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  • Reading Streets is the weekly selection series used in fourth grade as one of several curriculum pieces to increase skills and strategies

    There are SIX themed units which have five reading selection stories

    Each week students:
       practice skills with new strategies
       break apart and use new vocabulary
       explore genre  
       read a class theme selection (a story or excerpt from a novel)
       share reading with partners
       practice and apply skills in Daily Practice Book pages
       complete station work to strengthen reading through writing 
       review old strategies
       take a selection test each week

    Monday = Introduction of new skill, vocabulary, tie in to content area, literacy strategy, family times home connection sheet goes home, preview story, station work
    Tuesday = Practice of skills, vocabulary, read first half of story, station work
    Wednesday = Read second half of selection, continue using skills, review past skill, discuss reader response questions, vocabulary quiz sometimes, prepare for selection test, station work
    Thursday = Story card sequence, Selection test,  reread story, station work
    Friday = Connect strategies to content again, go over test mistakes, review skills in fresh reads, station work

    This week: See farther below for each unit's theme and skills


    *Skills and strategies are listed on the Family Time Sheet in the Daily Practice Book (DPB)
    Ask your student to tear this out and share it with you

    Students need plenty of practice with making generalizations
    Students are responsible for discussing plot (problem + events)

    Help at home
    Watching television programs with your youngster is a great opportunity to practice this skill aloud.
    • Give them your generalization after finishing a program (or even during a commercial break)
    • After a few times listening to you, ask them to share their ideas
    • This same process can happen after reading a short piece or listening to radio news article

    Unit 1 Theme wrap up week -- Oct. 7-10
    Poetry "This Land is Your Land" students talk about the figurative language in the verses
    Song "This Land is Your Land" students listen and sing using the lyrics

    Unit 2 Theme Work and Play
    How is Work and Play Meaningful?

    Week 1 What Jo Did
    Skill: Cause and Effect using graphic organizers
    Vocabulary strategy: prefixes and suffixes as meaningful parts of words

    Week 2 The Coyote News
    Skill: Drawing Conclusions
    Vocabulary Strategy: dictionary and glossary use

    Week 3. Grace and the Time Machine

    Week 4 Marvin of the Great North Woods

    Week 5 Pilgrim Simulation 
    * So You Want to be President? story
    Skill: Main Idea
    Strategy to help: summarize

    Vocabulary strategy: use a dictionary or glossary

    Unit Three Theme Patterns in Nature 
    What are some patterns in nature?

    Week 1              The Stranger 
    Week 2               Adelina's Whales -
      Skill: Fact & Opinion-
    Facts     are supported by statements which can be proven or verified, supported by other facts, observable
    Opinions     are valid or faulty depending on the kind of support or logic supporting the original statement.

    Vocabulary Skill: using  context for homonyms
     
    Week 3           How Night Came to Stay -
    Week 4

    Week 5          The Great Kapok Tree

    Skill: Generalize by paying attention to the story structure. Readers can generalize about the characters to help make predictions.

    Vocabulary Strategy: suffixes as part of the word structure to determine meaning

    • Identify a generalization the author makes about the Amazon rain forest.
    • Onomatopoeia -- find words that sound like what they mean
    • Personification -- how do animals act like people?
    • Author's purpose -- why did author most likely write this selection?
    • Imagery
    • Cause & effect events

    Unit 4 Theme:  Puzzles and Mysteries explore explanantions

    Is there an explanation for everything?

    Week 1       The Houdini Box
    • Compare & Contrast to help predict
    • Contractions

    Week 2       Encantado: Pink Dolphin of the Amazon

    • Compare & Contrast by visualizing
    • Use context clues for unknown words

    Week 3        The King in the Kitchen

    • Character and setting to understanding by monitoring traits
    • Dictionary & Glossary use

    Week 4         Seeker of Knowledge


    Week 5         Encyclopedia Brown

    Plot


    Unit Five Theme    Adventures at Sea, on Land, and in the Air

    Week 1             Lost City

    Week 2             Amelia & Eleanor
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