lesson 25 teacher’s guide math today and...

Number of Words: 2,035

L E S S O N 2 5 T E A C H E R ’ S G U I D E

Math Today and Tomorrowby Fiona Kovalcik

Fountas-Pinnell Level TScience FictionSelection SummaryTabitha and Katie are best friends. Tabitha loves math, while Katie loves words. During a visit to a planetarium, Tabitha steps into an old space capsule. Suddenly the door closes and Tabitha is transported to a future world.

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Characteristics of the Text Genre • Science fi ction

Text Structure • Third-person narrative with no chapter breaks. Content • Time travel

• Math• Two friends exploring a difference of opinion

Themes and Ideas • It is important to keep an open mind.• You can learn by looking at things from a new perspective.

Language and Literary Features

• Realistic dialogue• Lively story about time travel• Tabitha learns about relationships through her conversation with Abigail.

Sentence Complexity • Many long sentences combining dialogue and narrative• Dependent clauses

Vocabulary • Unfamiliar words not fully defi ned in text: fractals, GeminiWords • Many multisyllable words, some of them challenging, such as planetarium, equations,

centuries, memorable, aluminumIllustrations • Illustrations with pastel shading

• Photos do not have captionsBook and Print Features • Thirteen pages of text

• Several pages with no illustrations© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.

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Expand Your Vocabulary

algebra – a branch of mathematics in which symbols are used to represent quantities, p. 11

customized – made or altered to individual or personal specifi cations, p. 9

simulate – take on the appearance, form, or sound of; imitate, p. 9

virtual – created, or simulated by means of a computer or computer network, p. 8

Math Today and Tomorrow by Fiona Kovalcik

Build BackgroundHelp students use their knowledge about science fi ction to visualize the story. Build interest by asking questions such as the following: Have you ever dreamed about traveling through time? If you could do it, would you go to the future or to the past? Read the title and author and talk about the cover illustration. Tell the students that this selection is science fi ction, so the events are science-related but could not really happen. Remind students that Gemini and Apollo were programs that took American astronauts into space and to the moon, respectively.

Introduce the TextGuide students through the text, noting important ideas and helping with unfamiliar language and vocabulary so they can read the text successfully. Here are some suggestions:

: Explain that the story begins with a class going on a fi eld trip to a planetarium. Suggested language: Turn to page 2. Two girls, Tabitha and Katie, are going on a school fi eld trip to a planetarium. Have you ever visited a planetarium? It is a special building where visitors can see the solar system and the stars projected on a big domed ceiling.

Page 4: Read aloud the fi rst sentence. If a trip is invigorating, what is it like? What does this senetence show about Katie?

Page 6: Read the sentence at the top of page 6. What kind of magical thing do you suppose might happen in the story? As you read, look for clues about what might happen.

Page 8: Read aloud the sentence with the highlighted word virtual. Tell students that virtual means almost real. Ask: How might someone create a virtual city?

Now go back to the beginning and read to fi nd out what happens to Tabitha at the planetarium.

2 Lesson 25: Math Today and TomorrowGrade 4© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

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ReadHave students read silently while you listen to individual students read aloud. Support their understanding of the text as needed.

Remind students to use the Question Strategy and have them question parts of the story that they don’t understand.

Discuss and Revisit the TextPersonal ResponseInvite students to share their personal responses to the text. Suggested language: What makes this text science fi ction? What makes science fi ction different from realistic fi ction and historical fi ction?

Ways of ThinkingAs you discuss the text, help students understand these points:

Thinking Within the Text Thinking Beyond the Text Thinking About the Text

• Tabitha likes math, and Katie likes words and literature.

• Tabitha travels into the future and learns that there’s more to the world than math.

• Tabitha will tell Katie that something magical did happen.

• We should not view things in a one-dimensional manner.

• Relationships are vital to every aspect of life.

• Discussing issues with friends is a healthy thing to do.

• The story transitions half-way through from realistic narrative to science fi ction.

• Illustrations support the story and help the reader to visualize it.

© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.

Choices for Further Support• Fluency Invite students to choose a passage from the text to demonstrate their

understanding of integration. Have them examine the manner in which the author blends phrasing, dialogue, reality, and fantasy into an interesting story that can be read at a brisk pace.

• Comprehension Based on your observations of the students’ reading and discussion, revisit parts of the text to clarify or extend comprehension. Remind students to go back to the text to support their ideas.

• Phonics/Word Work Provide practice as needed with words and word roots, using examples from the text. Remind students that adding ing to a verb is one way to show verb tense. One example from the text is twisting on page 3. Remind students that when they see a verb with ing attached, they should break it down and look at the root verb to determine meaning.



Writing about ReadingCritical ThinkingHave students complete the Critical Thinking questions on BLM 25.9.

RespondingHave students complete the activities at the back of the book, using their Reader’s Notebook. Use the instruction below as needed to reinforce or extend understanding of the comprehension skill.

