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January 2012 • Teacher’s Edition • A Complete Teaching KitVol.

19 N

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URGENT NEWS ABOUT OUR ANSWER KEYS! You will find the answer keys for the magazine and online activities on a separate

Web site: www.scholastic.com/storyworksanswerkey This comes in response to complaints from teachers that their students were finding answers online.

The magazine’s answer key is also on page T7 of this Teacher’s Edition.

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Poetry + Nonfiction = A perfect lesson!

We are always trying to make our poetry more useful to you and more interesting for your students. This month, I am very excited to share our poetry/

nonfiction package, which begins on page 21. It includes an original poem (just for your students!) called “Ship Spies a Light,” about a sunken ship hoping to be found. Following the poem is a two-page nonfiction adventure story about a real-life lost treasure ship. Each of these works stands on its own. Put them together and you get a unique and exciting teaching package. What a great way to teach students how to compare and contrast and find themes across genres! This is the kind of content you have been asking us for—what you need for Common Core Standards and state tests. I can’t wait to hear what you think. And please don’t miss our nonfiction story, “Deadly Hits.” I explain more about it on page T2 of this Teacher’s Edition. It could be one of the most important stories your students ever read (and I mean it!).

Enjoy this issue!–Lauren LTarshis@scholastic.com

Meet Justin!Justin O’Neill is our amazing new assistant editor. A recent graduate of Brown University and an improv actor, Justin brings to Storyworks stellar writing skills, a great editorial eye, and a unique brand of creativity. We are lucky to have him (and so are you!).

S T O R Y W O R K ST2 S T O R Y W O R K ST2

Storyworks Skill Focus

Teaching Author’s Purpose

Deadly HitsConcussions are ruining the lives of thousands of kids. One young athlete is determined to change this.

ARTICLE AND LESSON SUMMARY The story of Zack Lystedt is tragic: He suffered a concussion while playing football, returned to the game, then suffered a catastrophic “second-impact injury” that left him paralyzed. Zack’s story shows that concussions are far more dangerous than many believe, especially in kids and teens. This article is designed to convince your students of the dangers of concussions and to alert them to the signs of the condition, while providing you with a powerful tool for teaching author’s purpose.

Nonfiction ArticleFEATUREDLESSON

As the editor of Storyworks, I am always on the lookout for stories that will engage your students. Deadly creatures. Disasters. Amazing adventures. I want your students to be riveted. I want them to be so entertained that no matter what their reading ability, they will want to dive into a story and read until the very end.

But this month’s nonfiction story will do more than sim-ply entertain and fascinate your students. This is an article that could literally save their lives. For me as an author, it began as a routine assignment. I wanted to write an article about concussions in professional

and youth sports. But my purpose very quickly changed into a mission. It is my hope that this article will educate your students about the dangers of concussions and persuade them that nothing is more important than their long-term health and safety.

How did my purpose change as I was writing this story? I discuss it in a short video that I hope you’ll show your students before you teach the story. As I explain there, my purpose changed when I learned the story of Zack Lystedt, a young and gifted athlete who was left paralyzed after a junior high football game. Zack suffered a concussion during the game, didn’t realize it, and returned to play. He is now in a wheelchair and needs around-the-clock care. Zack’s story is extreme but not unusual. Dozens of young athletes have died from concussions. Thousands more are at risk of permanent cognitive problems because of multiple hits. Even the most seasoned experts in sports medicine are truly alarmed by this problem. When I spoke to Zack’s father, Victor, he asked me to share Zack’s story with as many people as I could. There is no end to the pain this family feels. But Victor says they get some com-fort in knowing that by sharing Zack’s experience, they could be saving other kids and their families from a similar fate.

I have written dozens and dozens of articles during my career. None has been as important as this one.

Before reading this month’s nonfiction story, show your students our author’s purpose video. In it, I will

speak directly to your students about why I wrote this article and how my purpose changed during the

course of my research.

