Scott Foresman Reading Street

	Build vocabulary by finding words related to the lesson concept.
	Listen for comparisons and contrasts.

adobe built with bricks made from clay baked in the sun

highland related to a region that is higher and hillier than the neighboring countryside

terraces flat, raised levels of land with straight or sloping sides. Terraces are often made one above the other in hilly areas to create more space for raising crops.

then… review the lesson concept. Place the words on the web and provide additional words for practice, such as cultivate and clay stove.

If…
students are
unable to
place words
on the web,

Check Vocabulary

Homework Send home this
week’s Family Times newsletter.

Model Phrasing, 559a

Writing

Grammar

Fluency

Comparative
and Superlative
Adjectives, 559e

Syllable Patterns
V/CV and VC/V;
Pretest, 559i

Reading-Writing
Connection, 559g

Spelling

Fluency and Language Arts

Activate Prior Knowledge

Before students listen to the Read Aloud, explain that the Incas were an ancient people who lived in South America hundreds of years ago in the area of Peru. You may want to show the area on a map.

Set Purpose

Read aloud the title and have students predict what the selection will be about.

Have students listen to compare and contrast how life among ancient Inca farmers was the same or different from farmers' lives today.

Creative Response

Write words from "The Incas" on separate slips of paper and divide the slips among small groups. Have members of each group take turns choosing a word and acting it out for the rest of the group to guess. Students can use gestures or picture clues to demonstrate the meaning. If no one guesses the word, the student can give verbal word clues. Drama

Access Content Before reading, share this summary: This selection describes the lives of ancient Inca farmers, where they lived, how they farmed, and what they ate.

Day 1	What surprises can happen on an expedition?
Day 2	Why do you think Hiram Bingham is willing to go on such a difficult expedition?
Day 3	What are some of the difficulties and satisfactions in the life of an archeologist?
Day 4	How is visiting Machu Picchu today different from the trip Hiram Bingham made?
Day 5	Revisit the Day 1 question to wrap up the lesson.

Build Concepts

LISTENING COMPREHENSION

After reading "The Incas," use the following questions to assess listening comprehension.

1.		In what ways was farming more difficult for the Incas than for many farmers in other places and other times? (Possible responses: They had no machinery or animals to help them plow. Many farms were on steep hillsides, so they had to build terraces.) Compare and Contrast

2.		How does the Inca farmers' diet compare with how people in the United States eat today? (Possible response: They ate only food they grew themselves and had meals twice a day. Most people in the U.S. today eat food from many places and have meals three times a day. The Incas rarely ate meat. Many people in the U.S. today eat meat daily.) Compare and Contrast

BUILD CONCEPT VOCABULARY

Start a web to build concepts and vocabulary related to this week's lesson and the unit theme.

Draw the Ancient Civilizations Concept Web.
Read the sentence with the word terraces again. Ask students to pronounce terraces and discuss its meaning.
Place terraces in an oval attached to Farming. Discuss how terraces is related to this concept. Read the sentences in which adobe and highland appear. Have students pronounce the words, place them on the Web, and provide reasons.
Brainstorm additional words and categories for the Web. Keep the Web on display and add words throughout the week.

FLUENCY

MODEL PHRASING As you read “The Incas,” model using phrasing to reinforce

meaning. Read related words, such as those in prepositional phrases and

ost people ruled by the Great Inca were farmers. In some
places, they cut terraces resembling steps on steep
hillsides to create flat spaces on which to plant. Stones
between the "steps" kept dirt from washing down when it rained. Farmers fed themselves and their families with whatever they could grow in their region. Cacao, used to make chocolate, flourished at the edge of the jungle where it was warm and damp. Beans, peanuts, and pumpkins grew in high Andes valleys. Fruits and vegetables grew in the lower valleys where the days were warm and the nights cool. Andean farmers experimented with potatoes and learned to cultivate many different kinds under various growing conditions. Potatoes were unknown in other parts of the world until the Spaniards arrived and found the Incas growing them.

Inca farmers had no machinery or animals to help them. Llamas could carry small loads, but they were too delicate for harder jobs such as plowing. Farmers used a simple digging stick, a pole with a sharp point, to turn over soil before planting.

A farmer's home was usually a one-room adobe hut, whether he lived in the warm coastal desert region or in the mountains. The hut had no chairs, tables, or beds. The family sat, ate, and slept on straw mats on the dirt floor. Highland nights were cold, but the hut had no stove or fireplace. The farmer's wife cooked in a shed apart from the house. The stove was made of clay and had three openings, so three neighbors could cook a one-pot meal at the same time. Dried llama dung and grass were used for fuel. Most people ate two meals a day. Breakfast was cereal or soup. Dinner was also soup, made of potatoes, corn, or quinoa, onions, squash, and any other grain or vegetable available. Meat was rarely eaten. If a llama or guinea pig was eaten for a special occasion, the leftover meat was dried in the sun to preserve it for another time. Dried meat was called charqui and is still eaten in Peru. The English word "jerky" comes from that Quechua word.

Inca farmers devised a way of freeze-drying potatoes so they could be stored for as long as five or six years without spoiling. They set the potatoes out in the freezing night air and defrosted them the next day in the warm noonday sun. The farmer's wife pressed out the moisture with her feet. This process was repeated until the potatoes dried into a thick white chunk that looked like plastic foam. When the family needed potatoes, the chunk was soaked in water and cooked. Chuño, freeze-dried potatoes, are eaten to this day in Peru.