Build Background

• Discuss with students what they know about our galaxy. Ask them to think about the possibility of humans living on another planet someday and what that might be like.
• Ask students to tell what they know about science fiction writing. Discuss how an author may make up names of places and beings to make the story more interesting. Ask volunteers to tell about different science fiction books they may have read, such as Star Wars or Lord of the Rings.

Preview the Book

Introduce the Book

• 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.
• Show students the title page. Talk about the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).

Introduce the Strategy: Summarize

• Reinforce how stopping to summarize what is happening in a book while reading is a strategy that good readers use to make sense of text.
• Think-aloud: To summarize what I've read, I need to decide what's important and what isn't. Then, in my mind, I organize the important information into a few sentences and think about them for a couple of moments. Since I haven't read the book yet, it's difficult to decide what's important at this point, but as I read I will think about what is important and what isn't.
• As students read, they should use other reading strategies in addition to the targeted strategy presented in this section. For tips on additional reading strategies, click here.

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. There are many made-up proper nouns in this book, such as Galaxon, Sarpedon, Sybarites, and Quarantians. Remind students to use the above strategies to sound out these words just the same as they would real words.
• Direct students to page 4. Have them find the bolded vocabulary word culminate. Model how they can use context clues to figure out the meaning of the unfamiliar word. Explain that the sentences before it describe the invitation to attend a difficult pilot training. The sentence with the unfamiliar word states that after four weeks the training will culminate in BattleGlobe. The words after it describe the simulated starship battle to determine the Alpha Pilot team. Tell students that these clues make you think that the word culminate means to reach the end. Have students follow along as you reread the sentence on the page to confirm the meaning of the word.
• For additional tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Have students read the book to find out what happens to the characters in the story, stopping after every few pages to summarize in their minds the important information.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Have students read to the end of page 11. Tell them to look for what happens to the characters during the first days of pilot training. If they finish before everyone else, they can go back and reread.
• When they have finished reading, have students tell the interesting things that have happened to the young pilots so far.
• Model summarizing the story.
• Think-aloud: I made sure to stop after the first two pages to summarize what I've read so far. First, I decided what was important and what wasn't. Then, in my mind, I organized the important information into a few sentences and thought about them for a couple of moments. I thought about Jacey Nova's invitation to attend the elite pilot training at Central Galaxon Headquarters. I remembered how excited he was to receive the letter and that he had been training for this opportunity for his entire life.
• Have students read the remainder of the story. Remind them to think about what happens to the characters and why, so they can summarize, or review, the events in their minds.

    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 the Reading Strategies

• Ask students what words they marked in their books. Use this opportunity to model how they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
• Have students share any other questions they had while they were reading. Discuss how summarizing as they read keeps them actively involved in the reading process and helps them understand and remember what they read.
• For practice with summarizing, have students complete the summarizing worksheet.

• Discussion: Ask students to name the characters in the story (Jacey, Gamal, and fleet commander) and to tell what they know about them from the illustrations. Ask students how they get to know the main characters, Jacey and Gamal (through their actions and words to the other characters). Ask how they think the story might be different if Jacey or Gamal were telling the story.
• Introduce and model the skill: Explain that there are many ways to learn about a character in a story. One way is to look at a character's words. Another way is to look for things the character does. Tell students that a character's words, thoughts, and actions are how the author helps the reader get to know the character and form an opinion about him or her.
• Read pages 6 and 7 aloud as students follow along silently. Ask students what Jacey's words tell about him. (Jacey is friendly and polite. He is very curious about his new roommate and also a little nervous about the situation.) Ask students what Gamal's words tell about him. (He is not friendly or polite. He sounds as if he doesn't like humans and doesn't want to get to know Jacey.)
• Check for understanding: Read page 19 aloud. Ask students what Jacey's actions tell about him. (He is resourceful and smart. He is a good pilot.)
• Independent practice: Have students complete the character traits worksheet. When students are done, discuss their responses.

    Extend the discussion: Discuss differences in people's personalities, and how sometimes it is hard to get along with someone who is very different from you. Ask students to share things that they have found helpful in situations where they had to learn to get along with someone.

Grammar and Mechanics: Punctuation--colons

• Review or explain that a colon is a punctuation mark (:) used before a long quotation, explanation, example, or series. It also is used after the salutation of a formal letter.
• Direct students to page 4 in the book. Read the page aloud as students follow along. Ask students to find the colons in the text (they should find a total of three). Write Jacey Nova on the board, and ask students how the colon is used in this instance (after the salutation of a formal letter).
• Ask a volunteer to read the sentence on page 4 that contains a colon. (After four weeks, your training will culminate in BattleGlobe: a simulated starship battle to determine the Alpha Pilot team in the galaxy.) Ask students how the colon is used in this instance (before a long explanation of BattleGlobe).

    Check for understanding: Have students find and circle the colons used on pages 10 and 23, and have them explain how the colon is used in each instance. (On page 10 the colon is used before a long quotation. On page 23 the colon is used before an example.)

    On the inside front cover of the book, have students draw a colon (:) followed by its definition (a punctuation mark used before a long quotation, explanation, example, or series. It also is used after the salutation of a formal letter).

Word Work: Irregular content words

• Talk about difficult words in the text, such as intricate and levitating. Ask students to share words from the text that they found difficult to understand or pronounce. List them on the board.
• Check for understanding: Provide opportunities for students to say the new vocabulary words from the book and to use the words in sentences. Refer them to the glossary or dictionary if necessary.
• Along with the words listed on the board and glossary words, other words that may be used in this exercise or in the worksheet practice below are listed at the top of this lesson plan under Vocabulary: Content words.
• Independent practice: Give students the vocabulary worksheet. Each worksheet provides the opportunity for students to work with two vocabulary words. Supply multiple copies for students to continue working on more words if they have time.

Independent Reading

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

Home Connection

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

Writing Connection

• Talk with students about the part of the story that explained how Oberon and Sarpedon were great enemies when humans first immigrated to Oberon from Earth. Jacey's grandfather had been a pilot in the long and painful war between the two planets. Have students write a story about the war from Jacey's grandfather's point of view.

Social Studies Connection

• Provide relevant print and Internet resources to help students research times in Earth's history when war was fought between two races. Create a time line chronicling Earth's major wars.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• consistently use the strategy of summarizing as they read to better comprehend the text
• analyze the thoughts, feelings, and actions of the book's characters
• accurately recognize and understand the use of colons
• understand and use content vocabulary