The Earth on Turtle s Back

Level K/20 The Earth on Turtle s Back Fiction Teacher s Guide Skills & Strategies Anchor Comprehension Strategy Analyze Story Elements Content Vocabulary Words associated with Earth s natural features Grammar/Word Study Adverbs that tell where and when Suffix -ful Summary Native Americans told a legend that explains how the planet Earth formed from a small lump of dirt placed on a giant turtle s back. Theme: People and Their Environment Social Studies Concept: People can change and affect their physical environment. People create places to live that reflect their ideas, wants, and needs. B e n c h m a r k E d u c a t i o n C o m p a n y

Small-Group Reading Lesson Before Reading I have read legends before. ell Connections I can connect Paul Bunyan to this story. Support Tips for English-Language Learners Build Background Knowledge If English-language learners are not familiar with the legend the native speakers suggest, read the story to them to make sure they have a sense of the characters, setting, and events in a legend. Point out the pictures of the characters when brainstorming characters and events. Build Vocabulary and Language Patterns As students preview the book, discuss the phrase lost her balance on page 7. Demonstrate what balance is by placing a book on one end on your desk and then pushing the book on one side until it falls over. Explain that just as the book lost its balance and fell, the chief s wife fell into the hole when she lost her balance. Point out the word nervous on page 15 and discuss its meaning. Offer examples of situations that might make a person nervous, such as riding a roller coaster or speaking in front of a group. Then let students offer their own examples. Build Background Knowledge Help students recall a familiar legend, such as the story of Johnny Appleseed. As a group, retell the story. Have students brainstorm a list of the characters and events in this legend and any other legends they have heard or read. Record their ideas on a chart titled Legends. Discuss what they would expect to find when they read a story that is a legend. Model Making Text-to-Text Connections Display the cover and read the title. Say: I have read legends before. I know that legends often explain how things in nature came to be. For example, the legend of Paul Bunyan explains how the Grand Canyon was formed. I can use what I know about legends to help me read and understand this story. Ask students if the cover and title remind them of any stories they have read before. Preview the Book Show students the table of contents and read the headings. Ask: What do you think you will read about in this book? Do the title and chapter headings make you think of other books you have read? Preview the illustrations and encourage students to describe what they see and to make connections to other stories they have read. Introduce language you feel may be difficult for students. For example, for page 2 you might point to each animal in the picture and ask: Is this animal a bird, a fish, or a mammal? Model Reading Strategies Point out the word falling on page 5 and ask students what strategies they could use to read the word. Suggest the following strategy: You could divide the word into its base word and ending: fall and -ing. Then you could put the two parts together. Finally, you could reread the sentence to see if the word makes sense. Set a Purpose for Reading Ask students to read the book to find out what this legend explains. Remind them to use what they already know about legends to help them as they read. 2 The Earth on Turtle s Back 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC. All rights reserved. Teachers may photocopy the reproducible pages for classroom use. No other part of the guide may be reproduced or transmitted in whole or in part in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. ISBN: 978-1-4108-1579-8

Assessment Tip During Reading Monitor Student Reading Have students put self-stick notes next to words they have trouble with. Observe students as they whisper read. Intervene as necessary to guide them to use appropriate strategies to read difficult words. After Reading Reflect on Reading Strategies Ask students how other legends they have read were like this legend. Reinforce that connecting a new story to similar stories they have read will help them understand the new book better. Ask students to share words they found difficult to read, and ask what strategies students used to read them. Use these words, and any words you noticed students having difficulty with, to model appropriate reading strategies. Reinforce that students should always check whether the words they are reading are making sense. Discuss Concepts Talk with students about legends and why people create and pass down legends. Ask: Why do you think people tell legends? Why do you like to read legends? What can you learn about a group of people by reading their legends? Have students compare this Native American legend with a legend they are familiar with that has a European or an American background, for example, the legend they discussed in the Build Background section of the lesson. Have them point out features that are the same and different. Ask: What does each legend explain? How does the legend explain that? Why do you think these stories were important to the people who made them? Extend Concepts Find legends from different cultures to read to students and then place them in the library or reading center for students to revisit on their own. Have students create their own imaginative explanation for a natural event, such as why birds fly, why spiders make webs, or why trees turn colors in fall. Have them draw a picture that shows their explanation. Let students share their legends with the group. ell To check a student s reading strategies, ask him or her to read a section of the text aloud to you while other students are whisper reading. Note whether the student is using visual, structure, and/or meaning cues to self-correct and make sense of the text. Support Tips for English-Language Learners Reflect on Reading Strategies Note the words English-language learners are having difficulty with. Ask them to define or use words to help you determine whether their problems relate to unfamiliar vocabulary or syntax. Make Fiction-to-Fact Concept Connections If students have read The Everglades, ask: What kinds of legends can you think of to explain some of the features of the Everglades? (Encourage students to use their imaginations to suggest legends, such as why the Everglades are wet or why alligators live in the Everglades.) What lessons do you think The Earth on Turtle s Back teaches about protecting the Everglades and other natural environments? (Students may say that the story teaches people to treat animals well, because animals helped people. One major reason to protect the Everglades is to protect its animals.) 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC The Earth on Turtle s Back 3

