1. Satchel Paige Vocabulary Words
Fifth Grade
Unit 1

2. How do we face personal challenges?
Big Question
How do we face personal challenges?

3. Satchel Paige Satchel Paige was one of the greatest baseball
pitchers that ever lived. Because baseball was
segregated, he played in the Negro Leagues.
Paige liked traveling the country almost as
much as he liked baseball. He could strikeout
the best hitters with his crazy pitches and long legged
wind-up. Even when he settled down
and started a family, he could not keep away
from his first love—baseball.

4. Sequence
Sequence is the order that events happen in a selection. When you read, think about what comes first, next, and last.
Several events can occur at the same time. Words such as meanwhile and during give clues that two events are happening at the same time.
You can remember sequence by making a time line.

5. Strategy: Ask Questions
Good readers ask themselves good questions about important information, such as the sequence of events. Asking questions before you read helps you connect what you will read to what you already know. Asking questions as you read helps you understand what you are reading. Asking questions after you read helps you remember important information.

6. Vocabulary: Context Clues
When you read, you may come to a word you do not know. You may find a clue about the word’s meaning in the words near the unknown word. For example, you may find an antonym, or a word with the opposite meaning of the unknown word. You can use the antonym to figure out the unknown word’s meaning.

7. Words to Know confidence unique fastball weakness mocking windup
outfield

8. a weak point; slight fault
weakness
confidence
fastball,
mocking
outfield
unique
weakness
windup
a weak point; slight fault

9. the three players in the outfield
confidence
fastball,
mocking
outfield
unique
weakness
windup
the three players in the outfield

10. a pitch thrown at high speed with very little curve
fastball
confidence
fastball,
mocking
outfield
unique
weakness
windup
a pitch thrown at high speed with very little curve

11. unique having no like or equal confidence fastball, mocking outfield
weakness
windup
having no like or equal

12. laughing at; making fun of
mocking
confidence
fastball,
mocking
outfield
unique
weakness
windup
laughing at; making fun of

13. windup
confidence
fastball,
mocking
outfield
unique
weakness
windup
a swinging movement of the arms while twisting the body just before pitching the ball

14. firm belief in yourself
confidence
confidence
fastball,
mocking
outfield
unique
weakness
windup
firm belief in yourself

15. Satchel Paige
A biography is a selection about a real person's life that is written by another person.

16. Explore What makes a great basketball player?
What makes a great basketball team?
What kinds of challenges do baseball players and other athletes face?

17. Guide Questions
Should you expect this biography to have more facts or opinions? Why?
On page 118, the author says Got so Satch began to think of his pitches as his children. What do you think this means? What does this insight offer about Satchel Paige?

18. What was odd about Satchel Paige’s pitch?
Why does Satchel tell the outfield he doesn’t need them?
Fan and teammates yell, “Give it to ‘em, Satch. Show your stuff.” Explain what this idiom means.
What effect did the cheering crowds have on Satchel?

19. Guide Questions What effects did segregation have on the Negro League?
Compare a player's life in the Negro Leagues to a player's life in the Major Leagues.
What details support the main idea that the life in the Negro Leagues suited Satchel?

20. Guided Questions
How did the author use exaggeration and text features to describe Josh Gibson’s abilities? Did she succeed in showing how well Gibson could play?
During Satchel’s career, professional baseball was segregated. Compare segregation in baseball to another kind of segregation. Explain how the two are alike and different.

21. Guided Reading Questions
Explain how Satchel raised the stakes toward the end of the big game.
What conclusions can you draw about Satchel’s character based on how the author describes his behavior during the second game of the Negro World Series?

22. Guide Questions
Before every pitch, Satchel announced what kind of pitch he intended to throw. Infer what effect this had on Josh Gibson.
What is the author’s viewpoint about Satchel Paige?
Was Satchel overconfident? Do you think he would have been truly angry if Josh had hit one of his pitches out the park?

23. Little Rock Nine