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by Becky Cheston illustrated by Kathleen Kemly

9 780153 505621

9 0 0 0 0 >

ISBN-13: 978-0-15-350562-1ISBN-10: 0-15-350562-1

GRADE 5

Lesson 25

WORD COUNT

1,188

GENRE

Readers’ Theater

LEVEL

Below Level

Harcourt LeveledReaders Online Database

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ISBN 10: 0-15-350562-1ISBN 13: 978-0-15-350562-1

Ordering OptionsISBN 10: 0-15-350335-1 (Grade 5 Below-Level Collection)ISBN 13: 978-0-15-350335-1 (Grade 5 Below-Level Collection)ISBN 10: 0-15-357563-8 (package of 5)ISBN 13: 978-0-15-357563-1 (package of 5)

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by Becky Chestonillustrated by Kathleen Kemly

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CharactersMadison Ethan Voice Actor 1Grace Danielle Voice Actor 2Narrator

Narrator: Madison and Grace are hosting a radio show. Let’s listen in.

Madison: Good afternoon! I’m Madison Perkins—

Grace: —and I’m Grace Bernard—

Madison: —and you’re listening to Wake up the Earth on WUHA, 102.5 on your FM radio dial. We have an awesome show for you today!

Grace: That’s right, Madison. We have an interesting pair of guests here in our studio.

3

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4

Madison: Yes, Ethan Johnson and Danielle Chen are fifth graders at Clinton Elementary School. These two helped start a group called The Clean Machine.

Grace: They’ve been all over the news lately!

Madison: That’s right, and we’re going to find out why.

Grace and Madison: Welcome to our show, Ethan and Danielle!

Ethan: Thanks.

Danielle: Thank you.

Grace: Why don’t you start by telling our listeners a little bit about The Clean Machine?

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5

Ethan: Thanks for inviting us. I’m quite giddy about being on the radio for the first time!

Madison: We’re happy to have both of you with us! Now don’t be nervous—just tell us how you got started.

Ethan: It started out at our school—Clinton Elementary—when some of us decided to do something about our appearance.

Grace: Your appearance? You two look pretty good to me.

Danielle: Not us. Our school. You should have seen it.

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6

Grace: Pretty bad, huh?

Ethan: Yes, there was almost no grass on the field. Bushes in the front of the school were dead from some kind of plant disease, too.

Madison: That doesn’t sound good.

Ethan: Also, the fence around the side of the school had huge holes. The whole thing looked dilapidated.

Grace: Why didn’t the school do something about these problems?

Danielle: Well, our teachers and principal are great. We learn a lot and love to go to school—yes, really. However, with recent cuts in the school budget, there is not a lot of money for extras like landscaping.

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7

Grace: I see. Tell us what you did.

Danielle: We had a meeting of students. At first, only six of us showed up, but we decided to get started anyway.

Madison: Get started—how?

Danielle: We wanted to clear out all the dead bushes and plant new ones, repair the fence, and also sprinkle the field with grass seed. My dad’s a landscaper, so the next weekend, he and his five coworkers met with us to discuss what to do. They were our mentors for that project and gave us a lot of good advice and suggestions. They also got the local nursery to donate some bushes and grass seed.

Ethan: After we developed a concrete plan, it was easier to get more kids to help. We had at least fifteen students show up on a Saturday morning.

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Grace: That’s fantastic! Most kids don’t get up early on weekends.

Danielle: You should have seen us digging in the dirt. It was exciting to see such fervor from our fellow students. Everyone bustled about the school grounds. It didn’t even take the whole day for us to fi nish the project.

Madison: Everyone at your school must be very happy with the results.

Ethan: Yes, now excursions out onto the school grounds are pleasant. Kids can bask in the sun on the lush, grassy fi eld during recess.

Grace: How wonderful to hear about such altruism in our community.

8

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Danielle: We had an even greater turnout at our next meeting. The principal also showed up to thank us.

Madison: Now tell us what’s up next. I hear your new proposal is a bit more challenging.

Danielle: Well, here’s the thing—

Grace: Actually, I see our producer is waving his arms like crazy over there which can only mean one thing.

Ethan: I detect that it’s time for a commercial?

Grace: You catch on quickly! We’ll be back in a moment.

9

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10

Voice Actor 1: You’re hot, you’re dragging—about to burst. Your throat’s so dry, you’ve got a mighty thirst.

Voice Actor 2: Don’t stand there looking like a fool—got to get yourself some Liquid Cool.

Voice Actor 1: There are seven flavors in each box—with energy boosters that’ll rock your socks!

Voice Actor 2: So, when work or play starts taking its toll, down a Liquid Cool, and you’ll be ready to roll!

Voice Actor 1: Never bland, always tasty. Try Liquid Cool—

Voice Actor 2: —or new Liquid Cool PLUS, with vitamin boosters!

Madison: That stuff is nasty! I just loathe it.

Grace: Ahem—we’re on the air.

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11

Madison: Hey, listeners! I was . . . ah . . . just talking about this nasty old tuna sandwich I had for lunch—but you don’t want to hear about that.

Grace: Well, that’s live radio for you. If you’re just joining us, you’re listening to WUHA, 102.5 FM. We’re talking to some members of Clinton School’s The Clean Machine.

Madison: Would you describe yourself as an advocacy group?

Ethan: I guess you could say that. We are encouraging our school community to work together to make a change.

Grace: Now, before the break, you were starting to tell us about your next project. It’s got people talking. Why?

Danielle: First of all, it involves more than just the school community.

Madison: Why is that?

Danielle: We’re focusing on an area about three blocks away from school: a vacant lot that is on the corner of 29th Street and Orlando.

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Ethan: It used to be a neighborhood playground. Here’s a picture of what it looks like now.

Grace: Whoa!

Madison: That needs some serious work! This is one of those times when I wish this were TV instead of radio. Our listeners need to see this.

Danielle: That picture always startles people.

Ethan: I could describe it. You can still recognize some playground stuff. There’s a rusty swing set with a couple of chains hanging down—no swings, of course. There’s also a damaged slide that is bent and unusable. I’m sure it was very sleek when the playground first opened.

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13

Danielle: The town put up a chain-link fence so that people would stop dumping trash on the lot and mistreating the playground equipment.

Grace: In this picture, you can see the state of the fence. Look at all those holes!

Madison: Now what are your goals for this place?

Ethan: It needs to be cleaned up. We think the town should turn it back into a playground.

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14

Grace: Sounds like a challenge.

Danielle: We’re trying to involve compassionate and caring people from the community—and the town council. It’s going to take a lot of coordina-tion. Everyone’s help will be vital.

Madison: If anyone can do it, you can. I’m glad young people like Ethan and Danielle have the kind of sensibility needed to get the job done.

Grace: If any of you listeners would like to help out the enterprising young people of The Clean Machine, you can visit the WUHA, 102.5 FM website for more information!

Madison: That wraps up this week’s Wake up the Earth. Thanks to today’s guests! Good-bye!

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Think Critically

1. Why did students form The Clean Machine?

2. Summarize this Readers’ Theater in a few sentences.

3. What might Ethan and Danielle achieve by being on the radio show?

4. Are Ethan and Danielle good role models? Why or why not?

5. Did you like this Readers’ Theater? Why or why not?

Language Arts

Continue the Story Imagine that Danielle and Ethan returned to the show Wake up the Earth to report on how the playground clean-up was going. Write a few pages in the style of this Readers’ Theater about that show.

School-Home Connection Share this book with a family member. Discuss whether there is a place in

your community that needs cleaning up and talk about what you could do to help.

Word Count: 1,188

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