Target Comprehension SkillAuthor’s Purpose

Target Comprehension Skill Remind students that they can use text clues to help

them understand an author’s purpose. Model how to add details to the Graphic Organizer, using a “Think Aloud” like the one below:

Think Aloud

Note that the author adds historical interest on page 6 by having Tabitha fi nd an old Gemini space capsule. Also note that on page 10 the model of the city is fl oating in space. That is also an interesting detail. List these two details as part of the author’s purpose to entertain.

Practice the SkillHave students fi nd examples of other details in the text that show the author’s purpose.

Writing Prompt: Thinking Beyond the TextHave students write a response to the prompt on page 6. Remind them that when they think beyond the text, they use their personal knowledge to reach new understandings.

Assessment Prompts• The fi rst paragraph on page 8 is mainly about

________________________________________________________________.

• One idea present on page 14 is that

________________________________________________________________.

• What will most likely happen to Tabitha after she fi nishes helping Abigail?


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Critical ThinkingRead and answer the questions.

1. Think within the text Why does Tabitha like math so much?

2. Think within the text How do children in the future study?

3. Think beyond the text What is the author’s purpose in

implying that Tabitha will stay to help Abigail with her project?

4. Think about the text What features of this story make it

science fi ction?

Making Connections Katie and Tabitha both have subjects they like the best. What is your favorite subject? Why is it your favorite?

Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.

11

Math Today and Tomorrow

Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Lesson 25B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 2 5 . 9

Grade 4, Unit 5: Change Is All Around

Name Date

Tabitha likes math because it is simple and � xed. You cannot argue with math.

Children of the future study something by actually going to the past or bringing a

person to the future.

to show that Tabitha has learned that helping people is just as important as

mathematics

Tabitha is transported to the future, where people � oat in space and people and

things can be transported anywhere at will.

Possible responses shown.

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First Pass

English Language DevelopmentReading Support Have students listen to the audio or online recordings. Remind them to emphasize the importance of being broad minded. Make sure the text matches the students’ reading level. Language and content should be accessible with regular teaching support.

Idioms The story includes some idioms that might be unfamiliar. Explain the meaning of expressions such as trying out the new words (p. 2).

Oral Language DevelopmentCheck student comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches your students’ English profi ciency level. Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the student.

Beginning/Early Intermediate Intermediate Early Advanced/ Advanced

Speaker 1: What is the story about?

Speaker 2: time travel and learning

Speaker 1: Who is Abigail?

Speaker 2: a girl in the future

Speaker 1: Who travels through time?

Speaker 2: Tabitha

Speaker 1: What does Tabitha learn?

Speaker 2: She learns that words and literature are just as important as math.

Speaker 1: What does Tabitha’s father do?

Speaker 2: He is an inspector.

Speaker 1: What is probably the most important point in this story?

Speaker 2: The most important point is that relationships are what matter. Literature may not be as precise as math, but relationships are at the heart of both.



Name Date

Math Today and TomorrowThinking Beyond the Text

Think about the questions below. Then write your answer in two or three paragraphs.

Remember, when you think beyond the text, you use your personal knowledge to reach new understandings.

On page 10 Abigail says, “What I need to know is how people lived and what mattered to them.” What does she mean? Would Katie agree? What do you think? When you are learning about people who lived in the past, what kinds of things do you want to know about them?




Critical Thinking

Lesson 25B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 2 5 . 9

Name Date


Critical ThinkingRead and answer the questions.

1. Think within the text Why does Tabitha like math so much?

2. Think within the text How do children in the future study?

3. Think beyond the text What is the author’s purpose in

implying that Tabitha will stay to help Abigail with her project?

4. Think about the text What features of this story make it

science fi ction?

Making Connections Katie and Tabitha both have subjects they like the best. What is your favorite subject? Why is it your favorite?

Write your answer in your Reader’s Notebook.


1413

986

Student Date Lesson 25

B L A C K L I N E M A S T E R 2 5 . 1 3

Running Record Form

Math Today and Tomorrow LEVEL T


Behavior Code Error

Read word correctly ✓cat 0

Repeated word, sentence, or phrase

®cat

0

Omission —cat 1

Behavior Code Error

Substitution cutcat 1

Self-corrects cut sccat 0

Insertion the

ˆcat 1

Word told Tcat 1

page Selection Text Errors Self-Corrections

9 “Right now,” Abigail said, “I need you to help me. See, we

don’t have books or the Internet. We study something by

actually going there, or else bringing it here.”

Tabitha could see all sorts of activities going on at each

student’s desk. One boy was using a model to simulate the

moon orbiting Earth. Another student had politicians

discussing an issue right in front of his desk.

“Your way of learning seems far superior to ours,” Tabitha

commented, clearly awed by what surrounded her.

Abigail turned back to the model of a virtual city that floated

above her workspace.

Comments: Accuracy Rate (# words read correctly/100 ×

100)

%

Total Self- Corrections



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