Generosity

What does it mean to be truly generous? Read this magical tale about a prince wh
o gives and gives and expects nothing in return.
Defining Generosity
What does it mean to be generous?
What characters or people do you find to be the most generous? Do they give thin
gs, their time, or something else to those in need?
Do generous people expect anything in return for their generosity? If they do, a
re they being truly generous? Why or why not?
Read: "The Happy Prince"
Before you begin reading, make some predictions based on what you know about the
story.
Revise your predictions as you read each paragraph. Remember to check the accura
cy of these predictions as you proceed through the text.
open book with the word READ. Read Part I of "The Happy Prince." You should st
op when the Swallow returns from delivering the Prince's first gift. Use the rea
ding graphic organizer to apply reading strategies.
Materials
Graphic Organizer
Reading Check
After you have finished reading "The Happy Prince," answer these questions.
Check Your Reading
Why does the Swallow initially stop on the Happy Prince?
He wants a place to rest on his way to Egypt.
The Swallow knows that the Happy Prince is kind and caring.
The Swallow wants to steal the Happy Prince s jewels.
The Swallow is friendly with the Happy Prince.
1 of 5Please select an answer before continuing.
Check
Revealing Character Traits
We can learn a lot about characters by examining how authors describe them, what
the characters say, and what they do. Another way we can learn about a characte
r is by examining how that character changes over the course of the story.
How does the Swallow change?
Before he agrees to help the sick child, the Swallow tells the Happy Prince that
he doesn't think he wants to help because he doesn't like boys.
A Closer Look
Reread the passage. What words would you use to describe the Swallow?
I don t think I like boys, answered the Swallow. Last summer, when I was staying on t
he river, there were two rude boys, the miller s sons, who were always throwing st
ones at me. They never hit me, of course, we Swallows fly far too well for that,
and besides, I come of a family famous for its agility, but still, it was a mar
k of disrespect.
The Swallow
What does this passage tell you about the Swallow?
The Swallow thinks a lot of himself.
The Swallow is right to dislike all boys.
The Swallow doesn t care how other people feel.
1 of 1Please select an answer before continuing.
Check
Character Transformation

Now look at how the Swallow behaves when he is with the sick child. Reread what
he does just after he gives the mother the ruby.
The boy was tossing feverishly on his bed, and the mother had fallen asleep, she
was so tired. In he hopped, and laid the great ruby on the table beside the wom
an s thimble. Then he flew gently round the bed, fanning the boy s forehead with his
wings. How cool I feel, said the boy; I must be getting better. And he sank into a
delicious slumber.
What change do you see in the Swallow? How do you think this act makes the Swall
ow feel? Find a passage in the story that supports your answer.
Characters' Actions Develop Theme
One way to identify theme in a story is to focus on characters who undergo chang
es over the course of the story. For example, the Happy Prince knew only happine
ss until he was deceased . Now he can see the misery of the people.
You've already explored how the Swallow is beginning to change: At the beginning
of the story, he tells the Happy Prince that he dislikes boys, but later in the
story, we see the Swallow acting kindly toward a sick child.
To identify theme, answer the following questions:
In one sentence, explain how the Swallow changes. answer
How does this change make the Swallow feel? answer
What lesson does the Swallow learn? answer
Do you think the lesson the Swallow learns can apply to humans? answer
Can the Swallow's lesson be considered a universal theme? answer
Make a Prediction
When we finished reading the first part of "The Happy Prince," the Swallow had j
ust drifted off to sleep after helping the Happy Prince. What do you think will
happen next?
Will the Swallow depart for Egypt and leave the Happy Prince behind? Will the Ha
ppy Prince be content now to watch over his city and not get involved in the liv
es of its citizens, or will he continue to give lavish gifts to his people?
Think about your answers to these questions, and make a prediction about what mi
ght happen next.
Text Version
Appositives and Appositive Phrases
Appositives are a wonderfully useful tool to have in your writing toolbox. When
we use them correctly, these words and phrases lend both clarity and polish to o
ur writing.
As you continue, you will learn
How to identify appositives and appositive phrases in sentences.
How to identify the words and phrases that are renamed by appositives.
How to correctly punctuate appositives and appositive phrases in sentences.
What Are Appositives?
Appositives are often used to give writing more clarity. They allow the writer t
o add information about the nouns and pronouns that have already been mentioned.
Consider the following examples:
In the rough wind, a bird, a little swallow, flew with great confidence.

