Scott Foresman Reading Street

Pushing Up the Sky
Group Time

for Fluency

Use Decodable Reader 12.

Word Study/Phonics

LESSON VOCABULARY Use p. 306b to review the meanings of antlers, imagined, languages, narrator, overhead, and poked. Students can blend all the words except languages. Say and spell languages. Have individuals practice reading the words from word cards.

DECODING MULTISYLLABIC WORDS Write onstage and model how to decode a compound word. I ask myself if I see any parts that I know. I see on at the beginning of the word and stage at the end. I know that a stage is a platform that actors stand on in front of an audience, so I can tell that onstage means "being on a platform in front of an audience."

Use the Multisyllabic Word routine on p. DI•1 to help students read these other words from Pushing Up the Sky: carved, totem, recorded, accommodate, familiar, suggested, redwoods, randomly, and jabbing. Be sure students understand the meanings of words such as totem, accommodate, and randomly.

Pushing Up the Sky, pp. 308–313

BEFORE READING Yesterday we read a Snohomish story in which the sky was too low. Today we will read a play that tells a similar story.

Using the Picture Walk routine on p. DI•1, guide students through the text, asking questions such as those listed below. Then read the question on
p. 309. Together, set a purpose for reading.

pp. 308–309 Who is poking poles at the sky in this picture? (people and animals) The humans and animals seem to be working together.

p. 313 How is the sky pictured here? (a white, fluffy cloud very low to the ground) What is happening because the sky is so low? (children play in it, grown-ups bump their heads on it, arrows get caught in it) This is a problem that the Snohomish people need to solve.

DURING READING Follow the Guiding Comprehension routine on
pp. 310–313. Have students read along with you while tracking the print, or do a choral reading of the selection. Stop every two pages to ask what has happened so far. Prompt as necessary.

Where and when does this play take place?
What is the main problem in the play?

AFTER READING What has happened in the play so far? What do you think will happen next? Reread passages with students as needed.

Extend Vocabulary

GLOSSARY Read this sentence from p. 18 of the
Leveled Reader Star Tracks: “These telescopes were refractive.” If
you don’t know what the word refractive means, you can use the
glossary at the back of the book. Have a volunteer find the word on
p. 24 of the Leveled Reader. How did you find the word? (The
words are in alphabetical order.) What definition is given for the
word? (when something causes light to be bent) Glossaries are
especially helpful when reading science or other content-area
books. Remind students to use the strategy whenever a book
they are reading has a glossary.

Pushing Up the Sky, pp. 308–313

BEFORE READING In Star Tracks you read how people have studied the stars in the sky. Today you will read how one group of people explained how the sky got to be where it is.

Have students write a list of things they know or think they know about Native Americans and Native American culture in their Strategy Response Logs (p. 313). Tell them to think about their lists as they read and to compare what they learn with what they wrote.

CREATIVE THINKING/PROBLEM SOLVING Have students read
pp. 308–313 independently. Encourage them to think creatively and in terms of problems and solutions. For example, ask:

How would you read each line if you were an actor speaking it?
How would you visualize the characters moving as they speak?
How do you predict the characters will solve their problem in the rest of the selection?

AFTER READING Have students discuss the selection and share their Strategy Response Log entries. Explain and show an example of parenthetical stage directions to students. Have them add stage directions for p. 312 that tell how the characters sound and look as they speak their lines.