Text Type: Nonfiction/Informational
Page Count: 16
Word Count: 1,098

Book Summary
The Titanic: Lost and Found is a book about the famous ship and its only voyage. It tells readers about the grandest ship of 1912 and its disastrous maiden voyage. The book provides readers with the statistics of survivors and victims, and tells of the Carpathia, the ship that came to the rescue. Lastly, the book includes information about scientists and their discovery of the remains of theTitanic in 1985, more than two miles below the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean. Photographs, maps, and diagrams support the text.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

• Ask and answer questions

Objectives

• Use the reading strategy of asking and answering questions to understand text
• Sequence events
• Identify and use hyphenated compound adjectives
• Identify the meaning of suffix ­-est

Materials

• Book -- The Titanic: Lost and Found (copy for each student)
• Chalkboard or dry erase board
• Dictionaries
• KWLS, content vocabulary, sequence events, hyphenated compound adjectives worksheets
• Discussion cards

     Indicates an opportunity for students to mark in the book. (All activities may be completed with paper and pencil if books are reused.)

Vocabulary

• Content words: contraptions, dire, frantically, magnificent, ominously, steerage, treacherous, ultimately

Build Background

• Write the word Titanic on the board. Ask students to tell what they may already know about the ship and its tragic voyage.
• Create a KWLS chart on the board and hand out the KWLS worksheet. Review or explain that the K stands for knowledge we know, the W stands for information we want to know, the L stands for the knowledge we learned, and the S stands for what we still want to know about the topic. As various topics are discussed, fill in the first section (K) on the board with information students know about the topic. Have students complete the same section of their KWLS chart.
• Ask students what they would like to know about the Titanic. Have them fill in the second section (W) of their chart. Write their questions on the class chart.

Preview the Book

Introduce the Book

• Give students their copy of the book. Guide them to the front and back covers and read the title. Have students discuss what they see on the covers. Encourage them to offer ideas as to what type of book it is (genre, text type, fiction or nonfiction, and so on) and what it might be about.
• Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name). Point out the glossary and index. Ask volunteers to explain the use of each.

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Ask and answer questions

• Discuss with students how having prior knowledge about the topic, and asking and answering questions while reading, can help readers understand and remember the information in a book.
• Direct students to the table of contents. Remind them that the table of contents provides an overview of the information in a book and how it is organized. After previewing the table of contents, use it to model asking questions.
  Think aloud: I can use the table of contents to think of questions I would like to have answered about the Titanic. For example, the first section is titled "The Grandest Ship." This makes me wonder what made the Titanic so grand and what the ship was like. I'll have to read the book to find out. I'll write this question on the chart.
• Have students look at the other section titles. Have them write any questions they have based on the covers and table of contents in the W section of their KWLS chart.
• Have students preview the rest of the book, looking at maps, diagrams, and photographs. Invite students to read through the glossary and index. Have them add any additional questions they might have on their KWLS chart. Invite students to share their questions aloud. Write shared questions on the class chart.
• As students read, encourage them to use other reading strategies in addition to the targeted strategy presented in this section. For tips on additional reading strategies, click here.

Introduce the Comprehension Skill: Sequence events

• Review or explain that events from history are told in order from beginning to end.
• Model sequencing the main events of your life. Write key words about each event in order on a timeline on the board as you describe them to students.
  Think-aloud: If I want someone to be able tell the story of my life, he or she needs to include certain events in order to tell it correctly. The first event that happened is that I was born. Next, I started school. Then, I moved to a new town. (Continue telling events as applicable to your life.)
• Explain that certain words are often used to explain a sequence of events. Read the list of events on the board to students in order, using words such as first, next, then, and last. Ask students to identify these sequencing words from the example.
• Have a volunteer use the key words on the board to sequence the events out of order. Ask students to explain why the order of the events is important (the sequence does not make sense out of order).
• Point out the difference between the sequence of events listed on the board and a retelling (the retelling contains more detail and description; the list shows only the events that are most important).

Introduce the Vocabulary

• As students preview the book, ask them to talk about what they see in the photographs, maps, and diagrams. Reinforce the vocabulary words they will encounter in the text.
• Explain to students that sometimes they will not find any context clues that define an unfamiliar word. Model how students can use the glossary or a dictionary to locate a word's meaning. Have a volunteer read the definition for dire in the glossary. Have students follow along on page 10 as you read the sentence in which the word dire is found to confirm the meaning of the word.
• Have students locate other content vocabulary words in the glossary and text. Read and discuss their definitions as a class. Point out that not all content vocabulary words are defined in the glossary. Have students locate those words in the dictionary and text. Read and discuss their definitions as time permits.
• Have students choose two content vocabulary words from this book that they were most unfamiliar with for the following activity. Introduce, explain, and have students complete the content vocabulary worksheet. Allow time for discussion when they are finished.
• For tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students think about what they already know about the Titanic as they read the book to find answers to their questions, and write what they learned in the L section of their KWLS chart.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Have students read to the end of page 8. Remind them to look for information about the Titanic that will answer questions on their KWLS chart. Encourage students who finish early to go back and reread.
• When students have finished reading, have them circle any questions on their KWLS chart that were answered and write any new questions that were generated.
• Model answering a question and filling in the third section (L) of the KWLS chart.
  Think-aloud: I wanted to know what made the Titanic so grand, and what the ship was like. I found out that it was the biggest ship of its time--883 feet long and 104 feet tall. It had four smokestacks standing 62 feet each, four elevators, and a lavish staircase. Wealthy passengers had fancy rooms for dining and elegant rooms for sleeping. I wonder if any famous people were among the many wealthy passengers. I will write this question on my chart.
• Have students write answers to the questions they circled in the L section of their KWLS chart. Invite them to share the information they learned and the questions they generated as they read the book. Write shared responses on the class KWLS chart.
• Discuss events that are the most important to correctly tell the story. (Passengers boarded the Titanic on Wednesday, April 10, in Southampton, England. The Titanic stopped in France and then in Ireland, picking up a few more passengers. On Thursday, April 11, the Titanic set sail for the open sea. Three days after leaving Southampton, at 11:40 p.m., the Titanic struck an iceberg in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.) Write the information on the board.
• Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 11. Have them write answers they found while reading in the L section of their KWLS chart and additional questions they raised in the W section. Invite them to share the information they learned and the questions they generated as they read pages 9 through 11. Write shared responses on the class KWLS chart.
• Ask students to share additional important events as a class and write them on the timeline in order. (Thomas Andrews realized that the Titanic would sink. Women and children in first class were ushered into lifeboats. The ship's radio operator sent out an SOS signal. The Carpathia answered the call for help. The Titanic sank two-and-a-half hours after it struck the iceberg.)
• Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to look for and write answers to their KWLS chart questions, as well as to look for important events to record. Encourage them to add new questions they might have to their chart as they read.

