L ong ago many people believed that gods and goddesses were in charge of all the parts of the universe. Among these was Demeter, the goddess of the earth. She was in charge of the flowers, the trees and the fruits of many plants. She made a beautiful world for human beings.

Demeter had a lovely daughter, and her name was Persephone. Persephone spent most of her time playing among the flowers with her friends. She was very beautiful and very kind, and everyone loved her.

T here was a powerful god named Hades (also known as Pluto) and he was king of the Underworld. That was the dark place where all the dead were kept. It was in the center of the earth, and no light ever entered there. Hades spent most of his time there, but on one trip to the Upperworld, he happened to see Persephone.

Persephone was running in a field, gathering flowers with her friends, laughing and shouting. Her grace and beauty made Hades fall in love with her immediately, and he wanted her to be his wife. He knew that she would not want to leave the world of light and beauty, so he asked Zeus, the King of all Gods, to help him.

Z eus made a lovely, fragrant flower appear just beyond where Persephone was playing with her friends. As soon as she spotted the flower, she left her friends and ran over to pick it. Just as she put out her hand, the earth broke open and a great black chariot with great black horses drove out. King Hades was driving, and he caught Persephone up with one arm and drove off with her, down to his dark world.

Persephone cried out for help. Demeter heard her, but she could not find her daughter. She went around asking everyone if they had seen anything, but no one could help her. Finally she asked Helios, the sun, who sees everything. He told her, “I will tell you, Demeter, Zeus did this. He made it possible for King Hades to kidnap Persephone, and she is now his wife, the Queen of the Underworld.”

Demeter was very discontented without her daughter. In fact, she was so miserable that she wanted everyone else to be gloomy too. She used her powers as Goddess of the Earth to cause a terrible time on the farms. Seeds did not sprout, and there were no harvests, fruits or vegetables of any kind. Everywhere people were starving.

Zeus saw what was happening, and he sent Iris, the messenger of the Gods to Demeter. Iris asked Demeter to come to a meeting, but Demeter was very angry with Zeus, so she refused to go.

Then Zeus sent a message to Hades that Persephone had to return to earth because her mother might destroy all mankind since there was no food. Hades was sad, but he knew he had to let Persephone return to her mother, however, before she left, he wanted her to eat something. Persephone was so happy to be going home that she swallowed seven pomegranate seeds quickly and got ready to go.

Then Hades got out of his chariot and drove her back to Demeter. When she saw her mother, Persephone jumped out of the chariot and ran to her. They hugged and kissed.

Then Demeter asked, “Persephone, did you eat any food while you were in the Dark Kingdom? If you have eaten anything, you must return to the Underworld.”

Of course, Hades had known this, and that was why he wanted her to eat something before she left his kingdom. However, Zeus was afraid that Demeter would destroy all the crops forever if she lost her daughter again, so he had to find a solution.

He thought hard and finally decided that Persephone should spent part of the year with Hades and part of the year with her mother. This way, both Demeter and Hades would have time with the beautiful girl.

So when Persephone goes down to the Dark Kingdom, Demeter is lonely and unhappy, and does not keep up with her Goddess of the Earth duties. This time of the year is known as wintertime on earth, and crops do not grow. People cannot work in the fields.

When Persephone returns in springtime and Demeter is happy, she fills the world with green leaves, blooming flowers, and ripening grain.

Characters

Zeus is	____________________________________________________________
Persephone is	____________________________________________________________
Demeter is	____________________________________________________________
Hades is	____________________________________________________________
Iris is	____________________________________________________________
Helios is	____________________________________________________________

Vocabulary

Choose the correct meaning for the italicized words. If the meaning is not there, circle “none of the above” and come up with you own explanation for the word.

Example:

She ate seven pomegranate seeds

1. Vegetable

2. F ruit

3. A toy

4. None of the above_______________________________________

1. He was king of the Underworld

1. a world underneath the earth where the dead roam

2. a world above the earth

3. where we live right now

4. none of the above:_____________________________________

2. She would not want to leave the world of light and beauty

1. the Moon

2. the Sun

3. the Earth

4. none of the above__________________________________________

3. Zeus made a lovely, fragrant flower appear

1. Sweet smelling

2. Stinky

3. Dead

4. None of the above:_________________________________________

1. a great black chariot

   1. a car

   2. a motorcycle

   3. a bike

   4. None of the above:_________________________________________

2. Seeds did not sprout

1. Grow

2. Disappear

3. None of the above:_________________________________________

3. ripening grain

   1. dying grain

   2. red grain

   3. blue grain

   4. none of the above:__________________________________

Comprehension Questions

1. What were Demeter’s responsibilities as Goddess of the Earth?

_________________________________________________________________________

2. Why did Hades kidnap Persephone?

_________________________________________________________________________

3. How did Zeus solve the problem between Hades and Demeter?

_________________________________________________________________________

4. Was Persephone happy with Zeus? Why or why not?

_________________________________________________________________________

Your Opinion Matters

1. Do you think that Zeus had the right to force Persephone to marry Hades? Why or why not?
   ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. If you were Zeus would you have helped Hades kidnap Persephone?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. If you were Demeter would you have been so angry when your daughter went missing? Would you have tried to kill the entire human race?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. In the text it is mentioned that if Persephone ate something in the Underworld she would be forced to stay there. But, the author does not mention why. Why do you think that it is so?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• In the snowman write down at least eight things you like about winter.

• Now pass your snowman to your friend. Have them add at least three words to the list.

• After that, choose at least 10 of the words and come up with a story on your own why you think we have winter. You need to write your text in the past tense. You need to have at least 15 sentences. You need to have at least three distinctive paragraphs; a introduction, body and conclusion. Your body can be more than 1 sentence.

• Now exchange your story with the person sitting next to you. Read their story and fill out the peer evaluation form.

Name of writer: ________________________________________________
Name of proofreader: ________________________________________________

Proofreader: Ask yourself the following questions as you are reading through your friend’s work. Add at least one comment or suggestion to questions 1 and 2.

	Yes	No	Comments / Suggestions
Is the writing clear? Tell your friend about what you remember.
Does the text include:
a short and interesting introduction:
An interesting plot:
a short and satisfying conclusion

3. Which part of the story did you like best?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After you finish filling out the peer evaluation form, please make sure to read your friend’s work again to check for spelling mistakes. If you find any, correct them in a different colour. If you think something in unclear, a sentence does not make sense or information is missing, underline it.

• Now make sure to edit and revise your work.

All of this will be done in class and not at home. At the end of each class, you will hand back your copy to the teacher.

Included is the evaluation grid as well as a checklist for you to complete while you are editing your work.

Evaluation of Written Work

Assessment Checklist

A = excellent

B = good

C = needs work

D = needs improvement

E = doesn’t do the work

Grammar

Format

Creativity

Name

10 words

15 sentences

Capital Letters

Past tense

punctuation

introduction

development

Conclusion

creativity

Creative word use

Story makes sense

Comments:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

My Checklist

Did I…

• Write at least 15 sentences?

• Start each sentence off with a capital letter?

• Put a point at the end of each sentence?

• Use the past tense properly?

• Check my spelling

• Include an introduction?

(once upon a time,…)

• Include a development?

(the plot)

• Include a conclusion?

(they live happily ever after)

• Use 10 words from my snowman?

• Did I add some extra

information?