Special Video: Author’s Purpose

Zack Lystedt before his injury (top) and after

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MAIN SKILLS AND TEACHING OBJECTIVESThis lesson will help your students: •Understand the author’s purpose for writing this article•Read for information about concussions, using the main

article, sidebars, and text features SETTING A PURPOSE FOR READING:Author’s Purpose (10 minutes)Invite students to think why they might be bursting at the seams to say something. (e.g., to share exciting news, to ask for help, to tell something amusing, to let people know important information) Explain that these are often the same reasons that authors feel motivated to write. Ask students to look at pages 4 and 5 and predict what the article will be about. Why do they think the author wanted to tell this story? Then show our Storyworks video, in which she discusses this.

CRITICAL-THINKING QUESTIONS (10 minutes, activity sheet available online)•What is a concussion? What is a second-impact injury?

Why does the author want you to know about them? (reading for information/author’s purpose) A concussion is a brain injury caused by a blow to the head; a second-impact injury occurs when the head gets hit again before the first injury has healed, often with graver consequences. The author wants you to be knowledgeable to protect yourself against such injuries.

•Why do many athletes return to their game soon after being injured? Why did Zack’s coach put him back in? (supporting details) Many return because they have been influenced by pros and others who play through pain. Zack’s coach didn’t know the symptoms or risks of a concussion.

•The author includes a number of statistics. What are some examples? Why do you think she includes them? (author’s purpose) Examples include: 300,000 youngsters per year get concussions in sports; dozens of retired NFL players have brain disease; etc. She includes them to show that concussions are a serious problem.

•What is the purpose of the Lystedt Law? (reading for information) The law’s purpose is to educate young athletes, coaches, and trainers about concussions to prevent future injuries like Zack’s.

•What is Zack’s message to young athletes? What do you think everyone can learn from Zack’s story? (critical thinking) His message is “no game is more important than your life.” Answers will vary, but students might suggest that winning a game is not nearly as important as taking care of yourself and being knowledgeable about the risks you take.

SKILL FOCUS: AUTHOR’S PURPOSE (20 minutes, activity sheet and video available online) Show students our video again, this time prompting them to think about how the author achieves her purpose in the article. What did she set out to do? Which parts of the article correspond to her objectives? Distribute our author’s purpose activity sheet to guide students through these questions.

SKILL FOCUS: TEXT FEATURES(20 minutes)Instruct students to choose one of the three sidebars and write a paragraph that includes the following: a one- or two-sentence summary; an explanation of what the sidebar adds to the main article; and why they think it was included. For younger or less-advanced students: Adapt this activity for students to respond to the photographs and captions. What information do they give? Why are they included?

WRITING PROMPTPersuasive: Imagine your friend got a concussion in last week’s soccer match. He or she really wants to play in the upcoming championship game, even though the concussion won’t be healed by then. Write a paragraph telling what you would say to your friend.

WORD NERD’S VOCABULARY(Vocabulary sheet available online)writhing: twisting; impact: forceful hit; colliding: crashing together; staggering: walking unsteadily; brutal: violent; consciousness: being awake and able to think; frantic: wildly excited by worry; utter: speak; lingering: staying; crisis: terrible problem that has reached a peak

Online ResourcesDigital Lesson Plan: Author’s Purpose—includes video, interactive-whiteboard activity sheet, and lesson plan

Activities to print or project: • Comprehension Quiz—Interactive or Printable• Critical-Thinking Questions• Sentence Chef• Author’s Purpose• Vocabulary www.scholastic.com/storyworks

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SUMMARY Newbery Honor author Grace Lin has written a warm and wonderful story just for Storyworks. Sabrina Liu wants to take piano lessons, but she must show her mom that, this time, she won’t quit what she starts.

MAIN SKILLS AND TEACHING OBJECTIVESThis lesson will help your students:•Understand the parts of a story’s plot•Identify similes in the story SETTING A PURPOSE FOR READING: Understanding plot (10 minutes)Tell students they will be reading a story about a girl who learns to play piano. How many of them study piano or another instrument (or have in the past)? What is frustrating and rewarding about it? Do they ever want to quit? Then show our Storyworks video about plot. Draw students’ attention to the Up Close box on page 11, and prompt them to be on the lookout for the different plot points in the story.

