Folktale

The Ballgame
Between the Birds
and the Animals
A Cherokee Folktale

retold by Anna Fenton

illustrated by Sarah Snow

PAIRED
All About Bats
READ

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 STRATEGIES & SKILLS
Comprehension Vocabulary
Strategy: Visualize disbelief, dismay, fabulous,
Skill: Problem and Solution features, offered, splendid,
unique, watchful
Vocabulary Strategy
Synonyms Content Standards
Science
Life Science

Word count: 784**

**The total word count is based on words in the running text and headings only. Numerals and words
in captions, labels, diagrams, charts, and sidebars are not included.

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by
any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of The
McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, network storage or transmission, or
broadcast for distance learning.

Send all inquiries to:

McGraw-Hill Education
Two Penn Plaza
New York, New York 10121

ISBN: 978-0-02-118805-5
MHID: 0-02-118805-X

Printed in the United States.

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 Genre Folktale

Essential Question
What makes different animals unique?

The Ballgame
Between the Birds
and the Animals
A Cherokee Folktale

retold by Anna Fenton • illustrated by Sarah Snow

Chapter 1
The Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Chapter 2
New Teammates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Chapter 3
Game Time!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Respond to Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
PAIRED
READ All About Bats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Focus on Genre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

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 Chapter 1

The Challenge

Once, the four-legged animals challenged

the birds to a ballgame. The birds accepted.
Both teams danced and pounded on drums.
Then the animals gathered on the edge of
a  large meadow. The birds perched nearby
in  trees.

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 There were two poles in the meadow.
The animals painted their pole bright colors.
The birds covered their pole with fabulous
feathers. Each team had to try to hit its own
pole with the ball. It had to try to stop the
other team from doing the same thing. The
team that hit its own pole first would be the
winner of the game.

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 The bear was captain of the animals.
“I can push away anything in my way,”
he roared.

The turtle and the deer were also on

the animal team.

“No blow can hurt my hard shell,”

the turtle declared.

“I am very speedy,” the deer

announced. “I am faster than any bird.”

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 The eagle was captain of the birds. The
hawk and other quick-flying birds were also
on this team. The birds were very brave. But
they were still a little afraid of the animals.
The animals were so much bigger and
stronger! The animals kept boasting about
how they couldn’t possibly lose to the birds.

STOP AND CHECK

How will the

game be won?

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 Chapter 2

New Teammates

The game was about to begin, when two

strange creatures appeared. They were not
much larger than field mice. They climbed
the tree that the watchful eagle was sitting
in and crept along his branch.

“We want to play in the ballgame,”

said one of them.

“Can we be on your team?” the other

one asked.

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 7

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 “But you both have four legs, not two,”
said the eagle. “Why haven’t you joined the
other team? Surely, that’s where you belong.”

“We offered our help, but the animals

made fun of us,” said the first creature.

“And they chased us away because we are

so small,” added the second one.

The eagle felt sorry for the creatures.

“Okay,” he said. “You can be on our team.”

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 Then the hawk spoke up. “We have
forgotten something important,” it said.
“The little creatures have no wings! How
can they join the bird team?”

The birds thought for a long time. Then

they came up with an idea. Together, they
took the leather skin off their drums. They
cut two pieces of leather that were shaped
like wings. The birds stretched the pieces
of leather as far as they could. Then they
joined them to the creature’s long, thin arms
and legs. This is how the bat came to be.

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 The birds had no leather left to make
wings for the second creature. So the eagle
sat on one side of the creature and the hawk
sat on the other. Each bird used its beak to
pull at the creature’s skin. They stretched the
skin out from the sides of its body. This is
how the flying squirrel came to be.

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 The birds threw the ball around to test
the bat and the flying squirrel. They saw
that the creatures could be good members
of the bird team. They liked the creatures’
enthusiasm.

STOP AND CHECK

How were the bat and

the flying squirrel created?
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 Chapter 3

Game Time!

