PASSAGE 13
Week 2
Summer
Achievement
Program
Grade 6 • Level U • Word Count 574
Fiction
Casey at the Bat
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2
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The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play,
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game.
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A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, “If only Casey could but get a whack at that—
We’d put up even money now, with Casey at the bat.”
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But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a hoodoo, while the latter was a cake;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat;
For there seemed but little chance of Casey getting to the bat.
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But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despised, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and men saw what had occurred,
There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.
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Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It pounded on the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.
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There was ease in Casey’s manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Casey’s bearing and a smile lit Casey’s face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt ’twas Casey at the bat.
Summer Achievement Program/Passages
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GRADE 6 | Casey at the Bat • Passage 13, Level U
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Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt.
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance flashed in Casey’s eye, a sneer curled Casey’s lip.
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And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped —
“That ain’t my style,” said Casey. “Strike one!” the umpire said.
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From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore;
“Kill him! Kill the umpire!” shouted someone on the stand;
And it’s likely they’d have killed him had not Casey raised his hand.
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With a smile of Christian charity great Casey’s visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the dun sphere flew;
But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said “Strike two!”
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“Fraud!” cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered, “Fraud!”
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldn’t let that ball go by again.
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The sneer has fled from Casey’s lip, the teeth are clenched in hate;
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey’s blow.
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Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Casey has struck out.
Copyright © 2014 Sundance/Newbridge Publishing, LLC.
Excerpted from the Sundance title The Mighty Casey by Ernest Thayer and Grantland Rice, Level U.
Copyright © Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd.
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Summer Achievement Program/Passages
Passage 13, Level U • Casey at the Bat | GRADE 6
Name ___________________________________________________________________
Selected Responses
Mark the letter of the correct answer.
1. W
hat was the situation when Casey came up to bat? (Hint: There are nine innings
in baseball.)
A. ninth inning, two outs, one player on a base
B. eighth inning, two outs, one player on a base
C. ninth inning, two outs, two players on bases
D. eighth inning, two outs, two players on bases
2. What genre is “Casey at the Bat”?
A. a narrative telling a story
B. a newspaper article about a ballgame
C. a ballad about a hero
D. a poem about a baseball game
3. Reread lines 40–44. What does the phrase “the ball unheeded sped” mean?
A. Casey did not swing at the ball.
B. The catcher did not catch the ball.
C. The umpire did not see the ball.
D. The pitch was a fastball.
© Sundance/Newbridge, LLC
Summer Achievement Program/Passages
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GRADE 6 | Casey at the Bat • Passage 13, Level U
Name ___________________________________________________________________
Constructed Responses
4. Using words from the text, explain what kind of person Casey was.
5. Explain why the author did not tell the results of Casey’s “mighty swing” at the
beginning of the last stanza instead of at the end.
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Summer Achievement Program/Passages
© Sundance/Newbridge, LLC
Passage 13, Level U • Casey at the Bat | GRADE 6
Name ___________________________________________________________________
Writing Activity
Fill in the chart about “Casey at the Bat.”
Characters
Problem
Events
Setting
Solution
© Sundance/Newbridge, LLC
Summer Achievement Program/Passages
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Benefits of the Sundance/Newbridge
Summer Achievement Program
For Students:
Offers a range of high quality, carefully leveled informational and
literary passages covering a wide range of captivating stories and
topics.
Promotes effective test-taking practices through selected-response and
constructed-response assessment items.
Provides a consistent format and multiple opportunities to practice
reading succinct passages, establishing a solid foundation for reading
comprehension.
Supplies practice with written responses allowing for an improved
connection between reading and writing.
Fosters practical comprehension and test-taking skills that can be
applied to texts from any subject.
For Teachers:
Supplies standard-specific questions to assess students’ comprehension.
Presents explicit instruction for using the gradual release of
responsibility model to promote collaborative learning.
Includes a flexible pacing guide to meet the needs of each individual
class.
Integrates diagnostic assessment into each week’s lesson plan for
evaluating and monitoring students’ progress.
Gives detailed scoring points and sample answers to each constructedresponse item.
Uses a consistent instructional format from week to week that allows
for ease of implementation in any summer school classroom setting.
Summer Achievement Program/Passages TEACHER GUIDE
3
Using This Teacher Guide
Use the Pacing Guide on the following pages along with the following steps for each week’s
instruction to implement this program in your classroom.
Diagnostic Pre-Test: Begin the week by having students read and respond to the week’s
first passage. Use their work to diagnose students’ reading comprehension skills at this
Guided Reading Level.
