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Storytown 2008
Grade 6
Theme 6 Lesson 27
Title: The Incredible Quest to Find the Titanic by Brad Matsen
Suggested Time: Five, 45-minute lessons
Common Core ELA Standards
RI.6.1, RI.6.3, RI.6.4, RI.6.5, RI.6.10; W.6.2, W.6.4; SL.6.1; L.6.1, L.6.2, L.6.4
Teacher Instructions
Refer to the Introduction for further details.
Before Teaching
1. Read the Big Ideas and Key Understandings and the Synopsis. Please do not read this to the students. This is a description for
teachers, about the big ideas and key understanding that students should take away after completing this task.
Big Ideas and Key Understandings
Nonfiction texts give facts about a topic. This selection highlights facts about the Titanic and how the mystery of why it
sank was solved.
Synopsis
This nonfiction story is about the luxury liner Titanic that collided with an iceberg and sank in 1912. Details are given
about the ship, the journey, and the catastrophe that the ship encountered during its maiden voyage. Facts are also given
about the explorers who found the location of the ship’s wreckage, the attempts they made to reach it, and their discovery
of the real cause for the sinking of the ship.
2. Read entire main selection text, keeping in mind the Big Ideas and Key Understandings.
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Grade 6
3. Re-read the main selection text while noting the stopping points for the Text Dependent Questions and teaching Vocabulary.
During Teaching
1. Students read the entire main selection text independently.
2. Teacher reads the main selection text aloud with students following along.
(Depending on how complex the text is and the amount of support needed by students, the teacher may choose to reverse the order of
steps 1 and 2.)
3. Students and teacher re-read the text while stopping to respond to and discuss the questions and returning to the text. A variety of methods
can be used to structure the reading and discussion (i.e.: whole class discussion, think-pair-share, independent written response, group work,
etc.)
Text Dependent Questions
Text Dependent Questions
Answers
When did the Titanic sink and how many years later was it discovered
by researchers? (page 695)
The ship sank in 1912 and was discovered 73 years later.
The word luxurious means “expensive, fancy, and splendid.”
Reread the first paragraph on page 697. What are two other
words the author used to describe the liner that have meanings
similar to luxurious?
What can the reader learn about the Titanic's size and power
based on the author's description of the ship? Use details and
quotes to support your answer. (page 697-8)
The author also described the liner as “elegant” and “splendid”.
Reread the last paragraph on page 698. What decision did the
Captain make that may have contributed to the sinking of the
Titanic?
“Titanic was huge, but it was also the most modern,
comfortable ship ever.” “…the mighty engines came to life.”
Because the author describes Titanic as a great ship with
mighty engines, the reader learns that it was huge and
powerful.
The weather was good and everything was working perfectly.
So the Captain increased Titanic’s speed.
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How does the author describe an iceberg on page 699? Why is
this significant to this text?
Reread the first paragraph on page 700. How does the author
describe the demeanor of the passengers? Why do the
passengers feel this way? Use details and quotes from the text
to support your answer.
How does the reader know that Captain Smith was aware of
and concerned about the threat of icebergs? Site evidence
from page 700.
Reread pages 700-701. How did the Titanic sink?
Rereads pages 701 and 702 and explain why so few passengers
survived the sinking of the Titanic. Use details and quotes from
the text to support your answer.
[The teacher may decide to edit this question to ask for the
‘three main reasons’ to prompt a full answer if scaffold is
needed]
Grade 6
An iceberg is huge and floats like an ice cube in the water. Only
about 10% sticks out above the water. The rest of it is hidden
beneath the water’s surface. Icebergs break off from
enormous, slow moving rivers of ice called glaciers. It’s
significant because the Titanic hit an iceberg and that caused
the wreck.
The passengers just ate dinner, some already went to bed.
They felt safe. “Everyone felt safe. The newspapers had
proclaimed Titanic to be unsinkable, and everyone believed
them.”
“The officers in charge of Titanic that night had been warned
about icebergs by other ships. Captain Smith posted two
lookouts near the front of the ship.”
Although the lookouts saw the iceberg and the captain ordered
the ship to turn and reverse, it did not make it in time and hit
the iceberg. “The huge submerged portion of the iceberg
collided with Titanic's underwater steel plates. The iceberg slid
along the starboard side of the ship. Ice fell on Titanic's
forward deck.” There was a failsafe in case any part of the ship
was damaged, but there was too much damage for it to work
“All four of Titanic's forward compartments were flooding with
water.”
“There were only enough life boats for less than half the people
aboard” and at first the passengers didn’t realize they were
really sinking and didn’t want to get in the boats. “During the
first hour after he [the captain] gave the order, many
passengers thought there was no real danger. Many were not
willing to get into the lifeboats. Some boats were lowered into
the ocean partly full.” Also, the water was so cold that even
though people had life jackets or something else to keep them
afloat, they died due to the extreme cold. “Hundreds of others
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Storytown 2008
Why did it take a year to prepare to explore the wreckage of
the Titanic? What was so special about the wreckage and
diving in the ocean? How was the wreckage finally explored?
pages 704-705)
What condition did Ballard and his crew find the Titanic?
Quote directly from the text how the author described the
wreckage. Why was it in this condition? (pages 706-707)
Explain why it wasn’t easy for the crew to explore the wreck.
(pages 708-709)
Grade 6
who had gone in the water in life jackets or clinging to
wreckage died before the rescue ship arrived.” So, many more
people could have been saved if they would have gotten into
the lifeboats and if there had been enough boats for everyone.
More would have survived if the temperature had not been so
cold.
The wreck was very deep in the ocean, which causes problems
with pressure, temperature, and light. “Diving into the deep
ocean is always dangerous. The water put enormous pressure
on Alvin's hull. Outside, the water was nearly freezing, and the
cabin grew colder as they descended. The dive to Titanic would
take 2 ½ hours. No sunlight reaches the deep ocean.”
The wreckage was finally explored by using a special submarine,
the Alvin and a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) called Jason Jr.
The men in the submarine used the ROV to explore the wreck.
The submarine and ROV were brought close to the site with the
crew on the ship, the Atlantis II.
“Ballard saw the two huge anchors still in their places. He saw
that the bow had driven deeply into the mud. Everything was
covered with rust. Crabs and sea worms were living all over the
wreck. All the wood on the ship had been eaten away. The
explorers could clearly see rails, one of the ships cranes, and
the remains of the bridge. The wooden wheelhouse had
completely vanished.” It was in this condition because it was
three miles below the surface of the ocean and had been there
for over seven decades.
They made 15 dives that summer. It was not easy. The
wreckage was very deep. There were technical difficulties with
the submarine (the battery light going off), they hit a davit from
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Storytown 2008
Grade 6
the wreck and almost did not recover, and weather also
influenced the releasing and retrieval of the submarine from
the ship, the Atlantis II. They almost lost ROV in bad weather,
too.
The heading on page 709 is “Mystery Solved.” Reread this
section and explain how the mystery was solved.
The mystery of how the Titanic sank was solved. “Using Jason
Jr's cameras, they could see part of the iceberg damage on
Titanic's side. It looked like the iceberg had not cut a gash in
the ship after all. Probably, the force of the collision had
caused rivets to break. Then, the plates on the side of the ship
came apart at the seams. Water flooded in. No ship could have
survived. Ballard and other explorers confirmed the theory that
the steel plates had come apart.”
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Storytown 2008
Grade 6
Vocabulary
Page 695: wreckage
Page 697: luxurious
Page 702: panic
Page 703: expedition, explore
Page 704: tether, hatch, submersible
Page 705: pressure
Page 709: collision
STUDENTS FIGURE OUT THE
MEANING
sufficient context clues are
provided in the text
TEACHER PROVIDES DEFINITION
not enough contextual clues
provided in the text
KEY WORDS ESSENTIAL TO UNDERSTANDING
Page 698: voyage, destiny
Page 700: lookouts, steered, course, bridge, plates
Page 701: afloat, aboard, compartments
Page 702: dreaded
Page 704: descent
Page 706: ascent
Page 708: remains
WORDS WORTH KNOWING
Page 697: passageways, reserved
Page 704: contraption, domain
Page 706: murky
Page 707: columns, particularly
Page 708: cradle
Page 697: lavish, splendid, (upper) decks
Page 698: coincidence, gusty, cast (off)
Page 700: strolling, proclaimed
Page 701: doomed
Page 704: cramped, checks
Page 705: switched (on)
Page 706: expert
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Storytown 2008
Grade 6
Culminating Task
Write a short essay explaining why the story of the Titanic is especially tragic. Include details and quotes from the text to support
your answer.
Answer should include:

