Day Shared Reading “Rails West!” 3 Key Idea The transcontinental railroad, begun in 1862 and completed in 1869, went from Omaha, Nebraska, to Sacramento, California. Thousands of Chinese, German, Irish, and Italian immigrants worked on the project. The railroad made settlers’ journey westward vastly easier, but it infringed upon Native Americans’ land and way of life. Learning Focus RI.4.2 Students will summarize the text, determine the main idea, and explain how the main idea is supported by key details. 3 minutes Previewing the Text Today we’re going to read more about how settlers expanded into the American West in the 1800s. Read the title. What can you guess from it about the subject of the text? 7 minutes Close Reading of the Text Today we’re going to use the same strategy for understanding this text that we used when I first read you “Lewis, Clark, and Sacajawea.” Who’ll remind us what our strategy was? Often, the main idea of a whole text can be found at the beginning. Who would like to share an idea on the first page that they think might be the main idea of the whole text? Can someone cite a detail from the text that supports the idea? Let’s continue finding important ideas and supporting details as we move forward in this text. Who can find another big idea in the text? And who will support that idea with a detail you can find on this page? Let’s read closely to examine some of the vocabulary in this text. Many words in English have Latin roots. You’ll find one on page 20, so let’s look at that page and locate the word territories. Using context clues, who can figure out what territories are? That’s correct. If you substitute the synonym lands for territories in the sentence in the text, you’ll see it makes perfect sense. The Latin root in territories is terr. Can anyone guess what it means? Mondo Bookshop Grade 4 • Theme 9 1 That’s absolutely right. Another word with this root is terrain, which refers to the condition of a piece of land, such as “hilly terrain” or “muddy terrain.” By the way, does the word territories refer to one land, or more than one? Yes, territories is plural. What would the singular form be? Discussing the Text 10 minutes As you discuss this text with your groups, continue to share ideas, such as by asking and answering questions. When you state an idea, give your reasons for stating it. If a classmate states an idea but doesn’t give reasons, try finding reasons yourself and sharing them with your group. Who thinks they can briefly summarize the whole text for us, including the main idea? We just heard that the main idea of this text is that the Transcontinental Railroad opened up the West to new settlers, but disturbed the Native American way of life. Who can find details to support this claim? The long word transcontinental is a key to this text. In this text, it refers to a railroad. What was special about that railroad? Based on that context, what does transcontinental mean? Very close. Look at the base word of transcontinental. What is it? So transcontinental would mean what? Who sees it? Yes. The railroad in this text only went halfway across the continent, but later it was connected with railroads in the east, so it went all the way across North America. Remember that when you read an informative text, you’re basically reading something that contains a lot of factual details, and these details usually add up to one or more main ideas. So use today’s strategy whenever you read for information. 2 Westward Ho! Day Shared Reading “Rails West!” 4 LEARNING FOCUSES RI.4.2, RI.4.6, RI.4.8 Students will compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic, describing the differences in focus and the information provided, and explain how the author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points. They continue to summarize the text, determine the main idea, and explain how the main idea is supported by key details. RETURNING TO THE TEXT 3 minutes Today we’re going to reread the text “Rails West!” together. Who will remind us what the text was mostly about? Today we’ll focus on how the author uses reasons and evidence. We’ll also talk about the differences between a firsthand and a secondhand account of a topic. CLOSE READING OF THE TEXT 7 minutes Let’s reread the first two pages together. Who sees an important idea there that they didn’t notice the first time? What details in the text help support your idea? As I was reading about how immigrants from various countries worked on the railroad line, I noticed that the Union Pacific workers, in the East, went much faster than the Central Pacific workers, in the West. Who’ll tell us what the reason is? This text about building the Transcontinental Railroad is a secondhand account. The person who wrote it wasn’t there at the time. A firsthand account would be written by someone who was there, such as a worker who kept a diary or a journalist who wrote an article. How might a firsthand account of building the railroad be different from this text? DISCUSSING THE TEXT 10 minutes As we discuss this text, let’s focus on ideas, the reasons for those ideas, and the evidence or details that point to those ideas. Who’d like to give us an example of finding an idea at the end of the text, with the author’s reasons and evidence? Who can give us an example of how you used a strategy to help you understand this text? MONDO BOOKSHOP GRADE 4 • THEME 9 1
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