“The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst

Pre-Reading Journal: Think about the colors red and scarlet.Write down all of the things you associate with these colors. Include expressions, objects, titles, etc.

Did you think of………………

hearts?

blood?UGA?

stop lights?

your gra

ndma’s hat?

Kool Aid?

Mars? a kickball? cherries?candy? medicine? vitamins?tomatoes? graded papers?redheaded ladies

with bad tempers?

sunsets?

sunburn?

The scarlet ibis is a vivid scarlet bird (50 cm) with a curved bill.The sensitive bill is used to search for food, mainly small animals in the mud along the coast.

flying to their evening roost in the mangrove

The scarlet ibises live in large groups and fly in V-formation from their roosts to their feeding grounds. They contrast splendidly with the normal green color of the landscape, the brown of the mud flats and the blue of the sky.

The ibises feed in shallow waters along the coast, in the mud flats and in the lagoons. As is known from the zoo, they have to eat a lot of shrimp to retain their color.

They sleep in large groups in the mangrove trees along the coast, together with herons. In these trees they make their nests (a pile of sticks) and both parents take care of the young.

young bird changing from brown to red

. The ibises breed in young mangroves and if not enough of these trees are found in Suriname, the birds fly away to breed on the coast of Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana or Brazil. In Trinidad they are protected as the the national bird of that island, but they did not breed there for the last 30 years.

Each small square indicates the observation of at least 1 (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least 4 observations and the largest ones 10 or more.

DISABILITY CELEBRITY QUIZ

Many important people have had forms of learning disabilities. Try to match the description with the name of the important person in the list. Remember, if they can cope with their disability and succeed, others can too!

This composer was deaf when he composed his 9th Symphony.

Albert Einstein Harriet Tubman  Magic Johnson      Ludwig Beethoven George Patton   Tom Cruise Franklin D. RooseveltWhoopi Goldberg James Earl Jones Mel Tillis

Ludwig Beethoven

Although paralyzed from polio, this man became governor of New York and was elected president four times.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Known as Darth Vader in Star Wars, this actor overcame stuttering in high school.

James Earl Jones

This Sister Act actress has dyslexia but has succeeded in a movie career.

Whoopi Goldberg

A mathematic

ian and physicist who did not s

peak

until the age of th

ree. Math and writi

ng were difficult f

or him

.

Albert Einstein

Struck by an overseer a

s a child, a

fractured

skull caused th

is abolitionist to

have narcolepsy

the rest o

f her li

fe. She re

scued hundreds of

slaves on the Underground Railro

ad.

Harriet T

ubman

This actor is unable to read even today because of dyslexia. He learns lines by listening to tapes.

DISABILITY CELEBRITY QUIZMany important people have had forms of learning disabilities. Try to match the description with the name of the important person in the list. Remember, if they can cope with their disability and succeed, others can too!

Magic Johnson      George Patton   Tom Cruise Mel Tillis

Tom Cruise

Famous for his athletic skill on the basketball court, this athlete has a reading disability.

Magic Johnson

This war hero could not read until the age of twelve, but he became a famous general in World War II.

George Patton

This country music entertainer developed

humorous routines about his stuttering.

Mel Tillis

The theme of “The Scarlet Ibis” reveals a truth about the effects of love and pride.

As we read “The Scarlet Ibis,” see if you can find passages in which the narrator or Doodle states the essence of the theme.

“There is within me (and with sadness I have watched it in others) a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love, much as our blood sometimes bears the seed of our destruction, and sometimes I was mean to Doodle.”

Quotations from “The Scarlet Ibis”

“I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible, thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.”

the narrator's brother "Doodle" is born physically handicapped and is  expected to die, yet lives. The narrator is forced to take Doodle everywherein a go-cart. After much effort, he succeeds in making Doodle walk. Then, he is determined to teach Doodle more...

Now let’s read “The Scarlet Ibis,” in which…

and find out what the red bird has to do with it!