The Wizard of Oz CW

Year 3
Adventure stories
Classwork: Reading
Name:………………………………………………………………………
Class:……………………………………………………………………….
Date:………………………………………………………………………….
Revised by: Mrs. Margaret Baroussalian

The Cyclone
This is an extract from “The Wizard of Oz”, an amazing adventure story, which
begins with a cyclone!
Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies with Uncle Henry, who
was a farmer and his wife Aunt Em. Their house was small. There were four walls, a
floor and a roof which made one
room and this room contained a
rusty looking filthy cooking stove, a
cupboard for the dishes, a table,
three or four chairs, and the beds.
Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had a big
bed in one corner and Dorothy a little
bed in another corner. There was no
garret at all, and no cellar except a
small hole dug in the ground called a
cyclone cellar where the family
could go in case one of those
gigantic, mighty building-crushing
whirlwinds.
When Dorothy stood in the
doorway and looked around, she
could see nothing but the great gray
prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country
that reached the edge of the sky in all directions. The sun had baked the land into a
gray mass with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the
sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray colour to
be seen everywhere. Once, the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the
paint and the rains washed it away and now the house was an old barren land.
When Aunt Em came there to live, she was a young pretty wife. The sun and
wind had changed her too. They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them
a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips and they were gray
also. She was thin and gaunt and never smiled. When Dorothy, who was an
orphan, first came, Aunt Em had been so startled by Dorothy’s laughter that she
would scream and press her hand upon her heart whenever Dorothy's merry voice
reached her ears, and she still looked at the little girl with wonder as she could find
anything to laugh at.
Uncle Henry never laughed. He worked hard from morning till night and did
not know what joy was. He was also gray from his long beard to his rough boots,
and he looked stern and solemn and rarely spoke
It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh and saved her from growing as gray as
her other surroundings. Toto was not gray he was a little black dog with long silky
hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny wee nose.
Toto played all day long, and Dorothy played with him and loved him dearly.
Today, however, they were not playing. Uncle Henry sat upon the door-step
and looked anxiously at the sky which was even grayer than usual. Dorothy stood in
the door with Toto in her arms and looked at the sky too. Aunt Em was washing the
dishes. From the far north they heard a low wail of the wind, and Uncle Henry and
Dorothy could see the long grass bowing before the coming storm. There now came
a sharp whistling in the air from the south.
Suddenly, Uncle Henry stood up. "There's a cyclone coming, Em," he called
to his wife; "I'll go look after the stock." Then he ran toward the sheds where the
cows and horses were kept. Aunt Em dropped her work and came to the door.
"Quick, Dorothy!" she screamed; "run for the
cellar!" Toto jumped out of Dorothy's arms
and hid under the bed, and the girl started to
get him. Aunt Em, badly frightened, threw
open the trap-door in the floor and climbed
down the ladder into the small dark hole.
Dorothy caught Toto at last and started to
follow her aunt. When she was half way
across the room there came a great shriek
from the wind and the house shook so hard
that she lost her footing and sat down
suddenly upon the floor. A strange thing
then happened! The house whirled around
two or three times and rose slowly through
the air. Dorothy felt as if she was in a
balloon. The great pressure of the wind on
every side of the house raised it up higher
and higher until it was at the very top of the
cyclone and there it remained and was
carried miles and miles away as easily as
you could carry a feather.
It was very dark, and the wind howled horribly around her, but Dorothy found
she was riding quite easily. After the first few whirls around, she felt as if she were
being rocked gently like a baby in a cradle. Toto did not like it. He ran about the
room, now here, now there, barking loudly, but Dorothy sat quite still on the floor.
Hour after hour passed away, and slowly Dorothy got over her fright, but she
felt quite lonely, and the wind shrieked so loudly all about her that she nearly
became deaf. At first she had wondered if she would be dashed to pieces when the
house fell again, but as the hours passed and nothing terrible happened, she
stopped worrying and decided to wait calmly and see what the future would bring. At
last she crawled over the swaying floor to her bed and lay down upon it. In spite of
the swaying of the house and the wailing of the wind, Dorothy soon closed her eyes
and fell fast asleep.
Glossary
Prairies: (Noun) a flat wide area of land covered with grass but without trees.
Cyclone: (Noun) a violent tropical storm in which wild wind move in a circle.
Whirlwinds: (Noun) strong wind moving quickly causing damages
Mass: (Noun) A large amount of a substance (something)
Blistered: (Verb) causing injures on the skin.
Gaunt: (Adjective) a thin person usually because of illness or not having enough food.
Orphan: (Noun) A child whose parents are dead.
Startled: (Adjective) slightly shocked because of a sudden surprise.
Stern: (Adjective) strict
Solemn: (Adjective) serious not happy
Wail: (Noun) a long loud cry expressing pain.
Shriek: (Noun) scream
Cradle: (Noun) a small bed for baby that can be pushed gently from side to side.
Dashed: (Verb) to smash something.

Answer the following questions:
1)Is the text fiction or nonfiction?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
2) What genre is this text?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
3) Write 3 features you can find in the text.
 ………………………………………………………………………………
 ...............................................................................................................
 ……………………………………………………………………………...
4) List from the first paragraph all the furniture in the house.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
5)Extract from the second paragraph a sentence that shows that the house was in a
deserted land.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
6) Was aunt Em a lot different from when she first came to that house?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
- Explain your answer.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
7) Who is Toto? Describe him.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
8) ‘A strange thing happened!’ Why was an exclamation mark used?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
- What was the strange thing that happened to the house?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
9) How did the house get on top of the cyclone?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
10) Were Dorothy’s feelings during the cyclone different from her feelings at the
beginning of the cyclone?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
Explain your answer.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
11) Write the adjectives that have been used for the following:
- The cooking stove ………………………………………………….…………………
- The whirlwinds ………………………………………………….…………………
- Aunt Em ………………………………………………….…………………
- Uncle Henry ………………………………………………….…………………
12) Why was aunt Em startled by Dorothy when she first came?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
13) In spite of the swaying of the house and the wailing of the wind … Which figure
of speech is this?
- Simile
- Metaphor
- Personification
14) Extract from the text:

- A personification (2nd Paragraph)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
-A simile (5th paragraph)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
-A metaphor (2nd paragraph)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………

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Year 3

Revised by: Mrs. Margaret Baroussalian

Whirlwinds: (Noun) strong wind moving quickly causing damages

Mass: (Noun) A large amount of a substance (something)

Blistered: (Verb) causing injures on the skin.

Orphan: (Noun) A child whose parents are dead.

Startled: (Adjective) slightly shocked because of a sudden surprise.

Stern: (Adjective) strict

Solemn: (Adjective) serious not happy

Wail: (Noun) a long loud cry expressing pain.

Shriek: (Noun) scream

Dashed: (Verb) to smash something.

14) Extract from the text:

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