Sam’s Chicken Foot: Reading

Sam is from China. He and his parents are living in Portland this year. Sam’s parents teach at a Chinese university, but they are in Portland studying English. Sam goes to a Portland school. He is in the sixth grade.

Every day, Sam’s mother cooks for him. She makes delicious meals, but there are some Chinese dishes that she can’t make because the ingredients are too difficult to find in Portland. That is why Sam is excited about today. Today, Sam is going with his parents to a Chinese restaurant 30 minutes away.

The restaurant is large. There are women and men pushing food carts. A cart passes Sam’s table with many delicious things, but not the food Sam wants to eat. His parents order dumplings and noodles and duck. A woman writes some numbers on a paper and then she brings the family the food. Sam’s parents ask if he is happy, but Sam cannot say yes.
Sam’s father waves to a woman on the other side of the restaurant. The woman comes with a different food cart. Sam’s eyes become large. He sees a plate of chicken feet. It is the food he wants to eat. Sam takes a chicken foot and smiles. “Yes,” he tells his parents. “I am happy now.”

Put an X beside your stopping time on the progress chart, then answer the questions on the back of this page.