CRITICAL-THINKING QUESTIONS(10 minutes, activity sheet available online)•Why does Sabrina’s mother hesitate when Sabrina says

she wants to take piano lessons? (plot) Sabrina has tried and given up many activities.

•What effect does hearing “Fly Me to the Moon” have on Sabrina? How does it present a problem? (character’s motivation/plot) Hearing the song motivates Sabrina to make music that is meaningful to her. Her problem is that she must find a way to practice it, as it’s not what she’s supposed to play.

•What does the paper piano tell you about Sabrina? (character) The paper piano tells you that she is inventive and determined. It shows she has changed and decided to stick with something rather than giving up, as she has in the past.

•What risks does Sabrina take by playing “Fly Me to the Moon” at the recital? Do you think she did the right thing? Why or why not? (inference/critical thinking) She risks making her family and Mr. Wong angry or embarrassed; she might play badly since she practiced only on her paper piano. Answers will vary.

•Look at the last paragaph in the left column on page 14. What words does the author use to describe the music? What feelings do her words evoke? (mood) The author uses many movement words: fly, played, skipped, cavorted, hopping. Students may suggest that these words evoke feelings of joy and freedom.

SKILL FOCUS: UNDERSTANDING PLOT (20 minutes, activity sheet and video available online)Distribute our activity sheet “What’s the Plot?” Review what the different points mean, using the activity sheet and video. Then have students work in pairs to complete the activity. SKILL FOCUS: IDENTIFYING SIMILES(15 minutes)Grace Lin creates wonderful images in her story by using similes. Remind students what a simile is (a comparison using like or as), and challenge them to be the first to find 10 of them in the story. Then go over the similes they have found; you might want to project the story on your whiteboard and call on students to highlight them. As an extension activity, ask students to draw an illustration for the story based on one of the sentences with a simile.

WRITING PROMPTSPersonal narrative: Write a paragraph about an activity that you have tried: music lessons, a sport, a dance class, etc. What made you want to try it? Explain why you either stuck with it or gave it up.Descriptive writing: Follow Grace Lin’s example of creating great images with similes, and write a description of something you have done in the past week, using at least three similes. Use words to help readers see what you saw, hear what you heard, etc.

WORD NERD’S VOCABULARY cringing: pulling away from something unpleasant; dreary: gloomy, miserable; metronome: a device that produces a steady beat to aid musicians; cavorted: moved about in a lively way; beckoned: called

Online ResourcesDigital Lesson Plan: Understanding Plot—includes video, interactive-whiteboard activity sheet, and lesson plan

Activities to print or project:•ComprehensionQuiz—Interactiveor

Printable•Critical-ThinkingQuestions •Plot

www.scholastic.com/storyworks

Fiction “Making Music” p. 10 LEXILE AND GUIDED-READING LEVELS ONLINELe

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SUMMARYTwo young girls, ages 8 and 9, narrate the true story of their involvement in the 1965 protest marches of Selma, Ala-bama, which led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

MAIN SKILLS AND TEACHING OBJECTIVESThis lesson will help your students: •Become familiar with the civil rights movement by

learning content-area vocabulary•Use details to describe the sequence of events BACKGROUND INFORMATIONStudents might wonder why African-Americans were fighting for the right to vote if, as the prologue says, they already had it. The 15th Amendment to the Constitution (1870) states that a citizen cannot be denied the right to vote based on race. Yet across the South, black citizens had to pay poll taxes or pass impossibly hard literacy tests before registering, effectively denying them the right to vote. They were often harassed, fired from jobs, or attacked if they tried to register. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed literacy tests and sent federal examiners to the South to register African-Americans. By the end of 1965, a quarter-million new black voters had registered in the South. SETTING A PURPOSE FOR READING: Content-Area Vocabulary (10 minutes, activity sheet available online)Distribute the activity sheet “Civil Rights Words,” which lists the boldface words and phrases students will encounter in the text. Ask them to check off whether they know or don’t know each item in the Before Reading column. Call on students to share definitions they know, correcting any misconceptions. (definitions in answer key) As the class reads, pause at each boldface word or phrase to look at its context or explanation in the text. Develop a definition as a class and have students write it in the During Reading column.

