Cheatsheet Content
### About the Poem This poem by Ted Kooser, titled "Skater," beautifully describes an ice skater performing a difficult jump. It focuses on her grace and skill. ### Warm-up: Figure Skating Figure skating is a sport where skaters perform intricate patterns, jumps, leaps, splits, spins, and other moves on ice. It combines athletic skill with dance. It can be done alone, in pairs, or in groups. Figure skating was the first winter sport included in the Olympics, back in 1908. ### Other Ice and Snow Sports Besides figure skating, there are many other sports played on ice or snow, such as: - Snowboarding - Luge - Skiing Can you think of other similar sports? ### The Skater's Appearance The skater is dressed in all black, but she has: - A yellow ponytail trailing from her cap. - Bright blue gloves. ### Her Graceful Entrance She steps onto the ice with a "click-clack" sound from her blades. Her fingers are spread wide, showing her confidence as if she owns the "top of the world." ### Movements on Ice With a "clatter of blades," she starts to "braid a loose path" on the ice, which means she moves in a zigzag way. This path then "broadened into a meadow of curls." She "swooped" across the ice (moved swiftly and gracefully), turned back, and bent her legs. ### The Difficult Leap She then "leapt into the air" like a crane, with her blue gloves lifting her "lightly." She did a "snappy half-turn" (a quick, sudden turn) in the air. ### Landing and Conclusion She comes down, arms wide, skating backward. She smiles, looking back at the person she was "just an instant before," showing her accomplishment and joy. ### Vocabulary - **Trailed:** Hung down (like her ponytail). - **Clatter:** A rattling sound made when two hard surfaces hit each other (like her skates). - **Braid:** Here, it means to move in a zigzag way, like hair being braided. - **Swooped:** Moved in a swift and dignified manner. - **Snappy:** Quick or sudden.
