Suggested levels for Guided Reading, DRA,™

Lexile,® and Reading Recovery™ are provided

in the Pearson Scott Foresman Leveling Guide.

by Myka-Lynne Sokoloff

Comprehension
Genre Text Features
Skills and Strategy
Expository • Sequence • Map
Nonfiction • Author’s Purpose • Labels
• Important Ideas • Diagrams

Scott Foresman Reading Street 4.4.3

ISBN-13: 978-0-328-51664-3
ISBN-10: 0-328-51664-3
9 0 0 0 0

9 780328 516643
 LeYWXkbWho
WZlWdY[
Z[l[bef[Z
[n^Wkij_d]
^[WZgkWhj[hi
_cfeii_Xb[
_dj[di[
c[iiW][i
h[l[Wb

MehZYekdj0/'+ CZ
.ZLB-ZOOF
4PLPMPGG

Note: The total word count includes words in the running text and headings only.
Numerals and words in chapter titles, captions, labels, diagrams, charts, graphs,
sidebars, and extra features are not included.
(MFOWJFX
*MMJOPJT
t
#PTUPO
.BTTBDIVTFUUT
t
$IBOEMFS
"SJ[POB

6QQFS
4BEEMF
3JWFS
/FX
+FSTFZ
 $O
6
3E
5IT
Do you ever use secret codes? When you send
text or email messages, you may use special
letters or symbols to stand for certain words.
When you do this, you are using a code.
A code is a system of numbers, letters, or
other symbols. Codes are used to send messages.
Some codes are secret. Others, like Morse code,
are known by many people. Morse code is one of
the most important codes ever invented.
Illustrators
6,7 Argosy; 9 David Harrington; 14 Steve Toole

Photographs
Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for
photographic material. The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to
correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.

Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Pearson

Education, Inc.

Photo locators denoted as follows: Top (T), Center (C), Bottom (B), Left (L), Right (R),
Background (Bkgd)

CVR The Granger Collection, NY; 1 Bettmann/Corbis; 3 Pixtal/Punchstock; 5 Getty

Images; 8 Getty Images; 10 Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art
Resource, NY; 11 The Granger Collection, NY; 12 © DK Images; 13 ©Bettmann/Corbis;
15 Sheila Terry/Photo Researchers, Inc.; 16 © Peter M. Fisher/Corbis.

ISBN 13: 978-0-328-51664-3

ISBN 10: 0-328-51664-3

Copyright © by Pearson Education, Inc., or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America. This publication is protected by copyright,
and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited
reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For information
regarding permissions, write to Pearson Curriculum Rights & Permissions, One Lake
Street, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458.

Pearson® is a trademark, in the U.S. and/or in other countries, of Pearson plc or its
affiliates.

Scott Foresman® is a trademark, in the U.S. and/or in other countries, of Pearson

Education, Inc., or its affiliates.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V0G1 13 12 11 10 09
3
 $PEFT
JO
)JTUPSZ
People have used codes throughout
history to communicate secretly. In
ancient Greece rulers sometimes sent
messages by writing on the shaved
heads of slaves. The ruler would wait
for the slave’s hair to grow back,
and then send him far away on an
exhausting trip to deliver the hidden
message. The receiver of the message
would then shave the slave’s head to
reveal the writing underneath.
Today ancient signal towers still
stand on parts of the Great Wall of
China. These towers were once used
to send smoke signals. Puffs of smoke
communicated simple messages. These
smoke signals were used mostly in
times of war.

Signal towers on the

Great Wall of China

4 5
 Semaphore (SEM-uh-for) code was developed
in France around 1800. It uses two flags. Each
flag is divided into two colored triangles. The
flags are held a certain way to signal each letter
of the alphabet. The sender moves the flags to
spell out words.
Dozens of semaphore stations carried
messages throughout France during Napoleon
A B C D E F
Bonaparte’s time. Napoleon used this system to
send and receive messages from his headquarters
during battle.

G H I J K L
This is the code for “Help.”

M N O P Q R

S T U V W X
H E L P

Y Z

Semaphore

6 7
 5IF
5FMFHSBQI At first, attempts to use electricity to send
messages were unsuccessful. A man named Don
People who wanted to send more detailed Francisco Salva y Campillo had a plan to link
messages could not use codes like semaphore electrical wires to people. Each person would
and smoke signals. It also was impossible to use be assigned a letter of the alphabet. He would
these systems to send messages quickly over then send an electrical current through the
great distances. wire to signal a letter. The person connected
Some inventors thought that the new and to that wire would get an intense shock and
exciting power of electricity could be used to call out his or her assigned letter. Now that’s a
send messages. In the 1700s, people did not shocking idea!
know much about electricity. They did not use
it as we do today, but scientists were beginning
to understand more about it. Inventors believed
that electricity was the key to sending long
distance messages, but they weren’t sure how it
could be done.

