“A Wreck” Week 15 Fourth Grade

Wreck (Non-Fiction, Level 13, Stage 3) by Angie Belcher

Wreck is a story about ships and planes that crash on or over the sea – underwater wrecks with a special magic. From the Mary Rose and the Titanic to the Black Jack, President Coolidge, Rainbow Warrior and more, this little non-fiction book is a great resource for 4th graders to learn about underwater shipwrecks and plane wrecks and those who discover them. When paired with last week’s resource Caught by the Sea, the accompanying Guided Lesson provides instruction for the following activities: exploring content and vocabulary about diving, wrecks, and underwater exploration; completing a Survey Chart; 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, such as writing main ideas, facts found, and reasons why this book belongs in the non-fiction genre.

The activity I want to highlight this week is the Survey Chart. In this activity Elijah was directed to explore his predictions about each section of the book, record the outcomes and discover how his right or wrong predictions can help him learn to apply better prediction skills to future predictions. He was also instructed to use the book’s subtitles and headings for clues and to incorporate facts he already knew as well as new ones too. Overall, this activity really helped him connect with the content of the book on a new level.

For more information about the AlphaSkills Read with Sarah curriculum and our family, see the AlphaSkills Blog Introduction.