Historical Fiction
Big Idea
History is made by individuals.
Essential Question
What effect can one person have on history?
Target Vocabulary
cramped - very small and tightly packed
distracted - your attention wandered away from the task in front of you
viewpoint - your unique thoughts and opinions
shattered - broken into many pieces
surveyed - looked around and noticed all the parts of something
pressing - urgent
representatives - elected officials
embark - to begin a journey
bracing - positioning yourself against a support
conduct - management and behavior
Comprehension
Target Skill
Cause and Effect - an event that makes something else happen and something that happens because of an earlier event. Understanding causes and effects can help readers visualize story events and how they are related. Readers may have to infer cause-and-effect relationships if they are not directly stated with signal words.
Target Strategy
Visualize - to use text details to form pictures in your mind. Readers should visualize a story's events to understand how they are related and how those events affect the story's message or theme.
Fluency
Accuracy and Self-Correction - pronouncing words correctly and pausing or rereading to correct errors. Readers know when they have made an error because the sentence does not make sense. If a sentence does not make sense, stop, determine the error and correct it.
Decoding
Vowel Sounds in Stressed Syllables - the part of the word that sounds strongest in a multisyllable word is the stressed syllable; other syllables are unstressed. When VCCV words are divided into syllables, the stressed syllable usually takes a short vowel sound.
Vocabulary Strategies
Using Reference Sources - a dictionary, a glossary and a thesaurus are reference sources for words listed alphabetically and information related to them. A dictionary is a reference book that gives information, such as meaning and pronunciation, about the words. A glossary is an appendix that includes meanings of words found in the text. A thesaurus is a reference book that lists related words, usually in the form of synonyms and antonyms.
Grammar
Subject and Object Pronouns - pronouns take the place of a nouns. Subject pronouns take the place of nouns used as the subject of sentences. Object pronouns take the place of nouns used after verbs or prepositions such as to, for, with, in, or out. Some sentences have plural objects that are replaced by plural object pronouns. An antecedent is the noun or nouns that the pronoun replaces and refers back to.
Writing
Write to Persuade
Focus Trait: Voice - good writers use clear and convincing language to reveal their attitude toward or feelings about a topic. This is called voice. A strong voice can help persuade readers to agree with opinions. To make voice stronger, include precise verbs and vivid adjectives.