What is Cinco de Mayo?

What is Cinco de Mayo?

What is Cinco de Mayo?
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 3 to 4
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	3.55

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		blind-folded, showered, sofa, actually, nachos, interesting, mexico, laying, sight, aside, dizzy, holiday, freedom, history, remember, everybody
	content words:		On May, Mexican Independence Day

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Other Languages
Spanish: ¿Qué es el cinco de mayo?

What is Cinco de Mayo?
By Brenda B. Covert

¹     Mrs. Henry sat on the sofa reading the paper. Daisy sat on the floor playing with her dolls. When she glanced at her mother, she saw an interesting sight on the back of the paper. It looked like an ad for a Spanish party. Daisy saw words that she could not read. In large letters she saw, "Cinco de Mayo."

²     "Hey, Mommy, what does that say?" Daisy asked.

³     Mrs. Henry turned the paper over and looked. "I don't know, honey."

⁴     Philip wandered through the living room on his way to the kitchen. He looked at the paper in his mother's hands. "Oh, Cinco de Mayo [SINK-oh duh MY-oh]," he said. "I know what that is."

⁵     "You do?" Daisy asked. It seemed like her big brother knew everything.

⁶     "Tell us about it, Philip," Mrs. Henry said, laying the paper aside.

⁷     "Sure thing," Philip said. "Cinco de Mayo means May fifth in Spanish. It's a Mexican holiday. Here in America, lots of people look at Cinco de Mayo as a way to enjoy Mexican food and drink, Mexican music, and games like breaking a piñata."

⁸     "I know what a piñata is!" cried Daisy, jumping up. "Jessica had one at her birthday party. It was shaped like a big parrot and was hanging by a rope! We took turns being blind-folded. We got a big stick and tried to hit the piñata." Daisy acted out swinging the stick with her eyes closed. She spun around until she was dizzy. "When it got hit really hard, it broke open and candy and little toys showered down on us! That was fun!"

⁹     "What's so special about May fifth," Mrs. Henry asked, "that caused it to be this big holiday?"

Paragraphs 10 to 16:
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