Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources Reading Comprehension Worksheets World War I

Doughboys and Diggers World War I

---

Doughboys and Diggers
Print Doughboys and Diggers Reading Comprehension with Fifth Grade Work

Print Doughboys and Diggers Reading Comprehension with Sixth Grade Work

Print Doughboys and Diggers Reading Comprehension

Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 5 to 7
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	6.82

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		doughboy, doughy, infantry, europe, well-known, bayonets, cavalrymen, theory, explanation, possibly, thus, since, freedom, power, natural, battle
	content words:		Say Hey Kid, Stan Musial, Willie Mays, World War, World War I., When British, War I., Northern Mexico, When Australian

---

Doughboys and Diggers By Jane Runyon

---

¹     Nicknames have been around since the time people started calling each other by name. Many famous sports stars have been known by their nicknames. Ask your father or grandfather who "Stan the Man" or "The Say Hey Kid" were, and they can probably tell you easily that you are talking about Stan Musial and Willie Mays. Both of these men were famous baseball players. People tend to remember nicknames much easier than they remember real names. Soldiers during World War I were given nicknames, too. American infantrymen were called doughboys. Australian soldiers were called diggers. Both are interesting nicknames which are recognizable to their countrymen. What is less well-known is just how these nicknames came about.
 
²     The term doughboy was used more than one hundred years before World War I. Young boys were apprenticed to bakers in the 1700's. One of the jobs of these young boys was to pick up large batches of dough from mixing bowls and take them to a cutting table. It seemed natural to call these young apprentices doughboys. But this has nothing to do with foot soldiers or what they do. In the early 1800's, some people were said to be dough heads. That was a term meant to show that a person was stupid. That surely has nothing to do with American soldiers. When British and American soldiers fought in Spain in the early 1800's, they became fond of a doughy, fried confection which evolved into our modern day doughnut. Is that where the name came from?
 
³     Historians have created a few theories as to how doughboy became a name connected to the infantrymen of World War I. One idea has to do with the way food was prepared during battle. Some say the soldiers had to mix water, flour, and rice to form dough used for a type of bread. This dough was formed around their bayonets and then placed over the flames of an open fire. Thus, they became the boys who ate dough. It works, but what about the other branches of the army. Why didn't the nickname apply to them? Other historians say that it all has to do with the buttons on the infantry uniforms. They say the buttons were shaped liked little dumplings that the soldiers made and ate.

Paragraphs 4 to 7:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

---

Weekly Reading Books

Create Weekly Reading Books Prepare for an entire week at once!

---

Feedback on Doughboys and Diggers

Leave your feedback on Doughboys and Diggers   (use this link if you found an error in the story)

---

World War I

World War I

---

Social Studies

Social Studies

United States History and Theme Units         American Government         Ancient America         Ancient China         Ancient Egypt         Ancient Greece         Ancient India         Ancient Mesopotamia         Ancient Rome         Biographies         Canadian Theme Unit         Country Theme Units         Crime and Terrorism         Economics         European History: 1600s-1800s

Explorers         Famous Educators         Geography         Grades 2-3 Social Studies Wendy's World Series         History of Books and Writing         History of Mathematics         How Can I Help?         Inventors and Inventions         Middle Ages         Renaissance         World Religion         World War I         World War II         World Wonders

---

United States

United States

American Government         Black History and Blacks in U.S. History         Children in History         Government Careers         Hispanic Heritage         How Can I Help?

Immigration         National Parks and Monuments         Native Americans         Presidents of the United States         Women's History

---

United States History

A Nation Divided (1840-1861)         A New Nation (1776-1830)         After the Civil War (1865-1870)         American Revolution         Cold War (1947-1991)         Colonial America (1492-1776)         Lewis and Clark (1804-1806)         Pearl Harbor         Spanish American War (1898)         The 1890's         The 1900's         The 1910's         The 1920's         The 1930's

The 1940's         The 1950's         The 1960's         The 1970's         The 1980's         The 1990's         The 2000's         The Civil War (1861-1865)         The Great Depression (1929-1945)         The United States Grows (1865-1900)         The War of 1812         Wild, Wild West         World War I (1914-1918)         World War II

---

50 States

Fifty States Theme Unit

---

Document Based Activities

Document Based Activities

Copyright © 2018 edHelper