B e n c h m a r k e d u c a t i o n c o m p a n y

Social Studies

Metacognitive/Fix-Up StrategyStop, think, and write •

VocabularyDevelop academic content vocabulary •

Phonics/Word StudyRecognize words with open syllables •

Grammar and UsageUse adjectives •

FluencyRead commas •

Comprehension StrategiesMake Inferences • Use Graphic Features to Interpret •InformationUse Text Features to Locate Information •Summarize Information •

Skills & Strategies

For students reading at Literacy Level O/34, including:

Grade 3 readers • Grade 4–8+ students reading below level • English-language learners at TESOL Level 5 •

Bridges Theme: Early ExplorersExplorers of the Americas (Level N/30) • The Voyages of Christopher Columbus •(Level O/34) Native Americans at the Time of the Explorers •(Level O/34)

Social Studies Big IdeaReaders learn about early Native Americans of California, the Pacific Northwest, the Great Basin, the Southwest, the Great Plains, and the Eastern Woodlands.

Native Americans at the Time of the ExplorersLevel O/34

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©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of the guide may be reproduced or transmitted in whole or in part in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in the U.S.ISBN: 978-1-4108-8696-5

Words To Think About• Have students turn to the Words To

Think About spread. Ask them to study the word map for potlatch and think of other characteristics and examples to add. Then read the first paragraph on page 9 and ask: What characteristics and examples could you add now? What do you think the word potlatch means? (a big party at which the guests receive gifts from the host)

• Ask students to study the word bench for tradition. Explain that this word is made up of two word parts from the Latin language. Say: Put the word parts together. “Handing over the act or process” doesn’t make sense, but what about “the act or process of handing over”? Then read the second paragraph on page 15 and ask: What do you think the word tradition means? (a way of doing something that is handed over, or passed on, from parents to children)

• Ask students to study the word pedestal for tribe and think of other answers. Then read the first paragraph on page 2 and ask: What information can we add now? What do you think the word tribe means? (group of people who have the same language, family roots, and other ties)

• Remind students that good readers use their own knowledge and the text to figure out the meanings of words.

Prepare to Read

Build ComprehensionPictures To Think About• Hand out books. Read the title aloud. Ask

students to tell what they see on the cover.• Tell students that many groups of Native

Americans lived in North America when the European explorers arrived.

• Have students turn to the page titled Pictures To Think About. Tell them they will use information on these pages to help recall and add to what they already know about Native Americans at the time of the explorers.

• Use the map in the center to point out where different tribes lived in North America.

• On the board, create a chart with two columns labeled What is it? and What do I know about it? Have students make a copy on paper.

• Ask partners to study each photograph, starting with the top picture on the left-hand page and moving clockwise. Have students complete as much of the chart as they can and then share their ideas with the class.

• Use the sample chart below to help them fill in any missing information.

Pictures To Think About

Photograph What is it? What do I know about it?

1 pictures carved on rock drawn by people thousands of years ago

2 Native Americans greeting European explorers

both groups were friendly at first

3 European explorers horses brought to North America by Europeans

4 Native American homes built of tree branches and other natural materials

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Before Reading

Preview the Book• Turn to the Table of Contents. Point out that

the chapter headings name different regions of North America. Ask student partners to discuss what they think they will learn while reading this book.

• Turn to the Index. Explain that an index lists the topics in alphabetical order and the pages they are found on. Ask students to find the words totem poles in the Index and then again on the correct page in the book.

Set Learning Goals• Pair students and ask them to generate a

learning-goal statement about the book’s topic, such as I want to learn how Native Americans lived long ago. Have pairs share their statements with the group.

• Post the learning-goal statements on the board in the classroom.

Build Vocabulary for Comprehension • Write the words potlatch, tradition, and

tribe on the board. Remind students they have already discussed these three important words. Tell them you will now share additional words they will need to know, adding bark, canoes, explorers, kachinas, longhouses, nation, pueblos, sign language, and tepees to the list on the board. Read each word and ask students to pronounce it.

• Model how to sort the words on a three- column chart labeled Know, Think I Know, and Do Not Know. Say: I know the word explorers. I will write explorers in the first column. I do not know the word kachinas. I will write kachinas in the last column. I have heard of the word pueblos, but I do not know much about it. I will write pueblos in the center column. Ask students to make their own charts and sort the words according to their current understanding of each one. Explain that as they learn more about these words, they can move them to different columns.

Introduction• Ask students to turn to the Introduction on

pages 2–5. Explain that an introduction tells what a book is about.

• Ask students to discuss what they see in the illustrations, map, and photographs and why they think the author put these here.

• Invite students to read the Introduction silently. Then say: Page 4 says the explorers’ arrival changed the way Native Americans lived. What do you think these changes were? Turn to a partner and discuss your answers. After partners confer, invite them to share their thinking with the group.

Know Think I Know Do Not Know explorers pueblos kachinas

Text and Graphic Features

Use this table to help students see how text and graphic features provide extra information to readers.

Chapter Feature Prompts Answers1 sidebar

(p. 8)What can you conclude about the Northwest Indians based on their totem poles?

Their families and ancestors were important to them. They were skilled artists.

2 subhead (p. 13)

1. How does this subhead catch your attention? 2. Why is the land harsh? 3. Why does the author mention “sky-high homes”?

1. by using vivid descriptions 2. It is hot and dry. 3. The photo shows a pueblo on a tall, flat area called “Sky City.”

4 illustration (p. 21)

How does this illustration add to your understanding of the chapter?

It shows how the people of the Eastern Woodlands made use of their available natural resources to keep warm and protect themselves.

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Before ReadingBuild Vocabulary for Comprehension• Write the words explorers, canoes,

longhouses, bark, and sign language on the board.

