The Year After the Fire: read-along
The Year After the Fire as a read-along for the projector: 14 pages, 1840 words, level 13, grade 8.
Page 1 of 14
On the eighth of October, 1871, Hedda Wojcik was twelve years old and had never carried anything heavier than a hymn book. She was standing on the back step with a plate of bread and butter when the church bells began to ring in the wrong order. She saw her mother come out of the kitchen with her sleeves still rolled and look at the sky. The sky over the river was the color of the inside of a stove. Within an hour the whole street had filled with people running, wagons piled with bedding and birdcages, men bellowing names, and a hot wind carrying burning shingles overhead like flights of orange birds, and Hedda understood that the thing she was looking at was not a neighbor's chimney fire but something that had no intention of stopping.
Keys: ← → or Page Up and Page Down turn the page, Space starts and pauses the voice, Home and End jump, F fills the screen. Tapping the right side of a page goes on; the left side goes back.
How to use it
- Press Full screen (F) to put the book on the projector.
- Press Read to me (Space), or read it yourself and turn pages with the arrow keys or a tap. Pick the Pace that suits the class.
- After the last page, three questions come up to talk about.
About this book
- Level 13, Grade 8
- 14 pages, 1840 words, about 14 minutes aloud
- A story, gentle
Related
About The Year After the Fire
In October 1871 the Great Chicago Fire destroys the lumber yard that made Hedda Wojcik's family comfortable. Over one year in a West Side laundry, twelve-year-old Hedda learns the names of her neighbors, the cost of soap, and how a family changes shape when it starts over.
Words to preview
- lye (LY)
- harsh soap ingredient
- mangle (MANG-gul)
- sheet-pressing machine
- treadle (TRED-ul)
- foot pedal
- relief (rih-LEEF)
- help for victims
- foreman (FOR-mun)
- crew boss
- insurance (in-SHUR-ents)
- money protection
Questions that fit any book
- What happened at the beginning, in the middle and at the end?
- Which page was your favorite? Why?
- How did the main character feel at the end? What tells you?
Questions
How long does The Year After the Fire take to read aloud?
It has 14 pages and 1840 words, so about 14 minutes at the Steady pace and a little less at Quick. If you stop to talk on the way, plan for more.
What reading level is The Year After the Fire?
Level 13, Grade 8. The library numbers its levels from 0 to 18 and puts the level of a book on its cover; level 13 sits at grade 8. A level is a guide for choosing, so look at the pages yourself.
Whose voice is it?
Your browser's own. Read to me uses a speaking voice already on the computer, so it sounds like that computer and works without a sign-in. Voices differ: some light each word as it is spoken, and some do not, in which case the highlight follows a steady pace instead. Some browsers use an online voice; if yours does, the browser, not us, sends the words of the page to its speech service. If no voice is installed, turn the pages and read it aloud yourself.
Do students need an account?
No. Nothing is asked of anyone and nothing is sent to us. Project the page, or share the link and let students open it on their own screens.
Where does this book come from?
It was written for Peabody's library. It is not copied from a published book.
Nothing you do here is sent to us. The voice is your browser's own. No sign-in, no ads.