Family Times
Daily Questions
Prior Knowledge
Author's Purpose
Vocabulary
Multiple Meaning Words
Predictions
Guided Questions
Cause and Effect
Metaphor
Independent Readers
Becky Shroeder Enlightened Thinker
Additional Resources
Study Skills:
Genre: Play
Vocabulary Strategy: Context Clues
(Multiple Meaning Words)
Comprehension Skill: Author’s Purpose
Comprehension Strategy: Story
Structure
Question of the Week:
How do inventors inspire our imaginations?
Daily Questions:
Why does the King wish to fly so much?
How is reading a book like taking a journey?
Does Becky inspire you to try and invent something from
your ideas? Why or why not?
Activate Prior Knowledge
Inventors
K
W
Inventors have good
imaginations.
What does it take to be an
inventor?
Thomas Edison was a famous
inventor.
What are the most
important inventions ever
made?
L
Author’s Purpose
• The author’s purpose is the reason or reasons an
author has for writing. The purpose may change during a
selection, but most selections have one main purpose.
• An author may write to persuade you, to inform you, to
entertain you, or to express ideas or feelings. The kinds
of ideas and the way the author states them help you see
the author’s purpose.
Kinds of Ideas
Ways ideas are stated
Author’s Purpose (s):
Persuade
Inform
Entertain
express
Story Structure:
Active readers pay attention to story
structure for clues about the author’s
main purpose. Generally, authors
identify the problem of the main
character at the start. They work
through the problem as the action rises
in the middle, and then solve it with
the climax and outcome.
WRITE:
1. Read “Minnie Miller, Millionaire.” Use the
graphic organizer above to give the author’s
main purpose for writing and two ideas from
the story that support your answer.
2. Write a paragraph telling what you think the
author’s main purpose was for writing “Minnie
Miller, Millionaire” and how the author
achieved that purpose.
Word
Meaning
Admiringly
With wonder
permit
allow
scoundrel
subject
worthless
Sentence
Tom looked admiringly at his
big brother.
My parents permit me to stay
up until 9:00.
Admiringly
With wonder, pleasure, and approval
Permit
To let; allow
Scoundrel
An evil, dishonorable person
Subject
Person under the power, control, or influence
of another.
Worthless
Without value; good-for-nothing;
useless
More Words to Know
Parapet: a low wall at the edge
of a balcony, roof, or bridge
Reproachfully: with disapproval
Practice Lesson Vocabulary:
Does the King permit visitors?
Is Geraldine Kronmiller a royal subject?
Are Tina Applegate’s wings worthless when it comes to flying?
The King listened to the stories _________________________.
As soon as the King would _____________, the Page would start
talking.
The King threw the first and second _________________ into the
dungeon.
Vocabulary Strategy (p. 264)
Context Clues (Multiple Meaning Words)
Some words have more than one meaning. Use words and sentences around the word
with multiple meanings to figure out which meaning the author is using.
1. When you are puzzled by a multiple-meaning word, read the words and sentences
around it to get the context for the word.
2. Then think about the different meanings the word has. For example, direct can
mean “to manage,” “to command,” and “to show the way.”
3. Reread the sentence, replacing the word with one of the meanings.
4. If this meaning does not work, try another one.
As you read “Heroes and Dragons,” use the context and your knowledge of the word to
decide which meaning a multiple-meaning word has. For example, does permit
mean “to allow” or does it mean “a license”?
Genre: Play
A Play is a story written to be
acted out for an audience. As you
read, imagine the actors speaking
the lines and acting out the action.
Who will show the
King the secret of
flying?
Preview and Predict
Look at the title, illustrations, and
other external story structure features
like the cast of characters, speech tags,
and stage directions. Predict what the
play is about. Use you vocabulary
words when forming your predictions.
Guided Comprehension:
What do we know about the King?
What do you think the author’s purpose is for writing Wings for the King? How
do you know?
When the King commands that someone make him wings, what effect does it
have on the others?
What words would you use to describe the King?
Describe how this play is similar to and different from other plays you’ve read.
