SAUYO HIGH SCHOOL

English 8
2020-2021

My Reading
Portfolio
Quarter 1: ____
Quarter 2: ____
Quarter 3: ____
Quarter 4: ____

Name: ____________________________________________

Section: __________________________________________

Teacher: _________________________________________
 Quarter: 1
Reading no. 3

Sometimes there are secrets that should not be kept; just like the secrets of Bog Creek Farm.
THE SECRET OF BOG CREEK FARM

Hi there! My name is Bob and my daughter is Jeannie. A

couple of times of time each month we travel up to the farmland
of New Jersey to do a little fishing. We talk about schoold,
friends, and sometimes even catch a fish, too!

For years, one of our favorite fishing spots was a stream

near an old land called Bog Creek Farm. Although Bog Creek
Farm certainly looked normal, it had a dark secret.

Bog Creek Farm looks like an average, everyday chicken ranch. However, some people used
the farm as a place to dump their old chemicals and paints. These chemicals were dumped into a
150-foot long trench, about half as long as a football field, which stretches across the property.
We knew about Bog Creek Farm’s secret because we fish so close to the property.

After a few years of secret dumping, a neighbor complained to local officials about the stinky
smell that kept coming from the property. After talking it over with the neighbor, the officials decided
to visit the owner of Bog Creek Farm and check it out for themselves. The owner told the officials
that people had dumped chemicals into the trench on his property for as long as he could
remember. Well, even he had been known to pour a jar of chemicals
down into the trench every now and then. After listening to the owner’s
story, the officials asked the owner to bulldoze the trench and ship the
dirt to a special storage area. The owner agreed. However, even after
the dirt was shipped away, the stinky smell continued.

A few months later, things started to get a little stranger. Whenever

my daughter and I went on one of our fishing trips, we began to notice
hundreds of dead fish that were floating in rivers and streams near Bog
Creek Farm.

We weren’t the only ones who were alarmed. As soon as state officials heard about the dying
fish, they decided to pay special attention to the soil all around the property.

First, Superfund cleanup crews dug up all the polluted soil on the site. After the soil was
removed, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) built a special kind of machine called
incinerator. The incineration at Bog Creek Farm burnt up enough soil to fill 500 tractor toilers! One
really neat thing about the incinerator (besides its ability to burn up tons of soil) was that it could
be taken apart and reassembled just about anywhere EPA wanted. This means that instead of
having to make a new incinerator, EPA could just take this one apart and then put it back together
at another site.

Once the soil was burnt up, Supefund cleanup crews tackled the problem of cleaning up the
streams and rivers that were near Bog Creek Farm.
- US Environmental Protection Agency
 Let’s Recall!

1. Who is the narrator of the story?

2. Why did Jeannie and her dad travel to New Jersey?

3. What was Bog Creek Farm’s dark secret?

4. How did Jeannie and her dad know the secret?

5. What are the effects of dumping?

Getting the Main Idea

Read each paragraph below. Choose the main idea expressed explicitly or implicitly. Encircle
the letter of your answer.

1. There are methods to reduce global warming. For instance, individuals can make lifestyle
changes, like not buying a gas-guzzling car, turning down the air-conditioning or upgrading home
appliances to energy-saving models.

a. There are methods to change lifestyles.

b. There are methods to reduce global warming.
c. There are ways to use energy-saving appliances.

2. Will global warming cause harm? Some computer models suggest that the world might warm
by five degrees or more during this century, which global warming might cause more intense storms and
disrupt the weather patterns that bring rain to agricultural regions.
- Global Warming Watch RD, November 2006

a. Global warming is harmless.

b. Global warming is healthful.
c. Global warming is harmful.
 Quarter: 2
Reading no. 4
When was your first trip to a place where life as busy as ant colony?
Read the following narrative poem about a confused Arab boy in his first experience
in the city.
THE BEWILDERED ARAB
Jami

From the solitary desert

Up to Baghdad came a simple
Arab; there amid the rout
Grew bewildered of the countless
People hither, thither, running
Coming, going, meeting, parting,
Clamor, clatter, and confusion,
All about him and about.

Travel-wearied, hubbub-dizzy
Would the simple Arab fain
Get to sleep-- “But then, on waking,
How” quote he, “amid so many
Waking, know myself again?”
So, to make the matter certain,
Strung a gourd about his ankle,
And, into a corner creeping,
Baghdad and himself and people
Soon were blotted from his brain.

But one that heard him and divined

His purpose, slyly crept behind,
From the sleeper’s ankle clipping,
Round his own the pumpkin tied,
And laid him down to sleep beside!

