Grade
5
Unit
Skill/Strategy:
3
Week
4
Main Idea
Review: The main idea is the most important idea about the topic. Sometimes the author tells you the main
idea. It can sometimes be found in the first or last sentence. Sometimes you must figure it out for yourself.
This is called an IMPLIED main idea. Supporting details are small pieces of information that tell more about
the main idea.
Reading Street, Grade 4, Unit 4, p. 346
Part A: [This lesson may take two sessions to complete.]
Read the Time for Kids article, An Earthquake Shakes Haiti. After each paragraph, ask students to find the
main idea by first identifying the one or two word topic, and then telling finding what the paragraph tells about
the topic. Use the graphic organizer on the attached page for a few paragraphs to practice using the graphic
organizer. Students should be able to read this text aloud with a little support.
(The teacher page has the main idea highlighted and underlined. If the main idea is italicized, it is an implied
or constructed main idea.)
Part B: Read the Scholastic article, Water on the Moon, and complete the review skill questions as a group.
Students should be able to read this aloud with a little support.
An Earthquake Shakes Haiti
The Caribbean nation responds to a deadly, devastating quake
BY VICKIE AN
A powerful earthquake rocked the Caribbean nation of Haiti on Tuesday. The magnitude 7.0
quake struck 10 miles outside of the country's capital, Port-au-Prince, at 4:53 p.m. Many people
were injured and more are still missing.
A Big Jolt
Tuesday's tremor was the strongest to hit the region since
1770, said Kristin Marano of the U.S. Geological Survey. The
quake leveled thousands of buildings, from schools to the
National Palace, the President's home. The tremors cut off
electricity and phone service. Neighborhoods were crushed,
leaving tens of thousands of people homeless.
The tremor was also felt in the neighboring island of Cuba
and in the Dominican Republic, which is also part of the
island of Hispaniola, along with Haiti. No major damages
were reported in either country.
DANIEL MOREL—AFP/GETTY
IMAGES
Residents walk past
crumbled buildings on
Strong aftershocks continued to shake up Port-au-Prince's 2
Tuesday in Port-aumillion residents after the initial tremor died down. Stunned
survivors walked through the rubble searching for loved ones, Prince, Haiti, after a
coworkers and neighbors. Many people found comfort by
massive earthquake
gathering together in public squares to sing hymns.
struck the poor
Caribbean nation.
Helping Haiti
Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. About
80% of the country's 9 million people live in poverty. Years of political turmoil have left Haiti
with no real safety standards for buildings. In November 2008, after the collapse of a school,
the mayor of Port-au-Prince estimated that more than half of the city's buildings were unsafe.
President Barack Obama and other world leaders were quick to offer support for Haiti and its
people. "We have to be there for them in their hour of need," Obama said. A U.S. disaster relief
team is flying into the area today, said Rajiv Shah of the U.S. Agency for International
Development. International aid groups, including the Red Cross, have also announced plans to
send aid.
The hospitals that weren't damaged in the quake are overflowing with victims. Help can't come
soon enough. "Haiti needs to pray," said Dr. Louis-Gerard Gilles. "We all need to pray
together."
An Earthquake Shakes Haiti (Teacher’s Copy)
The Caribbean nation responds to a deadly, devastating quake
BY VICKIE AN
A powerful earthquake rocked the Caribbean nation of Haiti on Tuesday. The magnitude 7.0
quake struck 10 miles outside of the country's capital, Port-au-Prince, at 4:53 p.m. Many people
were injured and more are still missing.
A Big Jolt
Tuesday's tremor was the strongest to hit the region since
1770 (causing a lot of damage.), said Kristin Marano of the
U.S. Geological Survey. The quake leveled thousands of
buildings, from schools to the National Palace, the President's
home. The tremors cut off electricity and phone service.
Neighborhoods were crushed, leaving tens of thousands of
people homeless.
The tremor was also felt in the neighboring island of Cuba
and in the Dominican Republic, which is also part of the
island of Hispaniola, along with Haiti. No major damages
were reported in either country. (Neighboring countries felt
tremors but did not have major damage.)
