Guiding Comprehension

Compare and Contrast

• Critical

Text to Self Ask students to describe a time they played a game like the one the Madsen children play aboard ship.

Possible response: When the children slide around in boxes, it reminds me of the time my brother and I drove bumper cars at the county fair.

Vocabulary • Context Clues

Have students determine the meaning of the homograph
bow in the last sentence on
p. 524. Have them identify
context clues and then give
the meaning for bow.

Clues: It's a part of the ship, some distance from the stern. Meaning: The forward part of a ship is called the bow.

then… use
the vocabulary
strategy
instruction on
p. 525.

If… students have difficulty using context to
determine the meaning
of bow,

Context Clues

VOCABULARY STRATEGY

Context Clues

TEACH

Remind students that homonyms are words spelled and pronounced the same but that have different meanings. Homographs are spelled the same but pronounced differently, and also have different meanings. Readers can use their experience and context clues to decide which word meaning is correct.

Read the last sentence on p. 524. Model using context clues to determine the meaning of bow.

MODEL I know b-o-w can be pronounced with an OW sound and mean "to bend at the waist," or it can be pronounced BOH, as in a bow you tie with a ribbon. But the children are on a ship, sending messages back and forth. So I think bow must be a part of the ship. I already know that the bow of a ship is at the front of the ship. If I didn't know that, I could look it up in a dictionary. But I can understand the sentence without knowing exactly which part of the ship the bow is.

PRACTICE AND ASSESS

Have students use context clues to determine the meaning of stern in the last sentence on p. 524. (Clue: a part of the ship, at a distance from the bow. Meaning: The rear part of a ship is called the stern.)

"Sailing Home: A Story of a Childhood at Sea"
by Gloria Rand

Student Edition
Unit 5, pp. 520–533

Historical fiction is based on real events in history to which the writer has added details from his or her imagination. As you read about a family's life at sea, think about which details are real and which are from the author's imagination.

My two sisters, brother, and I, Matilda, grew up on a huge sailing ship in the 1800s. It carried cargo everywhere in the world. The captain of the ship was our father. He had a crew of men to help him. Our part of the ship had a bathroom, bedrooms, and a huge saloon. The saloon was our dining room and living room. There was also a kitchen, or galley, and a huge storage room for our things.
Mother raised animals for the ship's meat and eggs. They stayed in pens below deck. We children took care of our cat and a dog. We even had a pig! She fell into some hot tar and died. We gave her a dignified burial at sea.
We learned to count and read from Mother. And we learned about planets, stars, and celestial navigation from Father. He even taught us to use signaling flags. He gave us our own set of flags. Sometimes we used them to send messages back and forth from the stern to Father at the bow.
Later, Miss Shipman became our governess. She lived on the ship. She was a good teacher. But we taught her geography. We had been all over the world. So we knew more than she did!
One year we were on the China Sea. It was right before Christmas. We were just starting to put up some decorations. A huge storm came down on us. We had to take the decorations down. We rushed around tying down the piano and furniture. Mother put away little things. Otherwise, when big waves hit, they would fly all over. The storm lasted for days. We had to sit on the floor when Miss Shipman conducted class. The ship rolled back and forth, and the sky stayed black.
The storm got worse. Lifeboats were torn away and broken up by the waves. The sails were ripped apart. Father put us all on the floor of the chart room. Then we got scared. He tried to get us to think about the Christmas party we would have when the storm was over. Just then the ship rolled over onto her side. It stayed there. Father said to Mother, "Mary, I think we are going to sink." Their bravery made us all feel brave. We all hugged each other for a very long time.
Suddenly the ship quivered. It slowly rolled upright! We were safe! And we had the best Christmas ever. The crew sang, and Father and Mother danced.

Afterword: What you have read is based on a real family's life. The children loved their life on the ship. When faster steamships were invented, their way of life ended. Their hearts broke when they walked off the ship for the last time. Father turned and saluted the ship and the crew.



	Close
	Context Clues Remind students to be careful of words that look like others they may already know. Governess (p. 525, paragraph 2) resembles governor, but the two have very different meanings. Help students use context clues to figure out the actual meaning of governess: a woman who teaches children in a private home. Context Clues Discuss two meanings for waves, p. 524, paragraph 1 ("moving ridges of water" and "movements of a hand back and forth in greeting"). Have students use context clues to determine which meaning is appropriate. The Ocean Ecosystem The ocean is an ecosystem. An ecosystem is a physical environment, such as an ocean or a desert, that has nonliving things such as sunlight, air, and water, and living things such as plants and animals. All of these parts affect one another to keep the system going. The ocean's food cycle begins with plankton (plants and tiny plantlike animals) near the surface of the sea. Plankton use light, carbon dioxide, nutrients, and water to grow. Sea animals (fish, squid, and marine mammals such as whales) eat the plankton and each other. When sea animals die, their bodies sink and decay, providing food for other animals and nutrients for the plants. Then the food cycle begins again.

"Sailing Home: A Story of a Childhood at Sea" by Gloria Rand

"Sailing Home: A Story of a Childhood at Sea"
by Gloria Rand