Guiding Comprehension

Ask Questions • Literal

What is Lily going to do tomorrow?

Climb the sycamore tree and write letters to her backyard friends

Draw Conclusions

• Inferential

What kind of letters do you think Lily will write?

Possible response: Letters
about what things in nature
can use, like the bread crumbs
for the ants on p. 339

Compare and Contrast

• Critical

Text to Self In what ways is Lily like you? In what ways is she different?

Responses will vary. Look for students to use clue words such as like, too, and also for comparisons and unlike and different from for contrasts.

Summarize When students finish reading the selection, provide this prompt: Imagine that you want to tell a friend what Night Letters is about. In four or five sentences, explain its important points.

STRATEGY SELF-CHECK

Ask Questions

Have students ask questions about
the selection. Then have them answer
their questions. They may need to
refer to outside sources or consider
their own knowledge to answer their questions. Students should draw at
least three conclusions relating to
the selection and what they learned
or already knew. Use Practice
Book 3.1, p. 127.

SELF-CHECK

Students can ask themselves these questions to assess their
understanding of the selection.

How did I arrive at the conclusions I have drawn in my reading?
Did I base my conclusions on
accurate facts?
Do my conclusions make sense?
Do my questions help me
understand what I have read?

then…
use the Reteach lesson on
p. 353b.

If… students are unable to draw a conclusion,

Draw Conclusions

Practice Book 3.1 p. 127

with | without Answers

"Night Letters"
by Palmyra LoMonaco

Student Edition
Unit 3, pp. 334–349

Realistic fiction has settings that can seem real, but the stories are made up. What details in this Snapshot make the setting realistic?

When evening comes, before the light fails and darkness falls, Lily runs outdoors. This is her time to look at nature before all the creatures settle in for the night. Lily takes her notepad so she can record everything she sees and hears. She imagines that all the creatures and things in nature write her letters, telling her about their day.
First there are the ants. A line of them marches back to their hill. What would their letter say? It would thank Lily for the bread crumbs that fell from her lunch today. She writes this onto her notepad.
Lily watches a hawkmoth flutter from flower to flower, drinking in each one's nectar. The moth would tell her that it visits only the fully opened blossoms, not the small budding ones. Lily writes this on her notepad.
She looks at the large, cracked rock in the tomato patch. She writes that today the rock touched drops of dew and a spider web. Tonight it will look for stars.
Soon Lily sees a blinking light, first on a blade of grass and then in the bushes. Then more and more lights blink on and off. The fireflies are inviting Lily to catch them. She writes their message on her notepad. "Catch us if you can!"
Lily sits under her favorite tree in the backyard. The big old sycamore has many stories to tell. It has told her about buds that burst into green leaves in the spring. It has told her about birds that sing as they build comfortable nests in its branches, and about how silent the tree is when the birds fly south. The old sycamore has told Lily of the winter, when evenings are too cold and dark for a nature walk. But this summer evening, as the sky fades, Lily writes what she hears the tree say to her now. "Dear Lily, Please climb me tomorrow."
She gets up from her seat against the tree's huge trunk. She stands and looks back at the sycamore. She is ready to go indoors now and think about the day and what she will write back to her backyard friends.
Lily is ready to write one more night letter about this day.



	Close
	PRACTICE LESSON VOCABULARY Students orally respond true or false to each question and make false statements true. A notepad is a large binder with three rings in it that you can add paper to. (False; a notepad is a small pad of paper.) A harmonica is heavy and difficult to carry. (False; a harmonica could fit in your pocket.) You can see fireflies easily only in the dark. (True) BUILD CONCEPT VOCABULARY Review previous concept words with students. Ask if students have met any words today in their reading or elsewhere that they would like to add to the Concept Web.

"Night Letters" by Palmyra LoMonaco

"Night Letters"
by Palmyra LoMonaco