Unit Vocabulary
What is Ali doing when he says he will attend soccer practice twice a week?
Commit
How would you explain descriptive writing?
A style of text that uses vivid details and sensory language to paint a clear mental picture of a person, place, thing or event for the reader
Dolphines live in what type of environments?
Marine
Where does the story take place?
Amazon Rainforest
What is Gloria doing when she decides she needed a new way to understand her brother’s problem?
Perspective
What are the 5 senses used for descriptive writing?
smell, taste, sight, hearing, touch
What are Asia and Africa, which are the two largest on Earth?
Continent
Why does the author use mountain-climbing gear to climb a tree?
It is an effective way to climb extremely tall rainforest trees safely.
What is it called when Jason wants to read one book each month is to expand his knowledge?
Objective
Read the passage:
I had a lovely swim in the cool, dark water that hot day, but still couldn’t seethe dolphins. That’s why now I was climbing that tree. My idea was this: maybe if I changed my perspective, I could see down beneath those dark waters. Maybe from the top of a tall tree, I would get a better vantage point, and maybe I could watch the dolphins swimming beneath me.So, up I climbed. The rope was attached to the sort of gear mountain climbers use to scale peaks. Leather loops grip you around the thighs and across the pelvis, and there’s a sort of noose in which you put your foot. You step into the noose like climbing a stair, and straightening that leg, push yourself up along the rope, using the strong muscles in the legs instead of the relatively weak muscles in the arms.
What does the descriptive detail “leather loops grip you around the thighs” help you visualize?
how it felt to climb a tree in the rainforest
What would you call Shyla's goal of walking 10,000 steps each day for a month?
Accomplishment
Read this passage:
Unlike the marine dolphins you’ve probably seen performing in aquariums oron whale watches in the ocean, the pink river dolphins of the Amazon don’t leaphigh out of the water. They behave and look very different from the dolphins likethose you see performing in aquariums or like Flipper on TV. They don’t have thesame tall fin on the back. When I was trying to study them for my new book, I wasoften very frustrated, because they swim low in the water. Also, much of theAmazon’s waters are dark—not clear like in an aquarium—and so I could only see asmall piece of the dolphin each time.
Why is it hard to see the pink dolphins?
They swim too far below the surface.
What is she doing after studying piano for a year, Estrella gained a strong what for music?
Appreciation
Read the passage:
By the time I got to the Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo Community Reserve in Peru, I’dalready tried everything I could think of to see them better. I tried watching them from a canoe. For hours, I sat in the hot sun with binoculars. I might see the top ofa dolphin’s shiny pink head—then it would dive and disappear. Or I might hear one blow air out of the blowhole—CHAA!—and turn around and see nothing but a trail of bubbles. Sometimes I might get a glimpse of someone’s tail or someone’s back—but that was all. Sometimes I’d hear a pink dolphin blow to the side of my canoe, and seconds later, see a tail flip on the other side. Was it the same dolphin—or a different one? I couldn’t even tell how many dolphins I was watching! How was I going to write my book if I couldn’t even see the thing I was writing about? I was getting worried.
Which descriptive detail from the paragraph connects to your sense of hearing?
"blow air out of the blowhole-- CHAA!"
What do you call rain that caught us without umbrellas and jackets?
Unexpected
Read the passage:
By the time I got to the Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo Community Reserve in Peru, I’d already tried everything I could think of to see them better. I tried watching them from a canoe. For hours, I sat in the hot sun with binoculars. I might see the top of a dolphin’s shiny pink head—then it would dive and disappear. Or I might hear one blow air out of the blowhole—CHAA!—and turn around and see nothing but a trail of bubbles. Sometimes I might get a glimpse of someone’s tail or someone’s back—but that was all. Sometimes I’d hear a pink dolphin blow to the side of my canoe, and seconds later, see a tail flip on the other side. Was it the same dolphin—or a different one? I couldn’t even tell how many dolphins I was watching! How was I going to write my book if I couldn’t even see the thing I was writing about? I was getting worried.
What does the author observe while sitting in a canoe? (Two things)
some dolphin parts peeking out of the water & bubbles on the water's surface made by dolphins
What is the school team doing so well that it has real what for winning the season finale?
Potential
Read the passage:
At first I was so nervous I shook with fear. I had never done anything like this before. But after a few minutes, I found myself mesmerized by the wonders around me. I found there was actually a forest in the trees! Up I climbed, past a bush much like the rhododendrons around a house my family had lived inVirginia—but this was growing on the branches. Up I climbed, alongside a giant philodendron vine with leaves as big as the paddles we used in our canoes. Up I climbed, past birds’ nests, wasps’ nests, termite nests. Butterflies and parrots flew beneath me. Up near the very top, where the rope was tied, I found a plant like a pineapple known as a bromeliad growing on a branch. Its leaves form an overlapping bowl that catches rainwater. And inside this miniature lake the size ofa teacup, I found a whole little world teeming with life: mosquito larvae squiggled in the water. A tiny frog clung to the leaves. Other plants—they looked like tiny lily pads—were growing on the water inside this plant. In fact, scientists have catalogued several hundred species that can live just in the water of a bromeliad’s bowl.
Which 2 descriptive details from the paragraph help you visualize the events?
leaves as big as the paddles we used in our canoes +
miniature lake the size of a teacup
What does The Amazon River have more than 1,100 flowing into it?
Tributary
Read the passage:
At first I was so nervous I shook with fear. I had never done anything like this before. But after a few minutes, I found myself mesmerized by the wonders around me. I found there was actually a forest in the trees! Up I climbed, past a bush much like the rhododendrons around a house my family had lived inVirginia—but this was growing on the branches. Up I climbed, alongside a giant philodendron vine with leaves as big as the paddles we used in our canoes. Up I climbed, past birds’ nests, wasps’ nests, termite nests. Butterflies and parrots flew beneath me. Up near the very top, where the rope was tied, I found a plant like a pineapple known as a bromeliad growing on a branch. Its leaves form an overlapping bowl that catches rainwater. And inside this miniature lake the size ofa teacup, I found a whole little world teeming with life: mosquito larvae squiggled in the water. A tiny frog clung to the leaves. Other plants—they looked like tiny lily pads—were growing on the water inside this plant. In fact, scientists have catalogued several hundred species that can live just in the water of a bromeliad’s bowl.
What does the author discover after reaching the top of the tall tree?
a collection of tiny creatures living in in groups of unusual leaves