Search form

Chicago White Sox Win World Series

Share

Subjects

  • Social Studies
    --Current Events

Grades

Grades 2-up

News Content

The Chicago White Sox won their first World Series since 1917.

Anticipation Guide

Before reading, ask students to agree or disagree with each of the statements below.
  • Baseball's championship game is called the Super Bowl.
  • The White Sox have not won a World Series since 1971.
  • The White Sox beat the New York Yankees to win the World Series.
  • The World Series has been played for more than 100 years.

News Words

Introduce these words before students read the article:
  • champion -- the winner of a competition or tournament
  • league -- a group of teams that compete against each other
  • rally -- (noun) a large gathering; (verb) to bring together

Read the News

Click for a printable version of this week's news story Chicago White Sox Win World Series.

Reading the News

You might use a variety of approaches to reading the news:

* Read aloud the news story to students as they follow along.

* Students might first read the news story to themselves; then call on individual students to read the news aloud for the class.

* Arrange students into small groups. Each student in the group will read a paragraph of the story. As that student reads, others might underline important information or write a note in the margin of the story. After each student finishes reading, others in the group might say something -- a comment, a question, a clarification -- about the text.

More Facts to Share

You might share these additional facts with students after they have read this week's news story.

  • The 2005 World Series marked the second straight year in which the winning team was a team that had not won in many years. Last year, the Boston Red Sox won; the Red Sox had not won a World Series since 1918.
  • The White Sox manager is Ozzie Guillen. Before becoming manager, Guillen was the team's shortstop from 1985-1987.
  • A huge parade in Chicago celebrated the White Sox World Series victory. At the parade, manager Ozzie Guillen told the crowd that he will definitely return as the manager for 2006.
  • In 2005 postseason play, the White Sox lost only one game. In the Division Series, the White Sox beat the Red Sox in three straight games. In the American League Championship Series, the White Sox defeated the Los Angeles Angels four games to one. In the World Series, the team beat the Houston Astros in four straight games. Their 11-1 postseason record ties the 1999 Yankees for the second-best postseason record of all time. The White Sox only trail the Cincinnati Reds, a team that was 7-0 in 1976.
  • Before 2005, the White Sox had won world championships in 1906 and 1917. In the team's only other two World Series appearances the White Sox lost -- to Cincinnati in 1919 and to Los Angeles in 1959.

Comprehension Check

Revisit the Anticipation Guide at the top of this lesson; ask students to respond again to the statements in it.

  • Baseball's championship game is called the Super Bowl. (false, baseball's championship games are called the World Series)
  • The White Sox have not won a World Series since 1971. (false, they have not won since 1917)
  • The White Sox beat the New York Yankees to win the World Series. (false, they beat the Houston Astros)
  • The World Series has been played for more than 100 years. (true, the first World Series was played in 1903)

You might follow-up that activity with some of these questions:

Recalling Detail

  • In the World Series, did the Chicago White Sox represent the American League or the National League? (the American League)
  • Which team represented the National League in the World Series? (the Houston Astros)
  • How many games does a team need to win in the World Series in order to be crowned World Champions? (the team needs to win four out of seven games)
  • In how many World Series games did the Houston Astros play before this year? (none, this was the first time the Astros had made it to the World Series in the history of the team)
  • In what year was the very first World Series played? (1903)

Think About the News

Discuss the Think About the News questions that appear on the students' news page.

