Building Background Lesson 12 A Pen Pal for Max is realistic fiction. Realistic Fiction: –Has characters with problems people might face in real life –Has a setting that could be real

A Pen Pal for Max This story is about a boy named Max who lives in Chile. Max becomes pen pals with a girl who lives in the United States.

A Pen Pal for Max Pen Pals write letters to each other.

Did you know? vineyard Seaport and freighters earthquake Spanish language

Comprehension PLOT The plot is what happens in a story. To understand the plot: Find the problem in a story I wonder what will be a problem for Max? Think about how the characters solve the problem How will Max solve his problem?

Phonics Some words have a silent first letter. knot knees gnat wrist wrench

Vocabulary Let’s read some new words together… Translate Repairs Heaving Bothersome Din Dodging Catastrophe fortunate

translate If you translate something you say or write it in another language. To read this letter we would need to translate it to English.

repairs When something needs repairs, it needs to be fixed. This car is in need of repairs.

heaving Heaving is throwing something heavy with great effort The stormy seas heaved the big boat.

bothersome When something is bothersome, it bothers you and causes problems. When my friend talks to me while I am studying, it is bothersome.

din If there is a din, there is so much noise that it is hard to hear anything over it. The din of the roller coaster could be heard through out the amusement park.

dodging When you are dodging something, you avoid something that is coming toward you. The cat tried to dodge the annoying dog.

catastrophe A catastrophe is something really terrible that has happened. The earthquake damage was a sad catastrophe.

fortunate If you are fortunate you are very lucky. I was fortunate to find a four leaf clover.

mistaken If you are wrong about something you are mistaken. Mom was mistaken when she called the twins by the wrong name.

deciphered If you figured out a message that is difficult to understand or that is written in code, then you deciphered it. The boy used Braille to decipher the code.