The Skunk Ladder By Patrick F. McManus

“The Skunk Ladder” By Patrick F. McManus

Students will be able to:

*Spell, write, and identify words with negative prefixes

*Write an autobiographical sketch

*Draw conclusions based on text

*Read aloud with appropriate phrasing

Question of the Week: How can we find adventure in ordinary events?

Grammar Skill: Contractions and Negatives

Comprehension Skill: Literary Elements: Character and Plot

Comprehension Strategy: Background Knowledge

Vocabulary: abandoned, attempts, bellow, cavern, feat, immensely, savage

Spelling Words:

elementary literature meteorite

vehicle elevator fascination

miniature Pennsylvania cylinder

probability ravioli intermediate

opportunity cafeteria centennial

substitute mosaic curiosity

variety tuxedo

“The Unsinkable Wreck of the R.M.S. Titanic” By: Robert Ballard

Students will be able to:

*Spell, write, and identify words with multisyllabic

*Write a rhyming poem

*Identify the meaning of words with Greek and Latin roots

*Identify a story's characters and plot

*Read aloud with expression

Question of the Week: How does technology help adventurers reach new
places?

Grammar Skill: Adjectives and Articles

Comprehension Skill: Graphic Sources

Comprehension Strategy: inferring

Vocabulary: cramped, debris, interior, ooze, robotic, sediment, sonar

Spelling Words:

music partial resign

musician haste resignation

select hasten electric

selection protect electrician

sign protection condemn

signal magic condemnation

part magician

“Talk with an Astronaut”

Students will be able to:

*Spell, write, and identify related words

*Take notes that paraphrase a nonfiction selection

*Understand graphic sources

*Read aloud with expression

Question of the Week: What is life like for an Astronaut?

Grammar Skill: This, That, These and Those

Comprehension Skill: Author’s Purpose

Comprehension Strategy: Monitor and Clarify

Vocabulary: accomplishments, focus, gravity, monitors, role, specific

Spelling Words:

artist technology meteorology

tourism journalism zoology

biology hydrophobia claustrophobia

phobia violinist capitalism

heroism ecology novelist

geology patriotism technophobia

cartoonist vocalist

“Journey to the Center of the Earth” By: Jules Verne

Students will be able to:

*Spell, write, and identify words with Greek word parts

*Write a biographical sketch

*Determine the meaning of multiple-meaning words

*Determine the author's purpose for writing

*Read aloud with accuracy

Question of the Week: How do you explore places underground?

Grammar Skill: Comparative and superlative adjectives

Comprehension Skill: Cause and Effect

Comprehension Strategy: Summarize

Vocabulary: armor, encases, extinct, hideous, plunged, serpent

Spelling Words:

describe injection abruptly

interruption manuscript prescribe

inspection suspect reject

scribble subscription aspect

respectful spectacular rupture

bankrupt eruption inscribe

project eject

“Ghost Towns of the American West” By Raymond Bial

Students will be able to:

*Spell, write, and identify words with Latin roots

*Write a letter to the editor of a newspaper

*Understand cause and effect

*Read aloud with appropriate phrasing

Question of the Week: What adventures helped drive westward expansions?

Grammar Skill: Adverbs

Comprehension Skill: Generalize

Comprehension Strategy: Questioning

Vocabulary: economic, overrun, vacant, independence, scrawled

Spelling Words:

telephone photocopy barometer

graphic speedometer phonograph

thermometer telegraph kilometer

photographer millimeter telephoto

telescope autograph

diameter television