Unit 1, Week 4The Astronaut and the

Onion

4th Grade

Vocabulary endless: having no limit or end, without a

finish realistic: showing people, things, or

events as they appear in everyday life universe: everything that exists, including

Earth, the other planets, stars, and space astronaut: a person trained to fly in a

spacecraft sensible: showing good judgment protested: complained or objected to

something paralyzed: unable to move or act

Vocabulary: Context Clues

Sometimes the meaning of an unfamiliar word can be found by looking at surrounding words in the same sentences. The meaning of those surrounding words can be clues.

Context Clues

Vocabulary: Words in Contextparalyzed, sensible, astronaut,

protested, realistic, universe, endless Dr. Street became an ________ because she loved

to fly. Traveling through space changed Dr. Street’s view

of the _________. Gloria was ________ with fear when she threw the

onion. Gloria told her teacher about meeting Dr. Street.

“I thought you were more _______ than to tell a story like that,” he said.

Gloria ________ that she was telling the truth. It just didn’t seem ________ that a famous person

would be in the local supermarket! Dr. Street described space as a wonderful

_________ place.

Word Study: Dictionary Pronunciation and Meaning

A dictionary tells the readers the meaning of a word.

The reader will have to decide which meaning is being used from the context.

A dictionary includes symbols that show how to pronounce each part of a word and which part is accented.

dictionary test tutor

Word Study: Dictionary Pronunciation and Meaning

1. Bethany walked down the produce aisle.A) produce verb (pre dus’) To bring forth; yieldB) produce noun (pro’ dus) farm products, especially fruits and vegetables

2. At the music store I bought a new record.A) record noun (rek’ erd) a disc on which sounds are recorded to be played backB) record verb (ri kord’) to set down in permanent form

Word Study: Dictionary Pronunciation and Meaning

1. The stain was so minute that my friend could hardly see it.

A) minute adjective (mi nut’) very small; tinyB) minute noun (min’ it) a unit of time equal to 60 seconds

Vocabulary: Story Words

Orbits are circular paths that heavenly bodies travel in around other bodies.

Craters are deep pits or valleys. An object is said to rotate when it turns around

in a circle. An exploration is a journey into an unknown

place. pennants: long, narrow flags shaped like

triangles time warp: a shift in the progress of time that

causes it to stop, slow down, or speed up

Fluency: Intonation/Pausing

Good readers learn to read groups of words together in phrases.

A comma means to pause and a punctuation mark means to stop.

Good readers vary the tone, pitch, and intonation with the character and the feeling expressed in the quoted words.

Fluency: Intonation/Pausing Read the sentences below, listen carefully to your pauses

and intonation as you read. A single slash indicates a pause, usually between phrases pr a person’s words and a the name or pronoun of the person speaking. A double slash indicates a stop, usually between sentences.

I heard a woman’s voice. // “I have your onion.” //I opened my eyes. // The woman in the jogging suit

handed the onion to me. //“Lucky I used to play baseball,” / she said. //“O-o-o-h,” / I said. // I clutched the onion. //“O-o-o-h,” / I moaned again. //“You’re welcome,” / was all she said. //She had brown eyes with a sparkle in them, / and

her hair was in shiny black ringlets. // She wore blue-green earrings that hung on tiny gold chains. //

PhonicsDecode Words with Long i

In words with /i/ sounds, the long I can be spelled several different ways. The most common ways to spell the /i/ sound are i-consonant-e as in file, ie as in pie, or y as in spy.

Other ways of spelling this sound include –igh and in sigh, I as in climb, and ei as in height.

PhonicsDecode Words with Long i

Read the following words aloud and point out how the long i is spelled.

climb slight sly wipe die

PhonicsDecode Words with Long i

Sort the following words by how the long /i/ sound is spelled: height, insight, arrived, paralyzed, clarify, nighttime, heightened, mindfully, organize, clothesline

i-consonant-e

ie y -igh i ei

Comprehension:Make Inferences/ Analyze

Character Like real people, characters in stories have

traits, or qualities that give them their personalities.

A character’s emotions can change often. A character’s traits are longer lasting parts of their personality.

Good readers begin to analyze a character’s traits by noting how he or she is described by the author or the other characters.

Good readers also pay attention to the character’s words, and actions to help identify character traits.

Comprehension:Make Inferences/ Analyze

Character Major Character: the characters

who are described in greatest detail by the author and whose actions are most important to the plot of the story

Minor Character: a character who does not have such importance to the plot and who are not as fully developed

Comprehension:Make Inferences/ Analyze

Character Inference Character Actions

Character Tutor

Comprehension: Point of View

A story is told from the point of view of a narrator, wither in the first person or the third person.

First person: when a story is told by a character who refers to himself or herself as I or me

Third Person: when the narrator is not a character and may know the thoughts of several or all the characters

Text Feature: Diagram

Diagrams can help a reader visualize information explained in the text.

Diagrams usually contain labels that help to identify each part.

Captions explain the diagram as a whole. Diagrams provide additional information

that may not appear within the text. Look at the diagram on page 103 and

calculate how many miles is earth from the sun.

Reflection Day 1

How might Gloria’s character traits help her become an astronaut? Use Character Web and story details to support your answer.

Reflection Day 2

How would you summarize what Dr. Street experienced in space?

Why do you think Gloria shivers when she tries to imagine what Dr. Street saw?

Reflection Day 3

Re-read page 91 where the word paralyzed is used. What is another word for paralyzed? What information in the story helps you know.

Reflection Day 4

Describe what Gloria is like. Explain why her character is important to the story. Use three details from the story in your answer.

Reflection Day 5

Describe how Gloria figures out who the woman is. What does this tell you about Gloria?