edHelper.com
Native Americans
 Sedna, Goddess of the Sea

Sedna, Goddess of the Sea
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   4.4

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    bearskin, clearing, ghastly, nothing-no, underworld, reflection, shaman, numb, violent, parka, pecked, seabird, refused, affected, tipping, kayak

Print Sedna, Goddess of the Sea
     Print Sedna, Goddess of the Sea  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)

Quickly Print - PDF format
     Quickly Print: PDF (2 columns per page)
     Quickly Print: PDF (full page)

Quickly Print - HTML format
     Quickly Print: HTML

Proofreading Activity
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on Sedna, Goddess of the Sea
     Leave your feedback on Sedna, Goddess of the Sea  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

Sedna, Goddess of the Sea
By Cindy Grigg 		  
1      Sedna, the goddess of sea animals, has several names. She is also called Sanna, Nerrivik, Arnarquagssaq, and Nuliajuk. She lives and rules over Adlivun, the Inuit underworld. Her story has several different versions. This is one of them.
 
2     Sedna lived with her father in the land of ice and snow. Their tent was near the sea. Most of the year, a cold, bitter wind swept across the frozen water and ground. Sedna and her father went hungry when it was too cold to fish.
 
3     There were two months in the summer when the ice melted. During that time, men from nearby settlements would paddle their kayaks to Sedna's house and ask to marry her. She refused them all. She was very vain and thought she was too beautiful to marry just anyone. "I will wait for someone who is rich, handsome, and very generous," she said.
 
4     Finally, one day her father said to her, "Sedna, we have no food and we will go hungry soon. You need a husband to take care of you, so the next hunter who comes to ask your hand in marriage, you must marry him." Sedna ignored her father and kept brushing her hair as she looked at her reflection in the water.
 
5     One day a seabird stopped to rest near Sedna's house. He watched her as she sewed a fur parka. "She is more beautiful than any bird I have seen," he whispered to the wind. "I will ask her to marry me."
 
6     The bird flew back across the water to his home. He changed his form into a man and made a kayak. He returned to Sedna's house and called to her from the water, "Sedna, come with me to a warmer land. You won't need to work, and you'll sleep in a warm bearskin bed in my fur tent. I am a great hunter, and you'll never be hungry again. My friends the birds will see that you have everything you need."
 
7     Sedna could see this man was different from the others. He was dressed elegantly in furs. His beaklike nose made him seem more handsome than any of her other suitors. A warm house and bed, lots of food, and a handsome husband were what she wanted.
 
8     "Daughter, don't be hasty," warned her father. "What do you know about this man? You would be better off as the wife of an Inuit hunter."
 
9     Sedna didn't listen. She left with the handsome stranger. They paddled to a distant, rocky island. There the winds blew as fiercely as they had around her old home.
 
10     Sedna looked around. She could see nothing-no sod hut, no tent, just bare rocks and a cliff. The hunter stood before Sedna, and as he pulled down his hood, he let out an evil laugh. Sedna's husband changed back into a bird before her very eyes.
 
11     She screamed and tried to run, but the bird dragged her to a clearing on the cliff. The fur tent she had been promised was a smelly house made of fish skins. There were cracks and holes everywhere. The wind blew cold inside the house. The bed was a hard mat covered with damp feathers.
 
12     All day long, the birds fought over each scrap of raw fish. They screeched and pecked at Sedna when she took a piece for herself.

Paragraphs 13 to 26:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Weekly Reading Books

          Create Weekly Reading Books

Prepare for an entire week at once!

Native Americans
             Native Americans

United States
             United States


    American Government  
 
    Black History and Blacks in U.S. History  
 
    Children in History  
 
    Government Careers  
 
    Hispanic Heritage  
 
    How Can I Help?  
 
 
    Immigration  
 
    National Parks and Monuments  
 
    Native Americans  
 
    Presidents of the United States  
 
    Women's History  
 

United States History
    A Nation Divided
(1840-1861) 		 
 
    A New Nation
(1776-1830) 		 
 
    After the Civil War
(1865-1870) 		 
 
    American Revolution  
 
    Cold War
(1947-1991) 		 
 
    Colonial America (1492-1776)  
 
    Lewis and Clark
(1804-1806) 		 
 
    Spanish American War (1898)  
 
    The 1890's  
 
    The 1900's  
 
    The 1910's  
 
    The 1920's  
 
    The 1930's  
 
    The 1940's  
 
 
    The 1950's  
 
    The 1960's  
 
    The 1970's  
 
    The 1980's  
 
    The 1990's  
 
    The 2000's  
 
    The Civil War
(1861-1865) 		 
 
    The Great Depression
(1929-1945) 		 
 
    The United States Grows
(1865-1900) 		 
 
    The War of 1812  
 
    Wild, Wild West  
 
    World War I
(1914-1918) 		 
 
    World War II  
 

50 States

             Fifty States Theme Unit

Document Based Activities
      Document Based Activities

More Activities, Lesson Plans, and Worksheets


Back to School
Graphic Organizers
Alphabet Worksheets
Sight Words
Math Worksheets
Mazes
50 States

Monthly Themes
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Fractions
Place Value
Time and Calendar
Money
Earth Day
Solar System
Analogies
Nouns
Following Directions
Listening
Capitalization
Cursive Writing
Patterns and Sequencing
Dinosaurs
All About Me

Kindergarten
First Grade
Second Grade
Third Grade
Fourth Grade
Fifth Grade
Sixth Grade
Multiplication
Division
Main Idea
Cause and Effect
Measurement
Decimals
Rounding
Order of Operations
Verbs
Community Helpers
Adjectives
Plants
Grammar
Addition and Subtraction
Contractions
Bulletin Board Ideas
Word Searches
Crossword Puzzles
Printable Puzzles

Reading Comprehension
Reading Skills
English Language Arts



Copyright © 2011 edHelper