Download Unit 3 Summary

Roadrunner’s Dance
By Rudolfo Anaya
Story Overview: In this folktale, Snake is mean and considers himself “King of the
Road” not allowing others to pass. He learns his lesson as Desert Woman and the other
animals create the Roadrunner to defeat Snake and take away his power.
Genre: Folk Tale is a story based on the traditions of a people or region, told by
parents to children and then by the children to their children.
Vocabulary:
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interfere: to take part in the affairs of others when not asked.
guardian: someone or something who watches over or protects.
agile: able to move and react quickly and easily.
tottered: walked or moved with unsteady steps.
awkward: without grace in movement or behavior.
proclaimed: announced quickly.
Strategy: Evaluate
Students should begin evaluating a text by identifying the reason the author has written it.
Skill: Author’s Purpose
Remind students that an author’s purpose may be to entertain, persuade, instruct, or
inform.
Grammar: Action Verbs
An action verb tells what the subject does, did, or will do. Action verbs have different
tenses that can show action in the present, future, or past. Ex. dance, will dance, danced
Spelling List: Words with ur
dirty, purse, birth, curl, curve, curb, person, shirt, worse, hurl, twirl, swirl, herb, turkey,
turnip, purpose, blurred, sternly, serpent, pearl
Review words: hear, spare, lair
Challenge words: spurt, further
My Brother Martin
By Christine King Farris
Story Overview: This story is about Martin Luther King, Jr., a man who made a
difference in our lives. His sister, Christine King, writes about what their lives were like
growing up. She tells us what kind of boy he was. It is interesting to learn how the
events of his life influenced the kind of man he became.
Genre: Biography is a story about the life of a real person written by someone else.
Vocabulary:
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unsuspecting: trusting.
unfair: not fair or just.
ancestors: people in the past from whom one comes.
injustice: unfairness.
avoided: stayed away from.
segregation: the practice of setting one racial group apart from another.
numerous: forming a large number; many
Strategy: Evaluate
Students should begin evaluating a text by drawing conclusions about the author’s
purpose.
Skill: Author’s Purpose
Remind students that an author’s purpose may be to entertain, persuade, instruct, or
inform. A good reader evaluates the author’s purpose to make sound judgments.
Grammar: Verb Tenses
The tense of a verb tells you when in time an action is happening. A verb has three basic
tenses: past tense, present tense, and future tense. A present tense verb shows that the
action is happening over and over. A past tense verb shows action that has already
happened. A future tense verb shows action that will happen.
Spelling List: Words with silent letters
hour, lambs, knew, wrench, kneel, thumbs, honest, answer, honesty, plumber, honor,
known, combs, wrapper, knives, doubt, knead, wriggle, heir, wrinkle
Review words: curl, pearl, shirt
Challenge words: knuckles, wrestle
Kid Reporters at Work
Time For Kids
Story Overview: “Kids Get it Done” is a series of articles about kids who made a
difference. Terrence Cheromcka went to UN conference of world leaders and reported
on it in a magazine article. Martin Jacobs interviews the youngest winner of a state
science fair. Terrence and Martin both wanted to make a difference, even though they
wrote about different tings.
Genre: Nonfiction Article in a newspaper or magazine tells a true story.
Vocabulary:
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enterprising: showing energy and initiative; willing or inclined to take risks
persistence: the ability to keep trying in spite of difficulties
venture: a business or some other undertaking that involves risk.
identified: proved that someone or something is a particular person or thing.
Strategy: Summarize
Summarizing is restating the main ideas and important details.
Skill: Compare and Contrast
Comparing people, things, or ideas tells how they are alike. Contrasting them tells how
they are different.
Grammar: Main and Helping Verbs
The main verb is a sentence tells what the subject does or is. A helping verb helps the
main verb show an action or make a statement. The verbs have, had, had, is, am, are,
was, were, and will are used as helping verbs.
Spelling List: Words with Soft c and g
center, once, dance, germs, spice, bridge, badge, circus, cement, glance, strange, police,
certain, orange, ounce, ginger, wedge, arrange, sponge, village
Review words: combs, kneel, wrench
Challenge words: general, ceremony
Mystic Horse
By Paul Goble
Story Overview: This story is a Native American legend called Mystic Horse. It
tells about a boy and his grandmother who live in a Pawnee community. The
grandmother and boy are poor and have to walk whenever the Pawnee move. First, the
boy finds a sickly horse, and then he decides to take care of it. The horse repays him for
his kindness.
Genre: A Legend is a story that has been handed down by a people for many years and
often has some basis in fact.
Vocabulary:
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responsibility: a job, duty, or concern.
patchwork: something put together out of many uneven or varied parts.
sores: places where the skin has been broken and hurts.
midst: the middle part
loosened: made less tight
amazement: great surprise or wonder
mysterious: very hard or impossible to explain or understand
Strategy: Summarize
A summary is a short statement written in the students’ own words that states the most
important events or ideas in a text.
Skill: Sequence
Understanding the sequence of events can help students summarize a story. Signal words
such as before, after, then, later, next, and finally, are often used to indicate time order.
Grammar: Linking Verbs
A linking verb links, or connects, the subject of a sentence to a noun, pronoun, or
adjective that describes the subject. Linking verbs are most often the forms of be: am, is,
are, was, were. Other linking verbs include words such as: look, seem, appear, become,
feel, grow, smell, taste.
Spelling List: Words with Plural Endings
Clams, mints, props, arches, dresses, parents, caves, glasses, hobbies, engines, couches,
arrows, enemies, babies, ranches, patches, mistakes, berries, mosses, armies
Review words: circus, germs, spice
Challenge words: batteries, compasses
Snowflake Bentley
By Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Story Overview: This story is a biography about William Bentley. Willie Bentley
lived in Vermont and like nature. Most of all he loved snowflakes. He got a camera and
began to photograph them. He became famous.
Genre: A Biography is a story about the life of a real person written by someone else.
Vocabulary:
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microscope: a device to look at things that are too small to see with your eyes
foolishness: showing a lock of good sense or judgment.
negatives: images on film from which prints can be made.
magnify: to make something look bigger.
evaporate: to change from a liquid or a solid into a gas.
blizzard: a heavy snowstorm.
technique: a way of bringing about a desired result.
Strategy: Evaluate
When evaluating a text, a reader makes judgments about the author’s purpose and the
type of information provided about the subject.
Skill: Summarize
To summarize a biography, students should identify the main ideas and restate them in
their own words. Individual passages or an entire biography can be summarized.
Grammar: Irregular Verbs
Regular verbs all follow the same pattern to form their past tense. They add –ed to the
end of the verb. Irregular verbs are verbs that do not end with –ed in the past tense.
Irregular verbs change forms when they became past tense. Example: begin, began –
break, broke
Spelling List: Compound Words
Fishbowl, lookout, backyard, desktop, campfire, overhead, waterproof, grandparent,
railroad, snowstorm, loudspeaker, bookcase, bedroom, blindfold, newborn, bedspread,
yourself, overdo, clothesline, undertake
Review words: berries, dresses, arches
Challenge words: eyesight, paperweight