Title:
Pushing Up the Sky
Author:
Joseph Bruchac
Illustrator:
Teresa Flavin
Genre:
Play
Small Group
Timer
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unhappy
recall
disappear
unload
mistake
misspell
dislike
replace
mislead
disagree
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rewrite
unroll
unknown
dishonest
react
unfortunate
discourage
uncomfortable
recycle
mispronounce
MORE
VOCABULARY
WORDS
VOCABULARY
WORDS
antlers
 imagined
 languages
 narrator
 overhead
 poked
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

bumped
randomly
chariot
civilization
entertainment
 Monday
 Tuesday
 Wednesday
 Thursday
 Friday
Question of the Day
How do people explain nature
in order to understand it?
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Author’s Purpose
Summarize
Build Background
Vocabulary Words
Fluency: Characterization
Main and Helping Verbs
Prefixes un-, re-, mis-, disExplaining Nature
Fluency:
Characterization
Listen as I read “The Class Play.”
 As I read, notice how I use
different voices for each
character.
 Be ready to answer questions
after I finish.

Why do you think the author
wrote this article?
 Identify one comparison and one
contrast the author makes
between civilization today and
ancient Greek civilization.

Why We
Tell Myths
Explaining
Nature
Mythological
Explanations
of Natural
Events
Who Explains
and Tells
Myths
Pages 304 - 305
K
(What you already know)
W
(What you want to know)
L
(What you learned)
As you read the play, look for answers to your questions that can be added to the chart.
antlers – bony, branching
growths on the head of a male
deer, elk or moose
 imagined – made a picture or
idea of something in your mind
 languages – human speech,
spoken or written

narrator – the person who tells
a story
 overhead – over the head; on
high; above
 poked – pushed with force
against someone or something

bumped – hit yourself against
something hard
 randomly – in no particular
order
 chariot - a carriage with two
wheels pulled by horses; used in
ancient times for fighting and
racing

civilization – an advanced way of
life that usually includes towns,
written forms of language, and
special kinds of work for people
 entertainment – something that
interests, pleases, or amuses
people
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Next slide
Grammar:
Main and Helping Verbs
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all the village man were hunting
on monday
All the village men were hunting
on Monday.
theyd seen deers and foxs in
the forest
They’d seen deer and foxes in
the forest.
The stars were shining through the
holes poked into the sky.
The word shining is the main verb.
The verb were is a helping verb.
A verb phrase is a verb that has
more than one word.
The main verb shows action.
A helping verb shows the time of
the action.

In the following sentences,
telling is the main verb, and are
is the helping verb.
The people are telling stories.

The
helping verbs am, is, and
are show present time.
Was and were show past time.
Will shows future time.
The helping verbs has, have, and
had show that an action
happened in the past.
In the following sentences, had
and will are helping verbs.
He had told that story before.
He will tell that story again.

Native Americans had told
interesting legends.
 had told
 They were explaining the world
around them.
 were explaining
 I have heard legends about the
sun and the moon.
 have heard

In some stories, animals are
talking like people.
 are talking
 Someday I will entertain you
with the stories.
 will entertain

I am writing a legend.
 main verb
 I have set the story in a
forest.
 helping verb
The flowers are talking to the
trees.
 main verb

The huge trees will care for
the little flowers.
 main verb
 You will hear my story soon.
 helping verb

Spelling:
Prefixes un-, re-, mis-, dis-
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

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unhappy
recall
disappear
unload
mistake
misspell
dislike
replace
mislead
disagree










rewrite
unroll
unknown
dishonest
react
unfortunate
discourage
uncomfortable
recycle
mispronounce
Question of the Day
If you were going to create
masks to represent the
animals in the story, how
would they look?
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Prefixes un-, re-, mis-, disGlossary
Author’s Purpose
Summarize
Develop Vocabulary
Fluency: Readers’ Theater
Main and Helping Verbs
Moon Phases
Explaining Nature
Pages 306 - 307
Pages 308 - 313
Fluency:
Characterization
Turn
to page 312.
As I read the different parts
of the play, notice how my tone
changes.
In groups of five, do a Readers’
Theater reading of page 312.
Grammar:
Main and Helping Verbs
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do you recal the golden eagles
in the forest
Do you recall the golden eagles
in the forest?
they was sitting on a pine Tree
They were sitting on a pine
tree.
A
main verb is the part of a
verb phrase that shows action.
A helping verb shows the time
of the action.
Spelling:
Prefixes un-, re-, mis-, dis-
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



unhappy
recall
disappear
unload
mistake
misspell
dislike
replace
mislead
disagree

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







rewrite
unroll
unknown
dishonest
react
unfortunate
discourage
uncomfortable
recycle
mispronounce
Question of the Day
Why aren’t the people
successful in pushing up the
sky the first time they try?
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Summarize
Glossary
Cause and Effect
Develop Vocabulary
Fluency: Characterization
Main and Helping Verbs
Prefixes un-, re-, mis-, disRegions
Explaining Nature
Pages 314 - 321
Fluency:
Characterization
Turn
to page 314.
Notice how my voice changes as
I read the dialogue of the
different characters.
Practice doing Readers’ Theater
readings of this page in groups
of five.
Grammar:
Main and Helping Verbs
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the hunters spoted a broun
bare among the trees
The hunters spotted a brown
bear among the trees.
they went after the animal but
it dissapeared into the woods
They went after the animal,
but it disappeared into the
woods.
Describing
the precise time of
an action makes writing clearer.
Helping verbs express time.
The men have seen bears many
times before.
Spelling:
Prefixes un-, re-, mis-, dis-
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
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

