Sparklers Teacher's Guide
Systematic Vocabulary Development
Use these activities to
help students understand and develop new vocabulary.
Setting
Jed’s home and backyard
Main
Characters
Jed, Ali, Comet
Problem
Jed is so fascinated by outer space that he wants to find a
real piece of space rock in his backyard.
Solution
A meteorite lands just beyond Jed’s back fence. After
scientists inspect the space rock, they give Jed a piece of it.
Building Background/Accessing Prior Knowledge
Word Count: 790
Objectives
Every Second Chance Reading
lesson meets all of the Reading
Comprehension Skills in the chart
on pages 18–21.
The primary objectives met by the
activities and blackline masters for
this book are that students will be
able to:
•
read with fluency, accuracy,
appropriate pacing, and intonation.
(WAFSVD 1.1)
•
ask and respond to relevant
questions with elaboration.
(LS 1.1)
•
summarize major ideas and
supporting evidence. (LS 1.2)
•
use knowledge of common Latin
roots to determine meaning.
(WAFSVD 1.4)
•
distinguish between realism and
fantasy. (LRA 3.1)
•
identify and use regular verbs
correctly. (WOEL 1.3)
•
identify, read, spell, comprehend,
and correctly pronounce compound
words. (DR 1.1)
For a complete listing of all skills
met by the activities and blackline
masters for this book, see the chart
on pages 18–21.
48
Discuss the book with students to help them connect
the story’s main idea to their own experiences.You
might ask: Why do people become mad about (really
interested in) things, such as soccer or horses? What things
are you mad about? Use these and similar questions as a
warm-up for reading the book.
Introducing the Book
Show students the front cover of Spaced Out.
Read together the back cover synopsis and use the
information on pages 2 and 3 to introduce the
characters and setting.Then ask students:
Who are the main characters?
Where does the story take place?
What is the story problem?
How would you summarize what we know?
Review the Table of Contents with students and invite
them to make predictions about the story.You might
also use the Systematic Vocabulary Development
activities on the next page before students read.
Reading the Book
Give students a copy of the Reading Guide
BLM 2: Read It! Review the question for
Chapter 1 to help them set a purpose
for reading. Ask students to read
Chapter 1 on their own and
complete the appropriate question
on the Reading Guide. In the
next three sessions, repeat this
procedure for Chapter 2, Chapters
3 and 4, and then Chapters 5 and 6.
As students work independently,
invite individuals to read aloud part
of today’s chapter(s) to you. As you
listen, assess and guide the reader
toward developing fluency, accuracy,
appropriate pacing, and intonation.
Observational Assessment
As you listen to students
read, look for evidence
that they are able to use
decoding skills to identify,
read, comprehend, and
correctly pronounce words
with the soft c sound,
such as ceiling, surface,
and fence.
Second Chance Reading
Building
Skills
• Vocabulary List Read together the words in the Vocabulary
List to the right. Invite students to read the meaning of each
word in the Glossary at the back of the book.
• Word Study Discuss questions like these to explore the
meaning and structure of words in the story. What would you
do if someone asked you to inspect something? What might an
alien look like? What is the purpose of a telescope?
• Ask students to complete BLM 1: Root for It! to use Latin
roots to determine the meaning of words.
Reading Comprehension
Review student answers to the
Reading Guide BLM 2: Read It! with students. Discuss
comprehension strategies they used when reading.
Literary Response and Analysis Use BLM 3: Real or
Make-Believe? to help students distinguish between realism
and fantasy.
Writing and Speaking Strategies and Applications Choose
from the following activities to help students write, draw, or
orally present responses to literature, using the text and their
own experiences to support their work.
• Narrative Remind students of Jed’s fascination with space.
Then ask them to write, draw, or orally present a scene that
tells what Jed is doing ten years after the end of the story.
• Information Report Ask students to use reference materials,
such as magazines, encyclopedias, and the Internet, to find
out about meteorites. Allow time for them to orally present
facts they learn. After student presentations, encourage
listeners to ask thoughtful, relevant questions.
Support for
English-Language Learners
Written and Oral EnglishLanguage Conventions
Use BLM 4: Action! Action! to
help students correctly identify
verbs in sentences.
Decoding Review
Use BLM 5: Two for One with
students who need more
practice in reading and
decoding compound words.
• Summary Have students write, draw, or orally present
Jed’s explanation of how the meteorite came to be in his
possession. Remind students to include main events and
important details in the account.
Assessing Progress
Performance Assessment
Written Assessment
Use BLM 6: Show You Know!
to assess that students have
met the lesson’s objectives.
©2001 Scholastic Canada Ltd.
Choose from these activities to informally observe that
students have improved their oral reading, comprehension, and
literary analysis skills.
• Read aloud the parts of the story that show Jed is mad
about space.
• Retell the story from Ali’s point of view.