Follow-Up Activities

Language arts -- parts of speech. Many words in the English language can be used as both nouns and verbs. For example, one of the words in the News Words Box of this News for KIDS article is rally. Rally can be used as a noun (People gathered at the rally to cheer on the candidate.) or as a verb (Her passionate speech helped rally the team to victory.) Write the following words that can be used as nouns and verbs on a board or on chart paper: answer, break, call, change, fall, fire, park, sign. You might discuss cases in which each of those words would serve as a verb or a noun. Then read each statement below. Ask students to identify if the word in italic type is used in the sentence as a noun or a verb.
  • Will you answer the phone? (verb)
  • Tom will probably break the record for most home runs in a game. (verb)
  • I'm sorry I missed your phone call. (noun)
  • The cashier handed me 15 cents change from the dollar bill. (noun)
  • She was worried that the clock might fall from the shelf. (verb)
  • If Todd is late one more time the owner might fire him. (verb)
  • We're meeting at the park after school. (noun)
  • Be sure to sign your name on the dotted line. (verb)
  • Do you know the answer to that question? (noun)
  • Manny took a break before going back to work. (noun)
  • The boss had to call Jack into his office. (verb)
  • Fran had to change the light bulb. (verb)
  • The four seasons are summer, winter, spring, and fall. (noun)
  • It took ten firefighters to put out the fire. (noun)
  • Don't park in the handicapped space if you don't want a ticket. (verb)
  • The sign said to turn right at the traffic light. (noun)

History. Many Major League Baseball teams are given names that connect in some way to their home cities. For example, the Houston Astros are so named because Houston is the home city of our country's space program; U.S. astronauts are trained in Houston. You might ask students if they know the origin of the team names listed below. Older students might research the names of the teams to learn how those names relate to the communities in which they play.

  • Los Angeles Angels (Los Angeles is Spanish for the angels)
  • Tampa Bay Devil Rays (a devil ray is a marine species found in warm Gulf Waters)
  • Arizona Diamondbacks (the diamondback rattlesnake lives in Arizona's deserts)
  • Seattle Mariners (Seattle is a well-known seaport)
  • Florida Marlins (a marlin is marine species found off Florida's coast)
  • New York Mets (the name is short for Metropolitans)
  • Washington Nationals (Washington, D.C., is our nation's capital)
  • Baltimore Orioles (the Baltimore Oriole is the state bird of Maryland)
  • San Diego Padres (padre is the Spanish word for father; San Diego is home of the first Spanish mission, established in the late 1760s by Padre Junpero Serra)
  • Colorado Rockies (named for the Rocky Mountains)
  • Minnesota Twins (named for the "Twin Cities" of Minneapolis and St. Paul)

Geography. Provide students with an outline map of the United States. Have them find and mark the locations of the following cities on the map: Atlanta (Georgia), Boston (Massachusetts), Chicago (Illinois), Houston (Texas), Los Angeles (California), New York City (New York), San Diego (California), St. Louis (Missouri). Then have students draw lines between the teams that matched up during the 2005 Major League Baseball Championship Series:

Division Championships
Atlanta vs. Houston
San Diego vs. St. Louis
Boston vs. Chicago
Los Angeles vs. New York

League Championships
Houston vs. St. Louis
Chicago vs. Los Angles

World Series
Chicago vs. Houston
Older students might use the scale of miles to estimate the number of miles between each of those pairs of cities.

Math. The stats below show the number of At Bats and Hits of a handful of White Sox players during the World Series. Older students might figure the players' averages. Player Times At Bat Hits Average Juan Uribe 16 4 .250 Paul Konerko 16 4 .250 Jermaine Dye 16 7 .438 A.J. Pierzynski 15 4 .267 Chad Everett 9 4 .444

Assessment

Use the Comprehension Check (above) as an assessment. Or have students work on their own (in their journals) or in their small groups to respond to the Think About the News questions on the news story page or in the Comprehension Check section.

Lesson Plan Source

Education World

National Standards

LANGUAGE ARTS: English
GRADES K - 12
NL-ENG.K-12.2 Reading for Understanding
NL-ENG.K-12.12 Applying Language Skills

SOCIAL SCIENCES: U.S. History
GRADES 5 - 12
NSS-USH.5-12.10 Era 10: Contemporary United States (1968 to the Present)

See recent news stories in Education World's News Story of the Week Archive.

Article by Gary Hopkins
Education World®
Copyright © 2005 Education World

11/02/2005