The Mountain.

SCHOOL JOURNAL PART 4 NUMBER 2, 1999, PAGES 8 - 13

The Mountain by Rhonda Bartle

WALT: Learning to make predictions on what is going to happen next in the text by using the keywords in the preceding sentences and paragraphs.

SUCCESS CRITERIA: I am able to predict as to what is going to happen next in the text.

Activity 1 - Read the article and then answer these questions

1. Where was the narrator when Gran dragged her down to her chair?

The narrator was at the kitchen.

2. Why did mum ask the narrator to prepare tea?

Mum asked the narrator to prepare tea because she left unavoidable instructions.

3. Where were Gran and her parents when Mount Tarawera erupted?

Gran and her parents was at the door of the hotel.

4. What did the hotel-keeper do to help his guests?

The hotel-keeper helped his guests by giving them the hotel’s cook and telling them to go.

5. Why was Hinerangi said to be the most famous woman in Rotorua?

Hinerangi was the most famous woman in Rotorua because she was the best guide for the Pink and White Terraces.

6. How did Gran know so much about the eruption of the Mount Tarawera and the Tarawera Lake even though she was not born when all those events happened?

Gran knew so much about the eruption of Mt Tarawera and Tarawera Lake because she was dreaming.

Activity 2 - Dictionary and Vocabulary

1.  Locate these words in the text and then use an online dictionary to find the meanings

    of these words.

2.  Make sentences with these words.

Word	Meaning	Sentences
1.   instructions	A direction or order.	Mum has left unavoidable instructions.
2.   challenge	A task or situation to test someone’s abilities.	Gran grins like I’ve thrown her a challenge.
3.   suddenly	Quickly or unexpectedly.	Suddenly I was sitting up and then standing.
4.   without	In the absence of.	Through sleepy eyes, I saw Mam struggling into her corsets under her nightgown, dropping a dress on top without worrying about her bustle.
5.   swayed	Move or cause to move slowly or rhythmically backwards and forward and side to side.	The wooden floor went this way and that, beneath my reluctant feet as we swayed downstairs.
6.   impossible	Not able to occur, exist or be done.	Three columns of fire, so high that it was impossible to see where they finished.
7.   urgent	Requiring immediate attention or action.	We became a tribe of urgent travellers.
8.   beneath	Extending or directly underneath.	It was a poupou on a gatepost, and beneath it gaped the dark mouth of a low building.
9.   terrible	Extremely bad or serious.	The air grew hotter as time passed, and we all had a terrible thirst that could not be quenched.
10. floated	Rest or move on or near the surface of a liquid sinking.	She relaxed floating gently through the water.

Activity 3 -  Click on the link below and read about Earthquakes. After you have read the article, write down at least eight facts you have read about Earthquakes. Edit your work and put it up on your Blog

What causes Earthquakes?

• Earthquakes happen every day in New Zealand.
• Instruments record the ground shaking from over 14,000 earthquakes in and around the country each year.
• Earthquakes are most frequent in regions where two moving plates meet and press against each other.
• Earthquakes usually occur along faults, which are existing fractures in the crust.
• The most powerful New Zealand earthquake on record occurred in the Wairarapa in 1855.
• Sometimes the blocks of rock on either side of a fault abruptly shift to a new position in just a few seconds.
• New Zealand is in such a region, it straddles the boundary between the pacific plate.
• Most earthquakes are too small to be noticed but between 150 and 200 are big enough to be felt.