CRITICAL-THINKING QUESTIONS (10 minutes, activity sheet available online)•In Scene 1, why are people protesting? Why is this cause

important to them? (main idea) They are protesting to try to enable African-Americans to register to vote. This is important because they want an equal say in how the government works. Also, African-Americans had already been granted the right to vote but were being prevented from doing so by threats and unfair rules.

•Why are Sheyann and other African-Americans worried about what Sheriff Clark will do? (supporting evidence) Sheriff Clark consistently uses violence and threats to deny African-Americans their rights. Across the South, police have beaten and killed peaceful protesters.

•What happens on “Bloody Sunday”? (summarizing) Six hundred people try to march from Selma to Montgomery to protest the killing of an African-American man, but police viciously attack and spray them with tear gas on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

•What factors in the play lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act? (cause and effect) Americans see the violence in Selma on TV and are outraged; Dr. King leads a march of 30,000 people to Montgomery; Dr. King’s speech inspires people to keep fighting for freedom for all.

•What effect do songs have on the characters throughout the play? What can you infer about why certain songs were important in the civil rights movement? (inference) The songs give the characters strength and unity. You can infer that the songs united, comforted, and inspired people to fight for freedom.

SKILL FOCUS: CONTENT-AREA VOCABULARY(15 minutes, activity sheet available online)Return to the “Civil Rights Words” activity sheet and have students complete the After Reading section.

SKILL FOCUS: SEQUENCING/CITING DETAILS(20 minutes, activity sheet available online)Hold a class discussion about what people wanted to achieve in each protest and whether they were they successful. Dis-tribute our sequencing activity sheet to help students recall the order and details of the play’s important events.

WRITING PROMPTDialogue: Write a dialogue between Sheyann and Rachel as they return home from the march on March 21, 1965. What do they relive, reflect on, hope, and wonder?

Online ResourcesActivities to print or project: • Comprehension Quiz—Interactive or Printable• Critical-Thinking Questions• Content-Area Vocabulary• Sequencingwww.scholastic.com/storyworks

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•Whatfeelingdoestheillustrationcreate? How? How does this feeling relate to the poem? (mood) The illustration’s bright colors, cut-out paper, and snakes with funny hats create a happy, silly feeling. The poem is also silly.

SKILL FOCUS: ALLITERATION (5 minutes, activity sheet available online)Offer students an opportunity to write their own poems us-ing alliteration. Download our activity sheet to guide them.

SUMMARYCarin Berger’s sensuously silly poem and art will delight students. Better check your sneakers before slipping them on!

MAIN SKILLS AND TEACHING OBJECTIVESThis lesson will help your students:•Identifyalliteration in this poem SETTING A PURPOSE FOR READING: Understanding alliteration (5 minutes)Ask students to read the title of the poem quietly to themselves. What do they notice about the way it sounds? What letter do they hear repeatedly? Explain that the repeated use of a letter sound is called alliteration. Why might the poet repeat the s sound in this poem?

CRITICAL-THINKING QUESTIONS (5 minutes, activity sheet available online)•What words can you find that begin with s? What image

does this repeated sound evoke? (alliteration) Words include slippery, slidey, swirly, etc. It creates the image of a snake hissing and slithering.

SUMMARYA poem about a beckoning shipwreck and the true tale of a sunken treasure ship will intrigue your students.

MAIN SKILLS AND TEACHING OBJECTIVEThis lesson will help your students:• Examine a theme across genres• Identify and use point of view in writing

SETTING A PURPOSE FOR READING: Understanding point of view (5 minutes)Explain to students that to find the point of view in writing, they should ask, “Who is speaking?” Direct them to the Up Close box on page 21. Invite them to imagine what story a sunken ship might tell. CRITICAL-THINKING QUESTIONS (5 minutes, activity sheet available online)

•How does the ship in the poem react when it sees explorers’ lights? Why? (inference) It is thrilled and relieved to be found; you can infer that it has been alone for a long time and has been holding in many stories it wants to tell.

