Guiding Comprehension

If you are teaching the selection in two days, discuss the story so far, including any comparisons or contrasts students have found, and review the vocabulary.

Cause and Effect

• Inferential

The Atacama Desert and Death Valley are two very dry places on Earth. What is the cause of the dry climate in these places?

The lack of precipitation.

then… use the skill and strategy instruction on
p. 49.

If… students have difficulty recognizing the cause,

Cause and Effect

Main Idea • Inferential

Reread p. 49. What is the main idea and one supporting detail?

Main idea: The windiest place on Earth is Mount Washington, New Hampshire. Supporting detail: A wind speed of 231 mph was recorded there.

Whole Group Discuss the Question of the Day.

What About Me? See
pp. 36f–36g for the small group lesson plan.

Reading

Group Time
Differentiated Instruction

Use pp. 59e–59h and
59k–59m.

Whole Group Discuss the Reader Response questions
on p. 54. Then use p. 59a.

Language Arts

Grouping Options

SKILLS STRATEGIES IN CONTEXT

Cause/Effect

TEACH

Remind students that when we are looking for the effects of an event, we ask, "What happened?" When we are looking for the causes of an event, we ask, "Why did it happen?"
Help students recognize that these questions can help identify cause and effect.
Model identifying the cause of the dry climate in the Atacama Desert and Death Valley.

MODEL I read that the
Atacama Desert is very dry.
I stop and ask, "Why?" Then
I read that no rain has fallen in
400 years. Lack of rain is the cause.

PRACTICE AND ASSESS

Have students reread p. 49. Although the author does not mention any effects of high wind speeds, students should be able to infer some effects based on their own experiences. (Students may mention that it is cold, that few people live there, that nothing grows there, that there is a lot of snow, and so on.)
To assess students, use Practice Book 3.2, p. 16.

Practice Book 3.2 p. 16

with | without Answers

"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
	Read Maps, Charts, and Graphs Graphs and charts show how some information compares to or contrasts with other information. Always look at the title or label to learn what the graph or chart will tell you. Maps are drawings of places. There are many different kinds of maps. Always be sure you are looking at the right kind of map for your purposes. Start by looking at a key, which tells you how to read the map. It will give information about the symbols used on the map. There should be a scale, as well, which tells you how to calculate distances or heights. Look, too, for the compass rose, which tells you the four principal directions (North, South, East, and West). Once you know how to read the map, you can get all sorts of useful information!

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

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