Family Times
Daily Questions
Prior Knowledge
Author's Purpose
Vocabulary
Multiple Meaning Words
Predictions
Guided Comprehension
Graphic Sources
Paraphrase
Independent Readers
Woman Astronauts
Additional Resources
Study Skills
Genre: Interview
Vocabulary Strategy: Context Clues
Comprehension Skill: Author’s Purpose
Comprehension Strategy: Monitor and
Fix Up
Question of the Week
How does an astronaut prepare for a journey?
Daily Questions
What questions would you like to ask Ellen
Ochoa?
What surprised you the most about space
travel?
Do you think Mae Jemison is a good role
model? Explain.
Activate Prior Knowledge
Astronauts
K
W
Astronauts wear special
space suits when they walk
out in space.
What are the
requirements to be an
astronaut?
Astronauts use simulators in
their training.
What’s it like to work in
space?
L
Author’s Purpose
The author is the main reason an author writes a selection. An
author may write to persuade, to inform, to entertain, or to
express ideas or feelings.
Sometimes an author may write with more than on purpose in
mind.
What the author says and details given help you figure out the
author’s purpose.
Detail
Detail
Detail
Author’s
Purpose or
Purposes
Monitor and Fix Up
Sometimes as you are reading you
realize you’ve lost touch with what the
author is saying. You may adjust your
reading speed as you think about the
author’s purpose. You also might
make a list of important ideas in the
text..
WRITE
1. Read “The United States in Space.” Create a
graphic organizer like the one above to record the
details that give clues to the purpose the author
had for writing.
2. Write what you think the author’s main purpose
was for writing “The United States in Space” and
why you think this.
Vocabulary Word List
Accomplishments
Focus
Gravity
Monitors
Role
Specific
Introduce Vocabulary
Look up each vocabulary word in your glossary. Note each word’s pronunciation and
meaning. Answer the following questions:
What are some of you accomplishments this year in school?
What is the focus of today’s math lesson?
How does gravity affect a ball thrown in the air?
How many monitors are in the computer lab?
What role does the principal play in your school?
Name a specific flavor of ice cream that you prefer.
Accomplishments
Things that have been done with
knowledge, skill, or ability;
achievements.
Focus
The central point of attraction,
attention, or activity.
Monitors
Screens connected to a computer,
which show information and
instructions.
Role
A part played by a person in real life;
role model, person whose patterns of
behavior influence someone else’s
actions and beliefs
Gravity
The natural force that causes objects
to move or tend to move toward the
center of the earth.
Specific
Definite; precise; particular
More Words to Know
Extraterrestrials: Creatures from outer space
Inconceivable: Hard to imagine or believe;
incredible
Weightlessness: The condition of being free
from the pull of gravity
Practice Lesson Vocabulary
Yes or No
Is a role model someone to follow or look up to?
Can accomplishments be done without interest and effort?
Is it possible to do well on a test if you don’t focus?
True/False
There is zero gravity on Earth.
There are no specific requirements necessary to become an astronaut.
Monitors are screens used on space missions.
Vocabulary Strategy (p.562)
Multiple Meaning Words
Some words have more than one meaning. You can find clues in nearby
words to decide which meaning the author is using.
1. Think about different meanings the word can have.
2. Reread the sentences in which the word appears. Which meaning fits in
the sentence?
3. If you can’t tell, then look for more clues in nearby sentences.
4. Put the clues together and decide which meaning words best.
As you read “ To Be an Astronaut,” use the context to decide which meaning a
multiple-meaning word has in the article. For example, does role mean “
a character in a play” or “a socially expected behavior”?
Genre: Interview
An interview is a question-answer session
in which the interviewer asks questions
and the subject answers them. Notice
how the subject gives careful, thoughtful
answers.
What is it like to
fly into space?
Preview and Predict
Preview the selection title and
photographs. Identify the subject of
the interview and predict her
experiences as an astronaut. Use
lesson vocabulary in your
discussion.
Guided Comprehension
Why do you think the author asks questions about Ochoa’s background?
What do you think Ochoa means by the term role model?
Ellen Ochoa says that her mother was a big influence in her life. Is there
someone in your life who has influenced you a great deal?
