Our fourth Houghton Mifflin reading theme is Animal Habitats. In this theme we will read three stories. Our first story, Nights of the Pufflings, is a nonfiction story about the Heimaey Island children of Iceland spending their summer rescuing stranded pufflings. Our second story is realistic fiction and is called, Seal Surfer. This is a heart warming story about Ben's friendship with a seal. The final story of the theme is also realistic fiction. Two Days in May is a story about a peaceful protest to save five deer that have wandered into a city neighborhood in search of food.
Targets:
During this theme, all students will...
use various reading strategies:
evaluate; question; monitor/clarify; summarize;
phonics/decoding.
learn various comprehension strategies: fact & opinion; compare/contrast;
making
judgments.
use various dictionary skills: parts of speech; multiple meaning words;
base words &
inflected forms.
identify various grammar skills: the verb be; helping verbs; irregular verbs;
using the
correct verb form.
review spelling skills: vowel + r sounds in hair; added endings; prefixes
& suffixes.
3 Stories in our theme:
|
Nights of the Pufflings (Nonfiction) written by Bruce McMillan New Words & Vocabulary |
|
| ashore | burrows |
| instinctively | launching |
| stranded | uninhabited |
| venture | overlooking |
| speckled | bobbing |
| stray | roaming |
| nestles | releases |
| surf | flutters |
|
Seal Surfer (Realistic Fiction) written by Michael Foreman New Words & Vocabulary |
|
| basked | buffeted |
| horizon | quay |
| surf | swell |
| swooped | mussels |
| molted | panic |
| flippers | reflection |
| dissolved | reformed |
| mountainous | wrenched |
| elated | concentrated |
| sensation | deserted |
|
Two Days in May (Realistic Fiction) written by Harriet Peck Taylor illustrated by Leyla Torres New Words & Vocabulary |
|
| appreciate | grazing |
| population | starve |
| surrounding | territory |
| wander | hooves |
| rumbled | recognized |
| landlord | hushed |
| solemnly | protest |
| brow | stranded |
| anxiously | rotate |
| detect | habitat |
| draped | broad |
| rusty | crates |
| tranquilizer | wobbled |
| fawns | flickering |
