Home-School ConnectionHome-School Connection

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Word WorkoutWORDS TO KNOW

display endless paralyzed

realistic sensible protested

Good Idea Choose a word that gives you an idea for a story. We can use the words to outline the plot.

SPELLING WORDS

fi le drive pies die wipe

height pride spy sigh prime

sly pry minding twice slight

kite climb inside shy fright

Double Trouble Let’s see if you can spell each word. Then, look at the different ways you can spell the sound of long i. We can look at each spelling word and fi nd another word with the same spelling for the sound for long i.

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Dear Family Member:This week we’re reading The Astronaut and the

Onion. Those two things don’t seem like they go together. Gloria meets Dr. Street in a supermarket. Gloria wants to be an astronaut and now she has met one. I wonder what will happen next, and how the author will tie the two characters together. I’ll know more when I fi nish the story.

This Week’s Skills

Comprehension: character

Vocabulary: dictionary

Spelling/Phonics: the sound of i spelled ice, y, igh, ie, i, and ei

Tell Us MoreHere are some introductions to different characters. Let’s talk about each character by creating traits, thoughts, physical appearances, actions, and anything else that will “Tell Us More” about each one.

Millie likes to clown around. That’s because she is a clown. Millie performs with a circus. She does silly things that make kids and their parents laugh.

Linda is a gymnast. She practices long hours each day. She would like to be on the United States Olympic gymnastic team. She hopes that one day her hard work will pay off.

Don works at an animal rescue home. He helps take care of dogs, cats, squirrels, and birds that are injured. He nurses them back to health.

Amy prepares dinosaur bones for a museum. Using a tiny pick and brush, Amy carefully chips away at the rocks surrounding the bone. It can take Amy many weeks to clean just one small bone.

Mark is a firefighter. He goes into burning buildings to put out fires. Sometimes he saves people who are trapped in the building.

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Conexión con el hogarConexión con el hogar

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Queridos familiares:Esta semana estamos leyendo The Astronaut and

the Onion. Estas dos cosas parecen no tener mucho que ver, pero lo que pasa es que Gloria conoce al Dr. Smith en un supermercado. Gloria quiere ser astronauta y por fi n conoce a uno en persona. Me pregunto qué va a pasar después y cómo la autora va a vincular a los dos personajes. Voy a saber más cuando termine el cuento.

Destrezas de la semanaComprensión: personaje

Vocabulario: diccionario

Ortografía/Fonética: el sonido de la i cuando se escribe ice, y, igh, ie, i y ei

Ejercicio de palabrasPALABRAS DE VOCABULARIO

display endless paralyzed

realistic sensible protested

Idea para un cuento Escoge una palabra que te dé una idea para un cuento. Podemos usar el resto de las palabras para hacer un bosquejo del argumento.

PALABRAS DE ORTOGRAFÍA

fi le drive pies die wipe

height pride spy sigh prime

sly pry minding twice slight

kite climb inside shy fright

Por partida doble Vamos a ver si puedes deletrear cada palabra. Luego, veamos todas las maneras diferentes en que se puede escribir el sonido de la i larga. Podemos mirar cada palabra de la lista y encontrar otra palabra en la que el sonido de la i larga se escriba igual.

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Más informaciónEn estas páginas se presentan diferentes personajes. Para hablar sobre cada uno de ellos vamos a crear características, ideas, rasgos físicos, acciones y cualquier otra cosa que nos dé “más información” sobre cada uno.

Millie likes to clown around. That’s because she is a clown. Millie performs with a circus. She does silly things that make kids and their parents laugh.

Linda is a gymnast. She practices long hours each day. She would like to be on the United States Olympic gymnastic team. She hopes one day that her hard work will pay off.

Don works at an animal rescue home. He helps take care of dogs, cats, squirrels, and birds that are injured. He nurses them back to health.

Amy prepares dinosaur bones for a museum. Using a tiny pick and brush, Amy carefully chips away at the rocks surrounding the bone. It can take Amy many weeks to clean just one small bone.

Linda is a gymnast. She practices long hours each day. She would like to be on the United States Olympic gymnastic team. She hopes one day that her hard work will pay off.

Don works at an animal rescue home. He helps take care of dogs, cats, squirrels, and birds that are injured. He nurses them back to health.

