CUSD Suggested Resource Guide for Required Texts
Extended Text: The Lighthouse Family: The Storm Cynthia Rylant 0-329-34261-4
Title Author ISBN
GRADE LEVEL: 3rd
Synopsis:
This text would be good to read at the beginning of the year as a transition from 2nd grade learning expectations into 3rd.
Summary:
Life with only the sea can be lonely, and the main characters of The Storm, Pandora and Seabold, can attest to that fact. They've lived most of their lives with the sea -- Pandora in a lighthouse and Seabold on a boat -- and they're each quite used to being alone. Their lives are changed irrevocably when one day, the sea did something extraordinary: It brought Pandora and Seabold together! Pandora, as a lighthouse keeper, saves many lives one of which is Seabold’s. Her solitary life is disrupted further when the two of them rescue 3 young mice from the sea. Together they discover the ingredients for an adventure that neither of them had considered before-an adventure called "family."
The illustrations are beautiful and connected to various themes and literary elements in the story. This story is the first in the series and builds the characters that develop in the other adventures of the Lighthouse Family.
Background:
Author Biographical Information:
Cynthia Rylant has written many books for young readers including picture books, non-fiction, and novels. Her books have won various awards, including a Newbery Medal for Missing May and her first story, When I Was Young in the Mountains received the Caldecott Medal. Cynthia’s early life in the mountains of West Virginia living with her grandparents had a great impact on her writing. She attended college and graduate school, earning a Master’s Degree in English and a Master of Library Science degree at Kent State University in Ohio. She is known for a variety of series for young readers, including the characters of Poppleton, Henry & Mudge, and Mr. Putter & Tabby. Her Lighthouse Family series is inspired by her appreciation for nature, animals and her life living on an island. “And all these things made me feel like writing because it is really a beautiful world. It is a world worth writing about. We go through many changes in our lives, and some of them are hard. But the sky still has stars at night, the moon still shines. The world does not leave us empty-handed.” From Author’s Official Website: http://www.cynthiarylant.com/
Interview with author by Harcourt : http://www.harcourtbooks.com/authorinterviews/bookinterview_Rylant.asp
Publisher’s Official Website: http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Cynthia-Rylant/20564573
Author Study links from University of Missouri: http://ethemes.missouri.edu/themes/1376
Interdisciplinary connection – SCIENCE – lighthouses
Strand 3: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives (1st quarter)
Concept 1: Changes in Environments Describe the interactions between human populations, natural hazards, and the environment.
PO 1. Identify ways that people use tools and techniques to solve problems.
PO 2. Describe the development of different technologies (e.g., communication, entertainment, transportation, medicine) in response to resources, needs, and values.
Concept 2: Science and Technology in Society Understand the impact of technology. (lighthouse)
Ecosystems: OCEANS
Strand 5: Physical Science (2nd quarter)
Concept 3: Energy and Magnetism Investigate different forms of energy.
PO 1. Demonstrate that light can be:
· reflected (with mirrors)
· refracted (with prisms)
· absorbed (by dark surfaces)
PO 2. Describe how light behaves on striking objects that are:
· transparent (clear plastic)
· translucent (waxed paper)
· opaque (cardboard)
Text Complexity Analysis:
This book is listed on the Common Core State Standards Appendix B exemplar list for the 2-3 band. The complexity of the text is most appropriate for independent readers within the 1st quarter of 3rd grade.
Quantitative:
79 pgs., word count: 5408, Lexile: 730 (2/3 grade band: 420-820), ATOS: RL: 4.4 (2/3 grade band: 2.75-5.14), Interest level – K-3
Qualitative:
Meaning/Structure/Language/Knowledge Demands – Middle Low band on rubric
The meaning of the text revolves around the paradox of how the lonely lives of Pandora and Seabold have led them to the point where family can be valued. The narrative structure is explicit and conventional with two shifts in point of view between Pandora and Seabold. The language has subtle uses of figurative language and is largely contemporary, familiar and conversational. There will be knowledge demands from the reader required to understand the lighthouse element, highlight its purpose, need and role for sailors. The life experiences of student’s own diverse families and personal experiences can be used to relate to the characters and events.
