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Houghton Mifflin Invitations to Literacy Level 3.1

Disaster!

Pompeii… Buried Alive!

By Edith Kunhardt 

Before reading       DAY FOUR 

RIVET (GRTFBW, pages 70-71) 

volcano

erupted

poisonous

tremble

buried 

During reading

Students should use sticky-notes to mark these vocabulary words in today’s reading selection so that we can revisit the words in context. 

After reading

Revisit the vocabulary words in context. Students share page numbers and sentences using the RIVET words and define these words according to context clues.  

Hints for the teacher:

volcano – page 256 – But the Mountain was really a dangerous volcano.

page 258 – A volcano is a special kind of mountain. It has a hole in the top. 

erupted – page 269 – Vesuvious erupted again and again. More ashes fell on the town.

poisonous – page 266 – Now a great cloud of poisonous gas rushed out of the mountain.

tremble – page 262 – Suddenly the ground began to tremble. All of the houses in Pompeii began to shake.

buried – page 268-269 numerous places 

Extension Activity – Writing linked to Reading

Writing an Explanation (pages 275E-275F)

Reread pages 258

Elicit that it tells why a volcano is a special kind of mountain. Work together with students to fill out a web showing the structure of the explanation. For example,

Statement/Topic Statement: A volcano is a special kind of mountain.

            Why is it special?

It has a hole at the top. It contains gases and melted rock. It occasionally erupts.

Lead students to understand that when you tell why or how something happens, you are giving an explanation. Share these guidelines for writing an explanation with students.

  • An explanation should have a topic sentence that states what is going to explained.
  • The sentences that follow should tell why.
  • If the explanation tells how something happens, the steps should be in sequence.
 

Houghton Mifflin Invitations to Literacy Level 3.1

Disaster!

Pompeii… Buried Alive!

By Edith Kunhardt 

Before reading       DAY ONE

Information for the teacher to read: HOW TO DO PROVE IT!

Guided Reading the Four Blocks Way book pages 64-66 

Prove It!

Prove It! can be used with story or informational text. Before reading, the teacher leads the students through the text, asking them to make predictions and then read a section to see which predictions were accurate, make new predictions, read some more and predict some more. Children are encouraged to use pictures, headings, graphs, charts and other visuals to make these predictions and they are asked to tell "why they think so" for each prediction. Here is an example of a Prove It! activity based on the book, Wagon Wheels by Barbara Brenner (~~)

Wagon Wheels is a fairly easy, four-chapter historical fiction novel. We would do the reading across four days and do the Prove It! activity each day. We begin our Guided Reading Block Prove It! activity by having children look at the cover picture and the title and make predictions about what the book is going to be about, just based on these. We number each prediction so we can talk about it more easily later. Here are some of their predictions which we write down on a chart or overhead. 

1. It's about a man and three boys.

2. The boys are his sons.

3. The boys are his sons.

4. They are traveling west in a wagon.

5. It happened in the old days. 

We then look at the table of contents and read the titles of the four chapters and make some more predictions based on them. Here are those predictions: 

6. There's going to be some Indians.

7. They will move somewhere.

8. They are going to get a letter.

9. There is a dugoutClike in baseball. 

These are vague predictions but that is fine. Remember that the comprehension strategy we are working on is predicting/anticipating. The children would not know how the Indians, letter and dugout fit in, but they are wonderingCand that is anticipating and that helps comprehension.

Next, we would explain to the children that we are going to read the first chapter, "The Dugout," today and that we want them to look at all the pictures in the first chapter only and come up with some more predictions. We give them a time—two minutes—and then ask them to close their books and give us new predictions. If we give them too long or let them keep their books open while predictions are being made, the fast readers will read all the text so that they can make the right predictions. This ruins the activity for everyone and gives the fast readers an unfair advantage. So, we have a two-minute, books closed rule! After two minutes, with their books closed (and dying to open them!), the children made these predictions: We label these with the chapter title and number them. 

