THIS WEEKWE WILL LEARN Comprehension Skill GeneralizeComprehension Strategy Answer QuestionsVocabulary Strategy Context Clues

Symphony of Whales

By Steve SchuchIllustrated by Wendell Minor

Guided Reading Groups

The setting of our story is in the Arctic. Here is a sunrise over a frozen lake in the Arctic.

Here a ship makes a channel through the ice.

The Beluga Whales are some of the main characters in our story.

Beached Whales

Can people communicate with

whales? What do you think?

Skills

Generalize• Sometimes when you read ideas

about    several things you can see how they are alike in some way. You can make a general statement about all of them together.

• Clue words such as most, many, all, or    few signal generalizations.

Concept Vocabulary

• field biologist an expert in the study of life and living things who spends a lot of time outside where animals or organisms live or grow

• poachers people who hunt or fish illegally

• salt marsh low-lying watery ground near the ocean or other bodies of salt water

An Atlantic coastal salt marsh in Conneticut.

A salt marsh in the Marine Park Salt Marsh Nature

Center in Brooklyn, New York, after a snow melt.

Arctic dog sled

Vocabulary

anxiously• uneasily; nervously with fear of what might happen

Tomas anxiously looked at the test—nervously.

bay• A part of a sea or lake partly surrounded by land

The moon shone over the bay-small part of the ocean.

chipped• To cut or break

off a small thin piece of something

The ship chipped through the ice—broke off.

channel• A body of

water joining two larger bodies of water

We took a ship across the channel—body of water.

supplies• The food,

materials, and equipment necessary for an army exercise, camping trip and so on

Rachel helped load the supplies onto the ship--materials.

surround• Shut in on all sides; encircled; enclosed

The Beluga Whale was surrounded by people--enclosed.

neighboring•nearby

Glashka had to find help from a neighboring village—nearby.

blizzards• Blinding

snowstorms with very strong, cold windsRussia has many blizzards—storms with a lot of snow.

melody• A pleasing or

easily remembered series of musical notes; tuneBraden was humming a snappy melody--tune.

waterproof• Shedding water; a material that

does not let water penetrate it

This man had a waterproof outfit—not allowing water to come through.

yelping•Crying out; barking

The wolves were yelping outside—crying out.

symphony• A long,

complicated musical composition for an orchestra

Dolan, our music teacher, took me to a symphony--orchestra.

Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven Opus number: 67

Title: Symphonie Nr. 5 c-moll Movement: 4. Allegro

Use some of the vocabulary words with the poster.

Polar ice packs are large areas of pack ice formed from seawater in the Earth's polar regions, known as polar ice caps: the Arctic ice pack (or Arctic ice cap) of the Arctic Ocean and the Antarctic ice pack of the Southern Ocean, fringing the Antarctic ice sheet. Polar packs significantly change their size during seasonal changes of the year.

Salt Marsh Facts• A salt marsh is a type of marsh that is a

transitional intertidal between land and salty or brackish water. It is dominated by salt tolerant plants. Salt marshes are one of the most biologically productive habitats on the planet. The daily tidal surges bring in nutrients, which tend to settle in roots of the plants within the salt marsh. The natural chemical activity of salt allows for great biodiversity.

      Animal Profiles: Killer and Beluga Whales (15:00)

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