Literature 2: Hitting the Slopes (Author's Purpose) 
2A: Due on Thursday January 26th 
2B: Due on Monday January 30th

DIRECTIONS: Use the graphic organizer below to help you determine the author’s purpose(s) for writing the following passage.

Literature 2: Implied Main Idea

2A and 2B: 

DIRECTIONS: In your notebook draw the the graphic organizer below and used it to identify the implied main idea in the following passage and the details that support it.

Rewards and Awards

For the first time I really had a life outside home and school. I became a volunteer. It started with Saturday afternoons reading to children at the local library. Soon I was helping prepare dinner at the soup kitchen on Thursdays. I also pitched in at events benefiting various causes. My family and friends often commented on how much time and energy I gave to others. They didn’t know how much I benefited from every minute I spent with others.

The night of the community awards ceremony I was in a fog. I had raced to the event after working at the soup kitchen, and I was feeling a little tired. Toward the end of the ceremony, young people were honored with awards for their hours of community service. Ten hours of service, twenty. Fewer people were named as the number of hours increased. I didn’t even notice that my name hadn’t been called. Thirty, thirty-five, forty hours. Only one person had put in over forty hours.

“Shawna Washington, please come forward to receive your award,” the presenter announced. The sound of my name and a nudge from my best friend jolted me to attention. However, as the applause swelled around me I couldn’t seem to move from my seat. The moment and the award seemed like a dream. The many hours I had spent volunteering—the smiles, the good times shared with others, the feeling of self-worth, and the sense of accomplishment—were reward enough.

3A Implied Main Idea and Supportind Details

3A Literature

DIRECTIONS: In your notebook draw the graphic organizer below and use it to summarize the supporting details in each section of the following passage. Then, based on your summaries, write an umbrella sentence that reflects the main idea the writer is trying to convey.

The Sounds of Silence

City dwellers who are accustomed to loud noises hear only silence at first when they go to the country Then, slowly, away from the steady roar of background noise, they begin to hear the series of sounds that signal the times of day on a farm.

Greeting the Morning

The rooster proclaims the day’s arrival. As the sky gradually lightens, chickens cluck and pigs grunt for breakfast. Cows moo anxiously, waiting to be milked. Inside the farmhouse, family members talk quietly while they eat. Then they push their chairs back from the table with a scrape and hurry off to start their chores.

The Day’s Work

As the day progresses, tractors grumble across the fields and workers shout orders and questions to one another. Hammers tap nails sharply and saws wheeze as farmhands repair the hayloft. Birds sing arias among the trees and call to each other as they take wing across the fields.

Evening Falls

As dark falls, a barn owl hoots and flaps its wings. On the screened porch, the murmur of conversation is punctuated by low laughter. Nature’s orchestra takes center stage: tree frogs chortle, toads croak, and crickets fill in the gaps with a constant background chirp of legs rubbing together. Tree branches creak and moan, and leaves rustle in the wind. Water in the stream bubbles and babbles over rocks and logs. A farm dog howls at the moon.