Jump by Floyd Cooper is a biography about the life of Michael Jordan. Michael’s young life was all about sports. He loved basketball and played it 24/7. He was always in competition with his brother, Larry. Michael was good but Larry seemed to always be better. With much practice and determination, Michael became a professional basketball player.

The vocabulary words introduced in this story are:

athlete: a person who plays one or many sports

competitor: a person who is trying to win in a game or a sport

championship: the game that decides who is the best player or team

professional: a person who is paid to play a game or a sport

power: another word for strength

court: an area where a game is played

rooting: cheering

entire: another word for whole or complete

The skills included in this story are:

This picture biography is a fascinating story about the life of Thomas Edison. It follows “Al”, as he was known as a child up until he turned 21. As a child he was always experimenting. In his parents’ basement, in the baggage car when he was a newspaper boy on a train and in the train station when he worked as a telegrapher. The author, Michael Dooling, brings history alive through the story of Young Thomas Edison.

The following vocabulary words will be introduced throughout the story:

invention ~ something new that someone thinks up and creates

experiment ~ a test that helps scientists answer their questions

laboratory ~ a place where scientists work and do experiments

genius ~ a very smart person

gadget ~ a small machine or tool that is useful

electric ~ runs by electricity

signal ~ a sound, a movement, or another sign that sends a message

occasional ~ sometimes but not very often

The Kamishibai man used to ride his bicycle into town where he would tell stories to the children and give them candy, but gradually, fewer and fewer children came running at the sound of his clappers. They were all watching their new televisions instead. Jiichan, Grandpa, is saddened by all the changes around him, but in the end he is welcomed back by all the grown up children who once listened to his stories. This encourages him to continue pedaling into town with his stories and candies.

The vocabulary introduced in this story:

familiar ~ something that is known because it is experienced often

applause ~ clapping

rude ~ not being polite, or having bad manners

jerky ~ moving in sudden, uneven, or awkward ways

blasted ~ made a sudden, loud sound

blurry ~ unclear or smeared

rickety ~ shaky or likely to fall apart

vacant ~ empty

Today we began studying a new story, The Harvest Birds, by Blanca Lopez de Mariscal.  The story is about a boy named Juan Zanate, who likes to sit under his favorite tree and dream of becoming a farmer like his father and grandfather. But when his father dies, there is only enough land for his two older brothers. In this enchanting and inspiring story, Juan learns to determine his own destiny. The Harvest Birds offers lessons on the traditions of rural Mexico, the importance of respecting nature, and the possibility of making dreams happen.  The vocabulary words for this story are: 

harvest ~ the crop that is gathered during one growing season

separate ~ divide objects into smaller groups or categories

ashamed ~ feels embarassed or guilty about something he or she did or did not do

borders ~ the dividing lines between two pieces of land

advice ~ telling a person what you think they should do

borrow ~ have another person’s permission to take something from them, use it, and then return it

patch ~ a small area of land where cetain plants or a crop grows

serious ~ care a lot about what is said or done

Skills addressed during this story:

For the next two weeks, we will be reading the story, What Do Illustrators Do? by Eileen Christelow.  This story draws you into the life of an illustrator.  It explains the necessary steps to create illustrations for books.

These are the vocabulary words that the students will be responsible for learning.

imagine ~ see a picture in your mind

tools ~ things people use to help them do a job

illustrate ~ to make pictures that show something

scribbles ~ drawings or doodles, drawn in a quick or careless way

sketches ~ quick, simple drawings

tracing ~ copy the outline or shape of something

research ~ to search for and study information about a topic

textures ~ different ways that surfaces look and feel

 The comprehension skills that go along with this story are:

The first story of the new year is Max’s Words written by Kate Banks. This is a story about a little boy, Max, and his two brothers.  Both of his brothers have their own collections. One collects stamps and the other collects coins.  Max wants to start a collection, so he decides to collect words.  The genre of this story is humorous fiction.

The vocabulary words that go along with this story are:

collect ~ to gather things together in a group

scrambled ~ mixed together in a messy way

sorted ~ things were grouped together

orders ~ arrangement of things in a certain way, such as side by side or one after the other

ragged ~ uneven, torn or worn out

rapidly ~ quickly

continued ~ someone or something kept going or went on doing something

darted ~ moved suddenly or quickly

The comprehension skills that will be addressed are:

Roberto Clemente Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates by Jonah Winter is the current story that we are reading.  This story is a biography about the life of Jonah Winter’s hero, Roberto Clemente.  Roberto was a great baseball player who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1955 to 1972.

The eight new vocabulary words that go along with this story are the following:

1. stands ~ seats from which people watch a game

2. fans ~ people who enjoy watching a certain activity and supporting the people who participate

3. score ~ to make or earn points in a game

4. league ~ a group of teams that play against one another

5. slammed ~ hit or closed very hard

6. polish ~ to make something smooth and bright by rubbing

7. style ~ a person’s special way of doing something

8. pronounced ~ said in a particular way

The comprehensive skills that will be addressed during this story are cause/effect, visualizing, and prefixes.

 Our new reading story is Pop’s Bridge by Eve Bunting.  This story is about a young boy, Robert, who thinks his dad has one of the more important and dangerous jobs of all the crew members working to build the Golden Gate Bridge.  However, Robert is forced to rethink things after an accident.

 The vocabulary words that go along with this story are the following:

crew ~ a group of people doing work

tide ~ the rise and fall of the sea

cling ~ stick to or hand on tightly

balancing ~ keeping steady

foggy ~ that there is thick mist or low  clouds

disappears ~ something passes from sight

stretch ~ to extend or spread out

excitement ~ a feeling of great happiness

The comprehension skills that we will be focusing on are comparing/contrasting and cause/effect. We will also continue to work with prefixes and suffixes.

Our second six weeks is just about over. The students will finish it up by taking a six weeks test on Thursday, November 3rd.  We will start the test shortly after lunch, so please try not to schedule any appointments at that time.

  Our new story for the next two weeks is Destiny’s Gift by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley.  The story is about the friendship of a store owner and a young girl. The vocabulary words for this story are:

1.  afford ~ being able to pay for something

2.  customers ~ people who buy things at a store

3.  contacted ~ got in touch with

4.  raise ~ find a clever way to collect money

5.  earn ~ efforts or actions to make money, gain praise or respect from others

6.  figure ~ to decide or to solve

7.  block ~ section of a street between two other streets

8.  spreading ~ stretching out or expanding something

The comprehension skills that we are currently working on are multiple-meaning words, context clues, understanding characters, setting, drawing conclusions, making inferences, main idea & detail, and summarizing.