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Colonial America (1492-1765)

What's for Lunch?

What's for Lunch?
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 3 to 4
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   4.28

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    cornbread, cornstarch, hominy, lifesaver, muddle, seafood, succotash, livestock, colonial, pudding, recipe, meals, mothers, whatever, journey, raise
     content words:    Native Americans

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What's for Lunch?
By Sharon Fabian 		  
1     The colonists planned to raise their own food. They brought seeds to America. With seeds, they could plant vegetable gardens. They brought farm animals too. They planned to raise crops and animals each year.
 
2     Things didn't work out quite as they had planned. Some of their seeds didn't grow in American soil. They didn't have time to start farms right away. Soon, the colonists were very hungry. They ate whatever food they could find.
 
3     Then they had to find ways to get more food. The Native Americans helped the colonists. They taught them about crops that would grow here. They brought the colonists pumpkins, sweet potatoes, and squash. They brought the colonists corn.
 
4     Corn became very important to the colonists. It became their main food. Many colonists ate corn every day. Some colonists ate corn for breakfast, lunch, and supper.
 
5     There was yellow corn, white corn, blue corn, and red corn. Corn was a lifesaver for the colonists.
 
6     The colonists made pudding, pancakes, and soup from corn. They cooked succotash, a mixture of corn and beans. They made cornstarch candy. They made journey cakes that they could carry in their pockets.
 
7     The colonists also dried corn to preserve it for winter. Dried corn could be ground into corn meal for baking cornbread. They also made hominy from dried corn.
 
8     Corn was important for another reason. It was used to feed the livestock. So, corn helped the colonists raise animals for meat too.
 
9     In addition to raising livestock, the colonists hunted for meat. They shot deer and raccoons for meat. They caught fish and turtles. They found oysters.

Paragraphs 10 to 17:
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