By and by the Arab waking,

Looks directly for his signal--
Sees it on another’s ankle
Cries aloud, “Oh, good-for-nothing
Rascal to perplex me so!
That by you I am bewildered,
Whether I am I or not!
If I--the pumpkin why on you?
If you--then where am I, and who?”

from New Visions, Afro-Asian Literature,

The National Communications Arts Series
 Unlocking Vocabulary

Match the italicized words in Column A with their meanings in column B. Write the letter of
your answer on the space provided.

Column A Column B

____1. the bewildered Arab a. alone

____2. a solitary life b. confused

____3.to hear the clatter c. to perceive by the intuition or insight;

conjecture

____4. to respond to the clamor d. loud commotion

____5. heard him and divined e. mischievously

____6. slyly crept behind f. uproar; disturbance

____7. hubbub-dizzy g. eager; desirous

____8. the simple Araba fain h. loud rattling noise

 Quarter: 2
Reading no. 5

Always listen to friendly advice: It is a very good thing to be able to hold one’s tongue!

THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE

Once upon a time, a Tortoise lived in a pond with two Ducks, who were her very good friends.
She enjoyed the company of the Ducks, because she could talk with them to her heart’s
content; the Tortoise liked to talk. She always had something to say, and she liked to hear
herself say it.

After many years of this pleasant living, the pond

became very low, in a dry season; and finally it dried
up. The two Ducks saw that they could no longer live
there, so they decided to fly to another region, where
there was more water. They went to the Tortoise to bid
her good-bye.

“Oh, don’t leave me behind!” begged the Tortoise.

“Take me with you; I must die if I am left here.”

“But you cannot fly!” said the Ducks. “How can we take
you with us?”

“Take me with you! take me with you!” said the Tortoise.

The Ducks felt so sorry for her that at last they thought of a way to take her. “We have thought
of a way which will be possible,” they said, “if only you can manage to keep still long enough.
We will each take hold of one end of a stout stick, and do you take the middle in your mouth;
then we will fly up in the air with you and carry you with us. But remember not to talk! If you
open your mouth, you are lost.”

The Tortoise said she would not say a word; she

would not so much as move her mouth; and she was
very grateful. So the Ducks brought a strong little
stick and took hold of the ends, while the Tortoise bit
firmly on the middle. Then the two Ducks rose slowly
in the air and flew away with their burden.

When they were above the treetops, the Tortoise

wanted to say, “How high we are!” But she
remembered, and kept still. When they passed the church steeple she wanted to say, “What
is that which shines?” But she remembered, and held her peace. Then they came over the
village square, and the people looked up and saw them. “Look at the Ducks carrying a
Tortoise!” they shouted; and every one ran to look. The Tortoise wanted to say, “What
business is it of yours?” But she didn’t. Then she heard the people shout, “Isn’t it strange!
Look at it! Look!”

The Tortoise forgot everything except that she wanted to say, “Hush, you foolish people!” She
opened her mouth,—and fell to the ground. And that was the end of the Tortoise.
Let’s recall!

Identify the parts of the plot by completing the chart below.

Exposition (Beginning)

Rising Action (Problem)

Climax (Highlight)

Resolution (Problem-solved)

Ending
 Quarter: 1
Reading no. 1
Don't believe everything you hear; not everyone has your best interests at heart.

THE FOX AND THE CROW

Aseop’s Fable

One bright morning as the Fox was following his sharp nose through the wood in search
of a bite to eat, he saw a Crow on the limb of a tree overhead. This was by no means the
first Crow the Fox had ever seen. What caught his attention this time and made him stop for
a second look, was that the lucky Crow held a bit of cheese in her beak. "No need to search
any farther," thought sly Master Fox. "Here is a dainty bite for my breakfast." Up he trotted
to the foot of the tree in which the Crow was sitting, and looking up admiringly, he cried,
"Good-morning, beautiful creature!" The Crow, her head cocked on one side, watched the
Fox suspiciously. But she kept her beak tightly closed on the cheese and did not return his
greeting. "What a charming creature she is!" said the Fox. "How her feathers shine! What a
beautiful form and what splendid wings! Such a wonderful Bird should have a very lovely
voice, since everything else about her is so perfect. Could she sing just one song, I know I
should hail her Queen of Birds." Listening to these flattering words, the Crow forgot all her
suspicion, and also her breakfast. She wanted very much to be called Queen of Birds. So
she opened her beak wide to utter her loudest caw, and down fell the cheese straight into
the Fox's open mouth. "Thank you," said Master Fox sweetly, as he walked off. "Though it is
cracked, you have a voice sure enough. But where are your wits?"

