“Danger Out to Sea” Week 14 Fourth Grade

Caught by the Sea (Fiction, Level 13, Stage 3) by Rosemary Keating

Caught by the Sea is a story about a girl’s diving adventure that goes awry and some life lessons she learned as a result. The Guided Lesson that accompanies this book provides instruction for teaching the following activities: Exploring content and vocabulary about diving safety and processing feelings of fear; completing a “Knowledge Chart” graphic organizer to explore predictions, outcomes and learning to apply to future predictions; surveying the book in the SQRRR format (front cover, publication page, contents, pictures, illustrations, charts, Glossary, and Index) to teach print concepts; reading independently and discussing vocabulary terms as new or review; and responding to the reading in various ways.

The activity I want to highlight this week is the responding to reading by writing activity where Elijah was asked to express a time when he felt frightened, how the main character’s family might have reacted to her being lost, and the facts he learned about diving. Normally Elijah is less than excited to complete a writing assignment, but because he enjoyed this book so much he was happy to write about the facts he learned about diving. The other two items came with a little less enthusiasm and a little more time thinking, but I believe all 3 were important for helping him connect to the meaning of the book.

Additionally, this book’s accompanying Guided Lesson outlines how the teacher/parent can use material learned and experienced this week to complement the non-fiction resource for next week Wrek Trek. I love how the AlphaSkills lesson plans pairs non-fiction and fiction books at this level! I believe it really helps reinforce to my fourth grader the importance to using all sorts of resources for learning. For more information about the AlphaSkills Read with Sarah curriculum and our family, see the AlphaSkills Blog Introduction.