raz_lo24_popcornthroughages_clr_ds

Popcorn Through LEVELED BOOK • O
the Ages
Popcorn
A Reading A–Z Level O Leveled Book Through
Word Count: 701 the Ages

Connections Written by Keith and Sarah Kortemartin
Writing
List adjectives that describe how www.readinga-z.com
popcorn smells, tastes, looks, sounds,
and feels. Then use the adjectives to
write a descriptive poem about popcorn.
Math
Ask your classmates to identify four
flavors of popcorn. Ask them which
flavor they like best. Organize the data
you collect into a graph. Discuss what
you notice about the data
with a classmate.

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Glossary Popcorn
Through
allowed (v.) let something happen (p . 9) the Ages

colonists (n.) people who live in a colony Written by Keith and Sarah Kortemartin
or are founders of a new
colony (p . 7) www.readinga-z.com

explorers (n.) people who visit and learn Focus Question
about new places (p . 7) What do readers learn about
the history of popcorn?
kernels (n.) the softer inner parts
of seeds or nuts (p . 6)

kettle (n.) a metal pot with a handle
and spout that is used
to heat liquids (p . 8)

machine (n.) any device that uses
energy to help a person
do work (p . 8)

microwave (n.) a chamber that uses
energy waves to cook food;
a microwave oven (p . 14)

movie theaters buildings where movies
(n.) are played (p . 4)

survived (v.) stayed alive;
continued to exist (p . 6)

16

Words to Know

allowed machine
colonists microwave
explorers movie theaters
kernels survived
kettle

Title page: Popcorn can be popped while still on the cob. Modern popcorn flavors include butter, cheddar, s’mores, caramel, hot and
spicy, chocolate peanut, and others.
Page 3: A man pops popcorn in a kettle to sell in a street market in Agra,
India. Many Flavors

Photo Credits: People living in the United States now
Front cover, back cover (main): © iStock.com/Kesu01; back cover (inset), title eat more popcorn than people in any
page (bottom); pages 2, 16: © iStock.com/xxmmxx; title page (top): © iStock.com other country in the world . Popcorn
/bonchan; page 3: © Donyanedomam/Dreamstime.com; page 4: © Kirn comes in all kinds of flavors . You can
Vintage Stock/Corbis Historical/Getty Images; page 5: © Brown Bear/Windmil get popcorn that tastes like blue cheese,
Books/UIG/Getty Images; page 6 (main): © iStock.com/CrackerClips; page 6 mushrooms, and even cupcakes . You
(inset): © Martin Shields/Science Source; page 7: © Peter Dennis/Exactostock/ can also eat popcorn the most common
SuperStock; page 8: courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs way—with salt and butter .
Division [LC-USZ62-105408]; page 9: Felix Choo/Alamy Stock Photo; page 10
(top): © Everett Collection/Newscom; page 10 (bottom): © iStock.com/Fodor90; What’s your favorite?
page 11: © CHARLES PHELPS CUSHING/ClassicStock/The Image Works; page 12:
© Weegee(Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images;
page 13: © Jupiterimages/Photolibrary/Getty Images; page 14 (top): Michael
Neelon(misc)/Alamy Stock Photo; page 14 (bottom): Sara Stathas/Alamy Stock
Photo; page 15: © iStock.com/LauriPatterson,

Popcorn Through the Ages Correlation
Level O Leveled Book LEVEL O
© Learning A–Z
Written by Keith and Sarah Kortemartin Fountas & Pinnell M
Reading Recovery 20
All rights reserved.
DRA 28
www.readinga-z.com

Popcorn Through the Ages • Level O 15

Microwave popcorn (top) is quick and easy to make. Stores have many kinds Table of Contents
of popcorn for sale (bottom). A Snack That Goes Way Back . . . . . . . . 4
Prehistoric Popcorn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
However, microwave popcorn was Popcorn in the New World . . . . . . . . . . 7
invented in 1981 . Suddenly, movie Popcorn Explodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
theater popcorn was very easy to make Popcorn at the Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
at home, and many, many people did just Popcorn Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
that . Today, almost three-fourths of the Many Flavors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
popcorn we eat is made at home . We Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
still eat a lot of popcorn while we watch
movies, either at home or in the theater . Popcorn Through the Ages • Level O 3

14

Two young boys enjoy popcorn they bought on the street in 1912. Today it’s very easy to enjoy a bowl of popcorn at home in front of a TV.

