3rd Grade Assessment: Unit 4 – RI.3.2, RI.3.4, RI.3.5, RI.3.7, RI.3.8, L.3.4
Justice January 31, 2015
Directions: Read this story. Then answer questions 1 through 6.
Snow Fun on the Run!
by Daniel Lee
1 Wintertime gym class means ball tag and jumping jacks, right?
2 SNOW WAY!
3 Teachers say snowshoes are improving their students’:
- hearts and lungs,
- muscles,
- and spirits.
4 Kids just say it’s fun!
5 “It’s sort of like you’re walking on thin air,” said Troy Pierce, eight. “The snowshoes sort of keep you up on the snow.”
6 And that’s pretty important where they live, said Alex Almquist.
7 Alex and Troy are students at Hancock Elementary School in the far northern part of Michigan. “There’s lots and lots of snow,” laughed Alex.
8 That means snowshoes are perfect for gym class in the winter.
9 “The benefit of snowshoeing for kids is getting their heart rate up near maximum,” says Julie Hamar, a PE teacher at Hancock Elementary School in Hancock, Michigan. “It’s a good all around activity for kids.”
10 In other words, “It’s hard to walk and it gets your legs all strong,” said Troy.
11 Nearly 400 students in Ms. Hamar’s PE classes get to use the snowshoes, taking hikes, running relay races, and doing outside exercises.
12 The school’s PTO purchased the snowshoes for the kids recently. Not only do PE classes use them, but regular classes strap them on for outside nature hikes and wildlife study, too.
13 “I teach them the basic technique: how to put on the snowshoes and the proper ways of walking in snowshoes,” Ms. Hamar says.
14 “You have to lift your feet up or you’re going to trip,” cautions Alex, eight.
“Snowshoes are huge.”
15 The classes take a short hike around the school. Then they hit the slopes and trails nearby. It’s not unusual to see animal signs.
16 “We saw tracks and a den,” said Troy. The rabbit that made them had something in common with the kids.
17 “Their feet are really flat, like snowshoes,” Troy said.
“They’re better for walking.”
18 “It’s good for the kids because it’s extra hard work walking on the snowshoes in deep snow,” says Ms. Hamar. “You can tell. They start to unzip their jackets; they’re starting to sweat underneath their hats.”
19 All that means the kids are getting good exercise and having fun instead of sitting around all winter.
20 Making tracks outside means getting strong inside.
Snow Toes
Sam Watson has been on the snowshoe crew longer than he can remember.
His father started making children’s snowshoes when Sam was only two or three.
But he recalls lots of snowshoeing from about age 5 or 6, as his father, Jim Watson, the founder of Little Bear Snowshoes, created new shoes.
“Of course, I was the logical one to test them,” says Sam, now 11.
But snowshoes are also a great way to reach the hidden skiing and ice fishing spots that Sam loves. “You’re strapped onto a big oval-shaped sort of platform and that allows more surface on the snow, so you don’t sink,” he says.
“Snowshoes spread your weight out over the snow,” says Sam, showing the wide working surface of snowshoes above.
“You can go out in the wintertime and not worry about getting snow in your pants and freezing your legs off.”