Let’s Recall!

1) The Crow does not trust the Fox at first. Give evidence from the text to support this
statement. ___________________________________________________

2) What are “flattering words” based on evidence in the text?

___________________________________________________

3) What is a character trait of the Fox? Give evidence to support the character trait you
choose. ___________________________________________________ _________

4) What is the theme of the story? Underline evidence in the text that supports your theme.
___________________________________________________
 Quarter: 1
Reading no. 2

THE MERMAIDS’ LAGOON: AN EXCERPT FROM PETER PAN

J. M. BARRIE

1 If you shut your eyes and are a lucky one, you may see at times a
shapeless pool of lovely pale colors suspended in the darkness; then if you squeeze your
eyes tighter, the pool begins to take shape, and the colors become so vivid that with
another squeeze they must go on re. But just before they go on re you see the lagoon.
This is the nearest you ever get to it on the mainland, just one heavenly moment; if there
could be two moments you might see the surf and hear the mermaids singing.

2 The children often spent long summer days on this lagoon, swimming or
-oating most of the time, playing the mermaid games in the water, and so forth. You must
not think from this that the mermaids were on friendly terms with them: on the contrary, it
was among Wendy’s lasting regrets that all the time she was on the island she never had
a civil word from one of them. When she stole softly to the edge of the lagoon she might
see them by the score, especially on Marooners’ Rock, where they loved to bask, combing
out their hair in a lazy way that quite irritated her; or she might even swim, on tiptoe as it
were, to within a yard of them, but then they saw her and dived, probably splashing her
with their tails, not by accident, but intentionally.

3 They treated all the boys in the same way, except of course Peter, who
chatted with them on Marooners’ Rock by the hour, and sat on their tails when they got
cheeky. He gave Wendy one of their combs.

4 The most haunting time at which to see them is at the turn of the moon, when they
utter strange wailing cries; but the lagoon is dangerous for mortals then, and until the
evening of which we have now to tell, Wendy had never seen the lagoon by moonlight,
less from fear, for of course Peter would have accompanied her, than because she had
strict rules about everyone being in bed by seven. She was often at the lagoon, however,
on sunny days after rain, when the mermaids come up in extraordinary numbers to play
with their bubbles. The bubbles of many colors made in rainbow water they treat as balls,
hitting them gaily from one to another with their tails, and trying to keep them in the
rainbow till they burst. The goals are at each end of the rainbow, and the keepers only are
allowed to use their hands. Sometimes a dozen of these games will be going on in the
lagoon at a time, and it is quite a pretty sight.

Let’s Recall!

1. List three or more things that the mermaids do in the lagoon.

______________________________________________________________________________

2. What did the author mean when he wrote, “You must not think from this that the mermaids
were on friendly terms” with the children? Provide an example from the text that supports your
answer.
______________________________________________________________________________

Recognizing Key Concepts

Go back to the indicated paragraphs below and tell the big ideas or key concepts found in
each of them.

Paragraph 1

Paragraph 2

Paragraph 3

Paragraph 4
Quarter: 2
Reading no. 3
Ordinary people throughout the world are quickly becoming the newest
superheroes in the battle to protect Earth. Can you be one of them? Read on and find out what
you can do.

WANT TO BE AN ECO ACTION HERO?

Unlocking Vocabulary

From the Word Power Box below, choose the word being defined or described. Write the
answer on the space provided.

convenient
resources
thermostat
consigned
mould
watts

______________1. It refers to units or power equivalent to one joule per second, or about
1/746 of a horsepower.

______________2. It means entrusted or committed to the care of another; forwarded of

delivered, as merchandise, for sale or disposal.

______________3. It refers to any various fungus growths usually forming a furry coating on
decaying food or in moist, warm places.

______________4. It is synonymous to the word comfortable, handy, or serviceable.

______________5. It refers to the natural advantages, especially of a country, as forests, oil

deposits, minerals, etc.

Getting the Main Idea

Choose te best title for each set of related ideas. Encircle the letter of your answer.

1. Paragraph 2
A. Global Warming
B. Energy from Coal
C. Across Asia

2. Paragraph 3
A. Using the Energy-saving Lights
B. Choosing the Right Household Appliances
C. Changing a Few Old Habits

3. Paragraph 4
A. Saving Energy with the Refrigerator
B. Saving Energy witht the Washing Machine
C. Saving Energy with the Air Conditioner