Vacations Across America - Group A Reading Worksheet

You will now read different parts of the article in two groups.
Group A will read about Mount Rushmore History (line 2 to line 6).
Group B will read the part about what to do at Mount Rushmore (line 6 to the end).

Group A. Mount Rushmore History

1. Read your passage from line 2 to line 6.
a. Scan your section of the article and underline or list all the words that start with a capital letter. What kinds of words usually start with capital letters? 
b. Use the context (before and after) to understand what each one refers to.

2. Understanding key verbs.
a. Target verb: commission.

• Who are the people in the sentence? What is the action?
  
• What do you think "commissioned" means here? Use your own words (in English or French).
  

b. Target verb: carve.

• Who did the action? What was created?  What material was used?
  
• So what do you think "carve" means?
  
• What else can be carved? (Think of food, materials, art...)

c. Target verbs: suggest – symbolize.

• Do they remind you of any French verbs? Which ones?
• Now, find English synonyms for each verb.

3. Understanding the historical context.
Focus on the sentence below:
"Borglum believed that the four presidents symbolized what was, at the time, the 150-year history of the United States."
a. If the U.S. was about 150 years old in 1927, when was the country created?
b. Do you know anything about that period? 

4. Highlight key information about dates and events and draw a timeline of Mount Rushmore's history.

Groups A and B.
Pair up with a partner who did not read the same section as you.

1. Share information and discuss the following elements.
a. What you read about.
b. What you found interesting.

2. What do you now understand about Mount Rushmore that you didn’t before?

3. What part of this monument or its history surprised you the most?

4. Fill in your "Personal Recap Chart."