Swarms of Terror

How did Laura Ingalls feel when she first saw a strange shadow in the sky?

• excited

• puzzled

• suspicious

• frightened

Which line from the article supports your answer to question 1?

• "The disaster began as a shadow in the distance, a strange shimmer in the sky."

• "But deep in her gut, she knew that something terrible was about to happen."

• "Few understood the grim reality of pioneer life..."

• "A young girl named Laura Ingalls spotted it on a hot July afternoon in 1875."

The sentence "The entire family was caught in a whirlwind of bugs" helps you imagine ...

• where the locusts had come from.

• how the locusts looked and felt to the Ingalls family.

• what the locusts smelled like to the family.

• where the locusts settled on their farm.

What is one way that the locusts affected the prairie farmers' lives?

• They were poisonous.

• They stung like bees.

• They destroyed the crops.

• They spread diseases.

What caused the Rocky Mountain locusts to form such large swarms?

• tall prairie grass

• lack of rain

• flood conditions

• too much food

Which line from the article supports your answer to question 5?

• "They have darkened the skies of every continent but Antarctica."

• "The insects...gathered in swarms that were truly monstrous in size."

• "In many places, locusts didn't just fly away when they finished eating."

• "The Rocky Mountain locust thrived when there was a shortage of rain."

In the sentence "Between droughts, the locusts would migrate back to their original home...," migrate means ____.

• crawl

• spring

• travel

• buzz

"Swarms of Terror" is mainly about ...

• a locusts attack that struck western Minnesota in the late 1800s.

• the life of American writer Laura Ingalls Wilder.

• the life cycle of the Rocky Mountain locusts.

• efforts by pioneers to settle the American West in the late 1800s.

CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE- Draft a well-organized answer (incorporate R.A.C.E. strategy) using complete sentences and details from the article to support your reply.

*How do descriptive details in the article help you imagine what the locust attacks were like for pioneers? Give two examples.

CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE- Write a well-organized answer (incorporate R.A.C.E. strategy) and use details from the article to support what you say.

*Why do you think Laura Ingalls Wilder never forgot the locust attack that she witnessed as a child?