Model: Use the week’s second passage to model for the whole class how to read and
respond to a nonfiction text. First, read aloud the entire passage, stopping to reread
difficult sections. Then, complete each selected response question as a class by first
reading the question and answer choices aloud and showing students how to go back to
the passage to locate or find evidence to support the correct answer. Finally, work with
the class to write answers to the constructed response questions and complete the writing
activity, again referring back to the passage often.
Repeat the above process with the week’s third passage, which is a fiction passage.
Guided Practice: Have students work in pairs or small groups to read and respond to the
week’s fourth passage. Provide support to students, reminding them to reread sections of
the text and to review their answers after they have finished.
Repeat for the week’s fifth passage. Provide support to student pairs as needed.
Independent Application: Have students read the week’s seventh passage
independently. When students have finished, review the answers with them using the
answers and scoring points in this Teacher Guide. Have any students who finish early read
one of the week’s leveled readers for additional close reading practice with a longer text.
Provide support to students who may be struggling. Guide them to locate the text that
helps them answer each question. Remind them that good readers reread sections or the
entire text to improve their understanding.
Repeat the above process with the week’s eighth and ninth passages.
Diagnostic Posttest: End the week by evaluating students’ progress by having students
read and respond to the week’s tenth passage posttest. Assign leveled readers to students
who have shown improvement and allow them to read independently. Continue to work
closely with students who may still be struggling. Reread the week’s tenth passage with
them and work together to respond to the questions. As time allows, repeat with other
passages that were read earlier in the week.
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TEACHER GUIDE
Summer Achievement Program/Passages
Grade 6 Pacing Guide
DAY 4
DAY 3
DAY 2
DAY 1
Week 1
Guided Reading Level T
Task
Classroom Organization
Estimated Time
Diagnostic Pretest
Passage 1 “Sports Mad Magazine” (Fiction)
Individual assessment
30–45 mins
Model
Passage 2 “The First Clocks” (Nonfiction)
Teacher-led whole class instruction
60–75 mins
Model
Passage 3 “Washing-Machine Blues” (Fiction)
Teacher-led whole class instruction
60–75 mins
Guided Practice
Passage 4 “Producers and Consumers”
(Nonfiction)
Student pairs with teacher support
30–45 mins
Guided Practice
Passage 5 “A Bold Plan” (Nonfiction)
Student pairs
30–45 mins
Independent Application
Passage 6 “An Alarming Incident” (Fiction)
Independent work with teacher support
as needed
60–75 mins
Independent Application
Passage 7 “All About Oil” (Nonfiction)
Independent work
40–60 mins
Independent work
40–60 mins
Independent work
60–75 mins
Individual assessment
30–45 mins
Additional Practice: Outbreak! Controlling
Disease (Nonfiction)
Independent Application
Passage 8 “The Hungry Romans” (Nonfiction)
DAY 5
Additional Practice: On Assignment: Queen
Anne’s Revenge (Nonfiction)
Independent Application
Passage 9 “Changing Body Temperature”
(Nonfiction)
Additional Practice: The Biosphere (Nonfiction)
Posttest
Passage 10 “Looking Good in Ancient Egypt”
(Nonfiction)
Summer Achievement Program/Passages TEACHER GUIDE
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DAY 9
DAY 8
DAY 7
DAY 6
Week 2
Guided Reading Level U
Task
Classroom Organization
Estimated Time
Diagnostic Pretest
Passage 11 “The Cackleberry Creek Foghorn”
(Fiction)
Individual assessment
30–45 mins
Model
Passage 12 “The World of Worms” (Nonfiction)
Teacher-led whole class instruction
60–75 mins
Model
Passage 13 “Casey at the Bat” (Fiction)
Teacher-led whole class instruction
60–75 mins
Guided Practice
Passage 14 “A Pirate’s Work Is Never Done”
(Nonfiction)
Student pairs with teacher support
30–45 mins
Guided Practice
Passage 15 “Cesar Chavez” (Nonfiction)
Student pairs
30–45 mins
Independent Application
Passage 16 “Paul Revere’s Ride” (Fiction)
Independent work with teacher support
as needed
60–75 mins
Independent Application
Passage 17 “City on the Lake” (Nonfiction)
Independent work
40–60 mins
Independent work
40–60 mins
Independent work
60–75 mins
Individual assessment
30–45 mins
Additional Practice: For a Good Cause
(Nonfiction)
Independent Application
Passage 18 “Two Great Deserts” (Nonfiction)
DAY 10
Additional Practice: Hurricanes (Nonfiction)
10
Independent Application
Passage 19 “Living on a Hot Planet” (Nonfiction)
Additional Practice: Aztecs (Nonfiction)
Posttest
Passage 20 “A River in the Sea” (Nonfiction)
TEACHER GUIDE
Summer Achievement Program/Passages
DAY 14
DAY 13
DAY 12
DAY 11
Week 3
Guided Reading Level V
Task
Classroom Organization
Estimated Time
Diagnostic Pretest
Passage 21 “Test-Subject Klang” (Fiction)
Individual assessment
30–45 mins
Model
Passage 22 “The Hubble Space Telescope”
(Nonfiction)
Teacher-led whole class instruction
60–75 mins
Model
Passage 23 “The Villainous Inventor” (Fiction)
Teacher-led whole class instruction
60–75 mins
Guided Practice
Passage 24 “Journey to Jupiter” (Nonfiction)
Student pairs with teacher support
30–45 mins
Guided Practice
Passage 25 “The Beginnings of Plastic”
(Nonfiction)
Student pairs
30–45 mins
Independent Application
Passage 26 “The Competition” (Fiction)
Independent work with teacher support
as needed
60–75 mins
Independent Application
Passage 27 “Algae, Algae Everywhere!”
