Sailing Home
Below-Level Reader
The Seafaring Life
Unit 5 Week 1
AUTHOR'S PURPOSE PREDICT
LESSON VOCABULARY bow,
cargo, celestial, conducted,
dignified, navigation, quivered, stern
SUMMARY Ships and boats played many roles in the late 1800s, from ferrying passengers to waging war. Ships required a range of trained personnel to navigate the seas, cook, and trade.
INTRODUCE THE BOOK
BUILD BACKGROUND Ask students if they have ever been on a ship, old or new. Ask them to describe the experience. Discuss what they think ship travel was like long ago.
PREVIEW/USE TEXT FEATURES Ask students to discuss how the images, diagram, and highlighted vocabulary words provide a guide to the book. Ask
them what they think they may learn from this book.
Ask students to share the words for
ship in their home languages. Extend the discussion by including words for a voyage as well as for words for the parts of a ship.
TEACH/REVIEW VOCABULARY Write the vocabulary words on the board. Review the meaning of homonym and homograph and ask students to find multiple meanings for: bow, mast, stern, galley. Note that bow can be pronounced two ways; each has multiple meanings. Define the other words and have students write sentences.
TARGET SKILL AND STRATEGY
AUTHOR'S PURPOSE Explain that authors have many reasons for writing, among them: to persuade, to inform, to entertain, and to express. Explain that text features such as diagrams or captions, help to show further what the author's purpose is. Remind students that the author's purpose (or purposes) is not usually stated.
PREDICT Define
predict for students as a skill in which you tell what you think might happen next in a story or article based on what has already happened. As they read, encourage students to predict how ships will handle bad weather.
READ THE BOOK
Use the following questions to support comprehension.
PAGES 6–7 Identify four types of ships used in the late 1800s.
(Possible answers: passenger, cargo, battleships, fishing)
PAGE 12 What was the chartroom for? (navigation; storing papers
and logs)
PAGES 16–17 What is the author's purpose for describing ship navigation?
(To explain that navigation was a complex task)
TALK ABOUT THE BOOK
READER RESPONSE
- Possible response: to help us understand the complexities of life
aboard ships in the late 1800s
- Responses will vary.
- Responses will vary.
- Responses will vary.
RESPONSE OPTIONS
WRITING Invite students to select a type of crew member and write
about a typical day at sea.
CONTENT CONNECTIONS
SOCIAL STUDIES Discuss the vast role
played by shipping during the wave of
immigration to the U.S. after 1892.