What is the appositive? answer

What word does it refer to and clarify? answer
The statue was gilded with jewels: Rubies adorned it from head to toe.
What is the appositive? answer
What word does it refer to and clarify? answer
Finding Appositives and Appositive Phrases
When an appositive has a modifier, it is called an appositive phrase. The best s
trategy for finding appositive phrases is to look for the words in the sentence
that describe or clarify the nouns that precedes them. These phrases can usually
be spotted by looking for the commas that enclose them. Consider the examples b
elow.
That statue, the one gilded with fine gold, belongs to the city.
What is the appositive phrase? answer How do you know this? answer
Ask the statue, the Happy Prince, how he can be so delighted all the time.
What is the appositive phrase? answer How do you know this? answer
Practice
Now it's your turn to practice.
Check your ability to identify appositives and appositive phrases.
Appositives
Read the sentence.
Tomorrow is the Swallow's journey to his homeland, Egypt.
Which identifies the appositive phrase?
Tomorrow
Egypt
the swallow's journey
1 of 4Please select an answer before continuing.
Check
Punctuating Appositives and Appositive Phrases
You may have noticed that the appositives and appositive phrases in the examples
on the preceding pages were usually separated from the rest of the sentence by
commas. Appositives and appositive phrases are often, but not always, enclosed i
n commas. So how do you know when commas are necessary?
If the information in an appositive is essential to the meaning of a sentence, n
o commas are needed. However, a comma is needed before and after an appositive o
r appositive phrase if the information is not essential to the meaning of the se
ntence. Consider the following examples:
The story "The Happy Prince" is about generosity.
Has the appositive phrase been punctuated correctly? answer
"The Happy Prince," a story about generosity, really made me think.
Has the appositive phrase been punctuated correctly? answer
Check Your Understanding
See whether you can identify correct and incorrect punctuation in sentences cont

aining appositives and appositive phrases.

Punctuating Appositives
Punctuated Correctly
Punctuated Incorrectly
The book, Little Women, is one of her favorites.
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Check Your Knowledge
One of the most reliable ways to identify themes is to think about the actions a
nd choices that characters in the story make. What motivates them to behave as t
hey do? What lessons do they learn, what consequences do they suffer, or what re
wards do they gain as a result of their choices?
Answer these questions to check your understanding.
How do you recognize an appositive or appositive phrase? answer
How do you punctuate an appositive phrase? answer
How can the Prince's initial sadness be explained? answer
How does the Swallow transform over the course of the story? answer
Before you complete the Lesson Check, review your work so far and make sure you'
ve completed all the activities.
Sacrifice and Reward
What is next for the Happy Prince and the Swallow? Will the Happy Prince continu
e to be generous ? Will the Swallow continue to change and grow? Read the rest o
f the story and find out.
Review What You've Read
Read the question and select all of the appropriate answers to review the events
of the first half of "The Happy Prince."
The Happy Prince
Which of the following events are included in the first half of The Happy Prince ?
Check all that apply.
The people of the city comment on how much they admire the Happy Prince.
The Swallow decides to stop and rest a night under the Happy Prince.
The Happy Prince tells the Swallow how he once lived a life free of worry at the
Palace Sans-Souci.
The Swallow leaves the Happy Prince and continues on his journey to Egypt.
The Swallow kindly fans the feverish head of a young boy with his wings.
1 of 1Please select an answer before continuing.
Check
Review: Character Traits
What characteristics did the Prince reveal in the first half of the story? See
whether you can match each character trait with a piece of textual evidence that
supports it.
The Happy Prince
Character Trait Textual Evidence
Honored and wealthy
"And now that I am dead they have set me up here so high that I can see all of t
he ugliness and all the misery of my city..."
Empathic
"Swallow, little Swallow, will you not bring her the ruby out of my sword-hilt?"
"Though my heart is made of lead yet I cannot choose but weep."
ResetItem 1 of 4
The Prince's Sorrow
The Happy Prince, when alive, knew nothing but joy and peace. However, now that
he can catch glimpses of the human lives around him, he feels sorrowful and desp
erate.

"Far away in a little street there is a poor house. One of the windows is open,
and through it I can see a woman seated at a table. Her face is thin and worn, a
nd she has coarse, red hands, all pricked by the needle, for she is a seamstress
."
The Happy Prince, although he has never experienced such hardships himself, unde
rstands that the woman is poor, despondent , and overworked. The Prince demonstr
ates a great ability to empathize with others.
"Far away across the city I see a young man in a garret. . . . He is trying to f
inish a play for the Director of the Theatre, but he is too cold to write anymor
e. There is no fire in the grate, and hunger has made him faint."
Again, the Prince himself has never known cold or hunger, but his desperate desi
re to sacrifice his own wealth to help the young playwright demonstrates empathy
.
Read: "The Happy Prince," Part 2
Before you began reading this story, you made a few predictions about what might
happen in the story. Did any of your predictions come true? If not, how did you
modify your predictions?
As you finish reading the story, continue to create new predictions, change ones
you've already made, and check to see whether you guessed correctly.
open book with the word READ. Finish reading "The Happy Prince." Use the readi
ng graphic organizer to apply reading strategies.
Materials
Graphic Organizer
Reading Check
After you have finished reading "The Happy Prince," answer these questions.
Check Your Reading
Why doesn t the Swallow leave the city and the Happy Prince in order to go to Egyp
t?
The Swallow cares about the Happy Prince and the people in the city.
The swallow never really wanted to go to Egypt.
The Swallow chooses to look for his wife the Reed.
The Swallow decides that he would be better off if he stayed in the city where h
e already has friends.
1 of 5Please select an answer before continuing.
Check
Who's Really Blind?
At the end of the story, the city leaders tear down the statue of the Happy Prin
ce because he no longer has his eyes and because they think he looks like a begg
ar. They then argue over which of them deserves a statue of his own to replace t
he one of the Happy Prince.
Based on what you know of the city leaders and the Happy Prince, who would bette
r watch over the citizens? Why? answer
The Happy Prince no longer has his eyes, but in may ways the city leaders are th
e ones who are blind. Do you agree with this statement? Why? answer
Compare and Contrast
Compare the Happy Prince to the city leaders. How are they similar, and yet so v
ery different?

