1a. What startles and awakens Leona?
2a. What does Leona tell her mother about the place where she is?
3a. What does Leona's elder daughter say about their laughter during past times spent with Grandma?
4a. Compare and contrast the landscape of Leona's family home in New Mexico with the landscape of the place where Leona is living. List details about each.
5a. Why might Leona speak aloud to her mother who is hundreds of miles away?
1b. Why might this happen to her?
2b. How do you think Leona feels about the place where she is living?
3b. What do you think she means by this?
4b. What did the landscape of New Mexico offer Leona that her new landscape does not? In what ways does Leona define home? Explain your answer.
5b. If you were in Leona's situation—far away from your family and the place where you feel most comfortable—how might you react? What would you do to feel more comfortable in your new home?
Setting. How many distinct settings does the author create in the story? What aspects of setting does Tapahonso omit? How do those omissions impact the story?
Mood. Choose at least three of your own words that describe the mood of this story. What are some of the ways the author creates mood in the story? Point out parts of the story that you think contribute to creating mood.
1. Create a new title for "The Ground Is Always Damp."
2. Write a one or two paragraph review of "The Ground Is Always Damp." Point out the story's strengths and/or weaknesses, and state whether you would recommend it to other readers your age.
3. Make a list of descriptive phrases that reveal the sights, sounds, and smells of one of your favorite places to someone who has never been there.
Working with Sensory Details. Look back to "The Ground Is Always Damp" and identify words and phrases that appeal to the five senses. Use the chart below to organize your information. If a descriptive phrase addresses more than one of the five senses, include the phrase more than once in the chart. An example is shown. After completing the graphic organizer, write five sentences of your own, each describing something that will appeal to each of the five senses.
Using an Atlas and the Internet for Research: Research Log. Use the index of an atlas to look up the four mountain ranges mentioned in "The Ground Is Always Damp": Carriso (may also be spelled Corrizo), Ute, La Plata, and Chuska. Locate the mountains on the map. Next, identify the following areas on the map: Chaco Canyon National Monument, New Mexico; Window Rock, Arizona; Monument Valley Ruins, Arizona; and Canyon de Chelly National Park, Arizona. Conduct some basic Internet research on the last four sites you located on the map. Choose the site that looks most interesting to you and write a letter to the appropriate chamber of commerce or tourist and visitors' bureau. Your Internet research should lead you to sites that note organizations that you can write to for further information. Use this log to keep track of the sources you use and the information you find.
Internet sources:
Investigating Word Origins. Using the dictionary, the Internet, or other sources, try to find ten words that have been adopted into the English language from Native American languages. Also include the definition of the word and, if possible, the tribal language from which it originated.
Example: tepee, a cone-shaped tent of animal skins or bark (Dakota)
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