endeavor - A conscientious  effort toward an end; an earnest attempt; try; effort

Page 20 - He pulled himself upward, pushed again-he was higher now than Lina had been-but suddenly his hands slid and he came plummeting down.

hoist - To raise or haul up with or as if with the help of a mechanical apparatus; heave; lift

Page 23 - Lina laughed, hoisted her up, and danced with her around the shop.

Vocabulary Worksheet - Student Packet - Pages 4-5

page 58 - Every day a team of people methodically sorted through the trash heaps in search of anything that might be at all useful.

Vocabulary Worksheet - Student Packet - Pages 9-10

Start a list of the foods that are mentioned in The City of Ember.

Answers

Pages 59-61 - vegetables

beans
peas
spinach
lettuce
cabbage
tomatoes
potatoes

Page 61 - beehives

honey

Page 71 - breakfast

mushroom gravy
beet tea

vitamin pills

Page 71 - turnips

Page 146 - Lizzie had gotten canned fruits and vegetables, that the other citizens in Ember could not get.

canned peaches
creamed corn (Lina remembered having creamed corn once, as a thrilling treat, when she was five years old.)
applesauce

   Questions to Discuss

	Why do the people of Ember eat these foods?
	Why do the greenhouses not grow fruits?
	Why do the people not raise beef, pork, chicken, etc.?
	Why would the people of Ember have bee hives?
	Why do the greenhouses not grow grains?

Doon's Worm - What kind of worm was it?

Observations

On one of the leaves was a worm about an inch long. A few days before school ended, Doon had found the worm on the underside of a cabbage leaf he was slicing up for dinner. It was a pale soft green, velvety smooth all over, with tiny stubby legs.

 "I've had it for five days now", said Doon. "It's twice as big as it was when I got it. It's eaten two square inches of cabbage leaf."

Pages 155-156
His mind was on other things. He was thinking of his green worm, which had been behaving oddly, refusing to eat and hanging from the side of its box with its chin tucked in.

Pages 197-198
He put the bug book back under his bed and pulled out the box where he kept the green worm. He drew back the scarf to check his captive one more time. Several days before, the worm had done a curious thing:  it had wrapped itself up in a blanket of threads. Since then it had hung motionless from a bit of cabbage stem. Doon had been watching it carefully. Either it was dead, or it was undergoing the change that he'd read about in a library book but could hardly believe was true - the change from a crawling thing to a flying thing. So far, the bundled-up worm had shown no signs of life.

But now he saw that it was wriggling. The whole wrapped-up bundle, which was shaped like a large vitamin pill, bent slightly from side to side, then was still, then bent back and forth again. Something was pushing at the top end of it, and in a moment the threads there were split apart and dark furry knob emerged. Doon watched, holding his breath. Next came tow hairlike legs, which clawed and plucked at the blanket. In a few minutes the whole creature was out. Egress, thought Doon with a smile. The creature's wings were crushed flat against its body at first, but soon they opened, and Doon saw what his green worm had become: a moth with light brown wings. He lifted the box and carried it to the window. He opened the window and held the box out into the air. The moth waved its feathery feelers and took a few steps along the wilted cabbage leaf. For several minutes, it stood still, its wings trembling slightly. Then it fluttered up into the air, rising higher and higher until it was just a pale spot against the dark sky.

Page 86 - The door of the Gathering Hall opened, and the mayor came out, flanked by two guards.

Vocabulary Worksheet - Student Packet - Pages 14-15 & Review of Words Pages 15-16

Compass Directions 

Using the map of Ember find the following locations:

• river

• greenhouses

• school

The information from page 43 will help you. "Doon knew he was standing beneath the north edge of Ember. In school, you were taught to remember the directions this way:  north was the direction of the river; south was the direction of the greenhouses; east was the direction of the school; and west was the direction left over, having nothing in particular to mark it."

Using the map of Ember follow the directions in Chapter 5 to track Lina's Path.

• So that afternoon she set out for Night Street.

• On Budloe Street, people were standing in long line with their bundles of laundry at the washing station.

• Lina turned up Hafter Street, where the four streetlamps were still out...

• But as she went into Otterwill Street, she saw something that made her slow down. A man was standing on the steps of the Gathering Hall, shouting and howling...

• She headed toward Night Street, which ran along Greengate Square.

• Two blocks beyond, she came to a store that had no sign in its window.

• She darted into the street and looked in both directions.

• Maybe down toward Greengate Square, where there were more people walking around. She began to run.

• Then suddenly her hand touched empty air. This would be Dedlock Street.

• Lina ran toward Greengate Square...

• On the Bee Street side of the square stood a few people....Lina ran up to them and asked her question.

• and through the door came someone leading Poppy by the hand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Discussion - Things to think about (Student Packet Pages 17-18)

• Was the Mayor correct in calling the people together after the 7 minute blackout?

• What could the Mayor tell the people to help relieve their fears?

• Why is the city running out of supplies and breaking down?

