Unit 2, Lesson 6

Secret Place

Day 1

What We Will Learn

Compound words are made up of two words that help you understand the meaning of the word

The suffix –ed changes the meaning of words to past tense from the present tense. It means the action has already happened. If the word ends in y you change the y to i and add the ending. If the word ends in a short vowel and a consonant you double the final consonant before adding the ending.

What We Will Learn

Antonyms are words that are opposites in meaning.

Vivid verbs make reading and writing more interesting. Some verbs can also be used as nouns.

Review spelling patterns that we learned in Unit 2.

Word Knowledge

Identify the two words that make up each compound word.

freeway railroad

warehouse smokestack

Word Knowledge

How does the –ed suffix change the meanings of these words?

Identify any spelling changes of the root words.

showed fanned show fan carried lined carry line

Word Knowledge

These words are antonyms or opposites.

dark light

perfect imperfect

The prefix “im” changes the meaning like the prefix “un” changes the meaning.

Word Knowledge

The following words are vivid verbs and nouns. We will discuss the verb and noun meanings. Vivid verbs make our reading and writing more interesting.

boom shunt grunt snort cackle quack

Word Knowledge

Identify the vowel spelling patterns in the following words.

jangled noise year tangled clouds

What We Learned

Compound words are made up of two words that help you understand the meaning of the word

The suffix –ed changes the meaning of words to past tense from the present tense. It means the action has already happened. If the word ends in y you change the y to i and add the ending. If the word ends in a short vowel and a consonant you double the final consonant before adding the ending.

What We Learned

Antonyms are words that are opposites in meaning.

Vivid verbs make reading and writing more interesting. Some verbs can also be used as nouns.

Review spelling patterns that we learned in Unit 2.

Genre – Realistic Fiction

The characters behave as people do in real life.

The setting of the story is a real place or could be a real place.

The events in the story could happen in real life.

Author – Eve Bunting

Eve Bunting is known as one of the world’s most prolific (does a lot of writing) writers of juvenile literature.

At the age of 9 she went to a boarding school in Belfast, Ireland.

Ireland is know for its storytellers called Shanachies.

Author – Eve Bunting

While she was there she told stories to the other girls after “lights out.” This gave her the first taste of storytelling and developed her lifelong love of books and reading.

She moved to California with her family.

She took a writing course at a college in California and there began her career.

Author – Eve Bunting

She has written picture books, stories, and full length novels.

She writes for pre-school children, elementary students, teenagers and adults.

Illustrator – Ted Rand

Ted Rand used to paint people’s portraits (pictures of people.) Now he spends all of his time illustrating children’s books. He says, “The technical freedom, the

opportunity to work in a great variety of styles, the people I work with, the common goal of getting children to read, all these combine to put this at the top of my list.”

Illustrator – Ted Rand

Mr. Rand began drawing holiday decorations in grade school.

Once he graduated from high school, he drew advertisements for a department store and a newspaper.

He also taught illustrating at the University of Washington.

Now, he spends all of his time illustrating children’s books.

Prior Knowledge

Have you ever found a hidden place in the city where wildlife lives?

Think back to Two Days in May. How did the disappearing natural habitat and expanding (growing larger) city affect the deer?

Background Information

This story is realistic fiction, but it is written almost like it is poetry.

This is the author’s writing style. While we read this story we want to

remember that urban (city) and suburban (outside and near the city) development increases (gets larger) every year.

Background Information

As development increases (gets larger), wildlife habitats (homes) are impacted (affected.)

Scientists, developers (people who build the large housing developments), and businesses all debate about the impact (affect) of development on wildlife and what to do about it.

Background Information

The scientists, developers, and businesses all have different points of view.

This means that they don’t just consider what the wild animals have to gain or lose, they think about what they have to gain and lose also.

Vocabulary

shallow – not deep

The raccoon walks through shallow water.

Vocabulary

concrete – a hard building material

The concrete sidewalk in front of our home has cracks in it where dandelions grow in the spring.

Vocabulary

slopes – upward or downward slant

The maple trees grew on two steep slopes that lead down to a clear stream.

Vocabulary

plumes – feathers or

feather like

I watch the bird float down, its legs thin and reaching, its head plumes fanned.

Vocabulary shadowed – covered in shadow; partially

hidden

The sun was shining so brightly, he moved to a more shadowed area to stay cool.

Vocabulary

wilderness – area undisturbed by human activity

“Before the city grew, there was wilderness.”

Reading Strategies

Monitoring and Clarifying – We want to make sure we understand the meanings of the words and the text.

Summarizing – We should stop and summarize every few pages to make sure we remember the main points of the selection.

Visualizing – If we picture the events and characters in our head we will be able to remember them better.

Focus Questions

What would it be like to discover a secret place in the city that animals call home?

Why is it so important to protect such a secret place?

What can you do to help protect the wildlife near you?

Choral Read Page 182

Monitoring and Adjusting Reading Speed

Is the boy saying there is a river in the city that no one knows? How can there be a river in the city that no one knows about?

Let’s read to page 185 and see if anyone can share ideas about how it could be hidden.

Pages 182 - 185

Let’s share our ideas about what the boy means

What is it that hardly anyone knows?

Choral Read Page 187

I think I need to slow down on pages 186 and 187 also.

There aren’t any words on page 186, but I think the picture will have some important information.

What do you see in the picture that helps you understand the story?

What else do you see on page 187 that helps you understand the story?

Reading Strategies

We carefully read the first six pages of this story.

We monitored and adjusted our reading speed to help us understand what was going on in the story.

Tomorrow we will talk about visualizing while we read to help us understand and remember what we have read.