Think about structure, characters, and plot.
How do the stage directions add to the play’s humor?
What does the Queen’s dialogue tell you about her personality?
Compare Tina’s invention to Geraldine’s invention.
Guided Comprehension Continued
What effect do you think the two failed inventions will have on the King?
Use context clues to determine the meaning of skip at the end of p. 275.
Why do you think Isaac Summerville brought books to the King? What do the
books symbolize?
Explain what you think the author’s purpose is on p. 276-277.
The word page has multiple meanings. Use context clues to contrast the
meaning of page in the second line of p.278 with the character called Page.
Describe a time when you read something that took you on a journey to the
“land of knowledge.”
Cause and Effect (TM 271)
• Clue words often signal a cause and effect relationship.
• Clue words aren’t always included. Sometimes a reader
has to infer the relationship.
Write a sentence about a cause-effect relationship in the
play using one of the words: because, so, or since.
Metaphor:
A metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things that are alike in at least
one way.
• The similarity in a metaphor is implied. There are no comparison words such as
like or as.
• While a simile says that one thin is like something else, a metaphor says that one
thing is something else.
• A symbol is a person, place, or object that has meaning in itself but suggests
other meanings as well.
Reread Isaac’s third line on p. 277. Notice the metaphor comparing books to
wings.
Locate the metaphor in Isaac’s first line on p. 278:
“Reading is discovering…” and write about what
is being compared.
1. What is being compared?
2. Why is this a metaphor and not a simile?
SUMMARY
The author offers a brief history of the development of
flight, from the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci to the use
of the Concorde. She describes many uses of flight,
including mail delivery, passenger service, and weapons
transport.
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
PAGE 8 What did the Wright brothers do when they
failed in one of their tests or experiments?
PAGE 12 What conclusion can you draw about the effect
of World War I on the development of aviation?
PAGE 15 What is the author’s purpose in telling readers
about Amelia Earhart?
PAGE 23 Summarize the major developments in
aviation since the Wright brothers’ 1903 controlled
airplane flight.
SUMMARY
Kids have created inventions dating from 5,000 years
ago. This book describes five such inventions and
explains the process for getting a patent. The book
invites students to invent too.
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
PAGE 5 How did Hsi Ling Shi invent silk?
PAGE 6 How did Chester Greenwood invent earmuffs?
PAGES 8–9 Why did Jeanie Low invent a stool
that folded?
PAGE 11 Why do inventors need patent lawyers?
PAGE 13 What motivated Josh Parsons to invent?
PAGE 17 What is the author’s purpose in including a flow
chart?
SUMMARY
The author describes a variety of aspects of the patent
process. She explains why people need patents, how
people get patents, and what patents are used for.
The author also refers to some well-known inventions
that have been patented and describes the work of
prominent inventors.
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
PAGE 5 What reasons might people have for wanting
exclusive rights to their inventions?
PAGE 9 Based on the sketch prepared and submitted
by Alexander Graham Bell, what generalization can
you make about the level of detail needed in
inventors’ sketches when they apply for patents?
PAGE 10 What seems to be the author’s purpose?
PAGE 19 Examine the chart. What does the structure
of the chart allow the reader to do?
Narrative Nonfiction:
•Narrative Nonfiction tells the true story of an
event that takes place over a certain period of
time, anywhere from minutes to years.
•This event may come from one person’s life,
or it may involve several people, places, and
things.
Text features:
•The event is usually told in chronological
order, from start to finish.
•Narrative nonfiction sometimes contains
quotes from the people involved.
•Look at the title and illustrations to get an
idea of who and what this selection deals
with.
What do you think the selection is about?
Why do you think some words appear in different print?
Is the author trying to inform or entertain?
What clues tell you that sequence is the text structure?
How do the illustrations help make things clearer?
Compare the King and Becky Schroeder. Were they both inventors? What goals
did they have in mind? What methods did they use for achieving them?
Present you answers in two separate paragraphs.
Additional Resources:
Homograph Game
Context Clues
Cause and Effect
Author's Purpose
Metaphors
Metaphors 2