Guiding Comprehension

Classify • Critical

In what way are the places mentioned in the introduction
on p. 42 the same?

They are all natural wonders.

Compare and Contrast
• Inferential

Name two things that are being compared on p. 43.

The Nile River and the Amazon River.

then… use the skill and strategy instruction on
p. 43.

If… students are unable to identify two things being compared,

Compare and Contrast

Use the key words world records to look up other interesting "mosts" for students to read about and compare and contrast.

SKILLS

STRATEGIES IN CONTEXT

Compare/Contrast

TEACH

Remind students that when we compare and contrast, we are simply looking at how things are alike and how they are different.
One way to compare is to use comparative adjectives. For example, long is an adjective; longer and longest are the comparative forms. We can also say (not) as long as to compare.

MODEL The first sentence on
p. 43 says, "The Nile, in Africa, is the longest river in the world." Longest is a comparative adjective. The author is comparing the Nile to all the rivers in the world. If I continue down the page, I read that the Amazon River is the mightiest. The author also says it is "not as long" as the Nile. The author is comparing the Nile and Amazon Rivers.

PRACTICE AND ASSESS

Have students reread p. 43 and write one more sentence comparing or contrasting information on the page. (Possible response: The Chiang Jiang River is longer than the Mississippi River.) To assess, verify that students are considering similarities and differences.

Text Features

Point out that expository nonfiction
often uses features like graphics or
sidebars to help you understand
what you are reading. Explain that before you start reading, look at
graphics or other information
provided and read those first. They
will let you know what you will read
about. If you have questions, you
can read to find answers. Instruct
students to look at the graphic on
p. 43. Have them write one question
and read to find the answer.

"Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest"
by Steve Jenkins

Student Edition
Unit 4, pp. 40–53

Expository nonfiction gives information about the real world. Look for numbers that help you understand the facts in this Snapshot.

Earth has a lot of places that are record holders. You can find the driest deserts or wettest rain forests. You can find the highest mountain peak or the deepest ocean trench. Take a look at some of Earth's extremes!
Russia boasts the deepest lake. In one place, its Lake Baikal goes down 5,134 feet. At about 25 million years old, Baikal is also the oldest lake on Earth. Lake Superior is the largest of the five Great Lakes in North America. At nearly 32,000 square miles, it is Earth's largest freshwater lake. Though Lake Superior is about six times bigger than Lake Baikal, Lake Baikal holds a lot more water. In fact, Lake Baikal holds more water than all of the Great Lakes put together!
At 4,145 miles long, the Nile in Africa is Earth's longest river. But it doesn't hold the most river water. That honor goes to the second-longest river. South America's Amazon is 4,007 miles long and carries about 50 percent of all the river water on Earth. (The Yangtze River in Asia is the third-longest river, and the Mississippi-Missouri is the fourth.)
The peak of Mount Everest reaches 29,028 feet above sea level. It is Earth's highest mountain completely above the sea. Mauna Kea in Hawaii is really taller. But most of this mountain is under the sea. Only 13,796 feet of its 33,476 feet are above water. The deepest place on Earth is far below the Pacific Ocean. The Mariana Trench reaches a depth of 36,202 feet. The lowest spot on dry land is the shore of the Dead Sea, where it is 1,100 feet below sea level.
The very hottest place on Earth is in the Sahara Desert in Libya, North Africa. A temperature of over 136°F has been recorded there. The coldest place is in Vostok, Antarctica. It dipped down to a freezing -129°F there. The windiest place is at the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire, where wind has reached 231 miles an hour. It is also very windy near the tops of the Himalayas, the world's tallest mountains.
South America has both the wettest and the driest places. Tutunendo, in Colombia, is really wet. It gets an average rainfall of 463 inches every year. Chile's Atacama Desert is the driest. It hasn't had any rain for 400 years!
Of all the waterfalls, Angel Falls in Venezuela is the highest. At 3,212 feet, it is almost eighteen times higher than the well-known Niagara Falls. Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, Africa, has the most water.
If you want to watch the tides, go to Canada's Bay of Fundy. Four times a day, the water rises and falls more than 50 feet. The tide there is really fast. Have a little fun when you visit--try to race the tide. Can you outrun it?
These are just a few of Earth's record holders. There are a lot more on our amazing planet!



	Close
	Access Content Non-native speakers of English often have difficulty forming the -er and -est forms of comparative and superlative adjectives. Many languages use more or most plus the adjective construction, which many students may resort to. Have students orally repeat sentences using the -er and -est forms as often as possible.

"Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest" by Steve Jenkins

"Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest"
by Steve Jenkins