*Week 22 Reading Quiz

The Worst Day Ever

1 I should have known from the very moment I woke up that today was not going to be a good day. My alarm clock did not go off, my baby sister was screaming in her room, and there was a horrible smell coming from the kitchen. I got up and tried to take a shower, but there was no hot water. When I went to get dressed, I realized that there were no clean clothes. I had to wear my soccer uniform, and it smelled like it could walk to school on its own.

2 My sister was still screaming, so I walked into her room to figure out what was wrong. She had managed to take apart all of her stuffed animals, and the heads were all on the floor. I got her out of her crib and thought to myself, could this day get any worse?

3 We headed towards the kitchen, and the horrible smell was now accompanied by a greenish grey smoke. I grabbed a towel and started fanning it out of my eyes while trying to figure out what was going on. It turned out that Mom was experimenting with soap making, and it was not going so well. She was so busy with the soap that she had completely forgotten about making breakfast or lunch. All we had left for breakfast was stale cereal. I hate cereal! And I knew that also meant I was going to have to have a cheese sandwich for lunch at school. This day was getting worse by the minute.

4 I left my sister with my mom and hoped that the soap trials would be over by the time I got home. As soon as I stepped outside, it started to pour. I opened my umbrella and a big gust of wind blew it inside out and broke it. Perfect, I thought. Well, at least all the rain should wash some of the smell out of my clothes.

5 By the time I got to school, there was so much water in my shoes that fish would have been right at home in them. I sloshed my way into my classroom and watched as a puddle slowly formed under my chair. That’s when my teacher said to get out a piece of paper for our pop quiz. I did not even remember the tiniest bit about what happened in class, and all of my books were too soaked to look at. With the way that this day had been going, I hoped for a tornado to come and sweep the whole school away. However, I could not even get that to happen. This really was the worst day ever.

6 At recess we had to watch a movie about princesses that was about five years too young for us, and during science I got partnered with the kid who would not stop laughing all the time. We got in trouble ten times, and I lost recess the next time we actually had it. With this weather, who knew how long that would be.

7 When the bell finally rang, I was almost afraid to go outside. All I wanted was to get back home and into bed.

8 That was not going to be my luck. Just as I was stepping around a big puddle, a truck flew by and splashed water and mud all over me. Then my bookbag strap broke, spilling everything onto the wet ground. As I got it all gathered together, my best friend walked by, and when I said hi, he ignored me and kept right on walking. Things just kept getting worse and worse.

9 At home, I was happy to see that the green smoke was gone, as were the soap making supplies. However, it was replaced with every green vegetable known to man spread out on the kitchen counter. Mom apparently had decided we all were now going to be vegetarians. Tonight’s dinner was eggplant and kale salad with green bean and red pepper casserole. Well, at least there was still dessert, I thought. Turns out I was wrong about that too. Mom even managed to add vegetables to dessert; rhubarb. Yuck!

10 I walked back to my room hoping to escape this disaster of a day. Instead, I found where my sister had been playing all day. Mom’s extra soap ingredients apparently made good play dough, and it was stuck to everything; even my baseball card collection.

11 That was it! I could not take one more second of this horrible day. I went to brush my teeth and discovered that toothpaste can go very bad. Then I put on my pajamas. I climbed into bed and stubbed my toe on one of my sister’s toys. As I fell asleep, I told myself, At least I know tomorrow has to be better. It does, right?

adapted from “The Ant and the Cricket”

1 A silly young cricket, accustomed to sing
2 Through the warm, sunny months of sweet summer and spring,
3 Began to complain, when he found that at home
4 His cupboard was empty and winter was come.

5 Not a crumb to be found
6 On the snow-covered ground;
7 Not a flower could he see,
8 Not a leaf on a tree:
9 “Oh, what will become,” says the cricket, “of me?”

10 At last by starvation and famine made bold,
11 All dripping with wet and all trembling with cold,
12 Away he set off to a miserly ant,
13 To see if, to keep him alive, he would grant
14 Him shelter from rain:

15 A mouthful of grain
16 He wished only to borrow,
17 He’d repay it tomorrow:
18 If not, he must die of starvation and sorrow.

19 Says the ant to the cricket, “I’m your servant and friend,
20 But we ants never borrow, we ants never lend;
21 But tell me, dear sir, did you lay nothing by
22 When the weather was warm?” Said the cricket, “Not I.
23 My heart was so light
24 That I sang day and night,
25 For all nature was at play.”

26 “You sang, sir, you say?
27 Go then,” said the ant, “and dance winter away.”
28 Thus ending, he hastily lifted the wicket
29 And out of the door turned the poor little cricket.

30 Though this is a fable, the moral is good:
31 If you live without work, you must live without food.

Adapted from “The Ant and the Cricket” by Unknown Author from The Posy Ring edited by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith. Copyright 1903 by McClure, Phillips & Co.