Spring Stories

Week 1: It’s Spring, Linda Glaser

Vocabulary
  • gush: to spurt or pour out
  • sleek: smooth and shiny
  • warble: sounds a bird makes
  • unfurl: to open out
  • dart: to rush or run fast
  1. Look at the milk gush from the carton!
  2. The cat has sleek fur.
  3. Robins warble in the trees during spring.
  4. Butterflies unfurl their long antennae.
  5. Don’t let your dog dart into the street.
Comprehension Questions
  1. I ran outside in thin pants and short sleeves.
  2. No heavy coat is bundled around me.
  3. We hear the trickle of melting snow.
  4. Then one day rain pours down.
  5. We find pointy leaf buds on bushes and trees.
  6. I rub one gently against my cheek.
  7. We find new growing things everywhere.
  8. Early in the morning we hear bird sing.
  9. In this hole are new baby bunnies.
  10. It’s time to plant seeds.
  11. Then all the spring peepers and bullfrogs sing.
  12. Dragonflies dip and dart every which way.

Week 2: Zinnia’s Flower Garden, Monica Wellington

Vocabulary
  • sprout: send out shoots
  • burrow: to dig out
  • pesky: causing trouble
  • buzz: humming sound
  • bouquet: bunch of flowers
  1. The seeds I planted didn’t sprout for a long time.
  2. A soft brown bunny lives in a burrow in the field.
  3. Bluejays can be so pesky toward other birds.
  4. Sally looked up when she heard a loud buzz by her ear.
  5. Hikers on the mountain picked a bouquet of wild flowers.
Comprehension Questions
  1. She covers the seeds and pats the dirt gently.
  2. Zinnia takes out stones and rakes the dirt.
  3. Seeds need the sun to shine, and the rain to fall.
  4. The first seedling is poking its way up through the dirt.
  5. The sun is hot and the soil is dry.
  6. Every day the plants get bigger and bigger.
  7. There are many more buds that will open soon.
  8. Zinnia picnics among them.
  9. Fragrant scents of flowers swirl around her in the warm breeze.
  10. Customers drop money in her jar.
  11. Zinnia will save them to plant next year.
  12. The winter days are short.

Week 3: The Tiny Seed, Eric Carle

Vocabulary
  • icy: frozen
  • desert: barren land
  • blanket: to cover over
  • weed: a wild plant
  • petal: usually the colored segment of a flower
  1. My windshield has an icy layer on it.
  2. Beautiful, interesting rocks can be found in the desert if you look carefully.
  3. Our tent has a blanket of snow covering it.
  4. Butterflies are attracted to certain weeds in my yard.
  5. Dahlias have super colorful petals that can be very long.
Comprehension Questions
  1. It is autumn.
  2. One of the seeds is tiny, smaller than all the others.
  3. The sun’s hot rays burn it up.
  4. The rest of the seeds fly on.
  5. Finally, the wind stops and the seeds fall gently to the ground.
  6. A hungry mouse eats a seed for his lunch.
  7. But finally, it starts to grow into a plant.
  8. A hand reaches down and breaks off the flower.
  9. It is the tallest flower they have ever seen.
  10. The days grow shorter.
  11. The wind blows harder.
  12. This time the flower’s seed pod opens.

Week 4: The Ugly Vegetables, Grace Lin

Vocabulary
  • shovel: a tool for digging up dirt
  • fuzzy: soft hairy like texture
  • muscles: a body tissue that makes movement
  • aroma: a pleasant smell
  • recipe: instructions for making food
  1. I use a shovel to dig my garden every spring.
  2. Pussywillows feel fuzzy on my cheek.
  3. Maria lifts weights so her muscles will grow.
  4. The aroma of fresh bakes cinnamon rolls will make you drool.
  5. Please follow the recipe carefully or the dish might fail.
Comprehension Questions
  1. I saw pink worms wriggle around.
  2. We dragged the hose to the garden.
  3. Mrs. Angelhowe has seed packages in her garden.
  4. The neighbors’ plants look different.
  5. Soon all the neighbors’ gardens were blooming.
  6. Our garden was all dark green and ugly.
  7. We wheeled them to the kitchen.
  8. They took deep breaths, like they were trying to eat the smell.
  9. The soup was yellow and red and green and pink.
  10. My mother gave them each their own bowl of her special soup.
  11. It was the best dinner ever.
  12. Soon the whole neighborhood was growing Chinese vegetables.

Week 5: Rechenka’s Eggs, Patricia Polacco

Vocabulary
  • festival: a special event, celebration
  • waddle: to walk from side to side like a duck
  • hearth: the floor in front of a fireplace
  • procession: group of people moving together
  • poems: a type of figurative writing
  1. Growing up, Jane always attended the tulip festival in Hollywood.
  2. Toddlers waddle across the park.
  3. The hearth looks pretty decorated with candles.
  4. A procession of musicians walked into the hall.
  5. In Greg’s poem he used many descriptive words.
Comprehension Questions
  1. Her eggs were so beautiful, she always won first prize at the festival.
  2. Each day Babushka would take the shell of an egg and paint it.
  3. Hers of caribou came to feed at Babushka’s.
  4. “A hunter did this,” Babushka grumbled.
  5. To repay her kindness, Rechenka laid an egg every morning.
  6. The goose knocked over the basket of eggs that Babushka so lovingly painted.
  7. A miracle has replaced the eggs that were broken.
  8. The festival was bright and exciting.
  9. The judges picked Babushka’s eggs as the most beautiful.
  10. When Babushka arrived at her home, Rechnka was gone.
  11. Babushka was awakened from a sound sleep by an ever so small sound.
  12. This little goose remained with Babushka always.