The Emperor's New Clothes

    Many years ago there was an Emperor so exceedingly fond of new clothes that he spent all his money on being well dressed. He cared nothing about reviewing his soldiers, going to the theatre, or going for a ride in his carriage, except to show off his new clothes. He had a coat for every hour of the day, and instead of saying, as one might, about any other ruler, "The King's in council," here they always said. "The Emperor's in his dressing room."

    In the great city where he lived, life was always gay. Every day many strangers came to town, and among them one day came two swindlers. They let it be known they were weavers, and they said they could weave the most magnificent fabrics imaginable. Not only were their colors and patterns uncommonly fine, but clothes made of this cloth had a wonderful way of becoming invisible to anyone who was unfit for his office, or who was unusually stupid.

    "Those would be just the clothes for me," thought the Emperor. "If I wore them I would be able to discover which men in my empire are unfit for their posts. And I could tell the wise men from the fools. Yes, I certainly must get some of the stuff woven for me right away." He paid the two swindlers a large sum of money to start work at once.

    They set up two looms and pretended to weave, though there was nothing on the looms. All the finest silk and the purest old thread which they demanded went into their traveling bags, while they worked the empty looms far into the night.

    "I'd like to know how those weavers are getting on with the cloth," the Emperor thought, but he felt slightly uncomfortable when he remembered that those who were unfit for their position would not be able to see the fabric. It couldn't have been that he doubted himself, yet he thought he'd rather send someone else to see how things were going. The whole town knew about the cloth's peculiar power, and all were impatient to find out how stupid their neighbors were.

    "I'll send my honest old minister to the weavers," the Emperor decided. "He'll be the best one to tell me how the material looks, for he's a sensible man and no one does his duty better."

    So the honest old minister went to the room where the two swindlers sat working away at their empty looms.

    "Heaven help me," he thought as his eyes flew wide open, "I can't see anything at all". But he did not say so.

    Both the swindlers begged him to be so kind as to come near to approve the excellent pattern, the beautiful colors. They pointed to the empty looms, and the poor old minister stared as hard as he dared. He couldn't see anything, because there was nothing to see. "Heaven have mercy," he thought. "Can it be that I'm a fool? I'd have never guessed it, and not a soul must know. Am I unfit to be the minister? It would never do to let on that I can't see the cloth."

    "Don't hesitate to tell us what you think of it," said one of the weavers.

    "Oh, it's beautiful -it's enchanting." The old minister peered through his spectacles. "Such a pattern, what colors!" I'll be sure to tell the Emperor how delighted I am with it."

    "We're pleased to hear that," the swindlers said. They proceeded to name all the colors and to explain the intricate pattern. The old minister paid the closest attention, so that he could tell it all to the Emperor. And so he did.

    The swindlers at once asked for more money, more silk and gold thread, to get on with the weaving. But it all went into their pockets. Not a thread went into the looms, though they worked at their weaving as hard as ever.

    The Emperor presently sent another trustworthy official to see how the work progressed and how soon it would be ready. The same thing happened to him that had happened to the minister. He looked and he looked, but as there was nothing to see in the looms he couldn't see anything.

    "Isn't it a beautiful piece of goods?" the swindlers asked him, as they displayed and described their imaginary pattern.

    "I know I'm not stupid," the man thought, "so it must be that I'm unworthy of my good office. That's strange. I mustn't let anyone find it out, though." So he praised the material he did not see. He declared he was delighted with the beautiful colors and the exquisite pattern. To the Emperor he said, "It held me spellbound."

    All the town was talking of this splendid cloth, and the Emperor wanted to see it for himself while it was still in the looms. Attended by a band of chosen men, among whom were his two old trusted officials-the ones who had been to the weavers-he set out to see the two swindlers. He found them weaving with might and main, but without a thread in their looms.

    "Magnificent," said the two officials already duped. "Just look, Your Majesty, what colors! What a design!" They pointed to the empty looms, each supposing that the others could see the stuff.

    "What's this?" thought the Emperor. "I can't see anything. This is terrible!

Am I a fool? Am I unfit to be the Emperor? What a thing to happen to me of all people! - Oh! It's very pretty," he said. "It has my highest approval." And he nodded approbation at the empty loom. Nothing could make him say that he couldn't see anything.

    His whole retinue stared and stared. One saw no more than another, but they all joined the Emperor in exclaiming, "Oh! It's very pretty," and they advised him to wear clothes made of this wonderful cloth especially for the great procession he was soon to lead. "Magnificent! Excellent! Unsurpassed!" were bandied from mouth to mouth, and everyone did his best to seem well pleased. The Emperor gave each of the swindlers a cross to wear in his buttonhole, and the title of "Sir Weaver."

