1. Text and Photos by Richard Sobol
Adelina’s Whales
Text and Photos by Richard Sobol

2. Study Skills Genre: Photo Essay Comprehension Skill: Fact and Opinion
Comprehension Strategy: Graphic Organizers
Comprehension Review Skill: Generalize
Vocabulary: Homonyms

3. Summary
Adelina Mayoral lives in La Laguna, Mexico. Each January, the gray whales arrive in the lagoon near La Laguna and stay for three months before migrating farther north for the summer. Whale-watchers, scientists, and photographers visit La Laguna from all over the world to observe and interact with the whales.

4. Genre: Photo Essay
Photo essays use words and pictures to tell about someone or something. As you read, notice how the words and images work together to tell about Adelina and her whales.

5. Comprehension Skill Review – Fact and Opinion TE 313a
A fact is a statement that can be proven true or false by doing research.

6. Comprehension Skill Review – Fact and Opinion TE 313a
Statements of opinion tell about a person’s beliefs, feelings, or way of thinking that cannot be proven.
It often contains a word of judgment, such as best, should, or beautiful.
It may begin with the words In my opinion or I believe.

7. Comprehension Strategy – Graphic Organizers TE 292
Good readers organize their thoughts as they read.
Jotting down lists or making charts can help you separate statements of fact or opinion.
Using a graphic organizer can help you to understand what you read.

8. Comprehension Skill Review: Generalizing TE 301
Sometimes as you read, you are given ideas about several things or people.
When you make a statement about all of them together, you are making a generalization.
These are some of the clue words that help locate generalizations: all, none, many, most, always, usually, few, general.
A valid generalization is accurate.
A faulty generalization is not accurate.

9. Practice Generalization PB116
1. This is an example of a generalization.
Many birds migrate, or move from one place to another.
2. How do you know this is a generalization?
The word many gives a clue that not all birds migrate.
3. Here is another generalization Some birds will fly the same path each year.
4. How do you know this is a generalization?
The word some gives a clue.

10. Author’s Viewpoint
The author’s viewpoint is the way an author looks at his or her subject.
Look at statements of opinion an author expresses and the statements of fact the author includes.
Try to figure out the author’s viewpoint even when it is not stated.

11. Fun Stuff and Practice McGraw Hill Activities 4th Grade Activities
Video
Cause and Effect On-Line PowerPoint
Compare and Contrast
Compare Contrast PowerPoint
Meet the Author
Verbs and more Verbs
and Linking Verbs on Line

12. What patterns in nature guide the lives of animals?

13. What is the migration pattern of the gray whales Adelina sees?

14. What mysteries of the whales might Adelina try to unlock some day?

15. What questions might a scientist ask about migration?

16. Review Questions
Give an example of how you know Adelina has a good understanding of nature.
Why do you think the author wrote this selection?
Who did the author say was the first person to have a visit from the whales?
Why do the mother whales come to the lagoon?

17. Review Questions How do you know the whales are important to Adelina?
How were the people in La Laguna like the people who visited the village?
What did Adelina mean when she said, “Laguna is the place where two worlds join together?”

18. Vocabulary - Say It
biologist
rumbling
bluff
lagoon
tropical
massive

19. More Words to Know
altitude
ascent
swans
zone
encounter
exhaling

20. biologist
scientist who studies living things, including their origins, structures, activities, and distribution

21. lagoon
a pond or small lake, especially one connected with a larger body of water

22. a high, steep slope or cliff
bluff
a high, steep slope or cliff

23. tropical
of or like the regions degrees north or south of the equator where the sun can shine directly overhead

24. massive
big and heavy; bulky

25. making a deep, heavy, continuous sound
rumbling
making a deep, heavy, continuous sound

26. exhaling
breathing out

27. encounter
an unexpected meeting

28. zone
any of the five great regions of Earth’s surface, bounded by imaginary lines going around Earth parallel to the equator

29. altitude
high above sea level

30. large water birds with long, slender, curving necks
swans
large water birds with long, slender, curving necks

31. act of going up; upward movement
ascent
act of going up; upward movement

32. Adelina was awakened by a loud, low, rumbling noise.

33. Adelina was awakened by a loud, low, rumbling noise.

34. A gray whale was exhaling a blast of hot air as large as a room.

35. A gray whale was exhaling a blast of hot air as large as a room.

36. The mother whales come to the lagoon to have their babies.

37. The mother whales come to the lagoon to have their babies.

38. The whales lift their massive heads out of the water.

39. The whales lift their massive heads out of the water.

40. Adelina’s grandfather was tanned from the bright tropical sun.

41. Adelina’s grandfather was tanned from the bright tropical sun.

42. Her grandfather told many stories about his first encounter with the whales.

43. Her grandfather told many stories about his first encounter with the whales.

44. Adelina might become a biologist who studies the ocean when she grows up.

45. Adelina might become a biologist who studies the ocean when she grows up.

46. Her home is a simple shack on a sandy bluff hugging the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

47. Her home is a simple shack on a sandy bluff hugging the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

48. The swan is a type of bird that migrates to a milder climate at summer’s end.

49. The swan is a type of bird that migrates to a milder climate at summer’s end.

50. The swan gains altitude as he makes his ascent into the air.

51. The swan gains altitude as he makes his ascent into the air.

52. Their wings carry them swiftly and surely from zone to zone.

53. Their wings carry them swiftly and surely from zone to zone.

54. Writing Assignment - Write a Friendly Letter TE 313h
Write a letter to a friend about where you live.
Make a realistic, clear picture in words by using specific details.
Use exact nouns when describing details.
Be sure to use commas where needed in a letter.

55. Spelling Words Homophones
their
there
wait
weight
passed
past
allowed
aloud
throne
thrown

56. Spelling Words Homophones
through
break
brake
peace
piece
beet
beat
bye by
threw

57. CHALLENGE
stationery
stationary
cymbal
symbol
principle
principal

58. 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.

59. piece

60. peace

61. brake

62. break

63. threw

64. through

65. by

66. bye

67. beet

68. beat

69. throne

70. thrown

71. allowed

72. aloud

73. passed

74. past

75. wait

76. weight

77. there

78. their