Build Background

• Have students share what they know about Mount Everest.
• Have students locate the mountain on a map.

Preview the Book

Introduce the Strategy: Make, revise, confirm predictions

• 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.
• Give students the Vocabulary Prediction worksheet. Write the vocabulary words listed above on the board and read them aloud with students. Pair students and have them decide where on the vocabulary map they would place the words. Have students share their predictions about the words.
• Think aloud: I can make predictions about the words I will encounter in the book. I think that porters are people who carry the climbing equipment, so I’m going to put that word in the “people” box. Predicting gives me a purpose for reading, since I want to find out if I guessed the meanings correctly. I know that good readers make predictions as they preview and as they read.
• Have students look at the table of contents to make predictions about the book. Ask them in which chapter they will find out about Sherpas. Ask in which chapter or chapters they expect to find vocabulary related to the people. In which chapter do they expect to find vocabulary about the dangers of the climb?
• Have students preview the rest of the book, looking at the photos, charts, and sidebars. Have them make or revise predictions about the book.
• Students should use a variety of reading strategies in addition to the target strategy. For an overview of reading strategies, click here.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Remind students of the strategies they can use to work out words they don’t know. They can use what they know about letter and sound correspondences, they can look for base words, prefixes, and suffixes, and they can use the context to work out meanings of unfamiliar words.
• Model how to apply word-attack strategies. Point out a difficult word, such as incredible on page 8. Point out that the word has both a prefix (in-) and a suffix (-ible) to help them figure out the word. Read the sentence and model how to use the context to figure out the meaning. Ask students what they think an "incredible spirit of adventure" might be. If students have difficulty, have them check the word in the dictionary, and explain that they can use the glossary or a dictionary if necessary.
• For additional teaching tips on word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read to find their vocabulary words and check their predictions about them.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Have students read to the end of chapter two. Have students look at the vocabulary prediction map to see if they want to move any words into other boxes. Ask if they have confirmed their ideas about any of the words. If necessary, model confirming predictions: I knew that Hillary climbed Mount Everest, so I was correct in my prediction. I learned things that I didn’t know, such as the fact that he planted trees in the Himalayas and established schools and medical clinics.
• Tell students to read the rest of the book, keeping in mind the words on the vocabulary map.

    Tell 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 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.
• Discuss the vocabulary map and ask students if they need to move any of the words into different boxes now that they have read about the words. Discuss how predicting from vocabulary helps them better understand what they read.

Comprehension: Identify main idea and supporting details

• Introduce and model: Remind students that the main idea is the most important or key information in a chapter or book. Point out that chapter headings often supply a clue to the main idea of a chapter. Each chapter will provide details that support the main idea.
• Check for understanding: Ask students what they think the main idea of the chapter "Mount Everest" might be. (Mount Everest is a tall mountain that provides lots of challenges for climbers.) Have students find details that support the main idea (8,850 meters, steep cliffs, deep crevasses, moving slabs of ice, low oxygen levels at the top, high winds, sub-zero temperatures).
• Independent practice: Give students the Main Idea worksheet. Have students work independently to identify the main ideas of the four chapters listed on the worksheet. When students have finished, have them share their responses. If students disagree about the main ideas, have them justify their responses by pointing out clues in the text.
• Extend the discussion:

   Have students write why they would or would not like to climb Mount Everest.

Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage: Identify adverbial phrases

• Read the first sentence on page 4 and point out the adverbial phrase every year. Ask students what information this phrase provides (tells when the climb starts). Explain that adverbs can be single words, but they can also be groups of words. They can tell where, when, or how something is happening.
• Have students find the adverbial phrase in the second sentence on this page. If students are having difficulty, ask where the climb will bring the climbers.
• Have students practice identifying adverbial phrases using the Adverbial Phrase worksheet.

Vocabulary: Suffixes -ible, -able

• Write the word unreachable on the board and point out the prefix un- and the suffix -able. Circle the base word, reach.
• Explain that the suffix -able and the suffix -ible generally mean that something has that quality or can be done. When these suffixes are added to verbs, they create adjectives, or words that describe.
• Point out that the word reachable means that something can be reached. When the prefix un- is added, the meaning of the word changes. The prefix un- generally means "not." Therefore, the meaning of the word unreachable is "not able to be reached."
• Explain that students will need to make changes to the spellings of many base words when adding the suffixes. As an example, show them how to add the suffix -ible to the word sense by dropping the final e before adding the suffix. Tell students that if in doubt about the spelling when adding suffixes, they should check the dictionary.
• Give students the Suffixes worksheet for more practice.

Vocabulary: Make predictions using content vocabulary

• Have students refer to the Vocabulary Prediction worksheet. Review the meanings of the words and where they fit on the concept map. Then have students work with a partner to add as many words as they can to the concept map. They can refer to the book or use other sources to find words associated with Mount Everest that fit in each category. Have students share their words.

Independent Reading

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

Home Connection

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

Writing

• Have students imagine that they have just completed a successful climb to the top of Mount Everest. Have them write a letter to a friend describing their climb. They should review the chapter in the book called "Dangers" as background for describing their climb.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• identify main idea and details.
• create adjectives by adding the suffixes -ible, -able.
• identify adverbial phrases and tell what they modify.
• categorize the vocabulary words and add other words to the appropriate categories.