      Have students make a question mark in their book beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. Encourage them to use the strategies they have learned to read each word and figure out its meaning.

• Ask students what words, if any, they marked in their book. Use this opportunity to model how they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.

Reflect on the Reading Strategy

• Ask students to share questions they added to their KWLS chart while reading, and ask them what questions were answered (or not answered) in the text. Have students write answers they found while reading in the L section of their KWLS worksheet.
• Reinforce that asking questions before and during reading, and looking for the answers while reading, keeps readers interested in the topic. It also encourages them to keep reading to find answers to their questions and helps them understand and enjoy what they have read.
• Point out to students that all of their questions may not have been answered in this text.
• Think-aloud: I wanted to know if any famous people were among the many wealthy passengers. The newspaper article in the book reported Ismay and Mrs. Astor safe and mentioned other "noted names missing." I'd like to know more about these people. I will write their names in the S section of my chart.
• Brainstorm other sources students might use to locate additional information to answer their questions. Invite students to fill in the final section (S) of their worksheet with information they would still like to know about the Titanic and its passengers.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

• Discussion: Review the sequence of events that were identified and written on the board. Practice restating these events using sequencing words (first, next, then, after that, and so on). Point out how it is important for students to use their own words to write about each event.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the sequence events worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.
• Enduring understanding: In this book, you learned about the Titanic, a grand ship thought to be unsinkable. However, it did indeed sink, and the disaster claimed several lives. Now that you know this information, why is it important to be informed and draw your own conclusions about something?

Grammar and Mechanics: Hyphenated compound adjectives

• Review or explain that adjectives are words that describe nouns or pronouns. An adjective tells which one, how many, or what kind.
• Write the following sentence on the board: That dark evening, the sea was calm. Have individual students come to the board and circle the adjectives in the sentence (dark, calm). Then have them underline the noun that each adjective describes (evening, sea).
• Tell students that some adjectives are hyphenated and that they are called hyphenated compound adjectives. Write the following sentence on the board: No white-capped waves crashed against the icebergs. Have a volunteer come to the board and underline the compound adjective (white-capped). Have another volunteer underline the noun that the adjective describes (waves).
• Check for understanding: Have students work with a partner to identify a hyphenated compound adjective in the book. Have them circle the adjective and underline the noun the adjective describes.
• Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the hyphenated compound adjectives worksheet. Discuss answers aloud when students have finished working.

Word Work: Suffix -est

• Write the following sentence on the board: Scientists discovered the treasure in the deepest part of the ocean. Point out the word deepest. Ask students to explain the meaning of the word (the most distance down).
• Erase the suffix -est from the end of the word deepest. Reread the sentence using the new word. Ask students to explain how the meaning of the sentence changed.
• Write the suffix -est on the board and discuss its meaning (most). Have students locate the words with the -est suffix on page 4 (grandest, biggest). Ask students to explain the meaning of the words.
• Check for understanding: Have students locate the word with the -est suffix on page 11 (closest). Have students identify the meaning of the base word and write it in the margin of their book. Then have them identify the meaning of the whole word and write it in the margin of their book. Discuss with students the difference between the meanings of the two words.

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their book independently. Additionally, allow partners to take turns reading parts of the book to each other.

Home Connection

• Give students their book to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends. Have students also take home their completed KWLS chart and explain to someone at home what each section means, as well as telling about the information they wrote on the chart.

Informational Report Writing Connection
Provide additional print and Internet resources for students to further research the Titanic and its voyage. Have them research to find out information such as: names of specific passengers, what types of food was served, what happened when the ship was sinking, how the world received the news of the accident, and what was found under the ocean when the wreck was discovered. Have students write a report on the interesting information they find.

Visit Writing A–Z for a lesson and leveled materials on informational report writing.

Science Connection
Provide print and Internet resources for students to learn more about icebergs. After they have researched to find out about the formation, location, activity of icebergs, have them write the facts on a large piece of poster paper. Allow time for students to discuss what they have learned, and hang their fact posters in the classroom.

Skill Review
Discussion cards covering comprehension skills and strategies not explicitly taught with the book are provided as an extension activity. The following is a list of some ways these cards can be used with students:

• Use as discussion starters for literature circles.
• Have students choose one or more card and write a response, either as an essay or a journal entry.
• Distribute before reading the book and have students use one of the questions as a purpose for reading.
• Cut apart and use the cards as game cards with a board game.
• Conduct a class discussion as a review before the book quiz.