UNIT X 26 | UNIT 1 Instructional Routine: Language Arts p. Txxix Essential Question: How does weather affect your daily life? Ask the Essential Question and give students a chance to discuss their ideas in pairs before sharing with the whole group. ANSWERS Sample answer: Weather affects our plans and activities. When the weather is nice, we can do things outside. When the weather is bad, we have to stay inside and wait to do things later. A Historical Fiction • Recognize and analyze genre Tell students they will read a historical fiction text. Ask: What are some features of a historical fiction text? Historical comes from the word history. Briefly discuss that historical fiction is set in the past, and the events, places, and characters can be real or made up (fictional). Read and discuss the Text genre box. Ask: Have you read historical fiction? Share what it was about. • Preview and predict Have students preview the title, photo, and article. Note that there are four paragraphs, each paragraph focuses on an event and progresses sequentially. Ask: Can you remember the sequence words? (then, one morning, after, just then) What do you think the story will be about? (waiting for rain) How can you tell that it is set in the past? (the car in the picture is old, the house is made from metal, the photo is sepia) What is shown in the background of the photo? (a dust storm) Tell students that they will listen to the article more than once so they can check and confirm their predictions. • Listen actively Play the audio and ask students to read along silently and check their predictions. Have volunteers share whether their predictions were correct. B Demonstrate understanding Read the questions aloud. Clarify unfamiliar vocabulary by pointing it out in context in the text. Then have students work in pairs to use information from the article to complete Activity B. ANSWERS 1. The story happens in Texas, in the 1930s. 2. They were living in a drought and had to survive. 3. Wallace jokes that the toast isn’t dusty. Sample answer: Agatha feels sad about the drought. She is tired of having sand on her toast. 4. Sample answer: They feel relieved to see rain coming. EXPLORE AND LEARN DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION Scaffold As you play the audio, stop after the answer has been mentioned for each question in Activity B. Ask students to recall the answer and complete the activity. Amplify Have students revisit the Essential Question and answer it in a short paragraph or as a diary entry. PRACTICE Historical Fiction A Read the historical fiction text. Will the Rain Ever Come? by Edward DeLacy In the 1930s, Wallace and Agatha Hastings lived in an area of Texas that was part of the Dust Bowl. When the rain stopped, it caused a drought. Then, the soil blew away. There wasn’t much left of anything but dust. The Hastings did the best they could to survive. Wallace had a small herd of cows, and he sold the milk in town. Wheat and corn shriveled in the drought, so Wallace planted thistle and even dug up weeds to feed the cows. He and Agatha had to learn to be practical. They had to learn to do without many things—even water. One morning, Wallace and Agatha sat eating breakfast. Wallace was feeling hopeful. “The toast isn’t sandy and dusty today!” he said. Agatha looked at him and kept eating. Wallace often tried to lighten the mood. Sometimes Agatha liked his jokes, and sometimes she didn’t. Today, she didn’t think Wallace was very funny. She looked out the window at another hot, dry, and dusty morning. After breakfast, Wallace and Agatha went to the barn. They put the milk in jars and cleaned the jars of dust. Then, they loaded them onto the truck. They washed the truck’s windows, which were loaded with red dust. They climbed into the truck and drove down the dirt driveway leaving big puffs of dry sand behind them. Just then, Wallace noticed some clouds far away on the horizon. He nudged Agatha and stopped the truck. He pointed out the window. They both stared in amazement. These clouds were not a dust storm. They were real rain clouds! B Talk about it Answer the questions. 1. Where does the story happen? When does it happen? 2. Why do Wallace and Agatha have to be practical? 3. What joke does Wallace make? Why do you think Agatha doesn’t like it? 4. How do you think Wallace and Agatha feel at the end of the story? How does weather affect your daily life? ? ESSENTIAL QUESTION TEXT GENRE Historical Fiction The setting of historical fiction is in the past. The places are real. Some of the events are real. Some of the events are imagined. CONNECT TO Language Arts 26 UNIT 1 UNIT X1 / CONNECT TO LANGUAGE ARTS
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