    Before the procession the swindlers sat up all night and burned more than six candles, to show how busy they were finishing the Emperor's new clothes. They pretended to take the cloth off the loom. They made cuts in the air with huge scissors. And at last they said, "Now the Emperor's new clothes are ready for him."

    Then the Emperor himself came with his noblest noblemen, and the swindlers each raised an arm as if they were holding something. They said, "These are the trousers, here's the coat, and this is the mantle," naming each garment. "All of them are as light as a spider web. One would almost think he had nothing on, but that's what makes them so fine."

    "Exactly," all the noblemen agreed, though they could see nothing, for there was nothing to see.

    "If Your Imperial Majesty will condescend to take your clothes off," said the swindlers, "we will help you on with your new ones here in front of the long mirror."

    The Emperor undressed, and the swindlers pretended to put his new clothes on him, one garment after another. They took him around the waist and seemed to be fastening something - that was his train-as the Emperor turned round and round before the looking glass.

    "How well Your Majesty's new clothes look. Aren't they becoming!" He heard on all sides, "That pattern, so perfect! Those colors, so suitable! It is a magnificent outfit."

    Then the minister of public processions announced: "Your Majesty's canopy is waiting outside."

    "Well, I'm supposed to be ready," the Emperor said, and turned again for one last look in the mirror. "It is a remarkable fit, isn't it?" He seemed to regard his costume with the greatest interest.

    The noblemen who were to carry his train stooped low and reached for the floor as if they were picking up his mantle. Then they pretended to lift and hold it high. They didn't dare admit they had nothing to hold.

    So off went the Emperor in procession under his splendid canopy. Everyone in the streets and the windows said, "Oh, how fine are the Emperor's new clothes! Don't they fit him to perfection? And see his long train!" Nobody would confess that he couldn't see anything, for that would prove him either unfit for his position, or a fool. No costume the Emperor had worn before was ever such a complete success.

    "But he hasn't got anything on," a little child said.

    "Did you ever hear such innocent prattle?" said its father. And one person whispered to another what the child had said, "He hasn't anything on. A child says he hasn't anything on."

    "But he hasn't got anything on!" the whole town cried out at last.

    The Emperor shivered, for he suspected they were right. But he thought, "This procession has got to go on." So he walked more proudly than ever, as his noblemen held high the train that wasn't there at all.

Emporer's New Clothes- Interpretive Excersize

Read everything FIRST!

Choose any two of the following questions to answer.

1. Why are the swindlers successful?

2. Why is it a little child who first says what everyone else is only thinking?

3. Why do people repeat what the child said, rather than deny it?

4. Why do people whisper that the Emperor has no clothes on before they shout it out?

5. Why does the Emperor decorate the swindlers and make them knights?

6. Why are we told immediately that the two weavers are really swindlers?

7. Why does the Emperor send “two nice old officials” to see how the weaving is coming along?

8. Why does the author make the townspeople eager to know if their neighbors have faults, but not eager to test themselves?

9. Why does the Emperor go through with the procession even after the people have cried out that he has no clothes on?

10. Why doesn’t the Emperor know immediately that the people are right when they shout that he has no clothes on?

11. Why is someone who has many clothes seen at the end of the story without any clothes on at all?

An interpretive question has more than one possible answer, and each answer is supported from the story. Your job is to write two completely different answers to each of the questions you choose to answer, and you must use information in the story to prove your two answers.

Use RARE to answer the questions.

Complex Questions Excersize

Evaluative Questions

3) Evaluative – Questions of evaluation ask us to think about something in the piece based on our own knowledge, values or experiences of life, to decide if we agree with the author’s point of view.
- Evaluative questions do help us understand the piece better.
- Evaluative questions have answers based on the reader’s schema of the way the world really works (not just unsupported opinions)...The answers can be supported from real experiences.
- Evaluative questions are important because they help us relate the experiences of the piece to our own life and the real world.
Shoemaker… Evaluative Questions
- When the shoemaker received the letter from the rich man, why did the shoemaker go “at once”?
Evaluative Questions - Your Turn
Write one evaluative question about the story on the piece of scrap paper you received.
-?
Interpretive Questions
4) Interpretive – A question of interpretation asks readers to look carefully at what happens in the piece and consider what it means—what the author wants us to think about.
- Interpretive questions do help us understand the piece better.
- Interpretive questions are important because they help the reader focus on the piece, always digging into it instead of wandering off track (unlike
evaluative questions which tend to turn into “what if…” and “maybe…” answers which then lead into opinions not based on any support).
- Interpretive questions have more than one reasonable answer which can be supported from evidence in the text—answer based on the piece (you can “prove” it from the piece).
- There should be genuine doubt about the answers to interpretive questions—any of the supported answers may be true.
Shoemaker… Interpretive Questions
- Why did the rich man think that giving the man gold would stop his singing?
Interpretive Questions - Your Turn
Write one interpretive question about the story on the piece of scrap paper you received.
-?
Evaluative vs. Interpretive
Interpretive and evaluative questions are closely related to each other. The easiest way to figure out which type of question it is, is by looking at the type of answer you get.
A question could be either evaluative or interpretive:
- If the answer is supported by real life experiences, it is an evaluative answer.
- If there are at least two different possible answers, and both of them can be supported by the story, then it is an interpretive answer.
It is usually harder to find evaluative questions than fact and guess questions. It is hardest of all to find interpretive questions.

