Unit 4 Week 5 Day 2: Helen Keller and the Big Storm
Theme: Our Changing World
High Frequency: angry, branches, clung, fingers, picnic, pressing, special
Vocabulary (Amazing Words): condition, predict, terrifying, breeze, sparkle, whip, funnel, swirl
Grammar: adverbs that tell how
Building Background/Knowledge / Ell Poster # 20 Use high frequency word cards to show a word as you read the Poster Talk-Through. Ask questions using the high-frequency words in the sentences.
Does it scare you when the sky is angry?
What happens to the branches when the wind blows?
The family had clung to the hope of doing what?
What did the little girl pick up with her fingers?
Why can the family not have the picnic outside?
Why is the boy pressing his nose into his mother’s arm?
What did the family decide to do that was special?
What was the weather condition in the poster?
What did the weather service predict?
What is terrifying to the boy?
Vocabulary / The breeze blew through the trees. Breeze means when the wind is not
too strong.
Say it with me. Get ready....breeze means when the wind is not too strong.
Say it by yourselves. Get ready… breeze means when the wind is not too
strong.
What do you call when the wind is not too strong? breeze
I feel a gentle breeze in the air.
The rain sparkled on the windowpane. Sparkle means something shines or
glitters
Say it with me. Get ready....Sparkle means something shines or glitters.
Say it by yourselves. Get ready… sparkle means something shines or glitters.
What do you call when something that shines or glitters? sparkle
The snow was sparkling like glitter.
The flag was whipping around in the wind. Whipping means moving back
and forth.
Say it with me. Get ready....whipping means moving back and forth.
Say it by yourselves. Get ready….whipping means moving back and forth.
What do you call something that moves back and forth? whip
The breeze started whipping the sides of the tent.
The tornado made a funnel. Funnel means a cone shape.
Say it with me. Get ready....funnel means a cone shape.
Say it by yourselves. Get ready… funnel means a cone shape.
What do you call a cone shape? funnel
The cloud became a funnel shape and reached down to the ground.
The leaves were swirling around from the wind, Swirl means twist around
and around.
Say it with me. Get ready....swirl means twist around and around.
Say it by yourselves. Get ready… swirl means twist around and around.
What do you call something that twists around and around? swirl
The swirling tornado covered one mile of land.
High Frequency Words / angry, branches, clung, fingers, picnic, pressing, special
Review high frequency words that students were introduced to yesterday. Have them say the word, spell the word, write the word using their finger in the air. Have them spell the word aloud to one another.
Reading Comprehension / Have students turn to the Table of Contents at the beginning of their reading books. Tell the students that a Table of Contents is a menu of everything in the book. Have students look for the title Helen Keller and the Big Storm and follow the dots to the page number. Have the students turn to page 128. Have the students read the title with you, along with the author and illustrator. Read together the question. What lessons does Helen learn? Read the story to the students making sure they are following along with fingers on each word.
As you are reading as a group, point out the selection words and high frequency words. Make sure students understand the meaning of all words in the story.
Ask comprehension questions.
This selection is non-fiction. Non-fiction selections tell about real people and
events. Narrative non-fiction retells events that really happened.
Where does the story take place? In Alabama
What do you think this story is mostly about? This story is about a little girl
who was blind and deaf. She gets stuck in a tree during a storm, and is
rescued by her teacher, Annie Sullivan.
Have you ever been stuck in a storm and didn’t know what to do?
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