LEVEL
V
The Mighty Shire
Benchmark Passage
:%9$""
Word Count: 186
The Mighty Shire
Throughout history, people have depended on
domesticated animals, such as horses, to help them
execute many tasks. Humans have bred, trained, and
partnered with horses for many purposes: plowing fields,
driving cattle, transporting goods, fighting battles, racing,
hunting, and riding for pleasure. One of the most
imposing, versatile breeds of horses is the Shire.
Shires are sometimes called “gentle giants” because
these horses have massive bodies and incredible strength,
but a calm attitude. They have thick necks, broad faces,
and long tufts of hair on their legs. Shires are among the
tallest breeds, averaging in height from about sixteen to
eighteen hands from ground to shoulder. A hand is a
measurement of four inches.
One of the tallest horses ever measured was a Shire
horse named Sampson that was born in 1848. He stood
over twenty-one hands—that’s over seven feet tall—and
weighed in at over 3,300 pounds! He was so large that his
name was eventually changed to “Mammoth.”
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LEVEL
Benchmark Passage
:%9$""
V
The Mighty Shire
Word Count: 186
Experts estimate the population of Shires around the
world to be less than two thousand, which makes them a
beautiful, helpful, huge, but rare breed.
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LEVEL
V
Hope Names
Benchmark Passage
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Word Count: 179
Hopi Names
When we went to the Hopi reservation to visit Nana
and Uncle Pedro, I spent all my time with my uncle. That
might sound unfair, but which would you rather do: ride
a four-wheeler around roping horses, or sit in a stuffy
kitchen listening to a conversation you couldn’t
comprehend?
One time, however, I was nursing a fractured collarbone
and couldn’t do ranch duty. While I sat there with Mom
and Nana, unbelievably bored and longing to be outdoors
with Uncle Pedro, Nana suddenly turned to me. She
spoke at length in Hopi and chuckled when I looked
bewildered.
“She asked if you knew that the horses respond better
when you call them by their Hopi name, kawayo,” Mom
translated.
“Kawayo,” I repeated, recognizing a word I’d heard
Uncle Pedro use. Nana gestured to a pitcher of water and
spoke more incomprehensible words. “If you want them
to drink,” Mom explained, “say kuuyi, or water.”
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LEVEL
Benchmark Passage
:%9$""
V
Hopi Names
Word Count: 179
“Kuuyi,” I said, now listening closely to Nana’s
unfamiliar words. I had never realized that Nana could
teach me something about the ranch, too.
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LEVEL
V
Relearning Myaamia
Benchmark Passage
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Word Count: 179
Relearning Myaamia
When Columbus first landed in the New World, Native
Americans spoke more than three hundred diverse
languages. Today, only about half of those languages
survive. They continue to disappear as young tribe
members grow up speaking English or Spanish, never
having the opportunity to learn a tongue spoken solely by
their elderly relatives.
It looked like Myaamia, the language of the Miami tribe
of Oklahoma and Ohio, would become a “dead” language
when the last fluent native speaker died in the 1960s. Then
something unexpected happened: Myaamia refused to go
away. In the 1990s, Miami tribe member Daryl Baldwin
began researching his ancestors’ language. He located a
few rare recordings of people speaking Myaamia, plus
hundreds of written documents, including a dictionary.
He painstakingly taught himself the language, and then
shared his knowledge with his children. He used Internet
flash cards to spread Myaamia vocabulary, and eventually
opened a camp where tribe members and other interested
Americans could learn Myaamia words, stories, and
culture. By 2011, about fifty people spoke Myaamia, the
language that came back from the dead.
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LEVEL
V
Cowgirl Memory
Benchmark Passage
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Word Count: 177
Cowgirl Memory
Rosalind dismounted her feisty palomino, Shasta,
tightened the saddle’s cinch, and gazed out at the expanse
of land below. She’d ridden to the summit of Campbell
Ranch’s tallest hill to watch the sunrise.
She thought back ten years to when she was fourteen
and moved from Sacramento to her Aunt Tanya’s ranch.
She’d dreamed of being a cowgirl, and when her aunt
invited her to visit for the summer, she was ecstatic.
However, ranch life wasn’t quite what she expected.
“I can’t wait to go on a cattle drive,” Rosalind said
when she arrived.
“We don’t go on cattle drives,” Aunt Tanya explained
kindly, “but we’ll teach you to ride horses and to herd,
rope, and care for our livestock.”
It didn’t take Rosalind long to learn the ropes of ranch
life, though she experienced her share of bumps, scrapes,
and bruises. When summer ended, Aunt Tanya invited
Rosalind to stay on and her parents granted her
permission.
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LEVEL
Benchmark Passage
:%9$""
V
Cowgirl Memory
Word Count: 177
Rosalind remounted Shasta, gathered the reins, and
headed back down to the ranch house in the warm
morning sunshine.
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