Chester Cricket’s Pigeon Ride Background Knowledge & Vocabulary

Story Introduction Chester Cricket’s Pigeon RideBackground Knowledge & Vocabulary sensation • feelers • turbulent miniature • hindrance • swooping gust • panic • precious • excerpt

Excerpt • There is an excerpt from the story Chester Cricket’s Pigeon Ride in your anthology. • An excerpt is a section taken from a longer work. • Good news - excerpts give you the idea of a story in fewer pages. • Bad news - it leaves out important information.

Some Cricket Facts Predators • Spiders, some wasps, ground beetles, birds, small rodents and lizards are cricket predators. Interesting Behaviors • To attract mates, males produce a sound made by rubbing their forewings against each other. The resulting chirping sound is picked up by the female's ears on her front legs. The chirp sounds are different for each species so that individuals can find their own species.

feelers

The Old Meadow • Think about something you really miss (don’t tell anyone what it is). • We often get sad when we think of things we miss. • Chester Cricket gets very sad in the story Chester Cricket’s Pigeon Ride.

New York City • Chester lives in Times Square? • He really, really missed the Old Meadow where he grew up, especially seeing stars at night.

Remedy for Homesickness • Chester Cricket goes in search when he meets a pigeon name LuLu. • Lulu helps Chester to feel less homesick. • What do you predict she does?

I do, we do, you do… Vocabulary

gust a sudden, violent rush of wind What is the strongest wind gust ever recorded? Mount Washington, N.H., holds the record for the highest wind gust ever recorded at 231 mph on April 12, 1934.

precious highly valued or much loved (from Latin pretiosus "costly, valuable”) What is precious to you?

panic a sudden feeling of fear or anxiety Panic shuts down people’s thinking. Sometimes this is helpful? How can it be dangerous?

Defining Moments Use “dry erase” sheets to write your own definitions for the following words….

clinging

clinging Hanging on to something

swooping

swooping Coming down with a rush

min • ee • uh • cher miniature from Italian “miniatura,” in which the “i” is meant to be pronounced

miniature

miniature A smaller than usual version of something

turbulent tur bu lent

turbulent

turbulent full of violent motion and agitation

sensation sen sa shun

sensation • The patient has very little sensation left in the right leg. • The music created the sensation of flying. • The chili gave him a burning sensation in his thorat.

sensation a vague feeling or perception caused the sense organs

hindrance hin drance

hindrance • The lack of imagination is a hindrance to good creative writing. • Poverty should not be a hindrance to a good education. • The cliff was a hindrance in his journey to the top of the mountain.

hindrance something that prevents or makes it difficult

Chester Cricket’s Pigeon Ride Background Knowledge & Vocabulary