A Snack That Goes Way Back Popcorn Today

Do you eat popcorn at the movies? Popcorn became a little less popular
People have been eating popcorn in in the 1950s and 1960s . This happened
movie theaters since the early 1900s . because more and more people owned
However, popcorn is much older than TVs . They often stayed home to watch
the movies . In fact, it’s one of the oldest TV instead of going to a movie theater .
snack foods in the world . The story
of popcorn stretches back thousands Popcorn Through the Ages • Level O 13
of years .

4

Eventually, movie theater owners Size of Corncobs
figured out that they could make
money by selling popcorn themselves . Ancient Modern
Theaters began to sell popcorn and
other snacks, with great success . Five thousand years of farming has made corncobs much bigger over time.
Popcorn became even more popular
in movie theaters during World War II . Prehistoric Popcorn
During the war, sugar and candy were
hard to get . People ate even more People first started growing corn for
popcorn in place of sweet snacks . food in Mexico eight to nine thousand
years ago . Corn spread all over the
A girl eats popcorn as she watches a movie in New York in the early 1940s. Americas from there . Ancient Americans
ground corn into flour . They also
12 popped corn as a snack .

Popcorn Through the Ages • Level O 5

Ancient corncobs and popcorn kernels Popcorn sellers, like everyone else, were
have survived in caves all over the looking for ways to make a living . They
Americas . A cave in New Mexico called began to go into movie theater lobbies
Bat Cave contained corncobs that may on their own, walking around to sell
be as much as four thousand years old . popcorn . This turned out to be a great
Meanwhile, scientists have found one- idea . Popcorn tasted good, and it was
thousand-year-old popped corn in a cave cheap . In fact, it was one of the few snacks
in Utah . Some of this ancient popcorn most people could afford during the
looks almost fresh . Would you eat Depression . People began to eat more
popcorn that’s been popcorn than ever before .
sitting in a cave for
a thousand years?

First explored in the 1940s, Bat Cave in New Mexico (main) contained the A group of children wait to get into a movie theater in Waterbury, 11
oldest corn ever found in North America. This ancient ear of corn (inset) Connecticut, in 1935.
is more than six hundred years old.
Popcorn Through the Ages • Level O
6

In the 1600s,
some Native
Americans
gave early
European
settlers food,
including
corn, to help
them survive.

Americans wait in line for bread in New York City during the Great Depression. Popcorn in the New World

Popcorn at the Movies European explorers got a surprise in
Early movie theater owners tried to the Americas in the 1600s . Popcorn was
keep popcorn out, but that didn’t last a snack they’d never seen before . They
long . In the 1930s, the United States went found people eating it everywhere,
through a difficult time called the Great though . Native Americans near the
Depression . Many people lost their jobs, Great Lakes ate popcorn in a soup .
and most people had very little money . People in Peru toasted popcorn and
ate it as a snack .
Wowser!
The European colonists loved popcorn,
Why does popcorn pop? The answer is water. There is a little bit too . They popped corn over a fire as
of water inside each popcorn kernel. As popcorn is heated, the water a snack . Some also ate popcorn for
turns to steam and presses on the inside wall of the kernel. When it breakfast with cream and sugar . It
gets hot enough, the kernel “explodes” into a fluffy snack. must have tasted a little bit like our
cereal today .
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Popcorn Through the Ages • Level O 7

Cracker Jack became popular with
baseball fans and for decades included
a small “toy surprise” in every box.

A man sells popcorn from his wagon to a crowd in the late 1800s People started eating popcorn
in Denver, Colorado. everywhere, and new popcorn flavors
started to appear . In the late 1890s,
Popcorn Explodes for example, a snack maker invented
Cracker Jack . This treat was made
Over time, popcorn grew more and more with popcorn, peanuts, and molasses .
popular . However, it was a snack people
usually made for themselves at home, in It seemed as though people couldn’t get
small amounts . It took time to pop corn enough popcorn . However, one group
in a kettle over a fire . didn’t love the crunchy snack at first:
movie theater owners! Popcorn was not
That all changed in 1885 when Charles allowed in movie theaters in the early
Cretors, a Chicago businessman, 1900s . Theater owners worried that
invented the first popcorn-popping popcorn was too noisy and messy .
machine . His machine popped corn
quickly and easily . It also had wheels . Popcorn Through the Ages • Level O 9
As a result, popcorn could be sold
on the street at fairs, circuses, and
sporting events .

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