Log inSign up for FREE
Library

Juliane Koepcke--Context Clues and Inferencing

Last updated over 2 years ago
13 questions
Juliane Koepcke was a senior in high school in 1971. Her parents were two zoologists who spent a lot of time in the rainforest studying animals. They all lived in the rainforest together at one point, but Koepcke moved back to her hometown of Lima, Peru in order to finish high school. She decided to fly back to the rainforest with her mother to be reunited with her father for Christmas after she graduated in December. They had to fly using an infamous airline that had a lot of negative press because two of the airline’s planes had recently crashed. The bad reputation was cause for concern for Koepcke’s mother, but she was willing to risk it in order to make sure that the family was together for the holiday.
7

What is zoology?

7

What does infamous mean?

7

What word or phrase helped you determine the meaning to infamous?

7

What inference can be made about today’s passage?

The flight from Lima, Peru to the Koepcke’s rainforest home was scheduled to take less than an hour. The first half of the flight was smooth, but the plane encountered a storm about halfway through the flight. Turbulence jolted the plane so badly that wrapped Christmas presents and luggage went flying wildly through the air. There was thunder and lightning all around and Koepcke was very afraid. Koepcke heard a loud explosion and the plane shook and then began to plummet in a nosedive towards the ground. Koepcke lost consciousness as the plane broke apart in the air. Koepcke came to and found herself spinning down towards the rainforest below. She was still strapped in her seat and passed out again as she was free falling towards the trees below her.
7

What does jolted mean?

7

What does plummet mean?

7

What is the central idea of today’s passage?

Koepcke woke up hours later to see the sun shining brightly through the canopy of leaves overhead. While she still felt out of it, she immediately realized that she had survived the plane crash. She hadn’t survived unscathed and felt pain from what would later be discovered as a broken collarbone. She had other injuries which included some deep cuts on her arms and legs. Her left eye was also swollen shut and she’d lost her glasses in her descent from the plane to the ground. She heard planes flying overhead that were looking for wreckage from the crash. She knew they wouldn’t be able to see her through the trees. Despite her injuries, she was still able to walk and she began walking to find help.
7
  • unscathed
  • descent
  • fall
  • unhurt
7

What inference can be made about today’s passage?

Juliane Koepcke knew she needed to find help as soon as possible in order to have any prospect of survival. She wasn’t afraid of the rainforest because she had spent enough time with her parents as a child there. Her father had always told her that she needed to find a stream and walk beside it if she was ever lost because it would eventually lead her to a river and a village or city. She didn’t have much in the way of food, but she did find a bag of candy from the crash that she picked up and ate along the way. She knew early on that she would not be able to subsist off of that candy alone. She came across some wreckage from the crash soon after she began walking, but she was unable to find any more food.
7

What does subsist mean?

7

. How did Koepcke’s childhood help her after the crash?

Juliane Koepcke’s trek through the rainforest looking for help had been miserable. She lost a shoe and her glasses in the crash. She only had on a short dress which did little to keep her warm during the cold nights. It rained frequently and she was bitten by a variety of insects which kept her from sleeping at night. To make matters worse, the deep cuts on her arm from the crash were infected. She was very worried that she would lose her arm. She ran out of the candy she had found and was beginning to give up hope. She came across a stream and stayed in the water as much as possible because she felt that was safer.

Nine days after the crash, Koepcke came across a boat in a shelter. She immediately went and found gasoline that she poured on the wound in her arm in an attempt to help with healing. She considered taking the boat but she had reservations because she didn’t want to steal it. She spent the night there and the next day she was discovered by several men. They immediately began to help her with her injuries and gave her food to eat. She had to endure a seven-hour canoe ride and was then airlifted to a hospital. Ten days after the plane crash, Juliane Koepcke was finally reunited with her father who had no idea that she had survived the plane crash.
10

What was the most important factor in Juliane Koepcke’s survival?

13

Write an summary of today’s passage.