Name: __________________________Date:______Vocab Homework: The Cricket in Times Square Vocabulary WordSyllable Part of Speech DefinitionSketch Wistfully Scrounging Acquaintance Excitable Eavesdropping Sympathetically Logical

Author: George Seldon Illustrator: Garth Williams

Cricket by Jerry Booth The black field cricket is the most widespread member or order of insects called Orthoptera. This is the creature you are most likely to hear chirping in your neighborhood on summer nights. Adults measure about an inch long and are colored black to reddish brown. They live underbrush, where it is moist and protected. They range in across North America, including Alaska. Their diet consists of all sorts of plants, seeds, fruits, and dying or dead insects. When you find a cricket inside your house in autumn, chances are it is trying to escape the cold. Most adult crickets die in the cold weather, especially where winters are harsh.

Cricket by Jerry Booth Crickets have long and narrow bodies with giant, powerful hind legs for jumping and two sets of short legs in front. The cricket’s head is rather big and flat with large compound eyes, two or three simple eyes, a big mouth with assorted chewing tools, and a pair of long antennae. Basic cricket equipment includes two sets of wings, although underground crickets have small stumpy wings adapted for flightless life.

Cricket or Grasshopper? Do you have trouble telling a cricket from a grasshopper? Remember, most grasshoppers’ antennae are shorter than their body length. Grasshoppers also have long wings that usually cover much of their bodies. Grasshoppers are active during the day, and they enjoy sitting in the sun. Crickets are more nocturnal; they prefer coming out after the sun goes down. Both crickets and grasshoppers make noise, although grasshoppers tend to make buzzing noises while crickets tend to make more musical, chirpy sounds.

Cricket or Grasshopper? Giant Jumps Crickets are designed for jumping. The spikes on their legs grip the ground like the soles of a sprinters shoes, so when they contract the strong muscles on their back legs they go flying through the air. If you could jump with cricket power, you could do a standing broad jump of 30 feet. Not only that, you could do it over and over and over again. Imagine how fast

Vocabulary: The Cricket in Times Square Wistfully Scrounging Acquaintance Excitable Eavesdropping Sympathetically Logical

Wistfully Sadly remembering something nice

Scrounging Looking for scraps of food or abandoned materials

Acquaintance Knowing someone or something

Excitable Very emotional; easily excited

Eavesdropping Listening secretly to a conversation

Sympathetically Showing concern for someone else’s feelings

Logical Reasonable; to be expected

Putting words in context Turn to page 326 acquaintance eavesdropping sympathetically excitable scrounging wistfully logical

Genre: Fantasy A Fantasy is an imaginative story that may have unrealistic characters and events.

Focus Skill What you already know Clues from the passage Conclusion!

Draw a Conclusion Johnny loves the color blue. He says it gives him a peaceful feeling. Johnny asked his dad if he could paint his room. What color do you think he will paint his room?

Is this what you were thinking? The first sentence states that Johnny likes the color blue. The second sentence explains why Johnny prefers blue. People generally like their rooms to be peaceful colors. These are good clues about what color paint Johnny might want for his room.

Like being a Reading Detective! A conclusion is a decision that readers make after thinking about the information in a text. The writer may not always state all of his or her ideas, readers often have to look for clues to understand the whole passage, paragraph, or story.

As a reading detective you must put together the clues that the writer provides and then draw the best conclusion they can to understand the text. The conclusion should ALWAYS make sense!

Think in your head what it means to draw conclusions. Now whisper your thoughts to your shoulder partner. When given a class signal, please share with me. Closure