letters home from yosemite

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Letters Home from Yosemite

Letters Home from Yosemite

Lisa Halvorsen visits Yosemite National Park and write short postcard blurbs about her adventure. She covers the history of park, its flora and fauna, and some geology as well.

Reading Goal

This week you will identify main ideas in the text using supporting details.

Why do we read?

•To be informed•To follow directions•To be entertained

We will be doing…

• Fluency• Adventures in Writing• Student Test• Team Score Sheets• During the day, put your scores on the Team

Score Sheets• Let me assign numbered heads!

Team Cooperation GoalComplete tasks

Title: Letters Home from Yosemite

Reading Goal: Main Idea and supporting details

Team Cooperation Goal: Completing TasksGenre: ExpositoryAuthor: Lisa Halvorsen

scenery

Outdoor views

The scenery at the top of theMountain was amazing withall of the outdoor views.

wilderness

Land where no people live

Sometimes bearsCome out of the Wilderness and take food from ourtrash cans.

preserve

Keep safe

I found an Indian Arrowhead in the groundand Dad told me to preserve it.

graze

Blend

“Horses and cows graze,not people,” the baby’sMother Said when he tried to eat grass.

swooping

Rushing down

At the beach seagullswere swooping downTo steal our Frenchfries.

precious

Costly

Jeremy accidentlyBroke his grandmother’sprecious antique clock.

Review Vocabulary with Partner

Can you say it?Can you define it?Can you say it in a sentence?

Vocabulary Vault

Main Idea and Supporting Details

TPSWhat is your favorite TV show?

Talk about who the main characters are.What time is it on?

What channel is it on?

Reading Goal

Main ideaWhat your favorite show is.

Supporting detailsTime, characters, channel

Today you will be looking for main idea and supporting details.

Reading Goal

What important information is the author trying to tell me?

What is the passage about?

Trees aren’t just beautiful, big plants. Trees take the gases we breathe out and turn them into oxygen for us. Without oxygen we can’t live. They provide shad when it is hot. They keep the soil from washing away when it rains so other plants have a place to grow. Trees also provide food and shelter for birds, bugs, and other animals. We use them for fuel, for paper, and for wood to build things too.

Mickey Mantle was the greatest baseball player in history. He took the New York

Yankees to the World Series twelve times in eighteen years. The switch hitter was

signed to the team right out of high school. He made the jersey #7 famous with his

huge home runs. He still holds the record for being the only person to hit a ball over

the left field bleachers at Griffith Stadium in a regular season game in its thirty-two year

history. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame on August 12, 1974. He was the

best ballplayer that ever lived.

From reading that passage I know that the author is a big Mickey Mantle fan. It is

important for me, as a reader to figure out what are the real facts and the opinions. I know that a fact is something I can check.

I also know that opinions are what the author thinks. I can verify that Mickey Mantle was a member of the New York

Yankees, so that is a fact!

Model, Think aloud.

What is the passage about?What does the author want me to

know about?The author wants me to know that trees aren’t just really pretty, big plants, but that they serve many purposes. They are necessary, because without trees many other plants and animals would die, including humans. The

main idea of this passage is that trees are very important to life on the planet earth.

Letters Home from Yosemite

• This week you will pay close attention to the main idea of each section.

• You will be reading an expository text.• You will be using the SQRRRL process

– Survey, Question, Read and restate, Review, and learn

21

Plants Bite BackRichard Platt

Flying Aces

I wonder what type of plants

eat flies?

Plants BiteBack!

Letters Home from Yosemite

Vocabulary- Say It!glacier

impressivenaturalistpreserve

slopesspecies

wilderness

More Words to Knowaltitudes

formationsreservoir

earthquakeeruptionsvolcano

glaciera great mass of ice

moving very slowly down a mountain or along a valley

naturalista person who studies living things

impressiveable to have a strong effect on the mind or feelings

preserveto keep from harm or change; protect

speciesa set of related living things that share certain characteristic and that can be interbred

slopesand that goes up and down at an angle

wildernessa wild region with few or no people living in it

earthquakea shaking or shifting motion of Earth’s surface. It is caused by the sudden breaking of masses of rock along a fault.

eruptionsacts or processes of bursting or throwing forth

volcanoopening in Earth’s crust through which steam, ashes, and lava are forced out in periods of activity

altitudesheights about Earth’s surface

reservoira place where water is collected and stored for use

Preview the book

• What is one questions you have after previewing the book?

• Write this question in the space provided on your tree map.

Letters Home from Yosemit

Team Talk Questions

1. Why do you think 3.5 million people visit Yosemite every year?

2. How did Yosemite become a national park?3. Which of the following is the main idea of the

first part of Letters Home from Yosemite?4. What can you conclude about Yosemite

National Park from the Indian word yo’hem’iteh? Explain.

Partner Read- 15 minutesPut 2 sticky notes on words that are new or

unfamiliar to youRead and restate pages 118-120Discuss with team words you clarified Find vocabulary words

Tree Map

• Decide as a group what the main idea was for each section

• Provide at least 3 details to support your main idea

Team Discussion-15minutes

• Discuss answers to team talk questions• Team Talk procedures will be up!• Write answers to question 2 and 4

#1Reads the Question

#2Answers the

Question

#3Agrees or disagrees with evidence from

the text

#4Summarizes what

the groups discussed

Class Discussion

• What words did your group clarify?

Writing Adventures- 15 min

Imagine you are visiting Yosemite National Park. Write a postcard to your friend telling him or

her what kinds of things you saw and did.

Scoring Guide

You answer the question 25 pointsYour answer explains or describeswith at least two details 25 pointsYour answer makes sense and hasPart of the question in it 20 pointsYour answer is written in complete,correct sentences 20 pointsYour writing has correct capitalizationand punctuation 10 points

Vocabulary Practice-10 min“We’ve got to preserve all of these things so that your

grandchildren can see them too,” Jenna’s grandfather told her. They were walking in the wilderness, in a large forest on the side of the mountain. Jenna agreed with her grandfather because the scenery was lovely and included a view over a long valley, with trees and grasslands and a sparkling blue lake.wilderness

a.Keep quietb.Keep apartc.Keep upd.Keep safe

Wildernessa.Land where people lvieb.Land where people visitc.Land where people god.Land where no people live

Scenerya.Seen outdoorsb.Outdoor viewsc.Views out backd.Outside shows

Fluency – 5 min

• Page 118

Fluency Rubric

100 points ExpressivenessSmoothnessRate and correctness

90 points SmoothnessRate and correctness

80 points Rate and correctness70 points Correctness