Fifth Grade
Worksheets
Jose - A New Start
When Jose's parents first told him they would be moving to America, he was excited. Sure, he would miss his amigos, but in America he could become rich! He'd heard that all Americans live in big homes and have nice cars and lots of money. He was eager to leave!
That was six months ago. Now, Jose lived in a small apartment near a big city. Not far behind the apartment building was a train station for the fast-moving trains that brought commuters and visitors into the city. The trains seemed to run constantly, almost 24 hours per day. Jose was used to either being woken up by their rattle and squeal every hour at night, or screaming to his amigos at play when the train would barrel over the bridge over the playground in their neighborhood.
This wasn't the large, spacious neighborhood full of big trees and large tracts of land to play baseball on that Jose had hoped for when they first arrived in America. In some ways, America didn't feel much different than his home country. But when he thought about it, it really was.
For one thing, Jose's school was much bigger and had many more options. There were more classes and subjects to learn, a larger library, a fantastic gymnasium, and a huge cafeteria. Jose loved having so many choices for lunch and snacks each day. Before, he would take a simple snack lunch to his village school each morning.
Also, his papá was able to find work. His papá always worked hard, but the work was scarce and the pay was low back home. Here, his papá started a cleaning company, and his mamá helped out with a few clients. They both worked hard and did a thorough job...so much so that more and more people wanted to hire them. Within a few months, Jose's parents had a thriving business with a great reputation.