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unhappy
recall
disappear
unload
mistake
misspell
dislike
replace
mislead
disagree

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







rewrite
unroll
unknown
dishonest
react
unfortunate
discourage
uncomfortable
recycle
mispronounce
Question of the Day
How do make-believe stories
help us wonder about real
things, like thunder and
lightning and the seasons?
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Contractions
Myth
Reading Across Texts
Content-Area Vocabulary
Fluency: Readers’ Theatre
Main and Helping Verbs
Prefixes un-, re-, mis-, disSocial Studies: Fire
Pages 322 - 329
Fluency:
Characterization
Turn
to page 317.
Groups of five will choose parts
and practice reading aloud page
317 three times.
Remember to read with proper
characterization.
Grammar:
Main and Helping Verbs
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two woman unlode wood, and
then they build a fire
Two women unload wood, and
then they build a fire.
the fire will kept every one in
the village warm
The fire will keep everyone in
the village warm.
 Test
Tip:
 Sometimes one or more words come
between a main verb and a helping verb.
 Example: Hummingbirds are always
moving their wings.
 In this sentence, moving is the main verb,
and are is the helping verb. The word
always is not part of the verb.
Spelling:
Prefixes un-, re-, mis-, dis-

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
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





unhappy
recall
disappear
unload
mistake
misspell
dislike
replace
mislead
disagree










rewrite
unroll
unknown
dishonest
react
unfortunate
discourage
uncomfortable
recycle
mispronounce
Question of the Day
How do people explain nature
in order to understand it?
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






Build Concept Vocabulary
Author’s Purpose
Steps in a Process
Glossary
Main and Helping Verbs
Prefixes un-, re-, mis-, disThesaurus
Explaining Nature
The
author’s purpose is the reason
the author writes something.
An author may be trying to persuade,
to inform, to entertain, or to
express ideas and feelings.
Different parts of a piece of writing
may have different purposes.
When
we look at steps in a process,
we are looking at the order in which
things happen, or the order in which
we have to do something to do it
correctly.
Directions are an example of steps in
a process.
Sometimes
there are clue words in
the text, such as first, second, next,
then, and finally.
Other times, we have to use what we
already know to determine which
steps come first, second, third, and
so on.
You can use a glossary at the back
of a book to determine the meaning
of unfamiliar words.
List any unknown words you find as
you read “Pushing Up the Sky.”
Create a chart showing the unknown
word and its definition in the
glossary.

Word
Glossary Definition
Some
words such as play, refer to
acting on the stage or putting on a
play or drama.
Use reference sources to make lists
of drama words and their
definitions.
Write a paragraph, using your
drama words, about staging a play.
stage
 drama
 comedy
 scene
 actor

prop
 costume
 role
 dialogue
 director
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Grammar:
Main and Helping Verbs
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the two man is making a boat
out of branchs
The two men are making a boat
out of branches.
it will flowt on a long voiage
It will float on a long voyage.
Prefixes
are word parts added at
the beginning of a base word that
changes it meaning.
What does the prefix un- mean?
What does the prefix re- mean?
What does the prefix mis- mean?
What does the prefix dis- mean?
unhappy
 What is the base word?
The prefix un- means “not” or “do
the opposite of.” Adding un- to a
word will change the meaning of the
base word.

The first thing you do when you come to
a word like unhappy is break it into its
word parts.
 Take off un- and have happy.
 You know what happy means.
 The prefix un- means “not,” so unhappy
must mean “not happy.”
 Use it in a sentence: I was unhappy I
had to leave.
 That makes sense, so you know that
unhappy means “not happy.”

What is the prefix and base word of
each of these words and what do
they mean?
 rewrite
 misplace
 disagree
unstable
 distaste
 reorder
 misrepresent
 recheck
 unlucky
 discomfort
 misconduct

They were
uninterested in the
dishonest activity.
The lost book had
been mislabeled and
replaced on the
wrong shelf.

We
studied contractions.
 can’t
 Look at the word can’t. What two
words is this contraction made
from?
 cannot
What letters do the apostrophe
stand for?
 no
What
two words
are these
contractions
made from?
What letters do
the apostrophe
stand for?
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I’ll
I will - wi
let’s
let us - u
I’m
I am - a
they’re
they are - a
shouldn’t
 should not
 what’ll
 what will
 don’t
 do not
 doesn’t
 does not
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oughtn’t
ought not
couldn’t
could not
she’s
she is
mightn’t
might not
Abigail was not in the library.
 wasn’t
 Pat could not have broken
this glass.
 couldn’t

Shane did not know where
the book was.
 didn’t
 Put the milk in the
refrigerator where it will stay
cold.
 it’ll

What
kind of reference source can
be used to find words that have
similar meanings?
You can use a print or electronic
thesaurus.
A thesaurus is a book of
synonyms—words that mean the
same or almost the same as another
word.
In
a print thesaurus, you usually
look up the word for which you want
synonyms.
The thesaurus might give a list of
synonyms with different meanings.
Make sure you choose the synonym
with the correct meaning.
A dictionary can help.
 Many
word processing programs
have a thesaurus.
 You can highlight a word on the
screen and click on the
thesaurus under the Tools menu.
 You will get a list of different
meanings for the word.
 Click on the meaning you want,
and a list of synonyms will come
up.
Spelling:
Prefixes un-, re-, mis-, dis-










unhappy
recall
disappear
unload
mistake
misspell
dislike
replace
mislead
disagree










rewrite
unroll
unknown
dishonest
react
unfortunate
discourage
uncomfortable
recycle
mispronounce
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Words
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