Build Background

• Involve students in a discussion about natural events that destroy land and homes. Ask students to tell what happens to land and people when an earthquake hits or a volcano erupts.

Preview the Book

Introduce the Strategy: Make connections to prior knowledge

• Give students a copy of the book and have them preview the front and back covers and read the title. Have students discuss what they see on the covers and offer ideas as to what kind of book this is and what it might be about. Model how to use prior knowledge as you preview the book.
• Think aloud: A big earthquake hit near Los Angeles, California in January of 1994. A few months later, I went to a basketball tournament there. I saw big highway bridges that had fallen in the earthquake. Men were still working to clean up the area so they could start rebuilding the roads and bridges. (Tailor comments to fit personal experience.)
• Direct students to the table of contents. Remind students that the table of contents provides an overview of what the book is about. Each chapter title provides an idea of what they will read in the book. After reviewing the table of contents, model using it as a way to make connections with prior knowledge. For example, say: The news coverage of the 1994 earthquake showed the ground trembling. And I think it was nearly a 7 on the Richter Scale. Ask students if they know about any of the things listed in the table of contents.
• Have students preview the rest of the book, looking at photos, illustrations, captions, and maps.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Remind students of the strategies they can use to work out words they don't know. For example, they can use what they know about letter and sound correspondence to figure out the word. They can look for base words, prefixes, and suffixes. They can use the context to work out meanings of unfamiliar words.
• Model how to apply word-attack strategies. Point out a word in bold, such as the word earthquake on page 4. Model how they can use prior knowledge of each of the words to figure out the meaning of the compound word. Ask students to tell the meaning of each word (ground/shake) and then to put the meanings together. Have students follow along as you read the last sentence on the page to confirm the meaning of the word.
• Remind students that they should check whether words make sense by rereading the sentence.
• For additional teaching tips on word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have the students read the book to see if they have seen, read about, or experienced anything to do with the book's content.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Have students read pages 5 to 10. Tell them to find one detail, fact, or idea that they can connect to prior texts or experience. If they finish before everyone else, they should go back and reread.

   Tell the students to make a small question mark in their books beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. These can be addressed in the discussion that follows.

Reflect on the Reading Strategies

• Ask students what words they marked in their books. Use this opportunity to model how they could read these words using word-attack strategies and context clues.
• Have students share any other personal experiences they were reminded of while reading. Discuss how making connections to personal experience keeps them actively involved with and connected to the reading process.

Comprehension: Cause and Effect

• Introduce and model: Explain that many ideas and events are connected to each other. One thing causes, or makes, something else happen. For example, say: Suppose it is raining. I might say, "The sidewalk is wet because it is raining." Write the sentence on the board and underline the word because. Tell students that whenever they see this word, it is like a flashing red light alerting them that they are going to find out the cause, or why something happened. The effect, or what happened, comes before it. Explain that when the word because isn't used in the text, they can put it in for themselves by changing the sentence around, and then checking to see if it makes sense.
• Check for understanding: Direct students to page 4. Read the introduction to the students. Write the third sentence and the 2 questions, What happened? and Why? on the board. Have students work together to determine the answers to both questions, and to reword the sentence using the because construction. Tell them they do not have to use all of the words that are in the sentence on the page. Discuss their responses. Explain that you can reword the sentence as follows: The peacefulness is destroyed because forces deep in the earth suddenly come to life.
• Give each student a copy of the Cause and Effect worksheet.
• Think aloud: I want to find out what happens in the earth that causes it to shake. I knew from reading page 6 that the earth has plates that move around. I was able to use this to help me find the 4 things that work together to cause an earthquake. First, I read the paragraph on page 7 and underlined the following words and phrases (use an overhead projector or write the following on the board):large pieces of the plate get caught; large blocks of rocks hold them back; pressure and energy builds; rocks give way, releasing pressure and energy; plates jerk forward; the ground shakes. Now I can put those together to come up with the 4 things that cause an earthquake (write on board in same format as Cause and Effect worksheet): large pieces of plate get caught by rocks; pressure and energy build; rocks give way and release the pressure; the plates jerk forward and the ground shakes.
• Discussion: Ask students to identify the words, phrases, and/or sentences that tell the 3 things that work together to cause a violent volcano. Have students find 3 effects of a violent volcano.
• Independent practice: Tell students to complete the Cause and Effect worksheet.
• Extend the discussion:

    Instruct students to use the inside cover of their book to make a list of things they would do if they knew an earthquake or volcano was about to happen. Have students share their lists with the group.

Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage: Commas in a series

• Explain that when writers use a series of items in a sentence, the words need to be separated by commas. Without the commas, the sentence would be difficult to read and understand. Write the following sentence on the board: Explosions of ash gasses and hot rocks are called volcanoes. Ask students to explain why this sentence doesn't make sense. (There is no such thing as "ash gasses.") Direct students to the bottom of page 4. Ask students to identify the location of the commas in the sentence.
• Reinforce by directing students to page 5 and asking them to find the sentence in which a series of words is separated by commas. Explain that a comma is always placed between the first 2 items and before the words and and or.
• Give students the Commas worksheet and explain the example.

Vocabulary: Compound words

• Write the word earthquake on the board. Review or explain that this is a compound word, and that a compound word is made by joining one word with another word. Use the word in a sentence: An earthquake shook the ground.
• Direct students to page 13. Ask them to find another compound word (landslides) Ask them to identify the 2 words that have been joined to make the word.
• Hand out the Compound Words worksheet and explain how to complete it. Discuss their answers.

Independent Reading

• Allow the students to read their books independently or with a partner. Partners can take turns reading parts of the book.

Home Connection

• Give the students their books to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.

Writing and Science Connection

• Provide print and Internet resources for groups of students to research a powerful earthquake, volcano, or tsunami that occurred in the past. Have students choose one and write newspaper article that includes answers to the 4 W questions: What, When, Where, and Why. Encourage them to include any interesting information they find about survivors or animals. Have the group prepare an oral and visual presentation to present to the class.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• identify cause and effect relationships.
• use commas in a series of items.
• recognize and use compound words.

Comprehension Checks

• Retelling Rubric