Reading Unit 1
Quia (search for the title of our weekly story for practice activities)
From the Diary of Leigh Botts
Sequence
• Sequence is the order in which things happen. Keeping track of the sequence of events will
help you better understand what you read.
• Words such as then and after are often clues to a sequence. Words such as meanwhile and
during show that several events can happen at once.
• By arranging events in sequence, you can see how one thing leads to another.
Notes for Home:Your child read a story and identified the order in which events occurred.
Home Activity: Choose a task that your child performs, such as making the bed, and work together to create a list of steps that are required to complete the task.
Vocabulary
1. cafeteria
2. demonstration
3. diary
4. racket
5. switch
6. triggered
Making Judgments
Notes for Home:Your child read a story and made judgments about the author’s ideas.
Home Activity: Read a letter to the editor in a newspaper or magazine with your child. Encourage
your child to evaluate the writer’s opinion and supporting arguments.
Faith and Eddie
Character
• Characters are the people or animals in a story.
• You can learn about characters from the things they think, say, and do.
• You can also learn about characters from the way that other characters in the story treat
them and what they say about them.
Notes for Home:Your child analyzed characters—the people or animals in a story.
Home Activity: Play “Guess Who?” Think of someone you both know. Describe the way that person acts and talks, and challenge your child to guess who it is. Switch roles and play again.
Vocabulary
1. alternating
2. anticipation
3. cemetery
4. darted
5. faith
6. retraced
7. scent
8. withdrew
Notes for Home:Your child identified and used vocabulary words from “Faith and Eddie.”
Home Activity: Using a dictionary, find simple definitions for a variety of words and read them aloud to your child. See if your child can guess each word. Keep a list of “Words I Know.”
Setting
Notes for Home:Your child read a story and used details to answer questions about the setting.
Home Activity: Have your child look around the room and describe the setting in detail.
Dictionary/Glossary
A dictionary is a book of words and their meanings. A glossary is a short dictionary in the back of some books. It includes definitions of words used in the book. Words are listed in alphabetical order. Guide words appear at the top of each page and show the first and last entry word for that page.
Notes for Home:Your child used a dictionary and a glossary to find information about words.
Home Activity:With your child, select various words from a dictionary or glossary. Discuss all the information you find about that word.
Looking for a Home
Generalizing
• Generalizing is making a statement that tells what several people or things have in common.
• Sometimes a clue word such as most, all, sometimes, always, or never signals that a generalization is being made.
• A valid generalization is supported by facts and logic. A faulty generalization is not.
Notes for Home:Your child identified generalizations.
Home Activity: Ask your child to look around a room in your home and make a generalization about it, such as All the walls are painted white. Then talk about whether you agree with the generalization.
Vocabulary
1. awe
2. bitter
3. determined
4. horrified
5. panicked
6. select
7. suspicious
Notes for Home:Your child identified and used vocabulary words from “Looking for a Home.”
Home Activity: Ask your child to describe an event that would cause a person to feel awe, bitter, determined, horrified, panicked, and suspicious.
Sequence
Notes for Home:Your child read a nonfiction article and then identified the order in which steps were presented.
Home Activity: Review with your child the important things that have happened in his or her life so far. Have your child name the events in the order that they occurred.
Poster/Announcement
An announcement gives specific facts about an event. Like a news article, an announcement should answer the questions: who?, what?, when?, where?, and why? A poster is a type of announcement printed on a large sheet of paper and posted for the public to view.
Notes for Home:Your child answered questions about information on a poster.
Home Activity: Find an announcement in the newspaper, such as a wedding announcement. With your child, discuss all the information the announcement provides.
Meeting Mr. Henry
Cause and Effect
• A cause is why something happens. An effect is what happens.
• A cause may have more than one effect. An effect may have more than one cause.
• Sometimes a clue word such as because or since signals a cause-effect relationship. Sometimes there is no clue word, and you need to think about why something happened.
Cause ---> Effect
Notes for Home:Your child read a story and identified causes and effects.
Home Activity: Help your child relate causes and effects by starting a sentence, such as You eat breakfast because __________. Ask your child to complete the sentence by giving a cause, or reason.