The Four Types of Questions- Simple Exercise

Two Categories of Questions

Some kinds of questions are better at helping us comprehend than others.
Simple Questions
- have simple answers (takes a few words to state)
- are limited (find an answer and move on)
- focuses on objects/things
Complex Questions
- are unlimited (can lead you to think of more questions)
- have layered answers (takes paragraphs to explain)
- focuses on ideas

Four Types of Questions
Simple Questions
- Fact
- Guess
Complex Question
- Evaluative
- Interpretive

Factual Questions
1) Fact – A question of fact has only one correct answer and can be answered directly from information given in a source. (When dealing with fictional material it may not be “true” information, but you can look in the story and find the “correct” answer.)
- Factual questions don’t help us specifically understand the meaning of the piece any better.
- Someone has already done the thinking for you, all you have to do is find out what they wrote.
- Factual answers are usually short.
- Factual questions check to see if we remember details from a story.
- These are the types of questions you are usually asked on tests.

The Rich Man and the Shoemaker
by Jean de La Fontaine
Once upon a time there lived a poor but cheerful shoemaker. He was so happy he sang all day long. The children loved to stand around his window to listen to him.
Next door to the shoemaker lived a rich man. He used to sit up all night to count his gold. In the morning he went to bed, but he could not sleep because of the sound of the shoemaker’s singing. One day he thought of a way of stopping the singing. He wrote a letter to the shoemaker asking him to come by.
The shoemaker went at once, and to his surprise the rich man gave him a bag of gold.
When he got home, the shoemaker opened the bag. He had never seen so much money before! He sat down at his bench and began, carefully, to count it. The children watched through the window.
There was so much there that the shoemaker was afraid to let it out of his sight. So he took it to bed with him. But he could not sleep because he was worrying about it. So he got out of bed and went to hide it in the attic, but he was not sure if that was a good place.
Very early in the morning he got up and brought his gold down from the attic. He had decided to hide it up the chimney instead. But after breakfast he thought it would be safer in the chicken house. So he hid it there.
But he was still uneasy, and in a little while he dug a hole in the garden and buried his bag of gold in it.
It was no use trying to work. He was too worried about the safety of his gold.
And as for singing, he was too miserable to sing a note. He could not sleep, or work, or sing—and, worst of all, the children no longer came to see him.
At last the shoemaker felt so unhappy that he seized his bag of gold and ran next door to the rich man.
“Please take back your gold,” he said. “Worrying about it is making me ill, and I have lost all my friends. I would rather be a poor shoemaker, as I was before.”
And so the shoemaker was happy again and sang all day at his work.

Shoemaker… Factual Questions
- The shoemaker was so happy he did what all day?
- Who lived next door to the shoemaker?
- What did the rich man give to the shoemaker?
Factual Questions - Your Turn
Write three factual questions about the story on the piece of scrap paper you
received.
-?
-?
-?
Guess Questions
2) Guess – These types of questions could have any answer with no way of knowing if the answer is true or false.
- Guess questions have answers based on opinion.
- Guess questions do not help us understand the piece better.
- Guess questions lead us away from understanding the piece because we are distracted with unnecessary things.
Shoemaker… Guess Questions
- What color was the shoemaker’s hair?
- Where did the rich man work?
- What were the names of the kids who watched and listened to the shoemaker?
Guess Questions - Your Turn
Write three guess questions about the story on the piece of scrap paper you
received.
-?
-?
-?

Introduction to Questioning

Read and discuss these points as a class.

What is “Comprehension”?
-What is “comprehension”?
-Why is it important?
-When do you need to comprehend things?

Questioning
-What is the purpose of questions?
-Is there such a thing as a “dumb” question?
-When do you usually have to answer questions at school?
-What kinds of questions do you usually have to answer?

Questioning for Comprehension (Meaning)
Questioning is a good strategy for comprehending a piece because… (throw out some ideas).

-it slows the reader down long enough to use other good reading
comprehension strategies as well.
-it makes the meaning clear by focusing on parts that are hard to
understand.
-it helps figure out the author’s purpose by focusing on important parts.
-it help us get off the surface and into the meat of the material.
-it prompts us to research and find out more.

