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Sneaker Nation

The fascinating histories of two of our favorite items of clothing

By Mackenzie Carro and Meg Richardson
From the March/April 2023 Issue

Learning Objective: Students will compare and contrast the histories of jeans and sneakers and the roles they’ve played in Americans’ lives.

Lexile® measure range: 500L-600L, Easier Level
Guided Reading Level: P
DRA Level: 34-38
Other Key Skills: vocabulary, text features, problem and solution, cause and effect, key detail, expressing an opinion, synthesizing, connecting to the text, explanatory writing

Story Navigation

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Think and Read: Compare and Contrast

 As you read, think about how the histories of sneakers and jeans are alike and how they are different.

Sneaker Nation

It was 1971. A running coach named Bill Bowerman was making waffles. As he cooked, he pondered a problem. 

Dirt running tracks across the country were being replaced with rubber ones. At the time, running shoes had metal spikes on the bottom so runners wouldn’t slip. But these spikes would ruin the new rubber tracks—and slow runners down. 

Bowerman stared down at his waffles. Then he got an idea! What if sneakers had a bumpy pattern on their soles, like waffles? The raised squares could grip the ground so runners wouldn’t slip. And the shoes wouldn’t harm the new tracks!

Bowerman grabbed the waffle maker and got to work. He was about to change the future of sneakers forever. 

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Michael Jordan wearing Air Jordans in 1985

The First Sneakers

By the time Bowerman created his new shoe, sneakers had already been around for about 100 years. The first sneakers were expensive. They were meant for games like tennis, which few people had time to play.

That began to change in the early 1900s. More people started to exercise and play sports. Basketball had just been invented, and people loved it. In 1917, the first popular basketball sneaker came out: Converse All Stars. And in the 1920s, the price of sneakers dropped. Most people could now afford a pair. 

Millions of Pairs

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Converse All Stars are still popular today!

Sneakers as we know them today started with Bowerman’s invention. He helped create a company to make his shoes. You’ve probably heard of it: Nike!

Before long, Nike was selling all types of sneakers. In 1985, it made a special sneaker for basketball star Michael Jordan: Air Jordans. Everyone wanted a pair—not just athletes. Sneakers were no longer just for sports. They were a part of people’s everyday style.

Today, Americans buy millions of pairs of sneakers each year. Kids wear sneakers with lights and wheels. You can get sneakers in hot pink, bright orange, or any color of the rainbow. 

What kind of sneaker is your favorite?  

Jeans Take Over 

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images 

Elvis Presley was one of the most famous singers of the 1950s and ’60s. He was called the “King of Rock ’n’ Roll.”

It was 1870. Thousands of men were working in the dusty hills of western Nevada. They were all looking for the same thing—gold. Finding just one shiny piece could make you rich. 

But searching for gold was long, hard work. The men trudged through streams and dug into hills. As they worked, many men had a big problem: They kept ripping their pants!

One day, a worker’s wife asked a local tailor named Jacob Davis to make her husband a stronger pair of pants. Davis came up with a clever idea. He used a durable fabric called denim. And he attached metal pins—called rivets—onto the pants where they most often ripped. 

His idea worked! The pants were much harder to rip. Soon, all the workers wanted a pair. 

More than 150 years later, Davis’s pants are still popular. In fact, you may have a pair of these special pants. They’re called jeans!

More Jeans

Levi Strauss & Co., Archive

Levi Strauss & Co. has been making jeans since 1873! 

The new jeans were selling well. So Davis talked to Levi Strauss, the person who sold him the denim. He asked Strauss to work with him to make more jeans. Their company was called Levi Strauss & Co.

For many years, jeans were just for workers. That changed in the 1930s.

At that time, Americans were wild for cowboy movies. As they rode horses across the Wild West, these cowboys wore jeans. Kids begged their parents for jeans to play cowboys, and adults wore them to look like movie stars. 

Jeans Today

In the 1950s, rock stars like Elvis Presley danced in their jeans. These stars made jeans seem even cooler. Before long, people were wearing the pants every day.

Today, about 95 percent of Americans own jeans. And the world’s biggest jeans company? It’s Levi Strauss & Co.! 

Jacob Davis would be amazed to see how the pants have changed. Jeans now come in all sorts of styles and colors. 

What kind of jeans do you like to wear?

THINK AND WRITE

How are the histories of sneakers and jeans similar? How are they different? Answer in a paragraph using details from both articles.

Slideshows (1)
Slideshow
Vocabulary Slideshow: Sneaker Nation/Jeans Take Over

<p>Our interactive vocabulary slideshows help unlock challenging vocabulary words with great visual and audio support.</p>

Vocabulary Slideshow: Sneaker Nation/Jeans Take Over

Our interactive vocabulary slideshows help unlock challenging vocabulary words with great visual and audio support.

Audio (1)
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Paired Texts: Sneaker Nation

March/April 2023
Paired Texts: Sneaker Nation
Story Read Aloud: Magazine Version
(05:38)
Story Read Aloud: Easier Level
(05:27)
Can't-Miss Teaching Extras

Have students read about another invention that’s become a part of our everyday life—the toilet—in “The Greatest Invention Ever.”

Nugget Nation” and “Mac and Cheese Mania” tells the fascinating stories of two highly successful creations that, like modern sneakers and jeans, provided solutions to specific problems. 

For an interesting pairing, share the fiction story “Those Shoes” about how a pair of sneakers changed the lives of two kids. 

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan

Table of Contents

1. Preparing to Read

Set a Purpose for Reading/Preview Text Features/Build Background Knowledge

  • Instruct students to study the title, subtitle, and illustration on pages 16 and 18. Ask them to describe the illustrations and predict what the articles will be about. Review the predictions after reading.
  • Call on volunteers to read aloud the Think and Read box on page 16 and the Think and Write box on page 19.

Introduce Vocabulary

  • Show or assign the Vocabulary Slideshow to preview challenging words. Then assign the Vocabulary Skill Builder before or after reading.

2. Close Reading

  • Read the story as a class or have students follow along as they listen to the Read-Aloud. 
  • Project or assign the Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions. (Alternatively, use all or part of the Learning Journey Slide Deck.)

3. Skill Building and Writing

Differentiate and Customize
For Striving Readers

Have students read the Easier level version of the articles. Work with students in a small group to complete a Venn diagram about how the history of sneakers and the history of jeans are similar and different.

For Multilingual Learners

The paired texts contain domain-specific terms that might be unfamiliar to your multilingual learners. Before having students read the articles, call attention to the following terms: running tracks, metal spikes, soles, grip, exercise, afford, everyday style, tailor, rivets, and ripped. With your students, go over the definition of each term. Showing images of the terms will aid understanding.

For Advanced Readers

Have students imagine what the future of sneakers or jeans might look like. Encourage them to create an advertisement for a new type of one of these clothing items. What’s going to be new or special about it? Why will people want to wear it?

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