Reader and Task:
Readers will have the ability to attend to, read and comprehend the text on an independent level due to the short chapters that lead into one another with a foreshadow phrase. This structure will also help students make connections and pique interest for what happens next in the story, thus creating engagement. The shift of point of view between the two characters will also maintain interest. The illustrations will enhance the reader’s interactions with the text and can be used as a scaffolding tool for lower readers.
Motifs and Themes:
loneliness, family structure/values, lighthouses, cat/dog fiction, friendship, love, pursuit of happiness
LANGUAGE:
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
Tier 2 Vocabulary / Tier 3 Vocabulary· Somber (p.9)
· Beacon (p.13)
· Weary (p.15)
· Adrift (p.19)
· Solitary (p.29, 73)
· Undaunted (p.42)
· Despondent, Sustenance (p.49)
· Gazebo (p.52, 57)
· Resolve (p.60)
· Reminisced (p.77)
· Orphanage (p.74) / · Schooner (p.9, 74)
· Riggings (p.10)
· Safe Harbor (p.21)
· Splint (p.26)
· Migrate (p.28)
· Scones (p.32)
· Lantern, Kerosene, Vessel (p.41)
· Mantle (p.56)
Conventions of Standard English or Knowledge of Language focus standard:
Standard Code / Standard Text / Description of where and how it fits with the extended text3.L.4
3.RL.4
3.RL.6 / Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases
a. Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of the word or phrase.
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from non-literal language.
Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters. / Pg. 9 – the context of the ocean and a vessel to navigate it implies that a schooner is a boat (apply a synonym)
Pg. 32 – a breakfast is being discussed, so make the connection to a scone as a food item
Figurative language elements:
Foreshadowing (ex. Pg. 15, last sentence) –also used at the end of almost every chapter.
Chapters with Pandora (Ch.1, 4, 5) vs. those with Seabold (Ch.2, 3, 5 @pg.45, 6, 9)
Companion Texts:
Provide a series of short companion texts that will supplement the extended text and provide students with a deeper understanding of the themes, motifs, or context of the extended text.
1-3 Short Informational Texts
Text Title and Author / A short description of the textand how it relates to the extended text / Label Difficulty:
· Advanced
· Grade Level
· Meant for Scaffolding
1. Safely to Shore: America’s Lighthouses by Iris VanRynbach
2. The Bravest Woman in America by Marissa Moss
3. Women of the Lights By Candace Fleming
4. Keep the Lights Burning Abbie by Peter Roop / 1. Describes the purpose and history of lighthouses, how they work, who keeps them, and relates stories about famous American lighthouses.
2. Tells the true story of Ida Lewis, explaining how she learned to tend a lighthouse from her father, discussing her responsibilities as the lighthouse keeper, and describing her heroic rescues.
3. Chronicles the lives of women who lived and worked in lighthouses, braving seas and storms, rescuing people from icy waters, and lovingly caring for their lights
4. In the winter of 1856, a storm delays the lighthouse keeper's return to an island off the coast of Maine, and his daughter Abbie must keep the lights burning by herself. / 1. Grade level
2. Grade level
3. Scaffolding
4. Grade level
1-3 Short Literary Texts
Text Title and Author / A short description of the textand how it relates to the extended text / Label Difficulty:
· Advanced
· Grade Level
· Meant for Scaffolding
1. Birdie’s Lighthouse by Deborah Hopkinson
2. Sisters of Scituate Light by Stephen Krensky
3. The Sea Chest by Toni Buzzeo
4. Abbie Against the Storm by Marcia Vaughan
5. One Lighthouse, One Moon byAnita Lobel / 1. The diary of a ten-year-old girl who moves with her family in 1855 from a town on the Maine coast to rugged Turtle Island where her father is to be the lighthouse keeper.