Spy/Detective Summary

Write a summary that tells what you have learned about spies and detectives this year.  The only requirements for this summary are:
-it should be 5-7 sentences long, in paragraph format
-the first sentence should tell what the main idea of your paragraph is going to be about

Ex:  I want to write a summary about how cool spies and detectives are.  First sentence:  "Being a spy or a detective would be so cool."  The rest of the sentences would tell what's so cool about spies and detectives.

Ex:  I want to write a summary about how spies and detectives are similar, but have a lot of differences, too.  First sentence:  "Spies and detectives may have a lot in common, but they are really very different jobs."  The rest of the sentences would compare/contrast spies and detectives. 

Ex:  I want to write a summary about the dangers of being a spy/detective.  First sentence:  "Being a spy or a detective is a dangerous job."  The rest of the sentences would talk about all the dangerous things spies/detectives do.

The Westing Game

Author
Ellen Raskin



Exposition
The majority of the future Westing heirs are invited to live in the newly built Sunset Towers, which is situated near the seemingly abandoned house of Sam Westing, owner of the Westing Paper company. 

Rising Action
The sixteen heirs of Sam Westing's will are invited to play a game that will solve the mystery of which heir among them took Westing's life.

BFG Fab Five Assignment

Write a "fab 5" summary for the BFG.  Answer these questions in one paragraph:
1. SOMEONE: who are the main characters of the BFG?
2. WANTED: what do they want?
3. BUT: what is the big problem they face that is keeping them from reaching their goal?
4. SO: how do they resolve this issue?
5. THEN: do they end up getting what they wanted?  How does the story end?  *If you haven't finished the book yet, you will have to make an INFERENCE as to how the story ends.*

Type your summary with a partner in Google drive.  Include BOTH your first and last names in the header.  Title your paragraph, "BFG Fab Five Summary."  SHARE it with Mrs. K on Google drive.

5 Rules for Writing a Summary

1. Collapse lists.  If there is a list of things, supply a word or phrase for the whole list.  For example, if you saw swimming, sailing, fishing, and surfing, you could substitute water sports.

2. Use topic sentences.  Sometimes authors write a sentence that summarizes the whole paragraph.  If so, use that sentence in your summary.  If not, you'll have to make up your own topic sentence.

3. Get rid of unnecessary detail.  Sometimes information is repeated or is stated in several different ways. Some information may be trivial and unnecessary.  Get rid of repetitive or trivial information. Summaries should be short.

4. Collapse paragraphs. Often, paragraphs are related to each other.  For example, some paragraphs simply explain or expand on other paragraphs in a selection.  Some paragraphs are more important than others.  Join the paragraphs that are related.  Important paragraphs should stand alone.

5. Polish the summary.  When you collapse a lot of information from many paragraphs, the resulting summary sometimes sounds awkward and unnatural. There are several ways to remedy this: add connecting words such as like or because, or write introductory or closing statements.  Another method is to paraphrase the material; this will improve your ability to remember what you read and enable you to avoid plagiarism- using the exact words of the author.

Summary vs. Analysis

What is an analysis? 

An analysis is what the reader thinks or feels about the piece. 

What is a summary?
A summary describes what the piece is about by focusing on the important parts that the author has shared. 

Secret Messages

Would you and your friends like to write secret messages to each other? If you read this article, you will soon know how to do it.

Secret codes have been used throughout history to send messages. A code
gives special meanings to symbols, words, or even a nod of the head. Codes
can be difficult to learn. Some codes can be used only by people who have
the same code book or computer program.

For secret messages that you write to your friends, it is best to use a cipher.
Unlike a code, a cipher uses the regular meanings of words. The words look
funny, though. Each letter has been changed to something else. It might be
another letter, a number, or a symbol. Words written in cipher are easy to
read once you know the key. Here is an example:

1) Write the alphabet in one row. Under it, write the alphabet backwards. Place each letter directly under a letter in the first row.
A B C D  E  F G H I  J  K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y  Z
Z Y X W V U  T S R Q P O N M L K J  I  H G F E  D C  B A
2) To write a message, use the letters in the second row to stand for the letters you really mean. For example, the word YOU would be BLF.
3) To read the message, change each letter back. If BLF is in the message, find B in the bottom row. You can see that it stands for Y.
4) People who want to know your secrets might try to figure out the key to your cipher. To make the cipher harder to figure out, change the spacing of the words. You can put letters in groups of five: HVXIV GNVHH ZTVHX ZMYVU FM. Using the key, it becomes SECRE TMESS AGESC ANBEF UN. Put the spaces in the right places. Now it says, “SECRET MESSAGES CAN BE FUN.”

RARE Review- Little Red Hen

Question:  From this story, what lesson can be learned about the value of work? Use RARE to answer the question.

RARE: Restate the question, answer the question, give a reason why you chose your answer.  Give an example (from the story) that helps you illustrate your point.

Let's practice answering this question together.