Reading — The Flower Beadwork People
Read both passages. Then answer the questions. Some questions ask you to use equivalent fractions.
Passage A — Why “Flower Beadwork People”?
The Métis are a distinct Indigenous people of the prairies and the North. Métis women became known for beautiful floral beadwork on moccasins, jackets, gloves, and bags. Their designs blended First Nations beadwork with flower patterns from embroidery. Because of these bright flowers, Plains First Nations called the Métis “the Flower Beadwork People.” Beadwork was also an important way for many Métis families to earn a living, and many Métis artists still bead today.
Passage B — Planning on a loom
Some beadwork is woven on a loom, in straight rows. A beader can plan the design on grid paper first, with one square for each bead. Suppose a beaded band is 12 beads long and 9 of them are red. The red part is 9/12 of the band. If the beader groups the beads in sets of 3, there are 4 groups and 3 of them are red. That shows 9/12 = 3/4. Grouping and splitting are two ways to find equivalent fractions.
- Métis
- floral
- loom
- equivalent
- group