2. The detail and rich colors of Schuett's paintings lend an appropriately realistic tone to this tale of two girls, a lighthouse keeper's daughters, who outwit British sailors during the War of 1812. Although fictionalized, Krensky's account is based on Rebecca and Abigail Bates, teenage sisters who later attained local fame for their successful ploy. Alone at the Scituate light, they are able to convince an approaching enemy vessel that there is danger on shore by suggesting the presence of marching soldiers. By hiding in the woods and playing "Yankee Doodle" on their fife and drum, they trick the British into retreating. With its wartime background, brisk plot, and crisp sentences, this original and suspenseful hero tale will engage independent readers and also captivate the story time crowd. (Amazon.com)
3. A young girl listens as her great-aunt, a lighthouse keeper's daughter, tells of her childhood living on a Maine island, and of the infant that washed ashore after a storm.
4. A fictionalized account of an incident in the life of a fourteen-year-old girl who tends her family's lighthouse during a fierce storm on the coast of Maine in the winter of 1856.
5. Presents the week, months of the year, and numbers one to ten through the activities of a cat and people in and around a lighthouse. / 1. Grade level
2. Meant for scaffolding
3. Grade level
4. Grade level
5. Scaffolding
Standards-Based Activities:
ACTIVITY #1 – Pre-Reading Activity
RESOURCES:
· K W L lighthouse worksheet
· Text needed at end of activity
STANDARDS ADDRESSED:
· 3.SL.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
· 3.RL.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of the text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
DESCRIPTION:
Have students start with the worksheet. Students will write what they “Know” about lighthouses. Prompt ideas with questions such as; What is the purpose of a lighthouse? Where would they be located? How does a lighthouse work? What does a lighthouse look like? Who would need a lighthouse? When would a lighthouse be important?
Then allow students to pair share what they wrote down. With student partners, they can brainstorm 2-3 questions that they “Want to know” about lighthouses. If non-fiction books are available on lighthouses, you could give students a few minutes to skim through one book to help generate questions.
At the end of the reading have students complete the “Learned” segment. Students should try to answer their questions from the Want to Know section. Encourage the use of the lighthouse specific vocabulary words and details from the story. Students can share their results with a small group or use another activity such as mingling (students move around the room to music, when it stops they find a new person to share their Learned section with for 30 seconds, then continue 3-4 times).
Extension Activity for discussion: Discuss the symbolism of the lighthouse. How does it represent the characters? Why is the series called The Lighthouse Family?
ACTIVITY #2 – Reading Activity
RESOURCES:
· Index cards or large Post It notes
· Book for each student or can be done with a small group
· Categories displayed on a whiteboard or doc cam with an example
· Small group sets of the category titles (mood, character, setting)
STANDARDS ADDRESSED:
· 3.RL.7 – Explain how specific aspects of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)
DESCRIPTION:
· Have students sort and then classify the illustrations into one of three categories (mood, character, setting) and cite one quote from the text to prove the classification.
· This activity can be done at the end of every chapter, at the end of 2-3 chapters, or at the end of the novel.
Examples:
Mood – pg. 11, 12, 20
Character – pg. 7, 15, 17
Setting – 29, 51, 55
· Using index cards, students will individually write the page number of the illustration and the text reference.
· Have the categories on the white board in 3 columns and have sets of the 3 categories for students
· Students will then form small groups of 3-4 students (teacher determined or student selected). In a set amount of time, students must come to a consensus on what category each illustration should be placed in. Have one student be prepared to share group’s results. Small groups can move index cards around in the categories and decide on a final result after discussion.
· Class viewing/discussion: If using Post-It notes, group representative can place their results on the white board in the appropriate column. If using index cards, group representative will place results under document camera. Have other groups agree (thumbs up) or disagree (thumbs down) with each presented result to get a class result. Discussion of why/why not for each illustration can be moderated by the teacher based on time, interest and relevance to the text.
ACTIVITY #3 Vocabulary
RESOURCES:
· Computer lab (if not available – you can do the worksheet with student artwork and/or pictures printed from websites or cut out of magazines)
· Vocabulary Vignette worksheet
STANDARDS ADDRESSED:
· 3.RL.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.
DESCRIPTION:
TECHNOLOGY OPTION if a computer lab is available: