25 teacher’s guide rushing for gold - houghton mifflin...

Number of Words: 713

L E S S O N 2 5 T E A C H E R ’ S G U I D E

Rushing for Gold by Sienna Jagadorn

Fountas-Pinnell Level NInformational TextSelection SummaryIn January 1848, gold was discovered in a northern California river. This was the start of the Gold Rush of 1849. Gold-seekers—known as 49ers—fl ooded into California. Although not all miners grew rich, people who opened stores, hotels, banks, and other businesses did. Mining camps became cities, and California changed forever.

Characteristics of the Text Genre • Informational text

Text Structure • Nine sections with headings• Each section a different subtopic of the main topic: the California Gold Rush

Content • The cause of the California Gold Rush of 1849• How gold-seekers traveled to California by land and water• Facts about 49ers, boomtowns, and the growth of cities in California

Themes and Ideas • People will often face hardships in order to become rich.• Businesses that meet people’s needs can make their owners rich.• People’s success can lead to the growth of cities and even states.

Language and Literary Features

• Simple, clear language• Meaning provided through integration of illustrations with text.

Sentence Complexity • Sentences with introductory clauses• Some sentences beginning with conjunctions: But soon the secret got out.

Vocabulary • Words whose meaning may be unfamiliar: swirled, sloshed, ghost townsWords • Proper nouns that may be diffi cult to decode: January, California, San Francisco

• Some three-syllable words: travelers, dangerous, exploded, expensive• Closed and open compound words: railroads, boomtowns, blue jeans

Illustrations • Historical map of California• Historical engravings and photographs

Book and Print Features • Section heads indicate content• Labels that help clarify text and art information

© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.

Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

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Rushing for Gold by Sienna Jagadorn

Build BackgroundHelp students use their knowledge of valuable minerals such as gold to anticipate the text. Build interest by asking questions such as the following: Have you ever heard of the California Gold Rush? What do you know about it? Read the title and author and talk about the cover illustration. Tell students that this book is informational text, so the words and photos will give factual information about the topic.

Introduce the TextGuide students through the text, noting important ideas and helping with unfamiliar language and vocabulary so they can read the text successfully. Here are some suggestions:

: Explain that this book is about the California Gold Rush of 1849, when many people became rich. Suggested language: Turn to page 2. The section heading is “Gold in the Hills!” What do you expect to read about in this section?

Page 5: Read the section heading, “Traveling Over Land”, with students. The Gold Rush took place in 1849, long before there were planes or trains. The picture shows one way people traveled to California. How hard do you think it was to get a wagon up steep mountain slopes? Land that slants upward or downward can be a problem both ways!

Page 8: Draw attention to the photo, and read the caption and labels. Help students understand the meanings of swirled and sloshed. The miner swirled the water and dirt in the pan to fi nd the gold. How long do you think it took a miner to search one section, or part, of a river this way?

Pages 10–11: Explain that the photos on these pages show real Gold Rush miners. The photos show some of the equipment the miners used. What do you think the miner on page 11 used the pickaxe and hoe for? What other kinds of work is this equipment used for?

Now turn back to the beginning of the book and read to fi nd out about the California Gold Rush of 1849.

altitude – height measured from the earth’s surface

approached – came near, p. 2avalanche – large amounts of

snow or rocks that slide down a mountain

equipment – things that are needed for a particular activity or purpose, p. 11

halt – to come or bring to a stopincreases – becomes greater section – a part of something,

p. 8

slopes – stretches of ground that slant upward or downward, p. 5

succeed – to manage to do what you tried to do, p. 10

tanks – containers that hold liquids or gases

Target Vocabulary

2 Lesson 25: Rushing for Gold Grade 3© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

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ReadHave students read Rushing for Gold silently while you listen to individual students read. Support their problem solving and fl uency as needed.

Remind students to use the Question Strategy and to think of questions before, while, and after they read.

Discuss and Revisit the Text Personal ResponseInvite students to share their personal responses to the book. Suggested language: If you lived during the California Gold Rush of 1849, what would you rather do, search for gold or run a business like a store or a bank? Why?

Ways of ThinkingAs you discuss the text, help students understand these points:

Thinking Within the Text Thinking Beyond the Text Thinking About the Text

• After gold was discovered in a river in northern California in 1848, thousands of people rushed there in hope of becoming rich.

• Travel to California by land and by sea was dangerous.

• Business owners grew rich by meeting the needs of the gold-seekers.

• Because of the Gold Rush, California cities grew.

• The hope of becoming rich can cause people to face dangers and hardships.

• Opening a business that meets people’s needs may lead to success.

• Successful businesses can aid the growth of cities and even states.

• Gold is something that has always had great worth.

• The captions and labels help describe what is shown in the photos.

• The author includes many details about the California Gold Rush and how it helped make California grow.

• The section heads give a good idea of what information will be covered.

© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.

Choices For Further Support• Fluency Invite students to choose a passage from the text and demonstrate phrased

fl uent reading. Remind them to pay attention to punctuation and to stress certain words to sound as if the author were reading the text.

• Comprehension Based on your observations of the students’ reading and discussion, revisit parts of the text to clarify or extend comprehension. Remind students to go back to the text to support their ideas.

• Phonics/Word Work Provide practice as needed with words and word parts, using examples from the text. Guide students to take apart compound words to get at their meaning: air/planes, rail/roads, boom/towns.