Amy prepares dinosaur bones for a museum. Using a tiny pick and brush, Amy carefully chips away at the rocks surrounding the bone. It can take Amy many weeks to clean just one small bone.

Mark is a firefighter. He goes into burning buildings to put out fires. Sometimes he saves people who are trapped in the building.

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Comprehension CheckSummarize

Use a Character Web to record

traits about the characters

in the story. Then write a

summary that tells what each

character is like.

Think and Compare

1. Look back at page 14. What do you

think about Shona’s idea to give the

alien a job? What does this decision

say about Shona? (Analyze Character)

2. Would you like to be an astronaut

and live on a space station for the

summer? Why or why not? (Apply)

3. The children make friendly contact

with an alien from another universe.

Should people on Earth try to contact

aliens? Why or why not? (Evaluate)

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Summer in Space

by Sunita Apteillustrated by Jeffrey Lindberg

Table of ContentsChapter 1 The Arrival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Chapter 2 What’s Going On?. . . . . . . . . . 5

Chapter 3 Who Are You? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Chapter 4 A Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Comprehension Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

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Chapter 1

The ArrivalRahul was staring anxiously out the

spaceship window. “Mom, how long ’til

we get there again?” he asked.

His sister Shona laughed. “Rahul,

didn’t you just ask her ten minutes

ago? And she said two hours?”

From her seat at the control panels,

Astronaut Amla Gupta smiled. “Now

kids,” she said, “there’s no point in

arguing about it. We’ll get there when

we get there. Why don’t you play with

the other kids? I thought I saw Carlos

and Keisha and Fatima playing space

tag on the landing.”

The Guptas were on their way to

Space Station 88 for the summer with

ten other families. The station had

been abandoned for 50 years.

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A few weeks later,

Rahul and Shona were

once again looking out

the spaceship window. This

time they were leaving

Space Station 88. Now

the space station

gleamed in the endless

darkness. It was a working

space station again. And, hovering over

the loading dock, was Beta 225.

“Look,” Shona said. “There’s Beta 225.

How sweet! It came out to say goodbye.”

Amla Gupta looked up from the flight

deck, smiling. She had worked hard to

convince Mission Control to let the alien

stay on as a caretaker. “Okay, you two,

it’s seat belt time. We’re about to blast

into hyperspace.”

Rahul and Shona quickly settled

themselves in their seats. The spaceship

gave out a giant roar as it blasted off.

They were heading home.

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“Hmm, maybe not,” Shona said.

“Hey guys, I have an idea. Remember

when we got here, how we were

surprised that so many things were

still working?” She quickly typed, “Did

you fix all the stuff here at the space

station?”

“Yes,” Beta 225 answered. “I fixed

many things here.”

“Well,” said Shona, “I’ll have to talk

to my mom, and she’ll have to okay it

with Mission Control. But I think maybe

we’ve found a new caretaker for our

space station.”

To Beta 225 she typed, “Maybe we

can find you a job.”

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Now the space station was needed

for research. So the families would

spend the summer fixing it up. In the

fall, a caretaker would live there.

Rahul and Shona had left Earth

before. But they had never gone so

far, and for so long. What were a few

trips to the moon compared to this?

Two hours later, brother and sister

were back at the spaceship window.

Their noses were pressed against the

display. Outside, floating in a sea of

endless black, was Space Station 88. It

looked a little old. Pieces had fallen off

and were floating nearby.

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“Wow, look at that junky old

station!” Rahul exclaimed.

“Yeah, I can’t believe how beaten up

it looks,” Shona replied. “I guess it was

difficult to send people to take care

of it. Can you believe that, in the old

days, most people never left Earth?”

“Yeah, I’m sure glad I didn’t live

back then,” Rahul said. “I mean, they

thought flying on planes was really

cool. How not cool is that?”

Just then, their mother called out,

“Take your seats, we’re docking.”

Rahul and Shona belted themselves

in. Then the spaceship slid into the

landing dock with a loud “thunk.”

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“I was on a mission to explore

the universe,” it continued. “I became

separated from my crew. I drifted in

space for a long time. Then I found

this station. I like it here.”

“How long have you been here?”

Shona typed.

“I’ve been here for more than

20 years. Then you monsters came. I

think you might try to kill Beta 225.”

“We’re monsters?” Delores whispered.

“What is he? Prince Charming?”

“Shh,” Shona whispered back. “Go

on,” she typed into the computer.

