Suggested levels for Guided Reading, DRA, Lexile, and Reading Recovery are provided in the Pearson Scott Foresman Leveling Guide. Our Village Genre Historical fiction Comprehension Skills and Strategy Setting and Theme Author s Purpose Inferring Scott Foresman Reading Street 5.1.3 ISBN-13: 978-0-328-52062-6 ISBN-10: 0-328-52062-4 9 0 0 0 0 by Carol Talley illustrated by Kate McKeon 9 780328 520626
Our Village by Carol Talley illustrated by Kate McKeon Note: The total word count includes words in the running text and headings only. Numerals and words in chapter titles, captions, labels, diagrams, charts, graphs, sidebars, and extra features are not included.
My name is Stuk. I live in the Chumash village of Shisholop. Our village is on the California coast. My family has lived in this village for a very long time. I think they have been here since the First People joined the Sky People in the Upper World. I am the youngest in my family. Our house is built of willow poles and rush grasses. All my family lives there: my mother and father, my older brothers and their wives, and my two unmarried sisters. I like my fine round house. It is roomy on the inside. All the beds are made from rushes and woven mats. Our pillows and blankets are made from fur and animal skins. Lots of light comes in. Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for photographic material. The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions. Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Scott Foresman, a division of Pearson Education. ISBN 13: 978-0-328-52062-6 ISBN 10: 0-328-52062-4 Copyright by Pearson Education, Inc., or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is protected by copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For information regarding permissions, write to Pearson Curriculum Rights & Permissions, One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458. Pearson is a trademark, in the U.S. and/or in other countries, of Pearson plc or its affiliates. Scott Foresman is a trademark, in the U.S. and/or in other countries, of Pearson Education, Inc., or its affiliates. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V0G1 13 12 11 10 09 3
We have many family houses in my village. We have some houses for everyone to use, such as the storehouse. Also, there is the village sweathouse. There the men can relax and get clean. We play games on the playing field, and we hold special meetings on the sacred ground. My family s house is one of the largest in Shisholop. It is near the house of the wot, our village leader. My father ranks high in our village. He and my brothers belong to the Brotherhood of the Canoe. These are the men who build and use the canoes we call tomols. Men go out to the deep sea to fish in these canoes. They make long voyages to trade with other villages along the coast. When my father and brothers build a canoe, they are not in a hurry. First, they collect the trees that have fallen in storms and have washed up on the shore. They split the wood and shape it into planks. Then they smooth the planks with rough sharkskin. Sometimes, they let me make holes in the planks with a stone drill. Then they sew the planks together with strong cords. Some people in my village make these cords from milkweed fiber. Next, my father and brothers mix tar and pine pitch. They use it to seal up the holes and cracks along the edges of the planks. Finally, they let me help paint the tomol a bright red color. The tomol, or canoe, is made from split wood cut into planks. The rough surface is smoothed with sharkskin. The planks are sewed together with strong cords made from milkweed fiber. Finally, the tomol is painted bright red. Cords hold together the wood planks on the tomol. 4 5
They let me watch and help because one day I will be a canoe maker. No one stands around just to see how the canoe is made. Everybody helps. Then my father and brothers push the canoe into the surf and set off across the water. No matter how carefully the holes and cracks are filled with tar, water will leak into the tomol. It is my job to bail the water from the bottom of the boat and pour it back into the sea. Since the time I was a small boy, I have been allowed to go with them to help. A fishing trip takes many days. Sometimes we drag wide nets behind our canoe. Then we catch big flounder or bass. Sometimes we dip small nets into the water to catch sardines. Some days we take along spears and harpoons for catching tuna and swordfish. My family s special skill is making cords to sew the canoe planks together. Others in my village are good at making the nets. Still others are expert at carving spears and harpoons. There are also families who make beautiful baskets; needles from bones; strong rope from animal sinew, or tissue. Some make drills from a hard rock called chert. 6 7
Syuxtun Trading is important in our village. When we have more useful things than we need in our own village, we trade them for other things that we do not have. Sometimes my father goes north in his tomol to trade with villages up the coast. He often goes as far as Syuxtun, where a thousand villagers live. Sometimes we travel in our canoe to the islands that lie out beyond the horizon. The most distant voyage of all is to the small island of Xalashat. This journey takes many days. To make this long trip, we launch our tomol before the sun appears over the eastern mountains. The sun is halfway up by the time we pass the first island, called Anacapa. My father and brothers pull their paddles strongly through the water. They raise and lower their blades, first on the right side, then on the left, always together. Shisholop Anacapa Xalashat 8 9
