A Canary Named Chicken - Spelling Bee Words List: Second Grade Intermediate, Third Grade Beginning

I bent to pick up a yellow tail feather from the ground. Such an ugly feather for a pretty bird: a little, yellow canary I named "Chicken." Chicken was one of seven chicks hatched by her mother, a sweet canary I will never forget. Before we moved from town, the happy bird would ride in my pocket everywhere I went: when I rode the wagon to a birthday party or went with my brother to finish a project. People would often remark to me that a garden was a much better place for a bird to be, but the bird preferred to be inside the house or my pocket.

Right before we moved to the country, Chicken's father flew off, right out the window. Usually an alarm would sound every time the window was open, but the weather was so nice outside that my father had turned the alarm off. That was a sad day for my sister, as Chicken's father was her canary. I tried to express my sympathy, but my sister cried until morning. In the morning, we both donned our rubber muck boots and walked throughout the neighborhood, looking and calling for the missing bird. Sadly, we never did find the bird.

It was a very warm fall season when we moved, the tendrils of summer sun still hanging on. Having learned our lesson, we left Chicken and his remaining parent in the cage when the windows were open. We had found new homes for the rest of Chicken's siblings. I walked into the room to pull the zebra-striped cover over the cage so that the birds would be quiet while I tried to do my homework. Just before pulling down the cover, I noticed Chicken looking at me with his mouth wide open. I fed him three drops of honey, and pulled the cover down.

My gaze returned to the ugly, yellow feather in my hand as I remembered that I had a report to write and present for school in the morning. The report was to be a recounting of our summer adventures, but there is more power in tragedy than adventure. I think this yellow feather and a tale of our summer tragedies are a better fit for the report.

SPELLING LIST 2nd Grade - Intermediate Words | 3rd Grade - Beginning Words
seven
pretty
remark
brother
mouth
yellow
forget
express
report
lesson
country
pocket
happy
feather
season
party
father
parent
honey
outside
every
people
finish
wagon
inside
cover
sister
window
garden
morning
power
mother
alarm
zebra
rubber
never

See some other word lists:
Second Grade Beginning Intermediate Advanced Challenge
Third Grade Beginning Intermediate Advanced Challenge
Fourth Grade Beginning Intermediate Advanced Challenge