10. They cross the river in the wagon.

11. They meet another man.

12. They dig a huge hole.

13. They get down in the hole.

14. The man can play the banjo. 

Now, the children read the chapter. Their purpose is to decide which of the predictions is true and to prepare to Prove it! by reading aloud the part that let them figure it out. They read it in whatever format (ERTY, Partners, Three Ring Circus, Pick A Page, etc.) the teacher has decided will provide the right amount of support for everyone.

After reading, the teacher asks, "Who has a prediction they think is true and can read a part that proves it?" The children respond enthusiastically:

"Number 10 is true. It says, We crossed the river, wagon and all."

"Number 11 is true. It says, a man was waiting on the other side. 'I am Sam Hickman,' he said."

"Number 7 is not true. The dugout is not like in baseball. It is where they live. It says, We got our shovels and we dug us a dugout. And later it says, Pretty soon the dugout felt like home." 

The children continue to prove or disprove the predictions. The teacher puts a check next to those that are true and either crosses out the untrue ones or changes them to make them true, if only a small change is necessary. Number 9 becomes: 9. There is a dugout that they live in.

When the children have finished, the predictions for this chapter have all been marked with a check, crossed through or changed into true statements. Some of the overall predictions have been checked or changed but many are left for the remaining chapters.

Next, the teacher asks them what important things they learned that they hadn=t been able to predict from the pictures. The children share some of the important events, including:

"Their mama died on the trip from Kentucky."

"They moved from Kentucky to someplace in Kansas."

The teacher then leads them to find the name of that "someplace in Kansas" and pronounce "Nicodemus." The children continue to add what they found out from their reading and the teacher leads them to the text to clarify as needed. The lesson ends with the teacher and the children pulling down the map and tracing their probable route from Kentucky to Kansas. The children marvel that they went all that way in a wagon, without any motels or restaurants!

The next three days of the lesson continue in much the same way. By the fourth chapter, they are much faster at making predictions and their predictions are more precise.

25. The letter was from the Daddy.

26. The three boys went out to be with their Daddy.

27. They slept outside at night and built a fire.

28. They saw wolves and snakes out there.

29. They found their Daddy.

30. They had a real house to live inCnot a dugout.

31. They grew corn to eat.

Prove It! is a wonderful prediction activity that leads to active reading by the children. It is important to carry out the steps of Prove It! each time you do it so that children will learn to anticipate what they need to read for. 

During Reading The Sleeping Giant  

Directions

  1. Look at the title and book cover.
  2. Make predictions on what the book is going to be about based on these two factors.
  3. Number each prediction so you can talk about them more easily later.
  4. Look at the headings / chapter titles (DON’T LET THEM LOOK, HOLD UP A BOOK FOR THEM TO LOOK AT or they will start reading to predict RIGHT, instead of begin willing to truly make predictions.
  5. Make predictions on what the book is going to be about based on the headings. These are probably vague predictions. That is fine. Remember that the comprehension strategy you are working on is predicting / anticipating.
  6. Continue to number each prediction so you can talk about them easily later.
  7. Tell the children you are going to read pages 256-261 The Sleeping Giant today and you want them to look only at the pictures in the first chapter and come up with some more predictions.
  8. Read 256-261 The Sleeping Giant. The teacher should read to the students today in a shared reading style. The children follow along as teacher reads. Another option is to have the children read with a partner. They can read in whatever format the teacher decides.
 

After reading  

  1. Now the children have read the chapter. Their purpose is to decide which of the predictions is true, and to prepare to Prove It! by reading aloud the part that helped them figure out whether it was true or not.
  2. The children continue to prove or disprove the predictions.
  3. Teacher should put a check next to those that are true and either crosses out the untrue ones or changes them to make them true, if only a change is necessary. Some of the overall predictions have been checked or changed but many are left for the remaining chapters.
  4. Discuss what important things have they learned that they did not predict from the pictures.
 

 
 

DAY TWO – repeat these activities for The Giant Wakes Up 

DAY THREE – repeat these activities for Buried Alive!