CRAFT AND STRUCTURE
Connected to the Past
(Genre: Realistic Fiction)
Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. Permission to duplicate classroom quantities granted to users of Common Core Progress.
1
2
My grandmother and I have always had
a special relationship. She had an operation
before I was born that made it impossible
for her to talk, but we always communicated
without speaking. She gave me my most
precious possession. All my friends had
their favorite things: tablets or MP3 players
or a pair of boots they loved more than
anything. Mine was a scrap of weaving with
faded orange stripes on it. I couldn’t exactly
tell you why I loved it so much, except
that my grandmother gave it to me. I knew
that it had been in the family forever, and
when I held it in my hand the first time, I
felt . . . connected. It’s hard to explain, but it
was almost as though I could see the person
who wove it. In my mind, she was a Native
American, with a long black braid, and
she lived hundreds of years ago. It sounds
crazy, I know, but that piece of cloth seemed
magical to me.
My grandmother gave me the piece of
cloth when I was in the second grade, and I
brought it to school for show-and-tell. “This
is something my great-great-grandmother
wove,” I told the class. At first they looked
at it with big eyes, but then Carrie asked,
“How do you know?” All I could say was, “I
just know,” which made the kids all laugh. I
felt terrible about it, and I went home to tell
Grandma what had happened. She smiled at
me, the way she always did. Her smile was
a warm pool of love. Without a word, her
smile told me that I was right—even though
I had no proof.
3
It was during spring vacation this year
that my dad got the idea to go and see
Mesa Verde National Park. My little brother
Nick was studying the Anasazi Indians in
his class, and he was really excited about
the trip. I wasn’t so excited—I’d rather
have stayed home and spent time with my
friends—but it was a family trip, and we
were all going, even Grandma. She didn’t
talk, but she still had a lot of energy, and she
really seemed to want to go.
4
After a long drive and a night in a motel
and then more driving, we arrived at the
park. We started out in the Visitor Center,
which told us about the people who used
to live in Mesa Verde—the Anasazi, or cliff
builders. They built their homes right into
the cliff side, like little apartments. There
were still hundreds of these cliff houses left
that people could visit, so we went right out
to take a look.
5
We took a driving tour so Grandma
wouldn’t have to walk too much. She loved
looking at the cliff dwellings, and I did too.
They looked like honeycombs, and I could
imagine people buzzing like bees inside
them. Then we left Grandma at the museum
and we went to the Cliff Palace, the biggest
dwelling, where we joined a group of other
people to take a tour.
6
Nick asked a lot of questions. “How did
the Anasazi live here?” he wanted to know.
“How did they get all the way up to these
dwellings without an elevator?”
Unit 5
■
Reading Literature: Craft and Structure 1
CRAFT AND STRUCTURE
Connected to the Past continued
Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. Permission to duplicate classroom quantities granted to users of Common Core Progress.
7
The guide laughed and replied, “They
used ladders to climb. They were all good
climbers, it appears—or maybe the older
people lived in the lower dwellings.” There
were over 150 rooms in the Cliff Palace, and
the guide told us at least a hundred people
lived here at one time, a whole village built
right into the side of a cliff.
8
When all the other people on the tour
headed into one of the bigger rooms—a kiva,
where the Anasazi stored things—I hung
back in the smaller room. It didn’t have
any furniture or anything in it, but I felt
as if I could really imagine the people who
once lived there. They ate together, played
together, made things, worked as a family.
If I closed my eyes, I could almost see the
woman with the long braid, weaving her
piece of cloth.
9
“Come on, Milla!” Nick shouted. “You’re
getting left behind!” I smiled and followed
the rest of the group through the Cliff Palace.
10
After the tour, we met my grandmother in
the museum. She was resting on a cushioned
bench, but as soon as she saw me, she
grabbed my hand and got up. She pulled me
through the rooms of the museum, past case
after case of pottery pieces and arrowheads,
and then she stopped in front of a small
glass case.
11
There, in a circle of soft light, I saw a piece
of woven cloth. It was exactly the same
pattern as the piece of cloth that Grandma
had given me, and the colors were the
same faded oranges and browns. I stared
at Grandma, and she grinned at me and
nodded. Then I knew it was all true: the
cloth Grandma had given me was from
my ancestor, an Anasazi woman—and
most likely, she had woven it right here in
Mesa Verde. I thought about how I’d like
to explain to my second grade class how I
knew the truth now, and then I realized I
didn’t have to do that. It was enough that I
knew the truth myself. It was enough that
I could hold a piece of cloth that wove my
past and my present together.
Unit 5
■
Reading Literature: Craft and Structure 2
CRAFT AND STRUCTURE
Comprehension Check
1A. Which of the following sentences
2B. How can the reader tell that the answer
from the text tells about the setting
of the story?
to Part A is a figurative expression?
a. It is not a literal description of
a. “I felt terrible about it, and I went
an object.
home to tell Grandma what had
happened.”
b. It gives an object human traits.
c. It compares two objects using like.
Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. Permission to duplicate classroom quantities granted to users of Common Core Progress.
b. “It was during spring vacation this
year that my dad got the idea to go
and see Mesa Verde National Park.”
c. “I stared at Grandma, and she
d. It is written in the form of a poem.
3A. With which statement about the piece
of cloth would the narrator most
likely agree?
grinned at me and nodded.”
d. “It was enough that I knew the
a. It has superpowers.
truth myself.”
b. It is worth a lot of money.
1B. The reader can tell that the answer
c. It links her to the past.
to Part A is about setting because it
tells about
a. the important events in the story.
d. It does not really belong to her.
3B. Which quotation includes a detail that
b. the actions of the main character.
supports the answer to Part A?
c. the main idea of the story.
a. “I couldn’t exactly tell you why I
d. the story’s time and place.
loved it so much, except that my
grandmother gave it to me.”
2A. Which of the following phrases or
b. “My grandmother and I have always
had a special relationship.”
sentences from the text includes a
figurative expression?
c. “My grandmother gave me the piece
of cloth when I was in the second
grade, and I brought it to school for
show-and-tell.”
a. “. . . but that piece of cloth seemed
magical to me.”
b. “We took a driving tour so Grandma
d. “It was enough that I could hold a
wouldn’t have to walk too much.”
piece of cloth that wove my past and
my present together.”
c. “. . . a piece of cloth that wove my
past and my present together.”
d. “. . . as soon as she saw me, she
grabbed my hand and got up.”
Unit 5
■
Reading Literature: Craft and Structure 3
CRAFT AND STRUCTURE
4.The narrator describes her grandmother’s smile as a “warm pool of love.”
What effect do these descriptive words have?
Copyright © by William H. Sadlier, Inc. Permission to duplicate classroom quantities granted to users of Common Core Progress.
5A. Which of these phrases includes
5B. What words in the phrase support
a simile?
the answer to Part A?
a. “. . . and I could imagine people
a. “soft light”
buzzing like bees inside them.”
b. “people buzzing like bees”
b. “. . . in a circle of soft light . . .”
c. “with the long braid”
c. “I could almost see the woman
d. “the same faded oranges
with the long braid . . .”
and browns”
d. “. . . the colors were the same
faded oranges and browns . . .”
6.The story is told in the first person from the narrator’s point of view. How
might the story be different if it were told from the grandmother’s point
of view?
Unit 5
■
Reading Literature: Craft and Structure 4