DANIEL MOREL—AFP/GETTY
IMAGES
Residents walk past
crumbled buildings on
Tuesday in Port-auStrong aftershocks continued to shake up Port-au-Prince's 2
Prince, Haiti, after a
million residents after the initial tremor died down. Stunned
massive earthquake
survivors walked through the rubble searching for loved ones,
struck the poor
coworkers and neighbors. Many people found comfort by
Caribbean nation.
gathering together in public squares to sing hymns.
(Survivors had to deal with aftershocks as they looked for
others.)
Helping Haiti
Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. About 80% of the country's 9 million
people live in poverty. Years of political turmoil have left Haiti with no real safety standards for
buildings. In November 2008, after the collapse of a school, the mayor of Port-au-Prince
estimated that more than half of the city's buildings were unsafe. (Buildings in Haiti have not
been build safely.)
President Barack Obama and other world leaders were quick to offer support for Haiti and its
people. "We have to be there for them in their hour of need," Obama said. A U.S. disaster relief
team is flying into the area today, said Rajiv Shah of the U.S. Agency for International
Development. International aid groups, including the Red Cross, have also announced plans to
send aid.
The hospitals that weren't damaged in the quake are overflowing with victims. Help can't come
soon enough. "Haiti needs to pray," said Dr. Louis-Gerard Gilles. "We all need to pray
together." (They need help.)
Water on the Moon!
Discovery an important step to colonizing moon
By Daniel Wetter | December 14, 2009 | Scholastic
Yes, there is water on the moon! It's frozen and mixed with dust, but it could be used
to help sustain a colony of human beings there someday.
1. Choose the Correct Inference:
_____ The water is frozen and mixed with dust.
_____ People need water in order to live.
_____ We will live on the moon someday.
"We did not know if we would find water," said Dr. Kim Ennico, a scientist at the
Ames Research Center in the Bay Area of California. "It was a big question."
That question was answered recently when a team of scientists studying data from
the Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) released their findings.
"The scientific community is agog with the LCROSS data," Ennico said.
2. What does the word agog mean in this sentence?
_____ excited
_____ noticing
_____ nervous
25feb.files.wordpress.com
What do you think this is? What is it used for?
The LCROSS mission began in 2006 as a low-cost and fast-track solution to determine
whether there was water on the moon. On June 18 this year, the Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) was sent to crash into a moon crater. Data was
collected from the plume of debris created by the impact, which occurred in
October.
Twenty-five gallons of water, the same composure of water on Earth, was
discovered.
3. The main idea of the story so far is:
_____ There was 25 gallons of water on the moon.
_____ The LRO crashed on the moon.
_____ Scientists found proof that water exists on the moon.
The result of finding water was the first step to further exploring the moon, possibly
with an astronaut-based mission. Eventually, astronauts plan to build a base there.
"The moon is a very likely candidate due to its close proximity to Earth," Ennico told
the Scholastic Kids Press Corps. "There are huge engineering challenges ahead for a
permanent outpost."
Those challenges include combating intense radiation levels and temperature that
occur every day in space. Money and politics are other obstacles, but those occur on
Earth.
4. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?
_____ Some challenges occur every day.
_____ Some day the astronauts may want a base on the moon.
_____ There are some challenges to building a base on the moon.
President Barack Obama recently appointed a panel to decide if sending humans to
the moon by 2020, a plan signed by former President Bush in 2003, is still possible.
The panel's chairman, Norman Augustine, has recommended landing on a nearby
asteroid or one of the moons of Mars.
5. When do we hope to send humans to the moon?
_____ 2001
_____ 2003
_____ 2020
According to NASA, the U.S. space agency, current funding levels will mean no
manned mission to the moon until 2028–-and no lunar base at all.
Cost cutting measures that could help fund the moon project include scrapping plans
to finish the replacement of the space shuttle, Ares I. Another idea is to extend the
life of the International Space Station, which is currently planned to de-orbit in
2016.
6. What do you think funding means?
_____ discovering
_____ providing money for
_____ working on
7. Use the prefix “de-“ to find the meaning of “de-orbit”.
_____ begin to circle around something
_____ stop circling around something
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