Masquerade Hector opened the invitation with trembling hands and looked at unusual masks decorating the outside of the card. What kind of birthday party is this? Hector wondered as he opened the card and saw "Come to a masquerade ball!" What's a mas-kwa-raw-dee ball? he thought, his excitement fading. With heavy sighs, he pulled a large dictionary from the shelf because he knew there was no sense in asking his mom; she would just say, "Look it up in the dictionary."
Hector thumbed through the pages until he found the word and said, "Oh. Mas-ka-RADE. A party where everyone wears a mask and usually a costume. That sounds . . . different." The invitation indicated there would be a game to guess who everyone was and a prize for the best costume. Hector looked around his room and saw his knight's helmet. No one would recognize him in that, but he had no costume to go with it, so he plodded down the hall to his mom's sewing room, the helmet under his arm.
"Mom, do you think you could help me make a knight's costume for my helmet? I know you don't have a lot of time. But. Well. Mary Jo is having a masquerade party next Saturday. Everyone's going and . . . they're wearing costumes . . . and . . . " Hector's mom looked at him, her gentle face disguised with a frown, but then her eyes looked at the helmet, and she smiled. She rose from her sewing machine and went to a box of material scraps while muttering something about sequins and silver.
"Here it is! Now, where was that satin?" Half of her disappeared into the box again. Pieces of colorful material started flying out of the box. "Aha! This is it."
Mom held a large rectangle of shiny red satin. A rectangle of silver sequins was draped over her arm. "Hand me two safety pins, please." Hector picked up two pins from the bowl on her sewing machine. She scrunched and gathered the corners of the two pieces of material and fiddled with the pins. Moments later she said, "Okay, let's see how this works."
Mom pulled the costume over Hector's head and told him to stand still. Hector looked down. Silver sequins hung from his chest to his knees like chain mail. Red satin pinned to the sequins with the safety pins flowed from his shoulders making a cape. Mom cut a length of sparkling silver cord from a spool on the shelf. She pulled the cord under his red cape and tied it around his waist. Finally, she placed the helmet on his head and turned him toward the mirror. Hector couldn't believe his eyes. He looked like a knight—in blue jeans.
"Wear your brown pants tucked into your boots, and your white, long-sleeved turtleneck. Everyone will think you are Prince Arthur himself!"
Hector hugged his mom. He returned to his room marveling at his mom's many talents.

1
Drag each tile to the correct box.
Place the events from the passage in the correct order.
He wants to use his knight's
helmet as a mask but has
no costume.
He doesn't understand what kind
of party it is and finds the word
in the dictionary.
After he asks his mom, she
quickly puts together a simple
but impressive costume.
Hector is thankful and marvels