LESSON 24 TEACHER’S GUIDE
Dangerous Waves
by Pam Zollman
Fountas-Pinnell Level P
Nonfiction
Selection Summary
Tsunamis are caused by earthquakes on the ocean floor. The energy
from the earthquake creates small waves that grow much larger
and move very quickly. The largest earthquake in 200 years created
a tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people and destroyed
countless homes and buildings.
Number of Words: 915
Characteristics of the Text
Genre
Text Structure
Content
Themes and Ideas
Language and
Literary Features
Sentence Complexity
Vocabulary
Words
Illustrations
Book and Print Features
• Nonfiction
• Third-person narrative
• Multiple accounts of tsunamis under general topic of dangerous waves
• Tsunamis
• Destruction and rebuilding after tsunamis
• Warning System for tsunamis
• Nature is hard to predict.
• Early warning systems can save lives.
• Figurative language: like a freight train, as fast as an airplane
• Descriptive language
• Simple, compound, and complex sentences
• Compound predicates
• Georgraphy terms: Eurasian, buoy, earth’s crust, fault
• Multisyllable target vocabulary: enclosure, exhausted, inseparable, intruder
• Plurals, contractions, and compounds words
• Photographs and illustrations with captions
• Table of contents
• Twelve pages with section headings
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
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Dangerous Waves
by Pam Zollman
Build Background
Help students use their knowledge of natural disasters by asking a question such as the
following: What kind of natural disasters can you think of? Tell students that this text
provides facts about a tsunami, a kind of natural disaster that begins with an earthquake
and then brings a giant ocean wave.
Introduce the Text
Guide students through the text, noting important ideas and nonfiction features. Help with
unfamiliar language so they can read the text successfully. Give special attention to target
vocabulary. Here are some suggestions:
Page 2: Explain that the table of contents shows how the book is organized and
what topics it covers. Suggested language: Read the table of contents. What kind
of questions about tsumanis will this book answer?
Page 7: Explain to students that tsunamis are caused by earthquakes that occur
along a crack, or fault. Waves develop and charge, or move quickly, toward the
shorelines. Suggested language: Look at the picture on page 7. How would this
scene be different if a wave were charging the beach?
Page 9: Read the caption with students. Ask: What kind of losses do you think
people suffered from such high water?
Page 11: Direct students to the photograph at the bottom of the page that
describes the destruction on an island where people’s bond made them
inseparable until they were rescued. Point out that captions can give clues about
information in the text. Suggested language: Why would a natural disaster make
the bond between people stronger? Why might they become inseparable when
in danger?
Go back to the beginning to read and find out more about tsunamis and what
causes them.
Target Vocabulary
affection – a feeling of fondness
p. 10
companion – a friend or
someone who spends time
with another person, p. 10
inseparable – always together,
p. 11
charged – moved quickly, p. 7
enclosure – an area that is closed
in for a special purpose , p. 8
intruder – someone or
something that comes without
permission, p. 6
chief – the most important or
largest, p. 12
exhausted – tired with no energy,
p. 12
suffered – felt great pain or
sadness, p. 9
bond – a feeling of close
friendship, p. 11
Grade 4
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Read
Have students read silently while you listen to individual students read aloud. Support their
understanding of the selection as needed.
Remind students to use the Analyze/Evaluate Strategy
about the text and then form an opinion about it.
and to think
Discuss and Revisit the Text
Personal Response
Invite students to share their personal responses to the text.
Suggested language: How did the tsunami change things for the people who live in areas
around the Indian Ocean?
Ways of Thinking
As you discuss the text, help students understand these points:
Thinking Within the Text
Thinking Beyond the Text
Thinking About the Text
• An earthquake creates energy
that can cause the dangerous
and powerful waves known as
tsunamis.
• Many of the people who survived
the 2004 tsunami faced extreme
hardship until they could be
rescued.
• The author uses a map and
a diagram with labels to help
readers understand how a
tsunami occurs.
• Because there was no warning
system in 2004 to tell people a
tsunami was coming, many lost
their lives.
• The new tsunami warning
system should help more people
survive when a tsunami hits.
• The photographs and captions
give readers a sense of the areas
that have been affected by these
dangerous waves.
• After a tsunami occurs, rescuing
people is the chief concern.
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
Choices for Further Support
• Fluency Invite students to choral read a passage from the text to demonstrate
phrased fluent reading. Remind them to use multiple sources of information, including
language structure, meaning, and fast word recognition, to support phrasing and
fluency.
• Comprehension Based on your observations of the students’ reading and discussion,
revisit parts of the text to clarify or extend comprehension. Remind students to go
back to the text to support their ideas.
• Phonics/Word Work Provide practice as needed with words and word parts, using
examples from the text. Point out that two target vocabulary words (affection,
companion) end in –ion. Tell students that words that end this way are usually nouns.
Have students find other words in the selection that end in –ion. (vacation, sections,
observation).
Grade 4
3
Lesson 24: Dangerous Waves
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Writing about Reading
Vocabulary Practice
Have students complete the Vocabulary questions on BLM 24.1.
Responding
Have students use their Reader’s Notebook to complete the vocabulary activities on
page 15. Remind them to answer the Word Teaser on page 16. (Answer: charged)
Reading Nonfiction
Nonfiction Features:
Photographs and Diagrams Remind students that nonfiction has many features to help
readers find and understand important information. Photographs and diagrams are two
of these features. Have students look at the photograph and caption on page 11. Ask
what the photograph can tell them about the kind of destruction a tsunami can cause.