“I am happy here!” Beta 225

continued. “If more of your kind come,

I will be forced to go away.”

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Chapter 4

A JobThe alien looked like a large, clear

CD. It was covered in strange lights.

As the kids watched, a beam shot out

from one of the lights, lifting a storage

box into the air.

“I guess it heard our message,”

Shona remarked. “Or it wouldn’t be

hanging out here.” She flipped open

the computer and turned on the

alien-language software. “Who are

you?” she typed.

The alien began beeping very loudly.

More beams shot out from its lights.

The beams moved over the keyboard

like fingers, typing very quickly. “I am

Beta 225,” it answered. “I come from

Planet Beta Klox.”

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Chapter 2

What’s Going On?Everyone was pleasantly surprised

once they had landed.

“The electricity works!” Amla Gupta

exclaimed. “And so do the controls in

the landing dock. Mission Control said

the station was completely run-down.”

“They can only guess from Earth,”

Carlos’s dad, Astronaut José Vasquez,

said. “No one has visited here for

50 years. Maybe things are in much

better shape than we thought.”

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After unpacking Rahul and Shona set

off with Carlos and his sister Delores

to explore the station’s inner hallway.

They stopped when they came to the

storage room.

“Wow! What did they keep in here?”

Delores asked. “This room is huge.”

“They probably kept spare parts and

food and stuff like that,” Carlos replied.

“The astronauts on this space station

used to stay for years at a time.”

“Wow—years in space without

coming home,” Shona said. “That must

have been tough. Space travel is so

much more sensible now. No one has

to stay away for years at a time.”

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Finally, the four kids could stand

it no longer. “I’m going back to the

storage room,” Rahul told the others.

They all decided to go with him.

Shona unhooked the computer and

brought it. Everyone was quiet as they

reached the storage room.

Carlos went in first and flipped on

the light. That’s when the kids realized

their efforts had paid off after all.

Hovering in the middle of the room,

beeping and moaning, was the alien.

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“Maybe the creature is an alien,”

Delores said. “Let’s try using the

alien-language computer software.”

Shona nodded her head. “You mean

the software all astronauts carry in

case they meet an alien? How sensible

—that’s really using your head. We can

use the software on Mom’s computer

to broadcast a message all over the

station. We can say something friendly,

like ‘Hello. We mean no harm.’ Let’s go

talk to Mom.”

The next morning, Amla Gupta’s

computer was hooked up to the

space station’s speaker system. The

alien-language software was working.

“Hello. We mean no harm. Please meet

us” was being broadcast in the station.

Everyone hoped the idea would

work. By afternoon, however, there was

still no sign of what was sharing the

space station with them.

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“Yeah, I’m happy they finally

discovered hyperspace travel,” Rahul

said. “I wouldn’t want to be in space

for five years.”

The kids walked around the storage

room. Suddenly Delores jumped back

and let out a scream.

“Carlos, it’s not nice to scare me like

that,” she shouted. “I’m telling Mom!”

“I didn’t do anything,” Carlos

protested.

“You didn’t?” Delores looked confused.

“Someone was right behind me, just

now, beeping and moaning in my ear.”

“It wasn’t me,” Rahul and Shona said

at the same time.

“Well then, who was it?”

No one said anything. For a moment,

everyone was paralyzed with fear. Then

Carlos yelled, “Let’s get out of here,”

and they all ran.

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Chapter 3

Who Are You?As the weeks went by, everyone

settled into life on the space station. The

adults did the major repair jobs, which

were fewer than expected. The kids

helped paint and cook and clean.

But something strange was going on.

It had started that very first day in the

storage room. Now it continued.

Other people began to hear beeps

and moans too. The noises seemed

especially noticeable from the storage

room at night.

Then things began to disappear.

Someone would take something out

of the storage room. The next day it

would be gone. Then someone else

would find it back in the storage room.

No one would admit to moving it.

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The kids were worried. Did the

station have a space ghost? Did

someone, or something, want them out

of there? Rahul, Shona, Delores, and

Carlos were determined to find out.

“I say we take everything out of the

storage room,” Carlos said. “Then we

can get rid of whatever is in there.”

“Be realistic,” Shona said. “We can’t

take everything out. Where would we

put it? Maybe the creature is friendly,

but scared. I think we should try to

communicate with it.”

“Yes, but how do we do that?”

Rahul asked.

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