Unit 2 James and The Giant Peach - 5
The Big Question: How do people overcome difficulties?
Question of the Week: How does James change over time and as a
result of his experiences?
The beginning of this 3rd nine weeks will be a fun one. We will continue to work on a novel study of
“James and The Giant Peach”. The skills we will be working on will be comparisons, drawing
conclusions, synonymns/antonyms, prefixes and suffixes and generalizations. Our grammar piece
includes verbs (action and to be verbs). We will finish the story and work on a compare and contrast
essay between the novel and movie. There will be Day 7 spelling tests and grammar quizzes, Day 8
reading tests on our weekly skills and weekly homework grades.
Reading Target Skills



I can refer to details and examples in the text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when
drawing inferences from the text. R.L.4.1
Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition of good and evil) and
patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories, myths, and traditional literature from different
cultures. RL 4.9 and RL 3.9
I can find answers to specific questions within the stories I read. R.L. 3.1
Writing Target Skills
 I can clearly write to inform and explain my ideas. W4.2
 I can write to inform and explain my ideas. W.3.4
Listening Target Skills
 I can explain my own thinking and ideas after a discussion. SL 3.1
 I can paraphrase text read aloud or information presented to me. SL 4.2
Spelling Words - homophones
hare
hair
hear
here
blew
blue
to
too
buy
Spelling Test will be on Day 7 of every week.
two
buy
by
Vocabulary Target Skills
 I can explain the meaning of similes and metaphors in context. L.4.5
 I can find real life connections between words and their use (e.g. describe people who are
friendly or helpful) L.3.5
Vocabulary
There will be
no vocabulary
this week. We
will focus on
writing in class.
These are the vocabulary words up to Chapter 8 - 11. I will send
home flashcards for the Day 8 test. Check my website for the
Vocabulary power points to review at home.
Grammar Target Skills

Form and use the progressive (e.g., I was walking; I am walking; I will be walking) verb tenses. L 4.1
Grammar Skill
Grammar quizzes will be every Day 7
Verb: Things you “do”
Example: walk, run, eat, sneeze
To Be Verbs: show a state of being
Examples: am, is, are, was, were, have, has, had
Present tense verb: it is happening now
Examples: He is walking, I am walking
Past Tense: it happened in the past
Examples: He walked.
Future Tense: It will happen in the future.
Example: I will walk. I shall walk.