Direct them to the photo on page 12. Ask what this photograph and caption tell about why
tsunamis are dangerous. Then have students add a line to the caption on page 11 that
explains why the islands disappear as a result of a tsunami.
Diagrams are another important source of information. They often help the reader visualize
the information that is provided in the text more clearly. Have students look at the diagram
on page 4. Ask what information they can learn about how tsunamis are formed (the
movement of the ocean floor at a nearby fault causes the earthquake and the tsunami).
Then have students find a section or detail in the book that could be further explained with
a diagram.
Writing Prompt: Thinking About the Text
Have students write a response to the prompt on page 6. Remind students that when
they think about the text, they reflect back on the text. They notice and evaluate language,
genre, literary devices, and how the text is organized.
Assessment Prompts
• The main purpose of the selection is to
__________________________________________.
• On page 4, which words explain what a fault means?
• What can readers tell about tsunamis from reading page 5?
Grade 4
4
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English Language Development
Reading Support Pair English-speaking and English language learners so that they
can check their understanding with each other.
Idioms The text includes some idioms and phrases that may be unfamiliar, such as wave
train (p. 4), and wall of water (p. 11).
Oral Language Development
Check student comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches your students’
English proficiency level. Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the student.
Beginning/Early Intermediate
Intermediate
Early Advanced/ Advanced
Speaker 1: What is a tsunami?
Speaker 1: What is a tsunameter?
Speaker 2: a giant wave
Speaker 2: It is a warning buoy that is
attached to the ocean floor.
Speaker 1: What does the ocean
on the beach look like when a
tsunami is coming?
Speaker 1: What causes a tsunami?
Speaker 2: an earthquake on the ocean
floor
Speaker 1: What happens when a
tsunami hits the beach?
Speaker 2: The ocean pulls away
from the shoreline. It also may
foam and look as if it is rising.
Speaker 1: What is the chief concern
after a tsunami occurs?
Speaker 2: The chief concern is rescuing
people.
Speaker 2: destruction
Lesson 24
Name
BLACKLINE MASTER 24.1
Date
Target Vocabulary
Dangerous Waves
Target Vocabulary
Complete the Crossword Puzzle using the Target Vocabulary
words and clues below.
S
U
C
F
C
O
F
F
H
M
E
F
C H
A
R G E D
I
N S E P
R A B L
E
E
E
A
E
C
X
F
N
D
T
H
I
A
A
I
O
B O N D
E N C L O S U R E
N
Vocabulary
intruder
chief
charged
companion
bond
inseparable
affection
enclosure
exhausted
suffered
S
T
E
I
Across
N T
R
U D E
R
Down
3. moved forward quickly
1. felt pain
6. not able to be taken apart
2. someone who goes with
someone else
8. an area that is closed off
9. close relationship
10. someone who goes into a
place where he or she does
not belong
4. friendly feeling
5. most important
7. very tired
Target Vocabulary
3
Grade 4, Unit 5: Change Is All Around
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5
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First Pass
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Name
Date
Dangerous Waves
Thinking About the Text
Think about the questions below. Then write your answer in one or two
paragraphs.
Remember that when you think about the text, you reflect back on the text.
You notice and evaluate language, genre, literary devices, and how the text
is organized.
Dangerous Waves gives many details about tsunamis and where they have
occurred. Review the table of contents. It tells you that you can expect
information to be presented in time sequence. What words in the chapter
headings tell you that? What part of the book is about specific places?
Grade 4
6
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Lesson 24
Name
Date
Target Vocabulary
BLACKLINE MASTER 24.1
Dangerous Waves
Target Vocabulary
Complete the Crossword Puzzle using the Target Vocabulary
words and clues below.
Vocabulary
intruder
chief
charged
companion
bond
inseparable
affection
enclosure
exhausted
suffered
Across
Down
3. moved forward quickly
1. felt pain
6. not able to be taken apart
2. someone who goes with
someone else
8. an area that is closed off
9. close relationship
10. someone who goes into a
place where he or she does
not belong
Grade 4
4. friendly feeling
5. most important
7. very tired
7
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Student
Lesson 24
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 24.23
Dangerous Waves • LEVEL P
page
Dangerous Waves
Running Record Form
Selection Text
3
Errors
Self-Corrections
Accuracy Rate
Total SelfCorrections
The morning of December 26, 2004, was sunny, and
thousands of people were enjoying the beach. They did not
know that two plates on the earth’s crust, the Eurasian Plate
and the Indian Plate, had just moved.
4
Then it happened. As the Indian plate tried to slide under
the Eurasian plate, a fault, or long crack, suddenly broke open.
Earthquake!
The earthquake violently shook the ocean. The energy
from the earthquake created waves. These waves looked small
at first, but they were traveling at 500 miles per hour—as fast
as an airplane. It was a tsunami.
Comments:
(# words read
correctly/97 × 100)
%
Read word correctly
Code
✓
cat
Repeated word,
sentence, or phrase
®
Omission
—
cat
cat
Grade 4
Behavior
Error
0
0
Substitution
Code
cut
cat
1
Self-corrects
cut sc
cat
0
Insertion
the
1
cat
Error
1414229
Behavior
ˆ
Word told
1
8
T
cat
1
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