EXTENDED LEARNING MODULES

EXTENDED LEARNING MODULES

2013-2014

4th GRADE

Teacher Packet/

Answer Key

Session #2

Benchmark Focus:

LA.4.1.7.3- Main Idea

Focus Lesson:

The Coral Reef Crisis

Instructional Passage

Prairie Dogs

Reporting Categories: Focus Lessons

Category 1: Vocabulary

LA.4.1.6.7Uses meaning of familiar base words and affixes to determine meanings of unfamiliar complex words.
  1. Explain that suffixes are letter groups that are sometimes added to the end of a base word to form another word or change/ add meaning to that base word. A base word is a word that can stand on its own. Say that there are two types of suffixes: inflectional and derivational:
  1. Say:
  2. Inflectional suffixes are most common and what they are used to seeing. For example:-ing, -s, -ed: which changes the tense of a word. Tense tells the reader when the action is taking place. For example: the base word is walk-walking is happening now; walked happened in the past; walks-is happening now for one person.
  3. Derivational suffixes on the other hand create a “new word” from the base word and changes the meaning of the base word. Example of derivational suffixes are: -less, -ly, -ment, -tion, -ful: these suffixes have particular meanings which is not as frequent, but still common as we become advanced readers. Like: home: homeless-by adding –less to home, I have changed the meaning of the word. Homeless means to be without a home. So, the suffix –less means without.
  1. Write the following sentences on the board and use the think aloud process to arrive at the suffixes meaning.
  2. The girl sang softly in front of the audience. Say: When I look at the word softly, I see –ly added to the end of the base word –ly. So, if I know that –ly means how something is done, her singing was done in a soft way.
  3. The cheerful team was excited after winning the big game. Say: I know the word cheer means to shout, so if the suffix –ful means to be full of, then the team was full of shouts because they won the big game.
  4. The class was paying attention to the teacher’s lesson. Say: I know the word attend means to focus or keep my mind on something. So, if –tion means that which is, then attention means the class is attending to the teacher.
  5. The children’s enjoyment at the beach was evident by their laughter. Say: I know to enjoy means to be delighted. So, if the suffix –ment means an action or process, then the children enjoyed their actions at the beach.
  6. Have students scan the article: The Coral Reef Crisisfor words that have the suffixes discussed today. Display the suffix chart and add the words from the text along with other words that students generate (see below). Discuss base word meanings and how suffixes changed its meaning. Note: The chart below has words from the article and some other examples.
  7. Have students scan the article for base words that suffixes can be added to. Discuss how the meaning of the base word changes when a suffix is added to it. For example: tough is found in the article. When I add –est toughest, -er tougher, -ish toughish-It changes the word to an adjective that compares. I will add this word to the –er box. Continue to ADD those words to the chart.
  8. In cooperative groups, have students find other words to add to the suffix chart.

ment=action or process / ly= how something is / less = without
government / world=worldly
actually
brightly
quickly
deadly
practice=practically
quater=quaterly
human=humanly
hard=hardly
strange=strangely
time=timely
recently / careless
time=timeless
harm=harmless
ful=full of / tion = that which is / est=most
beautiful
harm=harmful / pollution
foundation
national=nation / tough=toughest
hard=hardest
warm=warmest
clear=clearest
ish=relating to / er=more (comparative) / ist=one who practices
tough=toughish / tough=tougher
hard=harder
warm=warmer
strange=stranger
clear=clearer / scientist

Reporting Category 2: Reading Application

LA.4.1.7.3Identifies cause-and-effect relationships in texts.

Focus Lesson: Recognizing and understanding components ofcause-and-effect relationships.

  1. Explain/define to students what the word cause and effect means. It is the reason or purpose an “action” has happened. The “action”/ effect is the consequence or the outcome from the cause/reason.
  2. For example: the boy slipped on a banana peel. Ask: what was the cause/reason of the boy falling? Ans. - the banana peel. Ask: what was the effect/action? Ans.-the boy slipping.
  3. Say: As we read the article today, we are going to look for cause-and-effect relationships.
  4. Direct the students to read the title and captions from: The Coral Reef Crisis.

Think Aloud:

After reading captions aloud Say: because of pollution, the effect/result is that sea plants are strangling the coral reefs.

  1. Remind students as they are reading the article they need to look for cause/effect relationships. (Use jump-in reading to read the passage) Stop if necessary to clarify unknown concepts.
  2. After reading the article in its entirety. Review briefly the definitions of cause and effect. Go back to each section and dissect the sentences by cause / effect relationships with students and fill out the two-column note graphic organizer. Display graphic organizer on overhead.

Think Aloud:

Remember we read the captions at the top. Because of pollution, the effect/result is that sea plants are strangling the coral reefs. We are going to add this to our two-column note graphic organizer.