At last, the signal was given and the

game began. From the very start, the flying
squirrel grabbed the ball. He carried it high
up into a tree. Then he threw it to one of
the birds.

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 The birds kept the ball in the air for
a long time. The animals on the ground
couldn’t reach it. When the ball finally fell
to the ground, the deer dashed toward it.
But the swallow got there first. He snapped
up the ball and tossed it quickly to the bat.

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 The bat swooped low to the ground.
He wove his way in and out of all the
animals. The bear lumbered toward the
bat. But the bat zipped right by him and
smashed the ball against the pole hung
with feathers.

The animals stood there in dismay and

disbelief. The birds had won the game! It
was a splendid day for feathered friends
everywhere.

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 STOP AND CHECK

How did the birds win

the game?
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 Summarize Problem

Summarize what was special

about the animals in this
story. Use the graphic
organizer to help you. Solution

Text Evidence
1. How can you tell that this story
is a folktale? Genre

2. What problem does the first

creature have? How is it solved?
Problem and Solution

3. Find the word speedy on page 4.

What nearby word helps you figure
out what speedy means? Synonyms

4. Write about the second creature’s

problem, and the birds’ solution.
Write About Reading

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 Genre Expository Text

Compare Texts
Read about what makes bats unique.

All About Bats

What do you know about bats? Bats
are unique. They are the only mammals
in the world that can fly. A mammal is
an animal that has fur or hair and feeds
milk to its babies.

There are about 1,000 kinds of bats in

the world. Some kinds are as big as a
small dog. One kind is not much larger
than a bumblebee.
Merlin D Tutle/Photo Researchers/Getty Images

The bumblebee
bat is the smallest
est
bat in the world.
d.
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 Bats have special arm head
features that help
them survive. They
can fly in dark
caves without
crashing into
things. They make wing fingers

Fototeca Storica Nazionale/Photodisc/Getty Images

fast, high-pitched
squeaks. When the sounds hit things, they
bounce back like echoes. These echoes
help bats find and avoid obstacles.

Arterra Picture Library/Alamy

Bats find their way in the dark

by listening to the echoes that
bounce off objects around them.
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 Get the Facts about Vampire Bats
Many people are afraid of vampire bats because
they feed on blood. But they aren’t as scary when
you know the facts.

• They’re small—often about the same size

as an adult’s thumb.

• They mostly feed on cows and birds. They

make small cuts in the animals’ skin. Then they
lap up the blood that oozes out.

• They drink about one tablespoon of blood each

night. The animals aren’t hurt. In fact, they
usually sleep through it.

• They are found in Mexico, Central America,

and South America.

• It is very unusual for them to bite people.

Make Connections
How does All About Bats tell you what
makes this animal unique? Essential Question
The creatures in The Ballgame Between
the Birds and the Animals are not birds.
What kind of animals are they? Text to Text
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 Folktales A folktale is a story that
is passed down over time by word
of mouth. Some of the things that
happen in folktales can’t happen in
real life. Some folktales teach a lesson.

Read and Find The Ballgame

Between the Birds and the Animals is
a folktale. The events that take place
are not real. Animals cannot talk. Birds
did not create bats and flying squirrels.
The lesson is that kindness and creative
thinking can be rewarded.

Your Turn
Write your own folktale. This can be
either your version of an old folktale
or a whole new folktale.

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 Literature Circles

Fiction

Plot
What problem did the two creatures
have? How was the problem solved?

Sequence of Events
What happened in The Ballgame
Between the Birds and the Animals?

Author’s Purpose
Why do you think the author retold
The Ballgame Between the Birds and
the Animals?

Make Connections
Could you understand how any of the
characters in the story felt? If so, why?

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 Be Unique

GR L • Benchmark 24 • Lexile [t/k]

Grade 3 • Unit 3 Week 1

www.mheonline.com

ISBN-13 978-0-02-118805-5
MHID 0-02-118805-X
99701
EAN

9 780021 188055
3

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