Quarter Assessment in English 3

The Duck Who Thinks He's a Chicken

by William Bridges

Beebee is a duck who lives in the New York Children's Zoo. Now, many ducks live in the zoo. But Beebee is a bit different. You see, Beebee thinks he's a chicken.

Beebee was brought to the zoo by the woman who raised him. She had raised him with a flock of chickens. And chickens, of course, don't swim. So neither did Beebee. In fact, the woman said that Beebee was afraid of water.

The zookeeper thought this was the silliest thing he'd ever heard. He was certain that Beebee could swim. All ducks can swim.

The keeper carried Beebee to a nice, shallow, clean pond. It was painted blue and white. And there was a fence around it.

Six other ducks lived on this pond. And they were very happy. They swam. They quacked. And they bobbed their heads under the water to pick up grains of corn that people tossed in for them to eat.

The zookeeper put Beebee down next to the pond. Then he waited for Beebee to walk into the water and start swimming. Beebee didn't. He tried to get through the fence around the pond.

Maybe he's afraid of the other ducks, the zookeeper thought. After all, he's never seen another duck before. He was raised with chickens.

So the zookeeper took the six ducks out of the pond. He took them to a place where Beebee couldn't see them.

But Beebee still wouldn't go in the water. He kept waddling up and down along the fence. He wanted to be as far away from the water as he could get.

"Look," the zookeeper said to Beebee. "All ducks swim. You're a duck. So you've got to swim too."

Then the keeper picked Beebee up. He carried him to the middle of the pond. And he put him in the water.

You have never seen such a terrified duck! Beebee quacked. He flapped his wings. He scrambled for the shore as fast as his legs would carry him. And then he began running faster and faster along the fence.

The zookeeper shook his head. He had seen hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of ducks in the zoo. But this was the first one he had seen that wouldn't swim.

So he picked Beebee up again. And this time he carried him to another part of the zoo. He took him to a barnyard full of chickens. And he turned him loose.

Beebee ran right up to the chickens. He began to quack. The hens began to cluck. The rooster began to crow. Everyone was so happy.

And Beebee lives in the barnyard to this very day, thinking he's a chicken.

Multiple Choice

Another good name for this story is ___________.

• "Too Chicken to Go Swimming"

• "Beebee Learns to Swim"

• "The Unhappy Chicken"

Multiple Choice

The woman probably raised Beebee with a flock of chickens because __________.

• she thought he was a chicken

• she didn't have a flock of ducks

• she knew he couldn't swim

Multiple Choice

The woman probably ___________.

• lived on a farm

• lived in the city

• lived with a lot of ducks

Multiple Choice

Beebee was probably terrified because ___________.

• he was far from his home

• he didn't think he could swim

• he was afraid of the zookeeper

Multiple Choice

It's surprising that the chickens at the zoo weren't afraid of Beebee because ___________.

• they didn't like Beebee

• they had seen ducks before

• they weren't used to ducks

Open Ended

Construct a meaningful sentence using the quantifier some.

Open Ended

Construct a meaningful sentence using the quantifier lots of.

Open Ended

Write 3 pairs of rhyming words.

Open Ended

Write a meaningful sentence using an adverb that tells us how long.

Open Ended

Write a meaningful sentence using an adverb that tells us how long.

Make a LIST of things you need to do to avoid road accidents.

After 5 minutes, post your output on Seesaw.