What is the Theme?

Katie Clean invited Messy Missy to her house to work on their biology project, but Katie Clean had no idea what a visit from Messy Missy entailed.  First of all, it was raining and Missy neither bothered to take her boots off nor thoroughly wiped them on the doormat.  Then Missy ate a bag of BBQ chips on Katie’s white bedspread without asking.  Katie tried to be polite and ignore Missy’s sloppy behavior, but then Messy Missy threw her chip wrapper on the floor.  Offended, Katie  pretended that she was sick and asked Missy to leave.  The next day Katie  asked the teacher if she could work by herself.  After explaining her situation, the teacher allowed Katie to work alone.  Messy Missy would have finished the assignment by herself, but she spilled grape soda all over her assignment.

• People should clean up their own messes.
• Being clean is better than being messy.
• Try your best to solve a problem, but sometimes you just need to walk away.
• Tell the teacher if someone is annoying you.

Tags

CCSS.RL.3.9

CCSS.RL.4.2

CCSS.RL.4.9

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.5.9

Money Mark was born rich.  He never had to work a day in his life and he got everything handed to him.  When he was six, Mark wanted to go to a basketball game.  His father paid the starting five of the Warriors and Cavs to play a private game of Nerf-ball in Mark’s bedroom.  When Mark turned thirteen, he wanted to start a band.  His father hired One Direction to play with him every Saturday at the family’s private concert hall, though his family was never there.  By the time he was twenty-one, Mark was bored with life.  He was surrounded by a bunch of possessions that he didn’t appreciate.  Despite his vast wealth, Mark never found happiness.  

• Ask and will get what you want.
• Money can't buy happiness.
• Money should be appreciated and not wasted.
• One Direction is not a good band to hire.

Penny was born poor.  Her family hardly had anything to eat, but they loved each other.  Penny appreciated every thing she got.  When she was six, her father walked her around the Cable Box before the Hornets played the Celtics.  She was excited by the crazy fans and feeling in the air.  She looked forward to the day when they could get tickets and see a real game.  When she was thirteen, she learned to play buckets like drums.  She was an extremely talented musician. By the time she was 21, Penny was a successful drummer in a band.  Now she had everything that she had ever dreamed of and she truly loved to share her wealth and happiness with her family. 

• Hard work pays off.
• Make the most of what you have in life.
• Being poor makes you happy.
• Money doesn't grow on trees.

Tags

CCSS.RL.3.9

CCSS.RL.4.2

CCSS.RL.4.9

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.5.9

Tammy and Sammy were both students in Mr. Morton’s reading class.  Mr. Morton wasn’t too strict about deadlines, and Sammy took advantage of that.  He did all of his homework in his other classes but never bothered to complete Mr. Morton’s reading assignments, figuring that he could complete them later.  Tammy, on the other hand, completed each assignment Mr. Morton assigned the night that he assigned it.  She had to stay up a little later, but she didn’t want to get a penalty for turning in her reading work late.  When the end of the quarter came, Tammy and Sammy had both planned on going to the amusement park, but Mr. Morton called Sammy’s mother, and she grounded Sammy until he turned in all of his work.  That weekend was horrible for Sammy.  He stayed up until 2:00 AM each night and still couldn’t complete all of the assignments.  The whole while, Tammy had a great time at the amusement park.

• Slow and steady wins the race.
• Do your homework.
• Listen to your teacher.
• Be a responsible learner even when no one is checking on you.

Tags

CCSS.RL.4.2

CCSS.RL.4.9

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.5.9

CCSS.RL.6.2

In his sophomore year of high school, Michael Jordan tried out for the varsity basketball team at Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina.  But at five feet and eleven inches tall, the coach believed that Jordan was too short to play at that level, so Jordan was cut from the team.  Jordan didn’t let this obstacle defeat him.  In fact, it pushed him to work even harder.  He trained vigorously and grew another four inches the following summer.  When he finally made the varsity squad, Jordan averaged 25 points a game and went on to become one of the greatest basketball players in history. 

• Don't give up. Keep trying.
• If you don't make the team try a different sport.
• Work hard to get stronger.
• Use the summer to practice.

Tags

CCSS.RL.3.9

CCSS.RL.4.2

CCSS.RL.4.9

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.5.9

Even though they were sisters, Suzie and June were nothing alike.  If Suzie wanted to jump rope, June wanted to play hopscotch.  It seemed that they had nothing in common, until the day that progress reports came out.  While riding the bus home from school, the girls realized that they were both failing a subject.  Suzie was failing math and June was failing reading.  Since both girls wanted to pass their classes, they got to talking and agreed to help one another.  So every day after school for the next few weeks, Suzie tutored June in reading and then June tutored Suzie in math.  By the time report cards came, Suzie and June were passing all of their classes. 

• Sisters should help each other.
• Help others.
• Find what you are good at doing and share your skill.
• Even people who are different can get along when they have a common goal.

Tags

CCSS.RL.4.2

CCSS.RL.4.9

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.5.9

CCSS.RL.6.2

Ulysses spent all of his free time reading books and felt that he was very intelligent.  One day a nice student from his class asked him if he wanted to go sledding and Ulysses responded, “I’ve read about sledding in books, and it sounds miserable.  No, thank you.”  On another day, a different friendly student asked Ulysses if he wanted to go out for hotdogs after school.  Ulysses responded, “I’ve read that hotdogs are filled with rat parts and pig bellies.  No, thank you.”  Nobody asked Ulysses to hang out again, but he did read about friends in his books.

• Books can teach us a lot.
• Be nice and make new friends.
• Take a break from your usual routine and try something new.
• Ulysses is rude.

Tags

CCSS.RL.4.2

CCSS.RL.4.9

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.5.9

CCSS.RL.6.2