Unit

1Unit

1THEME: Rescue Teams

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Sam’s Summer Search

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Character, Setting, Plot . . . 18

The Summer of the Swans Realistic Fiction . . 20

from the novel by Betsy Byars, illustrated by John Rowe

Storm Surprises Maine Students Social Studies . . 36

by Brian MacQuarrie

Writing: Personal Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

THEME: A Lost City

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

An Inca City

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Character, Setting, Plot . . . 42

Lost City: The Discovery of Machu Picchu Historical Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

written and illustrated by Ted Lewin

Empire in the Andes Social Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Writing: Personal Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

THEME: Science for All

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

How Long Will We Live?

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Main Idea and Details . . . .68

Gecko Glue, Cockroach Scouts, and Spider Silk BridgesSilk Bridges Nonfiction Article . . . . 70

Sleep Is Good for Your Brain Science . . . . . 74

Writing: Expository Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

4

THEME: Sharing Traditions

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Keira’s Magical Moment

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Cause and Effect . . . . . . . .80

The Magic Gourd West African Folk Tale . . . . . . . . 82

by Baba Wagué Diakité

The Origin of Ghana Social Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

by Patricia and Fredrick McKissack

Writing: Personal Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

THEME: Protecting Wildlife

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102

Protecting the Clouded Leopard

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Main Idea and Details . . . 104

Interrupted Journey Informational Nonfiction . 106

from the book by Kathryn Lasky, photographs by Christopher G. Knight

Birdfoot’s Grampa Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120

by Joseph Bruchac

This Land Is Your Land Song Lyrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

by Woody Guthrie

Writing: Personal Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122

Test Strategy: Think and Search

Don’t Tell My Mummy, a Radio Play Drama . . . .124

5

Unit

2 Saving the Day

THEME: Team Spirit

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128

An Aunt’s Baseball Dreams

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Make Inferences . . . . . . . . 130

How Tía Lola Came to Visit Stay Realistic Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

from the novel by Julia Alvarez, illustrated by Lester Coloma

Baseball by the Numbers Math . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148

Writing: Persuasive Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

THEME: The Solar System

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152

The Night of the Northern Lights

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Make Inferences . . . . . . . . 154

The Night of the Pomegranate Short Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156

by Tim Wynne-Jones, illustrated by Elizabeth Sayles

Earth and the Sun Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Writing: Persuasive Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

THEME: Helping Hands

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Be Prepared When Disaster Strikes

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Make Generalizations . . . 180

Zoo Story Nonfiction Article . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182

A Care Package of Technology for

the 21st Century Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186

Writing: Personal Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .188

6

THEME: Tales of Old

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

From Daughter to Daughter

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Problem and Solution . . . 192

Rumpelstiltskin’s Daughter Fairy Tale . . . . . 194

written and illustrated by Diane Stanley

The Golden Touch Language Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .212

retold by Mary Pope Osborne

Writing: Persuasive Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .216

THEME: Sled Dogs as Heroes

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .218

The Last Great Race on Earth

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . .220

The Great Serum Race Nonfiction . . . . . . . . . . . 222

by Debbie S. Miller, illustrated by Jon Van Zyle

Haiku Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

by Boncho, Chora, and Shiki

Writing: Persuasive Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Test Strategy: Author and Me

Flying into Fire Informational Nonfiction . . . . . . . . . . . 242

7

Unit

3 Great Ideas

THEME: The Old Southwest

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

A Win-Win Week

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Character, Plot, Setting . .248

Juan Verdades Hispanic Folk Tale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

retold by Joe Hayes, illustrated by Joseph Daniel Fiedler

In the Days of the Vaqueros Social Studies . . . . . . 268

by Russell Freedman

Writing: Fictional Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

THEME: Putting It in Writing

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

The Mysterious Limousine

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Draw Conclusions . . . . . . 276

Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street Fantasy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

by Roni Schotter, illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker

Student Interview with Author

Karen Odom Social Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

by Perry Faulkner

Writing: Fictional Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

THEME: Energy

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Sources of Energy

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Cause and Effect . . . . . . 304

Building Green Nonfiction Article . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Learning to Go with the Flow Science . . . 310

Writing: Persuasive Essay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .312

8

THEME: Archaeology

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .314

Bringing the Past to the Present

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Summarize . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

The Emperor’s Silent Army Informational Nonfiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .318

from the book by Jane O’Connor

Ozymandias Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Writing: Fictional Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

THEME: Show Time

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

The Unusual Robot

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Draw Conclusions . . . . . .338

The Case of the Phantom Poet Play . . . . . . . 340

by Karen English, illustrated by Nicole Tadgell

How to Conduct a Survey Math . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

Writing: Fictional Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

Test Strategy: Author and Me

Hollywood Here You

Come Informational Nonfiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

9

Unit

4THEME: Uncommon Champions

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

Bethany Hamilton’s Comeback

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Author’s Purpose . . . . . . .366