When we are hungry we eat dried fish. When we are thirsty we drink water from a basket jar made by one of our villagers. I have watched our basket makers waterproof the jar with lumps of tar. The basket maker drops the tar down into the tightly woven jar. Then hot stones are dropped in. The stones melt the tar. Then the jarmaker spins and turns the basket. This makes the melted tar coat the inside of the basket. Soon it is sealed tight so that it holds water very well. We also use this tar to fill the holes and seams of our tomol. The sun sets and rises high again. Finally we see the headland of Xalashat rise from the waters. Ravens, seagulls, and cormorants fill the sky. All through the year, the wind rages over this small island. My father and brothers paddle through the choppy waves. They must fight both wind and water. Around the sandspit on the east edge of the island, we head the tomol toward a sheltered cove. Dolphins rise from the water to greet us. Islanders run to the shore. My father and brothers raise their paddles over their heads to celebrate our safe arrival. 10 11
The waters around Xalashat are rich in kelp beds. Kelp are tough, brown seaweeds. Herds of sea otters spend their days swimming and floating in the kelp. They like to eat the shellfish that live there. We come to the island to trade for the skins of these otters, which the islanders have cured and prepared for us. We bring things the island people want. We have fine baskets and sinew rope made in Shisholop. We bring acorns gathered in the valley above our village. We have dried deer and elk meat, rabbit skins, wild cherry seeds, and pine nuts from villages in the hills. We have pieces of soapstone, which we get in trade with another island people. This soapstone is easily carved into animal shapes and into bowls that do not crack when put in a fire. That is why it is valuable. 12 13
While the grown-ups trade, I go off with the island boys and girls to collect shellfish in tide pools. Or we gather wild sage, a flavorful herb, on the sand dunes. Often we see a small island fox that has left his lair to hunt white-footed mice. We may spot the gnawed remains of his dinner. My father bargains well. The next day we set off on our return journey to the coast. Our tomol is loaded full. We have many otter skins. We also have sealskins and sometimes the dried meat of sea lions. We have beautiful beads and jewelry made from abalone and shells by the people of Xalashat. One time, as we made our way home, the skies darkened and the waves rose around us. Because of the heavy cargo, the tomol rode low in the water. The sea came into the canoe from the seams, as well as over the sides. The water came in faster than I could bail it out. Finally, to save our lives, my father said that we must lighten our load. Many skins were thrown into the water and lost. 14 15
On that day, the people of our village waited fearfully on the shore. They saw the storm at sea. When at last they saw us returning, they wept with joy. People ran to meet us at the water s edge. They sang songs of gladness as strong men rushed into the water and pulled us ashore. Then these men lifted the tomol, still full of cargo, onto their shoulders and carried it into the village. Always when we return from trading with the islanders, the village celebrates. We prepare a feast of shellfish, roasted fish and meat, and acorn soup. We dance and sing. Some people make music with deer bone flutes and bird bone whistles. Some people shake rattles made from turtle shells with small stones inside. My brother strikes a clapper stick against his hand to keep the rhythm of the music. 16 17
Later we sit around the fire, and storytellers tell old, old stories. I like the Sky People stories best of all. One story tells how two brothers in the Upper World make thunder and lightning when they play the hoopand-pole game. That s the same game I play with my friends on our village playing field. One brother rolls the hoop and makes the thunder. The other brother runs after the hoop and throws the pole through it to make the lightning. Another story tells how the stars are made. All day the Sun travels across the sky carrying a torch to light the world. When night comes, the Sun breaks the torch in two. The sparks that fly are the stars in the heavens. When I listen to all the old stories, I am happy. I think the people of Shisholop will tell these stories forever. 18 19
Reader Response For thousands of years before Europeans came to the Americas, the Chumash made their homes in villages along the coast of California. They also lived on four islands in the Santa Barbara Channel: San Miguel Island, Santa Rosa Island, Santa Cruz Island, and Anacapa Island. The Chumash village of Shisholop was located in this area, near the presentday city of Ventura. The village of Syuxtun was near the present-day city of Santa Barbara. Xalashat is now called San Nicolas Island. It is one of four islands located farther south in Santa Barbara Channel, along with Santa Catalina Island, Santa Barbara Island, and San Clemente Island. The people who lived on these four islands were not Chumash, but they knew the Chumash and traded with them. 1. The main setting for this story is the village of Shisholop. If you painted a picture of the village, what are some of the things that were important to the narrator that you would include in the picture? Make a web to help you organize your thoughts. Shisholop 2. Do you think the villagers enjoyed their life in Shisholop village? What do you think they enjoyed the most? Why? Do you think you would have enjoyed living with the Chumash? Why? How do these inferences help you better understand the story? 3. It is Stuk s job to bail water from the bottom of the canoe when the men go on fishing trips. Find bail in a dictionary. Then find both a homograph and a homophone for the word. Use all three words in sentences that show you understand their meanings. 4. In time and with practice, Stuk will learn to make a tomol as well as his father does. Can you think of a skill you are learning from a parent or other adult? Tell about it. 20