Level U
Summary: New York City was devastated by the Blizzard of 1888.
Vocabulary:
sullen
appalling
endurance
benevolent
snowdrifts
thoroughfares
depots
metropolis
Focus Question: How did New Yorkers respond when a blizzard buried their city in snow?
Key Ideas:
What do you learn from the title and from the lead, the text that follows the title?
What had nature done?
How are the men dressed when they come out to dig paths through the snow?
Based on the text, what is the most likely reason they are dressed this way?
Author's Craft:
What figurative language is used in the first two paragraphs of the article?
How does this language help readers understand the destruction caused by the blizzard?
Connect Events:
What details in the section "Locked in sleeping cars" does the writer include to elaborate on the statement that 50,000 are homeless?
Text features:
What does the photo on the first page show?
How does it help you understand the meaning of "had strewn her busiest thoroughfares with wreck and ruin" in the second paragraph?
Make Inferences:
Why did the telegraph editors cable London?
What does the detail suggest about the blizzard's destructiveness?
Vocabulary:
What three words does the writer use to tell why the police and firemen deserve praise?
Which of these words means - the ability to outlast difficulties?
Which of these words means - not caring about oneself?
Final Questions:
How is the information in the article organized?
Imagine a blizzard like the one described in the article hit present day New York City, how would news coverage of the event be similar? How would it be different?