Vocabulary
1. challenging
2. corridors
3. custodian
4. cut
5. valuable
Notes for Home:Your child identified and used vocabulary words from“Meeting Mr. Henry.”
Home Activity: Take turns using each vocabulary word in a sentence.
Drawing Conclusions
Notes for Home:Your child read a story and drew conclusions based on its details.
Home Activity: Read a story together with your child. Afterward, invite your child to tell you what conclusions he or she can draw about how a character feels or why an event happened.
Eloise Greenfield
Author’s Purpose
• The author’s purpose is the reason an author has for writing. The purpose is usually not stated directly in the writing. Sometimes an author has more than one purpose for writing.
• Four common purposes for writing are to persuade (convince), to inform (explain something), to entertain (amuse), or to express (describe something to help you see or feel a scene).
Notes for Home:Your child learned about the purposes an author may have for writing.
Home Activity: Read the TV listings with your child. Pick out various television programs and discuss the purpose of each one.
Vocabulary
1. applied
2. community
3. council
4. in-between
5. project
6. resident
Notes for Home:Your child identified and used vocabulary words from “Eloise Greenfield.”
Home Activity: Read an article with your child. Encourage him or her to figure out the meanings of unfamiliar words using context clues—words surrounding the unfamiliar words.
Sequence
Notes for Home:Your child read a story, and then identified the order in which events happened.
Home Activity:With your child, read a magazine or newspaper article that tells about an event that took place. Then have your child describe the event to you, in his or her own words, in order.
Phonics: Complex Spelling Patterns
Words that end in -ough or -ought can be tricky. They don’t all sound alike.
Notes for Home:Your child matched vowel sounds for words that end in -ough and -ought such as though and thought.
Home Activity: Make up several short sentences that include words ending in -ough or -ought. Say the sentences aloud and have your child write them.
Manual
A manual is a written set of directions that helps readers understand or use something. It usually comes in the form of a booklet or a book.
Notes for Home:Your child answered questions about a refrigerator manual.
Home Activity:Together with your child, read part of a manual you have at home, such as a manual for operating your TV. Talk about the different kinds of information that the manual gives.
From the Diary of Leigh Botts
Sequence
• Sequence is the order in which things happen. Keeping track of the sequence of events will
help you better understand what you read.
• Words such as then and after are often clues to a sequence. Words such as meanwhile and
during show that several events can happen at once.
• By arranging events in sequence, you can see how one thing leads to another.
Notes for Home:Your child read a story and identified the order in which events occurred.
Home Activity: Choose a task that your child performs, such as making the bed, and work together to create a list of steps that are required to complete the task.
Vocabulary
1. cafeteria
2. demonstration
3. diary
4. racket
5. switch
6. triggered
Making Judgments
Notes for Home:Your child read a story and made judgments about the author’s ideas.
Home Activity: Read a letter to the editor in a newspaper or magazine with your child. Encourage
your child to evaluate the writer’s opinion and supporting arguments.
Faith and Eddie
Character
• Characters are the people or animals in a story.
• You can learn about characters from the things they think, say, and do.
• You can also learn about characters from the way that other characters in the story treat
them and what they say about them.
Notes for Home:Your child analyzed characters—the people or animals in a story.
Home Activity: Play “Guess Who?” Think of someone you both know. Describe the way that person acts and talks, and challenge your child to guess who it is. Switch roles and play again.
Vocabulary
1. alternating
2. anticipation
3. cemetery
4. darted
5. faith
6. retraced
7. scent
8. withdrew
Notes for Home:Your child identified and used vocabulary words from “Faith and Eddie.”
Home Activity: Using a dictionary, find simple definitions for a variety of words and read them aloud to your child. See if your child can guess each word. Keep a list of “Words I Know.”
Setting
Notes for Home:Your child read a story and used details to answer questions about the setting.
Home Activity: Have your child look around the room and describe the setting in detail.
Dictionary/Glossary
A dictionary is a book of words and their meanings. A glossary is a short dictionary in the back of some books. It includes definitions of words used in the book. Words are listed in alphabetical order. Guide words appear at the top of each page and show the first and last entry word for that page.