• Tell why the term spaced out is a good title for this book.
49
Name:
Root for It!
Spaced
Out
Name:
1
Some English words come from Latin root words.
Use the meaning of the Latin root word to
figure out the meaning of the English word.
The Latin root word spec means look.
Read It!
Spaced
Out
Read the assigned chapter(s).
Answer the assigned question(s).
2
Chapter 1. How are Jed’s and Ali’s feelings about space different?
1
When you inspect something,
you look at it carefully.
Chapter 2. What does Jed do to make himself feel like a real astronaut?
2
Read the meaning of the Latin root word and the
sentence. Underline the meaning of the word in bold
type. The first one is done for you.
1. The Latin root pel means push.
Chapter 3. What makes Jed think that aliens have landed behind the fence?
3
Rockets propel spaceships into orbit. (grab send)
2. The Latin root word examinare means to look at closely.
The scientists examined the meteorite. (studied glanced at)
Chapter 4. Who does Jed really see when he crawls through a hole in the fence?
4
3. The Latin root pos means place.
From his position, Jed could see the ball of light. (hand spot)
Chapter 5. Why does Jed get excited when the scientist gives him a piece
of the meteorite?
5
4. The Latin root port means carry.
The spaceship will transport astronauts. (bring throw)
Chapter 6. How does Ali feel about space at the end of the story?
6
5. The Latin root word ject means throw.
Jed wants a space rock, so he rejects the marbles.
(tosses away plays with)
50 WAFSVD 1.4
Sparklers: Spaced Out
©2001 Scholastic Canada Ltd.
Sparklers: Spaced Out
©2001 Scholastic Canada Ltd.
RC 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5
51
Name:
Spaced
Out
Real or Make-Believe?
Name:
3
Action! Action!
Some story events are about things that
could happen in real life.
Spaced
Out
4
A verb is a word that shows action.
Jed collects rock samples.
Jed looks through his telescope.
Sometimes characters imagine things
that are make-believe.
Read each sentence. Write the verb. The first one
is done for you.
Aliens throw Jed into a black hole.
1. Comet races to the spaceship.
Read each sentence. Write real life if the event could
really happen. Write make-believe if it could not really
happen. The first one is done for you.
1. Friendly aliens take Jed back to their planet.
races
2. Jed digs in his backyard.
make-believe
3. A ball of light shoots across the sky.
2. Jed sees a ball of light shoot across the sky.
4. The aliens travel to their planet.
3. Jed spends all of his time going to new planets.
5. Jed crawls through a hole in the fence.
4. Jed crawls through a hole in the fence.
6. Ali talks to Jed.
5. Jed sees an alien behind the fence.
7. The scientists inspect the space rock.
6. Jed gets to keep a meteorite.
8. Planets hang from the ceiling.
7. Ali thinks space is interesting.
9. Jed and Comet sit on the moon buggy.
8. Ali is an alien.
52 LRA 3.1
Sparklers: Spaced Out
©2001 Scholastic Canada Ltd.
Sparklers: Spaced Out
©2001 Scholastic Canada Ltd.
WOEL 1.3
53
Name:
Two for One
Spaced
Out
Name:
5
A compound word is made from two smaller words.
Show You Know!
Spaced
Out
Read the meaning of the Latin root word and the
sentence. Underline the meaning of the word in bold type.
6
1. The Latin root word retractus means draw back.
Spaceship is a compound word.
It is made from space and ship.
The lens on Jed’s telescope retracts (sends out pulls in).
2. The Latin root word aud means hear.
Read each sentence. Underline the compound word. Then
write the two smaller words in the compound word. The
first one is done for you.
1. Jed found rock samples in his backyard.
back
Jed’s voice was not audible. (able to be heard able to be seen).
yard
Write the answers to the questions.
3. What does Jed do when he is given the piece of space rock?
2. Jed made his skateboard into a moon buggy.
4. Why do you think Ali’s feelings about space changed?
3. Jed went outside to find out what had landed.
Read each sentence. Write real life if the event could really
happen. Write make-believe if it could not really happen.
4. The alien has two big, brown eyeballs.
5. Jed is famous on the aliens’ planet.
6. Jed looks for space rocks in his backyard.
5. “Everything looks safe,” said the scientist.
Read each sentence. Write the verb.
6. Ali looked strange in the moonlight.
7. Comet barks at the scientists.
8. Jed peeks out of his right eye.
7. They discovered dog bones and limestone.
Read each sentence. Underline the compound word. Then
write the two smaller words in the compound word.
8. “Look at my space rock, everyone!” yelled Jed.
9. The bedroom is filled with pictures of space.
10. The meteorite just missed the treetops.
54 DR 1.1
Sparklers: Spaced Out
©2001 Scholastic Canada Ltd.
Sparklers: Spaced Out
©2001 Scholastic Canada Ltd.
55