THIS WEEK WE WILL LEARN Comprehension Skill Generalize Comprehension Strategy Answer Questions Vocabulary Strategy Context Clues Symphony of Whales By Steve Schuch Illustrated 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.Marine ParkBrooklynNew York

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 winds Russia has many blizzards—storms with a lot of snow.

melody A pleasing or easily remembered series of musical notes; tune Braden 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 BeethovenLudwig 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.pack ice seawaterEarthpolar regionspolar ice capsArctic OceanSouthern OceanAntarctic ice sheet

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.marshintertidaltidal surges nutrients

Animal Profiles: Killer and Beluga WhalesAnimal Profiles: Killer and Beluga Whales (15:00) United Streaming video