Exclusive for Subscribers: Advanced Weather Wordsearch

Read the story and complete the sentences. When you cross out the words, you will find a hidden message in the wordsearch:

DOWNLOAD AND PRINT THE WORDSEARCH (pdf.)

 

It was past Davingstock, on the edge of the marshes, when the idea began to take hold.

Aethelflaed had got up early to take Heidi for a walk. Although it was July, there was still some dew on the ground. In the last few days the weather had been changeable. After being overcast and drizzly for some days, bright spells had given way to patchy showers, but this morning it was clear and the warm weather was on its way again.

Aethelflaed hadn’t slept well. For some days now she had been feeling stuck. All around her, she saw her friends getting on with their lives, while she was wasting her time. But now, as she watched the river flow past, a rough draft4 of a plan she had was beginning to take shape in her mind.

By the time she turned away from the water, she was walking with firmer steps towards Davingstock. “Let’s pop in to see Natalia, Heidi.” she told her dog, who was running along the riverbank “She might give you something to eat, if you mind your manners.”

Sure enough, Heidi was eating some leftovers from Natalia’s parents’ restaurant less than half an hour later. Natalia was one of Aethelflaed’s inseparable friends; the daughter of a Brazilian father and Spanish mother who had met in London and had set up their restaurant in Canterbury, just after Natalia was born.

“I need your help, Nat.” Aethelflaed explained “I’m getting fed up with doing nothing. It’s been a year now since we left school. You and Samantha and the rest are all studying, and I feel like I’m being left behind.”

“But what are you thinking of doing, Ethel? You hate studying. You’ve always said so.” Natalia gave her friend a cup of tea.

“I’m no good studying, you know that. It takes me ages to read anything. I wasn’t thinking of that. Can you hand me the sugar?” She added three teaspoonfuls. “Dad always tells me to focus on what I like and what I’m interested in.”

“And what’s that? Animals?”

“Music! I’m going to try to get into The Canterbury School of Performing Arts.”

“The CSPA! Are you sure, Ethel? How are you going to do that?”

Activity 1: Find these weather-related words in the wordsearch. When you cross out all the words, you will be able to read a hidden message:

  1. The sound of a storm = _ H _ _ _ _ R
  2. Very soft rain = D _ _ _ _ _ E
  3. Very intense rain = D _ _ _ P _ _ _
  4. When the sky is covered by cloud = _ V _ _ _ _ _ T
  5. Frozen rain, like small stones = _ A _ _
  6. Synonym of ‘cold’ = _ _ _ L L _
  7. A scientific prediction of the weather = _ _ R E C _ _ _
  8. At the end of winter, when snow melts = _ _ A W
  9. (2 words) Hot, sticky, sweaty weather = _ _ _ I D and _ _ G G _
  10. Sudden strong blow of wind = G _ _ _
  11. Mix of rain and snow = _ _ E E _
  12. When the ground is wet in the early morning = _ _ W
  13. Short period of rain in spring or summer = P _ _ _ _ _ S _ _ _ _ _
  14. Very hot = _ _ _ _ _ N G
  15. Sudden flash of light during storms = _ _ _ _ _ _ N G
  16. Excess of water, rivers breaking banks = _ L _ _ D

 

 

“Thanks a lot for the encouragement, Natalia!” Aethelflaed exclaimed “I’ll just give up the idea and go back to doing nothing, shall I?”

“Don’t get all grumpy on me, Ethel! I didn’t mean that. You know I’m your biggest fan. You’re an amazing singer, and you play the piano, the guitar…I know all that, but if you get through the auditions, how on earth would you pay for it. Do you know how much they charge?”

Aethelflaed sighed and nodded “I know – it’s more than two grand each term. Dad has told me he’d help me, but he can’t afford that much. I’m going to earn the money myself, even if it means working two or three jobs over the summer.”

“And you’ve come to say goodbye until autumn?”

“I’ve come to ask you a favour. The other day you said your parents were looking for waiting staff over the summer. Can you tell them I’m interested?”

“You’ve never served tables, have you?”

“So I need the experience. It can’t be hard, can it?”

“It’s not as simple as it looks, Ethel. You’ve got to be quick and you’ve got to remember four or five orders at the same time.”

“Natalia! Are you calling me a moron? Everybody around here thinks I’m dumb, but I thought you knew differently!”

“Keep your hair on, Aethelflaed. I’ll ask them for you, and if you’re lucky you’ll find out yourself. You should look around for something else though, because you’re not going to get rich waiting on tables. People are stingy with their tips nowadays.”

 

 

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