  1. Repeat processand guide students to add to the class two-column note.

Cause / Effect
  • Pollution (caption)
  • Warm water (caption)
  • Pollution and careless humans (article)
  • Things don’t improve
  • Millions of coral polyps stick together
  • Warming waters
  • If governments outlaw bad fishing practices and pollution
  • United Nations Foundation gave 10 million dollars
/
  • Plants strangle coral reefs
  • Bleaches the coral reefs
  • Destroyed a quarter of the earth’s coral reefs
  • Next twenty years thousands of sea creatures will become extinct
  • Form into hard shells to make big reefs
  • Corals to lose algae
  • Coral reefs can be saved
  • Educate people how to help save the reefs and study reefs

Sample Two-column Notes

OPENING ROUTINE

Prairie Dogs

  1. Concept of Definition Map

On the board, complete this graphic organizer with the students. Its purpose is to activate prior knowledge and address vocabulary that is critical to understanding the passage.

Category Properties What is it?

Illustrations

What are some examples?

II.Essential Question

This question should be written on the board. It is meant to provide a focus and purpose for reading the passage. Explain to the students thatthey will answer this question individually in paragraph form at the end of the lesson

LA.4.1.7.3- Main Idea-

What qualities make prairie dogs helpful rather than a menace to the environment? Use details and information from the article to support your answer.

To read the passage, follow the Instructional Procedure found in your Teacher’s Guide

Prairie Dogs

When our country was young, millions of prairie dogs lived in underground towns or burrows throughout the plains. There were so many of them that some scientists and farmers thought they were a menace to livestock, because they supposedly ate too much grass.

Now, however, scientists have found that prairie dogs eat a minimal amount of grass. And these one-and-a-half to three-pound rodents contribute to the well being of other animals that live on the plains. Their burrows provide the right temperatures-coolness in summer and warmth in the winter. A snake, a salamander, or even a burrowing owl can find a safe home in a prairie dog’s empty tunnel. Prairie dogs nibble at the grass and wildflowers, but they leave plenty for the other animals.

The tiny prairie dogs, which are related to squirrels and marmots, have an unusual defense system. They make high-pitched, bark-like calls in times of danger. They are believed to make different sounds for different types of predators, which include ferrets, owls, hawks, ravens, coyotes, and badgers. Prairie dogs can also run quickly – up to 35 miles per hour – for short distances. But the sounding of alarms and their darting into tunnel hideouts are truly their two best means of protection.

Perhaps you have seen a picture of a prairie dog peeping up from its home. That home is extremely well built. Prairie dogs dig their burrows with their forepaws and kick the dirt behind them with their back legs. They use their head to bulldoze the dirt out of the burrow. The burrow may even have a dike to prevent flooding from downpours.

The entrance holes are funnel-shaped and from 3 to 4 inches in diameter. The “halls” slant 15 or 16 feet down before leveling off for another 20 to 50 feet. There are chambers for storage, for nesting, and for escape.

PrairieDogTown

When prairie dogs leave their burrows, the tunnels become home to other animals.

The controversy about prairie dogs is not over. Some people consider them pests and do not want them on their lands. But conservationists are working hard to find ways to keep them from becoming extinct. Let’s hope that in the future, a happy solution will be found.

The answers to multiple choice questions appear in bold and italics. Sample answers are included for Open-ended and Written Responses

1. Read this sentence from the article “Prairie Dogs.”

There were so many of them that some scientists and farmers thought they were a menace to livestock because they supposedly ate too much grass.

What does the word menace mean in the sentence above?

LA.4.1.6.3- : Context Clues

(A)danger

(B)friend

(C)help

(D)predator

2What is this article mainly about?

LA.4.1.7.3- Main Idea-

(A)animal homes

(B)our country’s plains

(C)an interesting rodent

(D)scientific discoveries

3. What was the author’s main purpose in writing this article?

LA.4.1.7.2- Author’s Purpose

(A)To tell about a problem some farmers have with prairie dogs.

(B)To explain how prairie dogs defend themselves.

(C)To give facts about the behaviors of prairie dogs.

(D) To convince readers to help conservationists keep prairie dogs

from extinction.

4.According to the article, what do salamanders and snakes have in common?

LA.4.1.7.7- Compare/Contrast-

(A)Both eat prairie dogs.

(B)Both are predators to live stock.

(C)Both are related to frogs and toads.

(D)Both can live in empty prairie dog tunnels.

5.How do prairie dogs help other animals that live on the plains?

Use details and information from the article to support your

answer.

LA.4.2.2.1,

Possible answer could include:

Prairie dogs help other animals when they move from their burrows. Snakes, owls, or salamanders use the empty burrows as homes. The prairie dogs always leave food for other animals. Their high sounding cries warn others when a coyote or owl comes near.

Closing Routine

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

(Use Main Idea Table or Two-column notes)

What qualities make prairie dogs helpful rather than a menace to the environment?

LA.4.1.7.3

Possible answer could include:

Prairie dogs have many qualities that are helpful to the environment. First, Prairie dogs do not eat much of the grass and wildflowers. That would leave plenty for the other animals to eat. Also, Prairie dogs burrow. When they leave the burrow, this leaves other animals such as snakes, salamanders, and burrowing owls, a place to use as protection from the temperatures in the summer and winter.

Office of Academics and Transformation

Department of Language Arts/Reading

2013-2014