectors |Miners and prospectors walked and rode past. |

|circular |He moved the pan in a circular motion, so that water sloshed out with some of the sand. |

|outstretched |With an outstretched hand Mr. Wong grasped the branch. |

|reference |I found a reference to it. |

|disappointment |Eric felt a wave of disappointment, then suddenly reached into his pocket. |

|glinted |On the chop, a little bit of gold dust from the river glinted in the light. |

|1. visual (“Follow along with your eyes as I spell it out loud”) |

|2. auditory (Hear the parts /p/ /ea/ /ch/) |

|3. kinesthetic (trace with eyes, write it on the table, hand, etc.) |

|4. phonics (break the word apart)—discuss prefixes, suffixes, roots, compounds, phonograms, double vowels, silent e. |

|5. meaning (give the definition and/or an example) |

|6. give an example. “I will be working with this group, meanwhile, this group will be at computers.” |

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Part II: Comprehension

1. As you read this science fiction story, fill in any information you learn about the setting, main characters, plot, problem, and, finally, the climax (solution):

|What is the setting of this story (time and |Who are the main characters? Write down |What is the plot (what is happening in this |

|place)? |something important about each character. |story)? |

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|What is the problem in this story? |What was the solution to the problem (usually the solution is the |

| |climax)? |

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2. Eric’s Mom most likely bought the computer game so that…

Eric and Matt could have fun playing a new computer game.

Eric and Matt could study what life was like in China.

Eric and Matt could study about how gold was made.

Eric and Matt could learn about Eric’s ancestors.

3. Why were men who went in search of gold called the Forty-niners?

The men who went in search of gold were called Forty-niners because gold was discovered in California in the year 1849.

4. In your own words, describe how Mr. Wong tries to find gold.

Mr. Wong places his pan in the stream, captures river water, mud, and sand, and then moves his pan in a circular motion. Since the gold is heavy, it will sink to the bottom of the pan while the sand and other items are removed.

5. Fill in the missing sequential parts of this section:

|The ground shook and Mr. Wong fell into the river. |

|Eric and Matt grabbed Mr. Wong’s arms, but they couldn’t pull him out because the current was too strong. |

|Eric and Matt grabbed a tree branch and pulled it down. |

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|Mr. Wong grabbed onto the branch and was lifted from the river when the boys let go of the branch. |

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|Mr. Wong thanked the boys for saving his life. |

6. In the text it says, “’I thought I was going to drown. Everything I have dreamed about would have come to an end.’ He paused and looked down at the ground. ‘I came from a poor peasant village in southern China,’ Mr. Wong went on. ‘I hope to find some gold and send for a woman I love. We’ll marry here and raise a family in America—at least, I hope so.’”

Which word in this selection means to stop briefly?

drown

peasant

raise

paused

7. Did Eric’s parents believe him when he said, “We went into the game and back in time!” Explain how you decided that Eric’s parents did or did not believe him.

Inference—There’s good textual evidence that supports the idea that they didn’t believe him. Eric’s Mom said, “I love the way these games build imagination while they teach history.” Then, at the end, Eric shows them a piece of the ivory with a piece of gold on it. The text never says that they were convinced he had gone back in time. It is left up to the reader to infer.

8. List three ways you could get more information on the California Gold Rush of 1849:

Internet, encyclopedia, history books, etc.

9. What was the author’s purpose in writing this story (persuade, entertain, inform)? Write a complete constructed response.

The author’s purpose in writing this story was to entertain the reader with a story of two time-traveling boys that go back to 1849 to learn about Eric’s family and the gold rush.

10. Sequence: Put the following events from the story in the proper ordering by placing a 1 in front of the event that occurred first, a 2 in front of the event that occurred second and so on:

1. Eric’s Dad showed the boys a paper with Chinese writing on it.

2. Eric pressed the button that said, “Press if you dare.”

3. Eric and Matt find Mr. Wong, and he explains how he catches gold.

4. Mr. Wong fell into the swift river.

5. The boys saved Mr. Wong by lowering a tree branch into his hands.

6. The boys received a piece of ivory from Mr. Wong.

7. The boys made it back home after walking between the two big rocks.

8. The boys showed Eric’s parents the chop.

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Part III: Compare and Contrast

Analogies: We use analogies to identify relationships between pairs of concepts (Marzano 2001).

Examples: happy:sad::big:small ("happy is to sad as big is to small")

Directions: Complete these analogies that were created from the text you just read.

Europe:England::ASIA:China

disappointed:HAPPY::loud:quiet

China:Chinese::Canada:CANADIAN

gold:Au::oxygen:O (THIS IS A TOUGH ONE!)

setting:1849-CALIFORNIA::main character:Eric

downstream:UPSTREAM::slowly:quickly

Part IV: Fluency Practice: Follow the four-step fluency practice steps:

1. Read the following excerpt from the text to your teacher. You must focus on pronouncing each word correctly. Take your time and do a great job. Your teacher will then discuss any words that may have been difficult for you. Record your time in the space provided.

2. Read the following excerpt from the text to yourself. Record your second time in the space provided. Ask yourself: Do I understand what happened in the text?

3. Read the following excerpt from the text to a classmate. Record your third time in the space provided. Ask yourself: Is my fluency speed improving?

4. Read the following excerpt from the text to a parent or sibling. Have them sign in the space provided. This will let your teacher know that you completed the fourth step of your fluency practice.

Fluency Goal: Your fluency goal for this excerpt is to cut your time in half from your first reading to your fourth reading. If you do not complete your goal, you need to continue reading this excerpt until you accomplish that goal. When you have reached your goal, write down the main idea (one sentence) of your excerpt on the line provided. You will read this excerpt to your teacher one final time.

“It’s an earthquake!” Eric jumped up again. He had felt small earthquakes before, and this one was so quick it had ended already. When he looked up, he saw Mr. Wong in the river, desperately holding onto a tree root with both hands. The power of the river current pulled his legs downstream and he struggled to hold his head above the water. “Help me!”

Eric and Matt grabbed his arms and pulled, but the river current was too strong and Mr. Wong was too heavy for them to help.

“We have to save him,” Eric called desperately to Matt. “If we don’t, my family won’t ever be born. And I won’t be here!”

Eric saw a tree branch hanging low. “Come on! Help me pull the branch down!” He took the branch in both hands and bent his knees so his weight pulled it down. When Matt grabbed it, too, the branch lowered to Mr. Wong.

157 words

First Read:__________ Second Read:__________ Third Read:__________ Fourth Read:__________

Parent Signature:_______________________

Main Idea:_________________________________________________________________________________

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Summary Sheet Fiction ©1999 by Sopris West

Directions: Summarize the text you just read using the following procedure. Steps 1-3 will help you with your topic sentence. Steps 4-5 will help you get started on your summary paragraph.

1. Identify what you will be summarizing. Be specific—use names and titles.

The story Princess Harimau and the Tiger

2. Use one of these words (verbs) to help you organize your summary:

tells, lists, describes, explains, compares, gives, shows

3. Finish your thought:

The story Princess Harimau and the Tiger tells the story of a Princess and her friendship with her pet tiger named Shiva.

4. Create a beginning-middle-end outline: Make a list of the important events you would like to include in your summary.

(Use transition words: first, next, then, after that, finally…..)

|Beginning (characters, setting) |

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|Middle (problem, events) |

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|End (solution to the problem) |

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5. Use your Beginning-Middle-End outline to write the summary paragraph:

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Be sure to check your paragraph? Does it make sense? Does it look right? Does it sound right?

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