•How was the SS Central America lost and found? (summarizing) It was lost in a hurricane in 1857; it was found in 1989 by an explorer who had researched it for many years.

•The poem speaks of a ship’s “losses” and “bounty.” What are the losses and bounty of the Central America? (details) Its losses include 425 lives, the stories of all who died, and the ship itself. Its bounty is crates of gold and the history that emerged from the search for and discovery of the ship.

SKILL FOCUS: THEME ACROSS GENRES (15 minutes, activity sheet available online)The nonfiction piece concludes, “Dreams can be lost—and found again.” Ask students how this idea could apply to the poem. What dreams might the ship have had? Which lines suggest this? Which lines show they were lost? Found again?

Online ResourcesActivities to print or project: Shipwrecks• Comprehension Quiz• Critical-Thinking Questions• Theme Across Genres • Decoding Poetry• Vocabulary“Sneaker Snakes”• Comprehension Quiz• Critical-Thinking Questions• Alliterationwww.scholastic.com/storyworks

Paired Texts Shipwrecks p. 21LEXILE LEVEL AND GUIDED-READING LEVELS ONLINE

Poetry “Sneaker Snakes” p. 32

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Major Features Language Arts Standards and Skills Development Online Resources

Nonfiction, p. 4“Deadly Hits”By Lauren Tarshis

Common Core Standards*: Reading: 1, 2, 6, 7; Writing: 1, 9; Speaking and Listening: 1

Primary Standards and Skills:•Understanding author’s purpose•Reading for information•Nonfiction text features

Plus: supporting details, critical thinking, writing to prompts, vocabulary

• Video and Digital Lesson Plan: Author’s Purpose

• Comprehension Quiz—Interactive or Printable

•Critical-Thinking Questions•Sentence Chef•Author’s Purpose•Vocabulary

Fiction, p. 10“Making Music”By Grace Lin

Common Core Standards*: Reading: 2, 3, 5; Writing: 3; Speaking and Listening: 1, 2

Primary Standards and Skills:•Understanding plot •Identifying similes

Plus: character’s motivation, character traits, inferences, critical thinking, mood, writing to prompts, vocabulary

• Video and Digital Lesson Plan: Understanding Plot

• Comprehension Quiz—Interactive or Printable

•Critical-Thinking Questions•Plot

Play, p. 16Pigtails and Protests By Mack Lewis Common Core Standards*: Reading: 1, 3, 4; Writing: 3; Speaking and Listening: 1, 2

Primary Standards and Skills: •Content-area vocabulary •Citing details•Understanding sequence of events

Plus: main idea, supporting evidence, summarizing, cause and effect, inferences, writing to prompts

• Comprehension Quiz—Interactive or Printable

•Critical-Thinking Questions•Content-Area Vocabulary •Sequencing

Paired Texts, p. 21Shipwrecks

Common Core Standards*: Reading: 2, 9; Writing: 3, 9; Speaking and Listening: 2

Primary Standards and Skills: •Identifying theme across genres•Understanding point of view

Plus: inference, summarizing, details, vocabulary

• Comprehension Quiz—Interactive or Printable

•Critical-Thinking Questions•Theme Across Genres•Decoding Poetry •Vocabulary

Poetry, p. 32“Sneaker Snakes”By Carin BergerCommon Core Standards*: Reading: 1, 4; Writing: 4

Primary Standards and Skills: •Understanding alliteration

Plus: mood

• Comprehension Quiz—Interactive or Printable

•Critical-Thinking Questions•Alliteration

Departments and Skills Pages

Reviews By YouWriting Skills

page 2

Writing RescueEditing page 24

DebatePersuasive Writing

page 26

WordworksParts of Speech

page 28

Grammar CopPlurals and Possessives

page 29

Vocab LabVocabulary/Word Nerd

pages 30-31

Bubble TestTest-TakingNow online!

Expo Writing Resource Center. Writing Resources and Lessons Grades K–12. http://www.scholastic.com/expo

January at a GlanceFind Lexile

and guided-reading levels

online!

*ELA Anchor Standards