Small Group Reading Lesson ell Support Tips for English-Language Learners Model Ask specific questions about the familiar book to help students focus on and identify story elements: Who is this story about? Where and when does this story take place? What happens first in the story? What happens next? What is wrong in the story? What needs to be fixed? Practice and Apply Pair English-language learners with native speakers to identify the story elements in The Earth on Turtle s Back and fill in the blackline master together. Assessment Tip Observe whether students can identify story elements. Note whether they are able to follow sequential events, tell characters apart, and find clues to setting and story problem and solution. If students have difficulty, you might want to provide additional modeling. Build Comprehension: Analyze Story elements Model Hold up a fiction book that students know well. Ask them to tell who is in the story, where and when it takes place, and what happens in the story. Say: When we read a story, we need to know certain things about the story. We need to know the characters. The characters are the people or animals in the story. We need to know the setting. The setting is where and when the story takes place. We need to know the plot. The plot is the events that happen in the story. Usually the characters have a problem and they have to solve the problem. The problem and the solution are part of the plot. Practice Distribute copies of the "Story Elements" blackline master. Have students write the title of the story on the title line. Support students as they describe the setting and name the characters in the story. Have them write the information in the appropriate boxes on the Blackline Master. Ask: What problem do the animals have? How does the story begin? Have students write this information on the chart. Apply Have students work in pairs to complete the chart by recording the most important events in the plot in order and summarizing how the characters solve their problem. Have students share their ideas with the group. If some student ideas conflict, have students refer to the text to confirm or revise their information. Title: Where and when? Who? What is the problem? What happens? The Earth on Turtle s Back the water and the sky that existed a long time ago; the earth that grew up around the turtle s back Chief Chief s wife Animals: swans, beaver, duck, deer, muskrat, turtle The chief s wife cannot live in the water. 1. The chief s wife has a dream, so the chief digs up the Great Tree. 2. The chief s wife falls down the hole left by the Great Tree. 3. Two swans save the chief s wife before she falls into the water. 4. The animals decide the woman needs earth to live on. 5. Several animals try to get earth from the bottom of the hole. 6. The muskrat gets a bit of earth and puts it on the turtle s back. 7. The earth grows on the turtle s back; the chief s wife drops seeds and the trees grow. 4 The Earth on Turtle s Back 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC

Writing Mini-Lesson: Describe a Setting Reread page 20 while students follow along. Say: The setting of a story is the time and the place where the events in the story happen. This page describes Earth. It uses nouns, adjectives, and verbs to tell what the place looks like. Involve students in a discussion about the description of a story s setting by asking the following questions: What nouns tell about the setting? (trees, lakes, rivers, and mountains) What adjectives and verbs tell about the setting? (adjectives: tall; verbs: sprouted, formed, and grew) How do all these words help you see the setting? (Together the words provide a vivid, detailed description of the setting that readers can visualize in their minds) Do you think it is important to describe the setting of a story? Why? (The setting is an important story element. It often is closely related to the characters and their actions. Vivid descriptions of the setting help readers to better understand and enjoy the entire story.) Use other fiction books to show how other writers describe settings. Discuss with students how the setting descriptions help readers to better understand the characters and events. Write words used to describe settings from the examples on chart paper to serve as models for students. After looking at several examples of setting descriptions, have students choose those that they think are especially vivid. writing Checklist As students review their piece of writing, have them ask themselves: Do I use specific words to describe the setting in my story? Do my descriptions help readers picture where the story takes place? Do my setting descriptions help readers understand and enjoy the story? Reread for fluency Read aloud sections of The Earth on Turtle s Back to model fluent reading using appropriate phrasing, intonation, and expression. Have pairs of students take turns reading the pages of the book to each other. Link to Journal Writing Have students find a piece of fiction writing in their journals. Have them note whether they use words to specifically describe a setting. If not, ask them whether there is a setting that they can describe. If students don t have a piece of fiction writing in their journal, ask them to begin a new piece of writing. Connect to home Have students read the take-home version of The Earth on Turtle s Back to family members. Suggest that they talk about the explanation the legend gives for how Earth was created. 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC The Earth on Turtle s Back 5