  • Things to Remember

    • Page 1 - "They must not leave the city for at least two hundred years," said the chief builder. "Or perhaps two hundred and twenty."

    • Page 35 - The result was that no one really knew anymore exactly what day of the week it was, or exactly how many years it had been since the building of the city - they called this the year 241, but it might have been 245 or 239 or 250.

Page 112 - She vaguely recalled the incident of the light pole.

Vocabulary Worksheet - Student Packet - Pages 20-21 & Review of Words Pages 21-22

    Coding (Student Packet - Page 22)

Lina had a difficult time trying to decode the torn document. Can you decipher the message?

Lina's Message Full of Holes

		Instru		r	Egres
This	offic	doc					in stric
secur		period	of			ears.
	prepara					made	for
inha					city.
as	foll
1.  Exp
riv				ip	ork	.
2.		ston	marked	with	E	by	r
	dge
3.		adde	down	iverb	nk
	to	eged	appr		eight
	low.
4.				acks	to the
	wat r,		find door of bo
	ker. Ke			hind small steel
	pan		the right		. Rem
	ey, open do		.
5.		oat,		stocked with
	nec		uip ent. Back
	ont	s	eet.
6.  Usi				opes, lowe
	ter. Head down  st			. Us	pa
	av	cks and assist over rap			.
7.		approx. 3 hours. Disem
		. Follow		pat	.

 Coding Worksheet http://www.mce.k12tn.net/reading52/book/coding.htm (Student Packet - Page 23)

Page 122 - On the wall, clothes hung from hooks, and more clothes were strewn untidily on the floor.

Vocabulary Worksheet - Student Packet - Page 28

Discussion

• Doon's Creatures (Student Packet - Page 30)

"Already he had found three new crawling creatures: a black beetle the size of a pinhead, a moth with furry wings, and best of all, a creature with a soft, shiny body and a small, spiral-patterned shell on its back."

Do you know what creature Doon has found?

Make your own creature from pipe cleaners, tissue paper, and movable eyes. Snails may be decorated with sequins and beads.

• Questions to Ponder

  • Why do the people of Ember know so little about fire?

  • The people of Ember had never heard of heaven, hog, or boats. Why would they not know of these common words?

  • What is on the other side of the locked door?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Page 132 - She had frightening dreams in which something dangerous was lurking in the darkness.

Vocabulary Worksheet - Student Packet - Pages 31-32

• Page 152 - What Lizzie said was true:  if everyone knew there were still a few wonderful things in the storerooms, people would fight each other trying to get them. But what if no one knew? What difference would it make if she had the colored paper, or the shoes? She suddenly wanted those things so badly she felt weak. A picture arose in her mind's eye - the shelves at Mrs. Murdo's house stocked with good things, and the three of them happier and safer than other people.

What should Lina do? Keep a few wonderful things for herself or share with the citizens of Ember?

• Canning

  The foods in cans must have stayed well-preserved for over 200 years for the people of Ember to still be able to eat them. Is this possible?

Page 181 - He ran a finger over their convoluted surface.

Vocabulary Worksheet - Student Packet - Pages 39-41

Page 250 - Welcome, Refugees from Ember!

Vocabulary Worksheet - Student Packet - Pages 54-55

• The Wild Ride

What is the author describing on page 241? - Columns of rock hung down from it, and columns of rock rose from the water, too, making long shadows that turned and mingled as the boat floated among them. They glimmered in the candlelight, pink and pale green and silver. Their strange lumpy shapes looked like something soft that had frozen - like towers of mashed potatoes, Lina thought, that had hardened to stone.

• Generations

Page 252 - And maybe their great-great-great-grandchildren will be there to welcome us.

How many generations is "great-great-great-grandchildren"?

This is the year 241. Suppose each parent was 25 years old when they had their children. How many generations would have passed since the time Ember was built?

Could the statement "And maybe their great-great-great-grandchildren will be there to welcome us." correct? Why or why not?

• Refugees

What does it tell us about Ember for the Builders to refer to the citizens of Ember as refugees?

Page 261 -What kind of place can this be, safe from earthly catastrophes?

Vocabulary Practice Worksheet http://www.mce.k12tn.net/reading52/practice3.htm

Vocabulary Worksheet - Student Packet - Pages 58 & Review of Words - Page 59)

• What fruit do you think Doon and Lina ate?

Pages 267-268 -  They got up and poked around, and soon they came across a plant whose branches were laden with the purple fruits, about the size of small beets, only softer. Doon picked one and cut it open with his knife. There was a stone inside. Red juice ran out over his hands. Cautiously, he touched his tongue to it. "Sweet," he said.

• The End

1. Does The City of Ember come to a close, a final ending?

2. What do you think could happen next?

3. What will Mrs. Murado do with the note from Lina?

4. Will the people of Ember listen to Mrs. Murado if she tells them about the note?

5. Will the people of Ember be able to live successfully on Earth with so many things they do not know?

6. Do you think all the people on Earth have died?

7. What type of catastrophe may have caused people to create such a city as Ember?