Adelina’s Whales
Unit 4 Week 4
4th Grade
O’Neal Elementary
Vocabulary
tangles- things twisted together, such as strands of hair
 rumbling- heavy, deep, and rolling
 snoring- making loud breathing sounds when sleeping
 massive- big or heavy
 dove- jumped into the water head first
 unique- one of a kind
 politicians- people who hold a government office
Vocabulary Game 1
Vocabulary Cloze Quia
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Vocabulary: Words in Context
dove massive politicians rumbling
snoring tangles unique
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1. We boarded the _______ boat, amazed at its size, and hoped
it would be a good day for whale watching.
2. The ______ had done a good job of protecting the whales in
this bay, so I was hopeful that we would see many whales.
3. I stepped over the nets that lay in _____ on the deck.
4.I watched as the birds ____ into the ocean to catch their
dinner.
5. When I heard a ______ sound, I looked toward the horizon
where I saw a ______ sight: a whale.
6. I shouted for my father, but when I heard his _____, I knew
that he had missed the fantastic sight.
Vocabulary: Story Words
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lagoon - a small bay with shallow seawater
breaching - breaking through something, such as
a water
bluff - cliff
Vocabulary:
Dictionary/Homographs
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Homographs are words that are spelled alike but have
completely different meanings and may have different
pronunciations.
Select the correct meaning of the underlined word.
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dove - a. past tense of dive
b. a kind of bird
fluke – c. part of a whale’s tail
d. something lucky
The whale splashed the surface of the water with its fluke.
The eagle dove for its prey.
It was a fluke that my mother won the game.
The bird watchers saw a mourning dove sitting in a tree.
Homographs Game
Homographs
Figurative Language:
Personification
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The literary device of personification is a kind of
figurative language that authors use to give
human qualities or characteristics to an animal,
object, or idea.
Reread the last three paragraphs on page 491. As
you read identify the whale’s actual behavior.
Then ask yourself what human characteristics or
feelings the author says the whales may have.
Phonics: Words with /oi/ and /ou/
The letters oi and oy almost always spell the sound
/oi/. The letters ou often spell /ou/, unless they are
followed by r or gh. The letters ow often spell /ou/,
but they may also spell the long o sound.
 Read the following words and identify the letters that
spell /ou/ and /oi/.
 joy
spoil
mountain
blouse
 coin
tower
around
mouth
Phonics Practice
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Fluency: Tempo
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Fluency Practice
Echo read the following passage
Begin with a slow mood
Change the mood after the whale nudges the boat
In a whisper, her grandfather begins to draw them in.
Adelina closes her eyes to imagine the calm and quiet
on that first afternoon when his boat was gently nudged
by a huge gray whale. As the boat rocked, her
grandfather and his fishing partner’s hearts pounded.
They held tight and waited, preparing themselves to be
thrown into the water by the giant animal. The whale
dove below them and surfaced again on the opposite
side of their boat, scraping her head along the smooth
sides. Instead of being tossed from the boat, they were
surprised to find themselves still upright and floating.
Comprehension: Draw Conclusions
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Good readers use information from a selection
as well as personal experience to draw
conclusions.
Good readers can draw conclusions about a
person’s character and about events by looking
for clues in the selection.
Comprehension:
Analyze Text Structure
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An author must choose a structure that will best
communicate what he or she wants to say to the
reader. Good readers look for clues about what
kind of structure the author has chosen.
Knowing what the basic structure is may help
students determine the author’s purpose.
Comprehension: Sequence
Sequence is the order in which events happen. Authors
who use sequence to provide a structure for their texts
have decided that readers will need to know when
things happen in order to understand them. Authors
who write about history or who write how-to texts will
usually use sequence to organize the information in
their writing.
 Some signal words are: first, next, then, finally, second,
and after.
 Time related words can also signal the sequence of a
story.
Sequencing -Crickweb
Reading Skills Rocket
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Poetry: Limericks
A limerick is a funny poem with a specific pattern of
rhyme and meter. All limericks have five lines.
 Meter is the rhythm, or beat, of a poem. It is created by
the arrangement of accented and unaccented syllables
in a line.
 Rhyme Scheme is the pattern of rhymes in a poem.
Capital letters are used to represent each individual
rhyme.
Poetry Writing
Poetry Practice
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Reflections : Day 1
 What
conclusions can you draw about
the village of La Laguna? Use two
details from the story to support your
answer.
Reflections: Day 2
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Identify events from the beginning, middle and
end of the story.
Complete a story map to show the major events
in the order that they happened.
Reflections: Day 3
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Reread page 497
Why do you think Adelina does not go out in
the boats too. Use two details from the story to
explain your answer.
Reflections: Day 4
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Explain ways in which the author uses
personification on page 496.
Reflections: Day 5
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What events drew whale watchers to Laguna San
Ignacio? Be sure to name the events in the order
in which they occurred.