The grand liner was thought and touted to be “unsinkable”.

It was the “greatest ocean liner of its time”.

The author implies that the captain may have had the ship going too fast (last paragraph page 698) and that if they had been
slower, may have stopped on time.

There were not enough lifeboats for the number of passengers “there were only enough lifeboats for less than half the
people aboard”, and the ship was not even full!

The captain knew there weren’t enough lifeboats and didn’t prevent this problem.

Many people did not get in the life boats when they had the opportunity, because they didn’t believe at first they were in
danger. “During the first hour he [the captain] gave the order, many passengers thought there was no real danger.” So, there
were lifeboats that were lowered only partly full.

The water was so cold that many people died even though they had life jackets or wreckage to keep them afloat.

It was also so tragic that SO many people died. Only a fraction (712 out of thousands) of passengers survived.
Additional Tasks

Vocabulary: Students will complete a “word web” using each vocabulary word. Web activities may include drawing illustrations,
writing sentences, giving antonym/synonym, writing definitions, etc.
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Grade 6

Create a tree map listing the three classes of passengers on board Titanic and describing their traveling accommodations.

Describe the relationship between a glacier and an iceberg.

Complete a research project with a partner or small group on the Titanic with library books, online sources, and videos.

Show clips from a documentary on the Titanic and its wreckage and compare/contrast it with the text.

Reread the sections called “Luxury Liner” on page 697 and “A Closer Look at Titanic” on page 706. Use the information to write a
three paragraph diary entry from the point of view of either:
o
a first class passenger seeing the Titanic for the first time or
o
an ocean explorer seeing the wreckage of the Titanic for the first time.
Use specific details and at least three examples from the text to support your ideas.
Note to Teacher
There is additional vocabulary that may need to be addressed (such as glacier, astern, stern, ROV, titanium).
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Storytown 2008
Grade 6