Notes for Home:Your child used a dictionary and a glossary to find information about words.
Home Activity:With your child, select various words from a dictionary or glossary. Discuss all the information you find about that word.
Looking for a Home
Generalizing
• Generalizing is making a statement that tells what several people or things have in common.
• Sometimes a clue word such as most, all, sometimes, always, or never signals that a generalization is being made.
• A valid generalization is supported by facts and logic. A faulty generalization is not.
Notes for Home:Your child identified generalizations.
Home Activity: Ask your child to look around a room in your home and make a generalization about it, such as All the walls are painted white. Then talk about whether you agree with the generalization.
Vocabulary
1. awe
2. bitter
3. determined
4. horrified
5. panicked
6. select
7. suspicious
Notes for Home:Your child identified and used vocabulary words from “Looking for a Home.”
Home Activity: Ask your child to describe an event that would cause a person to feel awe, bitter, determined, horrified, panicked, and suspicious.
Sequence
Notes for Home:Your child read a nonfiction article and then identified the order in which steps were presented.
Home Activity: Review with your child the important things that have happened in his or her life so far. Have your child name the events in the order that they occurred.
Poster/Announcement
An announcement gives specific facts about an event. Like a news article, an announcement should answer the questions: who?, what?, when?, where?, and why? A poster is a type of announcement printed on a large sheet of paper and posted for the public to view.
Notes for Home:Your child answered questions about information on a poster.
Home Activity: Find an announcement in the newspaper, such as a wedding announcement. With your child, discuss all the information the announcement provides.
Meeting Mr. Henry
Cause and Effect
• A cause is why something happens. An effect is what happens.
• A cause may have more than one effect. An effect may have more than one cause.
• Sometimes a clue word such as because or since signals a cause-effect relationship. Sometimes there is no clue word, and you need to think about why something happened.
Cause ---> Effect
Notes for Home:Your child read a story and identified causes and effects.
Home Activity: Help your child relate causes and effects by starting a sentence, such as You eat breakfast because __________. Ask your child to complete the sentence by giving a cause, or reason.
Vocabulary
1. challenging
2. corridors
3. custodian
4. cut
5. valuable
Notes for Home:Your child identified and used vocabulary words from“Meeting Mr. Henry.”
Home Activity: Take turns using each vocabulary word in a sentence.
Drawing Conclusions
Notes for Home:Your child read a story and drew conclusions based on its details.
Home Activity: Read a story together with your child. Afterward, invite your child to tell you what conclusions he or she can draw about how a character feels or why an event happened.
Eloise Greenfield
Author’s Purpose
• The author’s purpose is the reason an author has for writing. The purpose is usually not stated directly in the writing. Sometimes an author has more than one purpose for writing.
• Four common purposes for writing are to persuade (convince), to inform (explain something), to entertain (amuse), or to express (describe something to help you see or feel a scene).
Notes for Home:Your child learned about the purposes an author may have for writing.
Home Activity: Read the TV listings with your child. Pick out various television programs and discuss the purpose of each one.
Vocabulary
1. applied
2. community
3. council
4. in-between
5. project
6. resident
Notes for Home:Your child identified and used vocabulary words from “Eloise Greenfield.”
Home Activity: Read an article with your child. Encourage him or her to figure out the meanings of unfamiliar words using context clues—words surrounding the unfamiliar words.
Sequence
Notes for Home:Your child read a story, and then identified the order in which events happened.
Home Activity:With your child, read a magazine or newspaper article that tells about an event that took place. Then have your child describe the event to you, in his or her own words, in order.
Phonics: Complex Spelling Patterns
Words that end in -ough or -ought can be tricky. They don’t all sound alike.
Notes for Home:Your child matched vowel sounds for words that end in -ough and -ought such as though and thought.
Home Activity: Make up several short sentences that include words ending in -ough or -ought. Say the sentences aloud and have your child write them.
Manual
A manual is a written set of directions that helps readers understand or use something. It usually comes in the form of a booklet or a book.
Notes for Home:Your child answered questions about a refrigerator manual.
Home Activity:Together with your child, read part of a manual you have at home, such as a manual for operating your TV. Talk about the different kinds of information that the manual gives.