Core Skills Workout:

Summarizing

Name:____________________________________ Date:_____________

The Orphan Train

November/December 2013

Writing a Summary
A summary is a short retelling of the most important parts of a story.
It should include the information that someone would need to know
to understand the story, without small details or your own opinion.
Directions: Complete the summary below, based on your reading of The Orphan Train.
Think about what was most important in each section of the article.

Summary of The Orphan Train

The Orphan Train is about _______________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________.
Lee was in an orphanage because

______________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________.
A man named Charles Loring Brace had started the orphan train program in 1854
because _____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________.
At first, Lees experience aboard the orphan train ____________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________.
But eventually _________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________.
The family that adopted Lee _____________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________.
The orphan train program ended in 1929 because ____________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________.

2013 Scholastic Inc. Teachers may make copies of this page to distribute to their students.

Core Skills Workout:

Main Idea and Supporting Details

Name:____________________________________ Date:_____________

The Orphan Train

November/December 2013

Show Me the Details

The main idea of a story is an important idea that holds the whole piece together.
Everything in the story relates to the main idea in some way.
Supporting details give examples or explanations of the main idea.
Directions: Read the main idea in the box below. Then find the details in The Orphan Train and
Magnificent Michaela to support the main idea. Weve given you some hints.
Main idea: With loving families, Lee and Michaela were able to

overcome great sadness and tragedy and eventually thrive.

Supporting Detail 1: (Hint: What were the conditions in the orphanage like for Lee?)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Supporting Detail 2: (Hint: What was Lees experience on the orphan train like?)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Supporting Detail 3:
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Supporting Detail 4:
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Supporting Detail 5:
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2013 Scholastic Inc. Teachers may make copies of this page to distribute to their students.

Core Skills Workout:

Inference

Name:____________________________________ Date:_____________

The Orphan Train

November/December 2013

Making Inferences
An inference is something you can figure out from clues in a story,
even though the story doesnt say it directly.
Directions: The chart below lists clues from The Orphan Train on the left and inferences you can make
from the clues on the right. Complete the blanks on the chart with clues or inferences from the article.

Clues

 onsider these lines from the article:

C
This is an orphan train, the matron told Lee.
Youre very lucky to be on it.
Typically, children were told only a night or two in
advance that they would be going west
Where youre going, you wont be needing that
envelope, she said firmly. You must forget it.

Inferences
What can you infer about adults attitudes toward
orphans during the time period of the article?
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________

Write two lines from the article that support the

inference on the right.
______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

You can infer that Charles Loring Brace was a

compassionate person and a problem solver.

______________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

Consider this line from the article:

In one town, a farmer felt Lees muscles and stuck
his hand in Lees mouth to feel his teeth. Lee
glared until the farmer moved away.
Write one more line from the article that
supports the inference on the right.

What can you infer about how riding the orphan train
affected Lee, until he met the Naillings?

______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

Write two lines from the article that support the

inference on the right.

Write your own inference from the article

Magnificent Michaela.

______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

2013 Scholastic Inc. Teachers may make copies of this page to distribute to their students.

Core Skills Workout:

Connecting Texts
Name:____________________________________ Date:_____________

The Orphan Train

November/December 2013

From Orphanage to Home

In this issue, you read a narrative nonfiction story about a boy sent on an orphan train and
a biography about a girl adopted from Sierra Leone who became a ballet dancer.
This activity will help you compare and contrast the information and ideas in the two pieces.
Directions: Answer the questions in the left-hand column for each article.
Then check the appropriate box to indicate if the answers are similar or different.

The Orphan Train

Magnificent Michaela

Similar

Different

Where was the

child in the article
originally from?
Why was the child
in an orphanage?

What did the child

hope for while in
the orphanage?

How did the child

get taken into a
new family?

Did the child stay

near anyone he or
she knew before?
What main idea
about how children
cope with difficult
times does the
article convey?

You Write It! You can now respond to the writing prompt on page 8: What do Lees and Michaelas
experiences have in common? What wisdom do you think they could share with other orphans?

2013 Scholastic Inc. Teachers may make copies of this page to distribute to their students.