Why didn’t Ochoa consider being an astronaut when she was growing up?
How does the photo on p. 569 relate to the text?
Why do you think the interviewer asked Ochoa about her NASA training?
Identify the context clues on p. 571 that would help a reader determine the
meaning of gravity.
Why do you think Ochoa uses swimming and scuba diving as comparisons to
weightlessness?
Guided Comprehension Continued
Why do you think this article was written as an interview?
What inference can you make about how astronauts spend their time in
space by looking at the photo on p. 573?
How does Ochoa keep in touch with her family from space?
What is the main idea of Ochoa’s answer to the first question on p. 575?
Ochoa says that astronauts must be team players. Think about what it
means to be a team player. Why do you think she gives this advice?
Graphic Sources
Graphic sources are on essential part of a text.
Illustrations and pictures are important aids to
understanding a selection.
Ochoa mentions a robot arm and a space station in her
second answer. The photograph makes this information
clearer and easier to understand because it shows the
actual robot arm at word on a mission.
Describe other kinds of pictures that could have been
used to illustrate the text on p. 568.
Paraphrase
To paraphrase something is to put it in your own words. When you paraphrase, keep
the author’s ideas and overall meaning, and avoid adding your own opinions.
Paraphrasing helps you make sure you understand a piece of writing.
Remember to always paraphrase when you take notes from reference sources to be
sure you don’t copy the words exactly.
Paraphrase the first question and answer on p. 572. Discuss the information before
writing anything down.
Work with partners to paraphrase the last question and answer on p. 575, and write
it down.
1.
Did paraphrasing help you better understand this question and answer?
2.
Did you keep the author’s ideas and overall meaning?
SUMMARY
This selection gives a brief history of space travel,
beginning with the Cold War race to launch the first satellite
in space and concluding in today’s era of greater
international cooperation. After following milestone
developments such as the inclusion of women in the United
States’ and other countries’ space programs, readers learn
what it takes to be an astronaut, from science training to
swimming tests.
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
PAGE 3 What can you tell about the author’s purpose from the
chapter titles?
PAGE 4 Notice that the definition for orbit is between commas
in the sentence A satellite is something that orbits, or travels
around, a larger body in space. Write a similarly constructed
sentence that uses one of the
vocabulary words.
PAGE 11 What is one reason there were no women test pilots in
the 1950s and 1960s?
PAGE 17 What does the survival training tell you about the work
of astronauts?
SUMMARY
This selection gives a brief history of space travel,
beginning with the Russian satellite Sputnik and the dog
who was the first living being to fly in space. Readers
then learn of the specific training required to become an
astronaut or a mission specialist.
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
PAGE 3 What paragraph on this page gives the best clues
about the author’s purpose?
PAGE 4 Look at the sentence What was their focus? Write a
sentence that asks this same question in different words.
PAGE 10 Alan B. Shepard went into space but not into orbit.
What is the difference between being in space and being in
orbit?
PAGE 15 What might be one reason that pilot astronauts
need excellent vision, while mission specialists need only
very good vision?
SUMMARY
During the Cold War, the former Soviet Union and the United
States competed to launch the first satellite in space.
The Soviets cosmonauts won the race in the early stages,
which prompted the creation of NASA and years of space
exploration driven by international competition. Today,
scientists from many different countries live on the
International Space Station and cooperate in their efforts to
further explore space.
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
PAGE 3 This page, unlike the pages that follow, has no bold
heading. What does this suggest about the text on this page?
PAGE 6 What is one difference between the
training of astronauts and cosmonauts?
PAGES 10 AND 12 Based on these pages, which
country won the early race to explore space?
PAGE 21 What sentence on this page best summarizes the
current state of space explanation?
Genre: Online Directories
Online directories list links to many
Web sites about a given topic.
You can use an online directory to
learn about a topic.
Text Features:
Directories list topics as links. You
may click on any topic link.
Or you may type in keywords and
click on the search button.
Your next step is a list of links to Web
sites that are all about you topic.
What topics appear when the researcher clicks on the Space
link?
What could you do to find a list of Web sites about Space
Shuttle astronauts?
Is information easy to find on this site?
Read Mae Jemison’s advice and think about it.
Additional Resources