The Happy Prince vs. the City Leaders

The Happy Prince
City Leaders
Both
generous
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Symbols and Themes
Reflect once more on the story's theme the new understanding the author hopes the
reader will take away from the story.
Themes are often developed through use of symbols, or commonplace objects that s
tand for something much bigger or greater.
How is the Happy Prince's heart a symbol? answer
How is blindness a symbol? answer
Thinking about these symbols and what they stand for, what new understanding do
you think the author wants you to take away from the story of "The Happy Prince"
?
"What a strange thing!" said the overseer of the workmen at the foundry. "This b
roken lead heart will not melt in the furnace We must throw it away."

Review: Phrases
You've learned quite a bit about grammar in a short amount of time. In this less
on, you'll complete some review activities on what you learned in the module abo
ut prepositional phrases, including adjective, adverb, and appositive phrases in
sentences.
Take a moment to carefully reread the functions of each type of phrase in a sent
ence.
A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition (such
as above, beyond, beside, up), ends with a noun or a pronoun, and is used as an
adjective or adverb.
Both of the following types of phrases are special types of prepositional phrase
s:
An adjective phrase is a prepositional phrase that modifies a noun or pronoun.
An adverb phrase is a prepositional phrase that is used mainly to modify a verb.
The last type of phrase is not a prepositional phrase:
An appositive phrase is a noun or pronoun that identifies or explains another no
un or pronoun in a sentence.
Finding Phrases
The following sentences contain prepositional phrases (and sometimes appositive
phrases). Identify each phrase as adjective, adverb, or appositive.
Phrases Review
Venus, Earth's other neighbor, can often be seen in the night sky.
The sentence contains an appositive phrase and an adverb phrase.
True
False
1 of 6Please select an answer before continuing.
Check
Identifying Phrases
Which term correctly identifies the underlined word or group of words in each se
ntence?
Extra Practice

Read the sentence.

A scene about a couple of stray dogs was filmed at the park across the street fr
om my house.
Which correctly identifies the type of the underlined phrase?
preposition
adjective phrase
adverb phrase
appositive phrase
1 of 6Please select an answer before continuing.
Check
Extra Practice: Using Phrases in Writing
For additional practice, write five sentences that follow the directions below.
(The sentences may be in any order.) Write about one of the following topics or
a topic of your own choice, such as a favorite pet, a description of a school ca
feteria lunch, or your favorite singer or band. Notice how using these phrases m
akes your writing clearer, more specific, and more interesting!
Write a sentence that
Includes an adjective phrase.
Includes an adverb phrase.
Includes an appositive.
Includes an appositive phrase.
Includes an appositive phrase and an adverb phrase.
Vocabulary: Check Point
Before your next assignment, let's review the module vocabulary you have encount
ered so far. Check that you have learned the definitions for these words.
How well were you able to use context clues to discover the meaning of the words
? Try this example.
We all know that a tiger is one of the most dangerous animals in the world. So w
hy would a person risk their life by approaching a tiger in the wild?
Read this story from Korea of perseverance and courage to find out.
Based on the word's positioning in the sentence, you can assume that it has a po
sitive meaning (courage is a positive quality, after all). You can also assume t
hat it is a type of character trait a trait that a person might draw upon when app
roaching a wild and dangerous tiger. You may have also noticed some spelling com
monalities between perseverance and persistence (indeed, the two words are synon
yms)!
On the following pages you will be working on a written assignment. In this assi
gnment, you must incorporate at least two of these words.
perseverance
solitude
yearns
generous
sorrowful
despondent
sacrifice
deceased
lavish
aspire
nimble

deceive

Assignment: The Happy Prince

At the very end of this story, the people in the city try to get rid of the Happ
y Prince and the Swallow, but they do not succeed. Reread this important passage
.
"What a strange thing!" said the overseer of the workmen at the foundry. "This b
roken lead heart will not melt in the furnace. We must throw it away." So they t
hrew it on a dust heap where the dead Swallow was also lying.
"Bring me the two most precious things in the city," said God to one of his Ange
ls; and the Angel brought Him the leaden heart and the dead bird.
You will answer some questions about the story. Make sure to use evidence from t
he story to support your answers. Submit the assignment when you have completed
it.
Review the rubric to make sure you are submitting your best work.
Materials
Assignment
Rubric