Skills Bank ell Support Tips for English-Language Learners Content Vocabulary If students have difficulty thinking of natural features, first point to relevant details in the pictures, such as the trees and oceans on page 20, and ask students to name them. Then prompt students by asking specific questions that describe other natural features: What are green things that grow in the ground and that people and animals eat? What are the huge bodies of water where whales and sharks live? Grammar/Word Study To reinforce the concept of words that tell where or when, say simple sentences using words such as up, down, before, below, and there: I told you before. Tom put his book there. After you say a sentence, ask a question using where or when: When did I tell you? Where did Tom put his book? Help students recognize that the words they answer with are the words in the sentences that tell where or when. Make a chart showing how base words and the suffix -ful can be combined to make new words. Base Word Suffix New Word power -ful powerful wonder -ful wonderful joy -ful joyful care -ful careful color -ful colorful hand -ful handful spoon -ful spoonful arm -ful armful Content Vocabulary: Words associated with Earth s natural features On the board write Earth s features in the center circle of a word web. Have students look through the book for words that name Earth s natural features, such as trees, lakes, rivers, mountains, and animals. Write each word in an outer circle of the web. Have students brainstorm additional words for you to add to the web, such as oceans, deserts, plants, and valleys. Reread the words on the web and have students explain how the words they chose are related to the concept. Grammar/Word Study: Adverbs that tell where and when Reread the second sentence on page 3. Ask: Where do the chief and his wife live? They live there. Explain that there is a word that tells where. Reread the first sentence on page 5. Ask: When did the chief s wife have a dream? She had a dream the night before. Explain that the night before is a group of words, or phrase, that tells when. Explain that words that tell where and when, such as there, are called adverbs. Phrases can also act like adverbs. Adverbs answer questions about the verbs in the sentences: The chief and his wife live where? The chief s wife told the chief about a dream she had when? Have students find other words and phrases in the story that tell where and when, such as a long time ago (page 2), there (page 2), in Skyland and on the tree s branches (page 4), One day (page 5), into the hole (page 7), up and down (page 11), way down, deep in the water (page 11),and on the dirt and onto the ground (page 19). Grammar/Word Study: Suffix -ful Write the word powerful on the board and read it with students. Draw a line between power and ful. Explain that -ful is a word part that can be added to the end of some nouns and that it means full of. Ask students what powerful means. (full of power). Write the words wonder, joy, care, and color under power on the board. Have students add -ful to each word, write the new word, and use it in a sentence. Point out the word handful on page 8. Say: This word also has -ful at the end. But here it means that is full. So handful means a hand that is full of something. Write the words spoon and arm under hand on the board. Have students add -ful to each word, write the new word, and use it in a sentence. 6 The Earth on Turtle s Back 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC

Name Date Story Elements Title: Where and when? Who? What is the problem? What happens? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC

Name Date Where and When Words 1. I will take out the trash later. 2. She twisted her ankle and fell down. 3. We like the park because you can skate there. 4. Ryan looked up at the hot-air balloon. 5. Mateo had seen an elephant before. 6. We will shovel the snow, but first we must put on boots. 7. You can hear barking because dogs live nearby. 8. Gina looked everywhere for her cat. 9. You may have left your gloves here. 10. I have an invitation to the party, so I will see you then. Directions: Have students circle the word in each sentence that tells where or when. Then have them circle if the word tells where or if the word tells when. 2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC