1. Letters Home from Yosemite
Compiled by:
Terry Sams PES
Written and Illustrated by:
Lisa Halvorsen
Visit the Author

2. Summary
Yosemite National Park is an amazing place. In one visit, you can see giant trees, towering mountains, and interesting wildlife.

3. Study Skills Genre: Narrative Nonfiction
Comprehension Skill: Main Idea
Comprehension Strategy: Graphic Organizers
Comprehension Review Skill: Fact and Opinion
Vocabulary: Suffixes

4. Genre: Narrative Nonfiction
Narrative nonfiction tells the story of real people, places, or events. The narrator, or teller of the story, presents information in sequence. Notice this sequence as you read about Yosemite National Park.

5. Comprehension Strategy – Graphic Organizers TE 112
Using a graphic organizer can help you to understand what you read.
Examples of graphic organizers are webs, charts, and diagrams.
A sequence chart can help you see the sequence of an article and often you can fill these charts in as you read.

6. Comprehension Skill Review – Fact and Opinion TE 125
A fact is a statement that can be proved true or false.
Statements of opinion tell about a person’s beliefs, feelings, or way of thinking that cannot be proved.

7. Vocabulary Strategy Suffixes –ist and -ive Te 114
You can use suffixes to help figure out the meaning of words.
The suffix –ist can make a word mean “one who is an expert in____,” as a biologist, an expert in biology.

8. Vocabulary Strategy Suffixes –ist and -ive Te 114
The suffix -ive can make a word mean “’tending or inclined to_____,” as in active, which means tending to act.”

9. Question of the Week TE 66m
How does Yosemite reflect the unique qualities of the West?

10. Day 2 - Question of the Day
Why did Congress establish Yosemite as a national park?

11. Day 3 - Question of the Day –
How does the author support her opinion that Yosemite is “one of the most awesome places on Earth?

12. Day 4 - Question of the Day - Review
What might prompt someone to write a song like “This Land is your Land?

13. Weekly Fluency Check - Phrasing TE 133a
Phrasing helps to keep related words group together. Phrasing makes sentences easier to understand.
Practice reading page 120 using groups of words in phrases to make it easier to understand.

14. Research/Study Skill – Print Sources TE 133L
Print sources include textbooks, trade books, encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, atlases, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, pamphlets and other printed sources.
Think about the purpose of each source when doing research.

15. Research/Study Skill – Print Sources TE 133L
To find information in a print source, think about its organization.
The table of contents, index, or headings show what information the sources includes and how it is organized.

16. Research/Study Skill – Print Sources TE 133L
As the teacher shows you several types of print sources, decide what the purpose of each is.
How is it organized?

17. Review Questions
How can you tell this was written to inform?
What is one way Yosemite is a unique place?
What are some impressive wonders in Yosemite?

18. Review Questions What is the “time” setting of this story?
How did the author organize this story? Why do you think she did that?
What attraction did the she go see right after Glacier Point?

19. Fun Stuff
Yosemite for Kids
Photographs of Yosemite
Spelling List

20. Vocabulary- Say It! glacier impressive naturalist preserve slopes
species
wilderness

21. More Words to Know altitudes formations reservoir earthquake eruptions
volcano

22. glacier
a great mass of ice moving very slowly down a mountain or along a valley

23. a person who studies living things
naturalist
a person who studies living things

24. able to have a strong effect on the mind or feelings
impressive
able to have a strong effect on the mind or feelings

25. to keep from harm or change; protect
preserve
to keep from harm or change; protect

26. species
a set of related living things that share certain characteristic and that can be interbred

27. and that goes up and down at an angle
slopes
and that goes up and down at an angle

28. a wild region with few or no people living in it
wilderness
a wild region with few or no people living in it

29. earthquake
a shaking or shifting motion of Earth’s surface. It is caused by the sudden breaking of masses of rock along a fault.

30. acts or processes of bursting or throwing forth
eruptions
acts or processes of bursting or throwing forth

31. volcano
opening in Earth’s crust through which steam, ashes, and lava are forced out in periods of activity

32. heights about Earth’s surface
altitudes
heights about Earth’s surface

33. a place where water is collected and stored for use
reservoir
a place where water is collected and stored for use

34. Denali Nation Park in Alaska has more than 6 million miles of wilderness.

35. Denali Nation Park in Alaska has more than 6 million miles of wilderness.

36. More than 650 species of flowering plants live in Denali!.

37. More than 650 species of flowering plants live in Denali!.

38. The park was established to preserve the land and the plants and animals.

39. The park was established to preserve the land and the plants and animals.

40. That’s what the naturalist on the guided tour told us about this park.

41. That’s what the naturalist on the guided tour told us about this park.

42. We skied up the lower slopes of Mt. McKinley.

43. We skied up the lower slopes of Mt. McKinley.

44. We could see a giant glacier looking like a huge field of ice.

45. We could see a giant glacier looking like a huge field of ice.

46. The glacier was a very impressive sight.

47. The glacier was a very impressive sight.

48. The sequoia tree is the largest species of tree in the world.

49. The sequoia tree is the largest species of tree in the world.

50. There is less oxygen as you go up in altitude.

51. There is less oxygen as you go up in altitude.

52. The river provides water to San Francisco by way of a reservoir.

53. The river provides water to San Francisco by way of a reservoir.

54. The rock formations were beautiful in the sunlight.

55. The rock formations were beautiful in the sunlight.

56. Postcard TE 87g-h
A postcard is a brief message, with a picture on one side, sent by mail to friends or family.
Often a post card gives detail about a place you are visiting on vacation and describes your feelings about being there.

57. Writing Assignment
Pretend that you are on vacation. Write a postcard to a friend or family member describing where you are. The place can be real or imaginary.

58. Spelling Words Long u Sounds
cruise
juice
scooter
afternoon
threw
smooth
mood
flute
huge
usual

59. Spelling Words Long u sounds
curfew
duty
humor
confuse
groove
pupil
excuse
cruel
bruise
truth

60. CHALLENGE
influence
aluminum
nutrition
accumulate
igloo

61. This Week’s Word Wall Words
Click and type your own words for this week:

62. Let’s review our Spelling words
Let’s review our Spelling words. Watch carefully because they will flash on the screen for just a moment. We can clap as we spell the word, or we might just practice reading the words.

63. cruel

64. afternoon

65. smooth

66. truth

67. threw

68. confuse

69. mood

70. flute

71. groove

72. cruise

73. excuse

74. curfew

75. pupil

76. bruise

77. scooter

78. humor

79. juice

80. huge

81. duty

82. usual

83. GREAT JOB!