Writing about ReadingCritical Thinking Have students complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 25.7.

RespondingHave students complete the activities at the back of the book. Use the strategy below as needed to reinforce or extend understanding of the comprehension skill.

Target Comprehension SkillText and Graphic Features

Target Comprehension Skill Remind students that paying attention to how

words, photos, and other graphics work together can help them understand what they are reading. Model the skill, using a “Think Aloud” like the one below:

Think Aloud

When I read, I think about why the author included headings, photos, and captions. As I read, I look at all of these parts of the book. On page 12, the heading is Some Got Rich. The photograph shows gold nuggets. The caption tells me more information about how the nuggets made people rich.

Practice the SkillHave students share an example of the way in which they used the words and illustrations in a favorite book to help them understand what they were reading.

Writing Prompt: Thinking About the TextHave students respond to the prompt on page 6. Remind them that when they think about the text, they refl ect back on the text. They notice and evaluate language, genre, literary devices, and how the text is organized.

Assessment Prompts• What can the reader tell about the 49ers from this book?

• What are pages 12 and 13 mostly about?

• On page 8, fi nd the word that means almost the same as spilled.



English Language DevelopmentReading Support In Introduce the Text (p.2), use pictures, concrete objects, or demonstrations that will help students understand the concepts and ideas in the text. Don’t ask students to read any text they will not understand.

Vocabulary Provide help with combinations of adjectives and nouns that may present problems for students, such as gold dust, summer travel, drinking water, river water, business people, and mining camps.

Oral Language DevelopmentCheck student comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches your students’ English profi ciency level. Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the student.

Beginning/Early Intermediate Intermediate Early Advanced/ Advanced

Speaker 1: When do you think the men on the cover lived, today or long ago?

Speaker 2: long ago

Speaker 1: What were the 49ers rushing to fi nd?

Speaker 2: gold

Speaker 1: Why did people go to San Francisco in 1849?

Speaker 2: They wanted to get rich.

Speaker 1: What was this time period called?

Speaker 2: It was called the Gold Rush.

Speaker 1: How did the Gold Rush of 1849 change northern California?

Speaker 2: Camps and towns grew and turned into cities. San Francisco became one of the biggest cities in the country.

15

RespondingTARGET SKILL Text and Graphic

Features What text and graphic features did you find in this book? Copy the chart below. Write one more example of each type of text feature from the book.

Headings Photographs Captions

Gold in the Hills!?

A gold nugget?

Not every miner found gold.?

Text to Self What if you were a 49er in the Gold Rush? Write a story about how you mined for gold. Start your sentences with the word “I” and write as if you are telling the story to a friend.

Write About It

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Read directions to students.

Critical ThinkingRead and answer the questions.

1. Think within the text Why did San Francisco grow really fast in one year?

People moved there to fi nd gold and get rich.

2. Think within the text Why was ship travel so diffi cult?

The ships were crowded, had rats, and had dirty drinking water that made people

sick. Also, the ships went through dangerous storms.

3. Think beyond the text Why do you think Levi Strauss moved to California?

He knew miners needed clothing so he made jeans and sold them to the miners.

4. Think about the text Why did the author include the map on page 4?

It shows what an old map looks like, and it shows that gold was found in a large

area of California.

Making Connections Think of another story you have read about people moving West. How was that story like this one?

Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.

Possible responses shown.

Critical Thinking© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Name Date

Grade 3, Unit 5: Going Places

9

Lesson 25B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 2 5 . 7

Rushing for Gold

Critical Thinking

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Rushing for GoldThinking About the Text

Think about the questions below. Then write your answer in one or two paragraphs.

The map on page 4 is from the 1800s. Many of the photos and illustrations in this book are also from the past. Why do you think the author included actual old maps, photos, and illustrations in the book? How do these help you picture what the life of the 49ers was like?

Name Date



Critical ThinkingRead and answer the questions.

1. Think within the text Why did San Francisco grow

really fast in one year?

2. Think within the text Why was ship travel so diffi cult?

3. Think beyond the text Why do you think Levi Strauss

moved to California?

4. Think about the text Why did the author include the

map on page 4?

Making Connections Think of another story you have read about people moving West. How was that story like this one?

Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.

Name Date

Lesson 25B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 2 5 . 7

Rushing for Gold

Critical Thinking



1414

121Behavior Code Error

Read word correctly ✓cat 0

Repeated word, sentence, or phrase

®cat

0

Omission —cat 1

Behavior Code Error

Substitution cutcat 1

Self-corrects cut sccat 0

Insertion the

ˆcat 1

Word told Tcat 1

page Selection Text Errors Self-Corrections

12

13

14

Many early miners did get rich. People found gold in almost

every part of northern California. Some miners found one

nugget that weighed 160 pounds. It would be worth more than

a million dollars today!

Not all the people who got rich were gold miners. Some people

went to California during the Gold Rush to open stores or

other businesses such as hotels and banks. Since miners were

willing to pay high prices, these business people got very rich.

And they never had to look for gold.

The Gold Rush of 1849 changed everything in northern

California.

Comments: Accuracy Rate (# words read

correctly/97 × 100)

%

Total Self- Corrections

Student Date Lesson 25

B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 2 5 . 1 1

Rushing for GoldRunning Record Form

Rushing for Gold • LEVEL N



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