Adelina’s Whales
Compiled by:
Terry Sams PES
Text and Photos by Richard
Sobol
Study Skills
• Genre: Photo Essay
• Comprehension Skill:
Fact and Opinion
• Comprehension Strategy:
Graphic Organizers
• Comprehension Review Skill:
Generalize
• Vocabulary: Homonyms
Summary
Adelina Mayoral lives in La Laguna,
Mexico. Each January, the gray
whales arrive in the lagoon near La
Laguna and stay for three months
before migrating farther north for
the summer. Whale-watchers,
scientists, and photographers visit
La Laguna from all over the world
to observe and interact with the
whales.
Genre: Photo Essay
• Photo essays use words
and pictures to tell about
someone or something. As
you read, notice how the
words and images work
together to tell about
Adelina and her whales.
Comprehension Skill Review –
Fact and Opinion
•A fact is a
TE 313a
statement that can
be proved true or
false by doing
research.
Comprehension Skill Review –
Fact and Opinion
TE 313a
• Statements of opinion tell about a
person’s beliefs, feelings, or way of
thinking that cannot be proved.
• It often contains a word of
judgment, such as best, should, or
beautiful.
• It may begin with the words in my
opinion or I believe.
Comprehension Strategy –
Graphic Organizers TE 292
• Good readers organize their
thoughts as they read.
• Jotting down lists or making
charts can help you separate
statements of fact or opinion.
• Using a graphic organizer can
help you to understand what you
read.
Comprehension Skill Review:
Generalizing TE 301
Sometimes as you read, you are given ideas
about several things or people.
When you make a statement about all of them
together, you are making a generalization.
These are some of the clue words that help
locate generalizations: all, none, many, most,
always, usually, few, general.
A valid generalization is accurate.
A faulty generalization is not accurate.
Practice Generalization
PB116
1. What is an example of a generalization?
Many birds migrate, or move from one
place to another.
2. How do you know this is a generalization?
The word many gives a clue that not all
birds migrate.
3. What is another generalization?
Some birds will fly the same path each
year.
4. How do you know this is a generalization?
The word some gives a clue.
Author’s Viewpoint
•The author’s viewpoint is the
way an author looks at his or her
subject.
•Look at statements of opinion an
author expresses and the
statements of fact the author
includes.
•Try to figure out the author’s
viewpoint even when it is not
stated.
Research/Study Skills –
Readers’ Guide TE 313l PB 119-120
• The Readers’ Guide to Periodical
Literature lists articles and other writing
published in magazines and journals.
• This reference is published in a series of
volumes organized by date.
• Researchers can search for articles by
subject or by author name.
• Each entry shows the article name,
authors, titles and date of the source it
is in, and the pages on which the article
appears.
Fun Stuff and Practice
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McGraw Hill Activities
4th Grade Activities
Video
Cause and Effect On-Line PowerPoint
Compare and Contrast
Compare Contrast PowerPoint
Meet the Author
Verbs and more Verbs
and Linking Verbs on Line
Weekly Fluency Check Tone of Voice TE 313a
● You need to change the
tone of your voice as you
read dialogue to reflect
characters’ emotions and
make the reading lively.
● Read p. 292m for students
to dramatize characters
voices.
Question of the Week
TE 292m
•What patterns
in nature guide
the lives of
animals?
Day 2 - Question of
the Day
•What is the
migration pattern of
the gray whales
Adelina sees?
Day 3 –
Question of the Day
•What mysteries
of the whales
might Adelina try
to unlock some
day?
Day 4 - Question of
the Day - Review
•What questions
might a scientist
ask about
migration?
Review Questions
1. Give an example of how you know
Adelina has a good understanding of
nature.
2. Why do you think the author wrote this
selection?
3. Who did the author say was the first
person to have a visit from the whales?
4. Why do the mother whales come to the
lagoon?
Review Questions
1. How do you know the whales are
important to Adelina?
2. How were the people in La Laguna
like the people who visited the
village?
3. What did Adelina mean when she
said, “Laguna is the place where two
worlds join together?”
Vocabulary - Say It
•biologist
•bluff
•lagoon •rumbling
•tropical
•massive
More Words to Know
altitude
ascent
swans
zone
encounter
exhaling
biologist
• scientist who studies living
things, including their origins,
structures, activities, and
distribution
lagoon
• a pond or small
lake, especially
one connected
with a larger
body of water
bluff
•a high,
steep slope
or cliff
tropical
•of or like the
regions 23.45
degrees north
or south of the
equator where the sun
can shine directly
overhead
massive
big
and
heavy; bulky
rumbling
•making a
deep, heavy,
continuous
sound
exhaling
•breathing out
encounter
•an unexpected
meeting
zone
•any of the five great
regions of Earth’s
surface, bounded by
imaginary lines
going around
Earth parallel
to the equator
altitude
•high above sea
level
swans
•large water
birds with
long, slender,
curving necks
ascent
•act of going up;
upward
movement
Adelina was
awakened by a
loud, low,
rumbling noise.
Adelina was
awakened by a
loud, low,
rumbling noise.
A gray whale was
exhaling a blast of
hot air as large as a
room.
A gray whale was
exhaling a blast of
hot air as large as a
room.
The mother
whales come to
the lagoon to
have their babies.
The mother
whales come to
the lagoon
to have their
babies.
The whales lift
their massive
heads out of the
water.
The whales lift
their massive
heads out of the
water.
Adelina’s
grandfather was
tanned from the
bright tropical
sun.
Adelina’s
grandfather was
tanned from the
bright tropical
sun.
Her grandfather
told many stories
about his first
encounter with the
whales.
Her grandfather
told many stories
about his first
encounter
with the
whales.
Adelina might
become a biologist
who studies the
ocean when she
grows up.
Adelina might
become a biologist
who studies the
ocean when she
grows up.
Her home is a
simple shack on a
sandy bluff hugging
the edge of the
Pacific Ocean.
Her home is a
simple shack on a
sandy bluff hugging
the edge of the
Pacific Ocean.
The swan is a type
of bird that
migrates to a milder
climate at
summer’s end.
The swan is a type
of bird that migrates
to a milder climate
at summer’s
end.
The swan gains
altitude as he
makes his ascent
into the air.
The swan gains
altitude as he
makes his ascent
into the air.
Their wings carry
them swiftly and
surely from zone
to zone.
Their wings carry
them swiftly and
surely from zone
to zone.
Writing Assignment Write a Friendly Letter TE 313h
• Write a letter to a friend about
where you live.
• Make a realistic, clear picture in
words by using specific details.
• Use exact nouns when describing
details.
• Be sure to use commas where
needed in a letter.
Spelling Words
•their
•there
•wait
•weight
•passed
Homophones
•past
•allowed
•aloud
•throne
•thrown
Spelling Words
•beet
•beat
•bye
•by
•threw
Homophones
•through
•break
•brake
•peace
•piece
CHALLENGE
•stationery
•stationary
•cymbal
•symbol
•principle
•principal
This Week’s Word Wall Words
Click and type your own
words for this week:
Let’s review our Spelling
words. Watch carefully
because they will flash on the
screen for just a moment. We
can clap as we spell the word,
or we might just practice
reading the words.
piece
peace
brake
break
threw
through
by
bye
beet
beat
throne
thrown
allowed
aloud
passed
past
wait
weight
there
their