(Nonfiction)
Independent work
40–60 mins
Independent work
40–60 mins
Independent work
60–75 mins
Individual assessment
30–45 mins
Additional Practice: Discovering the Moons of
Jupiter (Nonfiction)
Independent Application
Passage 28 “Exploring the Galapagos Islands”
(Nonfiction)
Additional Practice: Looking Inside: New Views
of the Human Body (Nonfiction)
DAY 15
Independent Application
Passage 29 “Two Ocean Explorers” (Nonfiction)
Additional Practice: Animal Adaptations
(Nonfiction)
Posttest
Passage 30 “Science at the Amusement Park”
(Nonfiction)
Summer Achievement Program/Passages TEACHER GUIDE
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DAY 19
DAY 18
DAY 17
DAY 16
Week 4
Guided Reading Level W
Task
Classroom Organization
Estimated Time
Diagnostic Pretest
Passage 31 “Gold in the Hills” (Fiction)
Individual assessment
30–45 mins
Model
Passage 32 “Newton’s Laws of Motion”
(Nonfiction)
Teacher-led whole class instruction
60–75 mins
Model
Passage 33 “Television” (Fiction)
Teacher-led whole class instruction
60–75 mins
Guided Practice
Passage 34 “Using Force and Motion” (Nonfiction)
Student pairs with teacher support
30–45 mins
Guided Practice
Passage 35 “Friction” (Nonfiction)
Student pairs
30–45 mins
Independent Application
Passage 36 “Fourth Quarter” (Fiction)
Independent work with teacher support
as needed
60–75 mins
Independent Application
Passage 37 “Amazing Plants: Food, Fuel, and
Medicine” (Nonfiction)
Independent work
40–60 mins
Independent work
40–60 mins
Independent work
60–75 mins
Individual assessment
30–45 mins
Additional Practice: From Skyscrapers to
Superdomes: Forces in Balance (Nonfiction)
Independent Application
Passage 38 “Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day”
(Nonfiction)
DAY 20
Additional Practice: Rome (Nonfiction)
12
Independent Application
Passage 39 “The Approaching Storm” (Nonfiction)
Additional Practice: 15 Orchard Street (Fiction)
Posttest
Passage 40 “Colonies No More” (Nonfiction)
TEACHER GUIDE
Summer Achievement Program/Passages
Grade 6 | Passage 13 | Level U
“Casey at the Bat”
Selected Responses
1. C (RL.6.1, RL.6.10)
2. D (RL.6.10)
3. A (RL.6.4, RL.6.10)
Constructed Responses
4. Scoring Points
2 points—describes Casey using details from the poem; Sample answer: Casey is a
well-liked baseball player. The poem describes that the fans thought “If only Casey
could but get a whack,” and when he walks up to bat, he smiles “responding to
the cheers.”
1 point—describes Casey without using specific details
0 points—does not give a logical answer
(RL.6.1, RL.6.3, RL.6.10, W.6.4, W.6.10)
5. Scoring Points
1 point—explains that author is building suspense or contrast
0 points—does not give a logical answer
(RL.6.6, RL.6.10, W.6.4, W.6.10)
Writing Activity
Scoring Points
Sample 2-Point Answer
Characters: Casey, fans, Flynn, Blake, and other baseball players
Setting: baseball field
Problem: The home baseball team is down by two points in the last inning of the
game.
Events: Blake is on second base, and Flynn is on third base. Casey comes up to bat
and everyone cheers. Casey strikes out.
Solution: The home team loses the game.
(RL.6.2, RL.6.10, W.6.4, W.6.10)
Summer Achievement Program/Passages TEACHER GUIDE
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