Seeing Things His Own Way Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

by Marty Kaminsky

Amazing Artificial Limbs Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

by Jackie Glassman

Writing: Expository Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

THEME: Oceanography

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388

Waves

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Fact and Opinion . . . . . . 390

Exploring the Titanic Autobiography . . . . . . . . . 392

from the book by Robert D. Ballard

Old Stormalong Finds a

Man-Sized Ship Language Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

by Paul Robert Walker

Writing: Expository Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .412

THEME: Helping Others

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .414

Talking with His Hands

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Compare and Contrast . . 416

Saving Grace Nonfiction Article . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .418

A Gift of Hope Social Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Writing: Fictional Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

10

THEME: Cycling

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

Bike Ride, Anyone?

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Fact and Opinion . . . . . . .428

Major Taylor: Champion CyclistBiographical Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

by Lesa Cline-Ransome, illustrated by James E. Ransome

Bicycle Riding Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

by Sandra Liatsos

The Sidewalk Racer or On the

Skateboard Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

by Lillian Morrison

Writing: Expository Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

THEME: Pieces from the Past

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

A Change of Heart

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Author’s Perspective . . . .452

A Single Shard Historical Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454

from the novel by Linda Sue Park, illustrated by Julie Kim

Encyclopedias Social Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472

Writing: Expository Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474

Test Strategy: Author and Me

Gwendolyn Brooks: A Voice Biography . . . . . . . . . 476

11

Unit

5 Turning Points

THEME: Mentors

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

My Friend Mateo

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Author’s Purpose . . . . . . .482

Breaking Through Autobiographical Story . . . . . 484

from the book by Francisco Jiménez

Mentoring Matters Social Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498

Writing: Descriptive Writing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502

THEME: Smart Thinking

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504

Rites of Passage

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Compare and Contrast . . 506

Ta-Na-E-Ka Realistic Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508

by Mary Whitebird, illustrated by Shonto Begay

The Crow and the Pitcher Language Arts . . . . . . . . 526

by Aesop, retold by Jerry Pinkney

Writing: Compare and Contrast Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528

THEME: Money Matters

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530

Money Talk

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Persuasion. . . . . . . . . . . . . 532

Many Countries, One Currency Nonfiction Article . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534

Change for a Twenty Social Studies . . . . . . . 538

Writing: Persuasive Essay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540

12

THEME: Collections

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542

Grandpa and Me

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Make Judgments . . . . . . 544

Honus and Me Realistic Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546

from the novel by Dan Gutman, illustrated by Ron Mazellan

Cool Collections Social Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562

from Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies

Writing: Poem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566

THEME: Taking a Stand

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568

Rosa Parks and the Institute

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Summarize . . . . . . . . . . . .570

Let It Shine: Rosa Parks Biography . . . . . . . . . 572

from the book by Andrea Davis Pinkney

from Caged Bird Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588

by Maya Angelou

I Dream a World Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589

by Langston Hughes

Writing: Descriptive Writing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590

Test Strategy: Author and Me

After Apple Picking Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592

by Robert Frost

A Bump on the Head Informational Nonfiction . . . . . 594

13

Unit

6Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

THEME: Great Designs Last Forever

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596

Artists of the Past

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Make Generalizations . . .598

Leonardo’s Horse Nonfiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600

by Jean Fritz, illustrated by Hudson Talbott

Leonardo da Vinci Social Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .616

by Diane Stanley

Writing: Explanatory Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620

THEME: Time Travel

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622

Sci-Fi Prep

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . .624

LAFFF Science Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626

by Lensey Namioka, illustrated by Raúl Colón

Reading Online about Time Travel Science . . . . . 640

Writing: Explanatory Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644

THEME: Keeping in Touch

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646

America’s Oldest Written Words

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Problem and Solution . . .648

These Walls Can Talk Nonfiction Article . . . . . . 650

Languages at Risk Social Studies . . . . . . . . . . 654

Writing: Persuasive Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656

14

THEME: Print, Past and Present

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658

A Writing Story

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Description . . . . . . . . . . . 660

Breaking into Print Informational Nonfiction . . . . 662

by Stephen Krensky, illustrated by Bonnie Christensen

Future Bookmaker Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680

by Constance Andrea Keremes

Writing: Explanatory Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682

THEME: Volcanoes, Past and Present

Talk About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684

Voice from Vesuvius

Vocabulary/Comprehension: Theme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .686

The Dog of Pompeii Short Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688

by Louis Untermeyer, illustrated by Michael Jaroszko

Volcano! Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704

by Forrest Gale, as told to Lora Gale

Writing: Explanatory Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708

Test Strategy: On My Own

Portable Music: Taking It

with You Informational Nonfiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714

15