Critical Thinking

• 1. SUM IT UP Create a time line about baseball. Use your time line to sum up the selection.

  

  Time Line

• 2. Make Judgments Explain to a partner which change in the history of professional baseball you think is the most important. Use details from the text to support your ideas.

• 3. Explain Revisit your KWL Chart. In the L column, write what you learned about the history of baseball. Discuss your completed chart with your classmates.

• 4. Compare Compare how “Play Ball!” and “Analysis of Baseball” both suggest that fans are important to the sport and to the players.

Reading Fluency

Phrasing Read the passage on page 666 to a partner. Assess your fluency.

• 1. I read

  • a. great

  • b. OK

  • c. not very well

• 2. What I did best in my reading was_____.

Reading Strategy

Vocabulary Review

Oral Review Read the paragraph to a partner. Add the vocabulary words.

Our baseball team had to_____against last year’s state_____. Although they were better players, our team was more_____with the because we had girls on our team. Some people wanted to_____the girls from the boys. We want them to play because they are serious players! Baseball is not just a_____for them. Our coach found out that the_____has a rule that says everyone is allowed to play. Now I think that women should be allowed to play_____baseball with male players, too.

Written Review Pretend you are a black or female player in the early days of baseball. Write a letter to a baseball official that explains why it is wrong to segregate baseball. Use five vocabulary words.

Write About the Guiding Question

Explore the Game

How does baseball bring people together? Write your opinion. Reread the selection to find examples that support your ideas.