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Kites and Balloons Go to War Spanish American War (1898)

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Kites and Balloons Go to War
Print Kites and Balloons Go to War Reading Comprehension with Sixth Grade Work

Print Kites and Balloons Go to War Reading Comprehension


Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 6 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	4.77

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		jungle-covered, mid-1890s, standing, know-how, maine, dating, combat, dynamite, firepower, best, heated, skittish, warfare, communication, battlefield, military
	content words:		Spanish American War, Civil War, Wild West, Henry Ford, Motor Wagon, American War, Rough Riders, San Juan Hill, Walter Reed, Walter Reed Army Medical Center

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Kites and Balloons Go to War By Toni Lee Robinson

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¹     The Spanish American War took place in 1898. More than thirty years had passed since the U.S. Civil War. The Wild West had been tamed. Things like distance and disease were now life's biggest hurdles. Americans were eager to leap into the new century. The search was on for new tools and know-how. Instead of taming new lands, people explored better ways of doing things. We call this technology (tek NAHL uh gee).
 
²     It would be a few years before Henry Ford made the first widely used motor car. But the world was already coming out of the horse and buggy stage. The first motor vehicle built factory style came out in the mid-1890s. Only 15 were made. The vehicle was called the Motor Wagon. It looked just like a wagon, except with an engine instead of a horse!
 
³     Most homes relied on gas for heating and light. Companies were working hard to make electric power handy for everyone. They tried out electric gadgets that would do all sorts of things like cooking and washing clothes. Plants to make electric power were being built in many places.
 
⁴     Communication was another big story in these days. By the 1890s, many people who lived in big cities had telephones. The telegraph had also been around for a while. It was the fastest way to send messages long distance. As the war heated up, both media took great strides forward. News crews keeping pace with the war filed their reports first by telegraph. Later, the stories were called in on "battlefield telephones."
 
⁵     The wonder of film was brand new at the time. The earliest films were little more than a few grey frames that jerked silently along. Yet the first movies packed a powerful punch. One man filmed a crude reenactment of the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine. The U.S. public was deeply moved by the dim, grainy images. They helped push the nation closer to the brink of war.

Paragraphs 6 to 14:
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Spanish American War (1898)

Spanish American War (1898)

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Kites

Kites

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United States

United States

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