Electricity causes the lightning we see in the sky.

8 9
 By the 1830s inventors on both sides of
the Atlantic were trying to make telegraph
machines, or machines that send and receive
messages. One such inventor was Samuel Morse.
He first became interested in electricity in
college, but he did not know that much about
science. At the time he wasn’t a scientist but a
portrait painter.

Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Art Resource, NY

Samuel Morse

Morse found two partners to help with his

invention. Leonard Gale helped Morse design
a telegraph system. The 1837 system used an
on-and-off key to send electrical signals along a
wire. Long and short signals, or taps on the key,
appeared as dashes and dots at the other end of
Painting by S. F. B. Morse the wire. The signals made sounds that could be
of his daughter Susan heard at the other end too.

10 11
 An early telegraph
Morse’s other partner was Alfred Vail. In
1838 Vail suggested using these dashes and
dots as a code. Each letter of the alphabet
would be represented by a set of long and
short signals.
Long signals (dashes) are read aloud as
dah. Short signals (dots) are pronounced dit.
The system worked so well that some people
receiving Morse code could understand up to
seventy-five words per minute!

Morse Code

12 13
 &GGFDUT
PG
UIF
5FMFHSBQI 5FMFHSBQI
UP
5FMFQIPOF

The United States was growing rapidly in
the mid-1800s. Before the telegraph, the Pony
BOE
.PSF
Express, with its skilled riders, was the fastest For about thirty years, using the telegraph
way to send messages. But even they took to send Morse code was the fastest way to send
several days to cross the country. The telegraph messages. However, a man named Alexander
made it possible to send and receive messages Graham Bell had an idea for a better telegraph
quickly across the country. machine. Bell noticed he could hear sounds over
Around the same time, railroads began to the wire. He began to work on a new invention
cross the country as well. Before the telegraph, that would send speech over the electrical wires
railroad workers couldn’t tell in advance . . . and it worked! Bell placed the first telephone
whether a track was clear. As a result there were call in 1876.
many accidents on the tracks. Railroads became
safer with the telegraph system in place.
The telegraph helped people in other ways
Alexander Graham Bell
too. Businesses sent messages about products,
prices, and shipments. Newspapers could
receive news from far away. Suddenly many
people began to read a daily newspaper. Better
communication and transportation made the
world seem smaller.
.JOOFTPUB
0OUBSJP $
$BOBEB /FX
#SVOTXJDL
#
1&*
2VFCFD
VF
F
FC
.BJOFF
8JTDPOTJO
.JDIJHBO /PWB
/FX 75
75
:PSL
:P 4DPUJB
/)
/ )
*PXB .BTTBDIVTFUUT
Each red 1FOOTZMWBOJB
TTZZMWB
WBBOOJB
JB
$5
$5
3
3*
*MMJOPJT 0IJP
0 IP
dot indicates T *OEJBOB
OB
OB 87
.%
%
/++
%&
%&

a telegraph .JTTPVSJ
,FOUVDLZ

office in the 64"

6 4" 5FOOFTTFFF
7JSHJOJB
/PSUI
$BSPMJOB
"UMBOUJD
"SLBOTBT
1840s. 0DFBO
4PVUI
$BSPMJOB
(FPSHJB
.4 "MBCBNB
-PVJTJBOB
JB OB
'
'MPSJEB
B

(VMG
PG
.FYJDP
14 15
 )FMMP
0QFSBUPS Reader Response
For many years, long distance phone calls
were very expensive, so people did not make 1. Choose four important events from the book.
them too often. Instead, people sent important Write them on a time line in the correct order.
messages by telegram. The message was printed 2. What is the most important idea you learned from
at a telegraph office and delivered by hand. reading this book? How does this help you better
Some people even sent singing telegrams. understand what you read?
The word telegraph means any machine that 3. Impossible means “not possible.” Complete a
sends or receives messages over long distances. chart like the one below to form new words with
So when you send an email or a text message, the prefix im-.
you are actually a telegraph operator too. Prefix Base word New Word Meaning
im- possible impossible not possible
im- mature
im- perfect
im- patient

4. The author states that Morse Code is one of the

most important codes ever invented. Do you
agree? Explain your answer.

16