Reading Level:
U 

Word Count:
2,582 

Page Count:
22 

Text Summary
Don't Wake the Mummy is a fictional story about a fourth-grade girl and boy who go to Egypt on a class trip. While touring a pyramid, they accidentally waken a mummy in a burial chamber, which begins a humorous and exciting adventure. The children strategize to solve the problem and to avoid getting in trouble with their teacher. 

Vocabulary
Challenging Words:
Anubis
comprehension
escapade
hieroglyphics
initiate
mummification
obedient
ominously
queue
revulsion
sarcophagus
shrill
triumphantly
undetected
vacating
 
ReproducibleWorksheets
Worksheet 1: Problem/Solution
Worksheet 2: Adverbs 

Lesson Objectives

Comprehension
You will likely address a number of comprehension skills as students work to understand the text.

The targeted comprehension strategy for this lesson is: Identify problems facing the main characters and the solutions to each problem. 

Word Work

Action Verbs
Understand and identify action verbs. 

Adverbs
Identify adverbs in the text. 

Visual Literacy
Getting meaning from illustrations and characters' expressions. 

Before Reading

Introduce
Introduce the book by showing students the front cover. Read the title.
Ask: What do you see on the cover? What do you think the book will be about?
Turn the book over to the back cover.
Ask: What other information does the back cover give us about the book? 

Elicit Prior Knowledge
Initiate a discussion with students about going on class trips. Ask how they are usually expected to behave. Ask students to share experiences. 

To introduce vocabulary, make two overlapping circles in a Venn Diagram on the board or chart paper. Label one circle Behavior on Class Trips and the other Egypt. Discuss the following vocabulary words and classify them in the Venn Diagram according to students' predictions of how they might be used in the story: escapade, hieroglyphics, mummification, obedient, ominously, revulsion, sarcophagus, triumphantly, undetected. 

Skim and Scan
Hand out the book and have students skim through it, looking at the illustrations. Ask them what they think might be happening. Discuss how prior predictions of events in the story and use of vocabulary may need to be revised. Record any new vocabulary predictions in the Venn Diagram. 

During Reading

Set the Purpose
Introduce Worksheet 1. Explain to students what they are to do on the worksheet.

Say: I want you to read the book silently at your own pace. As you read, identify each of the problems the main characters face and record them on the worksheet. When each problem is solved in the story, record each solution next to the corresponding problem on the worksheet. 

After Reading

Building Comprehension
Discuss any words students had difficulty with and model how to use context clues to work out the meanings, e.g., rereading, substituting. Discuss the characters. Encourage students to make inferences about them and evaluate their actions.
Ask: How would you describe Amy, the narrator? Simon? Mrs. Crabwalk? Show me examples in the book that support your ideas. Does the vocabulary surrounding the characters' actions help you? 

Discuss Problem/Solution Worksheet 1. Students may have different ideas. This is appropriate as long as they can support their ideas with references from the book.
Say: I want you to work in pairs to discuss the following: How do the characters' personalities contribute to the problems they encounter in the story? How do the characters' personalities help solve the problems they encounter? 

Word Work
Action Verbs
Discuss with students that action verbs are the words in text that show action, i.e., what happened. 

Put the following sentences on the board. Have students take turns identifying the action verbs. Note how some action verbs are stronger than others and what effect they have on the writing. 

Thomas played with the truck.
Amy watched a movie.
I am going to the park.
Joe screamed in horror.
Linda shrieked with happiness. 

Adverbs
Explain that adverbs help add "color" to action verbs. Point out that adverbs help describe the action verb, and that they can come either before or after the verb in a sentence. Draw students' attention to these examples on page 4: the examples whispered ominously and quickly realized. 

Introduce Worksheet 2. Have students refer to the text and work in pairs to identify the adverbs and action verbs they help describe. List findings on the board and discuss when they are finished. 

Learning Through Visual Devices
Have students look at the illustrations. Go over each illustration and have students discuss the emotions on the characters' faces. Discuss the ways in which facial expressions tell us how a person is feeling, and how an illustrator might choose which expression to use for the characters in various parts of the story. Have students look at each illustration again and read the text. Ask students if there is another way they might have illustrated the book. 

Writing Link
Have each student write about a problem he or she had in school and how he or she solved it. Encourage them to use action verbs and adverbs to add excitement to their writing. Prior to writing, have them brainstorm the problem/solution using specific action verbs and adverbs that may work in their piece. 

Assessment

• Review completed problem/solution worksheets to assess if students understood the reading.
• Have students write sentences using selected vocabulary words to demonstrate their understanding of word meaning.
• Review students' completed adverbs worksheets to assess whether they can identify adverbs and the action verbs they describe.