• Say: The author gives us clues on page 2 to help us define explorers. Help students find the clues (the first European explorers, found many different people living in North America) and define explorers. Repeat the process for canoes on page 7, longhouses and bark on page 8, and sign language on page 11.

Model Monitor-Reading Strategy: Stop, Think, and Write• Say: One way to make sure I understand

what I read is to stop and think about the information. Then I can write my thoughts so I’ll remember them later.

• Use a real-life example of stopping to think and write.

• Explain that today students will stop, think, and write while they read Chapter 1.

• Read pages 6–7 aloud while students follow along. Say: I wonder how the Chumash ground acorns into meal and what bread made out of acorn meal tastes like. I’ll write these questions on a self-stick note and place it on the page. The note will help me remember my questions.

Set Purpose for Reading • Ask students to read pages 6–11 silently.

Encourage them to stop and think about the information and make notes on details, opinions, or questions about the text.

• Tell students they will read to answer the question How did life change for Native Americans of California, the Pacific Northwest, and the Great Basin after European explorers came?

During ReadingObserve and Prompt Reading Strategies• As students read, watch as they write notes

about details, opinions, and questions. Jot down what you see each student doing.

Document who is and is not using this monitor-reading strategy.

• Take note of students who have difficulty.

After ReadingDiscuss the Reading• Ask students to share the notes they made on

details, opinions, and questions as they read pages 6–11.

• Have students answer the question How did life change for Native Americans of California, the Pacific Northwest, and the Great Basin after European explorers came?

• To focus on text and graphic features, use the sidebar prompt from the chart on page 3 of this guide.

• Use the Bridges: Native Americans at the Time of the Explorers Comprehension Question Card for text-dependent questions that refer to this section.

Review Vocabulary • Ask students to restate the descriptions given

for explorers, canoes, longhouses, bark, and sign language.

• Ask students to locate the words on their vocabulary charts and decide if they want to move any to another column.

Summarize Information • Explain that a summary gives the key ideas

from a book. Say: Summarizing means pulling out the most important ideas and details and reducing a long piece of text to something short and to the point.

• Have students turn to Chapter 1. As a group, decide on the key ideas and have one or two students write the information on chart paper or the board. (The Spanish settled on the California coast in 1572 and forced the Chumash to work for them. Many tribes lived in the Northwest near rivers or the coast. The Chinook were great traders. European traders killed many seals, leaving few for hunting. The people of the Great Basin gathered food. When Europeans brought horses, the tribes became traders or buffalo hunters.)

• Keep the key ideas posted. Say: After we select the key ideas from the rest of the book, we will write a summary together.

Chapter 1

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Before ReadingBuild Vocabulary for Comprehension• Write the words pueblos, kachinas, tepees,

and nation on the board.• Guide students to see that pueblos is

described on page 13. Say: The author gives us clues to help us define pueblos. Help students find the clues (many people lived in, each one had many apartments, hundreds of people might live in one) and define pueblos. Repeat the process for tepees on page 17 and nation on page 18.

• Say: The author both directly defines and describes kachinas on page 14. What is the definition of kachinas? (spirits of the dead whom the Hopi believed had special powers and who were portrayed during religious ceremonies)

Guide Monitor-Reading Strategy: Stop, Think, and Write • Remind students that stopping to think and

write can help them better understand and remember what they read.

• Say: We can stop to think and write any time we read. We pause to record important details and ideas. We also write questions we have about the text.

• After you read page 12 aloud, ask: What do you want to remember? How do you feel about the Spanish taking over the land? Do you have a question about the Spanish settlers in New Mexico? Write students’ responses on a self-stick note and place it on the page.

Set Purpose for Reading • Ask students to read Chapters 2 and 3 and to

stop to think and write about important details, ideas, and questions as they read.

• Tell students they will read to answer the question How did life change for the Native Americans in the Southwest and Great Plains after European explorers came?

During ReadingObserve and Prompt Reading Strategies• For students who struggle with stopping to

think and write, model it again. Then read

the second paragraph on page 15 aloud. Ask students to stop, think, and write about details, ideas, or questions about the text.

After ReadingDiscuss the Reading• Ask students to read their notes aloud. Ask:

How did stopping to think and write help you understand what life was like in the Southwest and Great Plains? Discuss responses.

• Have students answer the question How did life change for the Native Americans in the Southwest and Great Plains after European explorers came?

• To focus on text and graphic features for Chapters 2 and 3, use the subhead prompt from the chart on page 3 of this guide.

• Use the Bridges: Native Americans at the Time of the Explorers Comprehension Question Card for text-dependent questions that refer to this section.

Review Vocabulary • Ask students to restate the descriptions given

for pueblos, tepees, and nation and the direct definition and description given for kachinas.

• Ask students to decide if they want to move any words to another column on their charts.

Summarize Information • As a group, decide on the key ideas from

Chapter 2 and add them to the Chapter 1 summary. (In 1600, the Spanish took over Pueblo land in New Mexico and ruled for 80 years. The Pueblo fought and regained their freedom for a time, farming and living in pueblos. The Hopi lived in three-story homes. The Navajo, hunters and gatherers, lived in hogans. Later they herded sheep brought by the Spanish.)

• Repeat the process with Chapter 3. (After the Spanish brought horses to the Great Plains in 1680, the Plains Indians hunted buffalo on horseback. They moved often and lived in tepees. The Comanche, also buffalo hunters, raided other tribes and built a strong nation. Eastern Great Plains tribes farmed.)

Chapters 2 and 3

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Before ReadingBuild Vocabulary for Comprehension• Although no glossary words appear in Chapter

4, use this opportunity to introduce additional content words. Write the words natural resources and wigwams on the board.

• Say: The author defines natural resources on page 21 by giving examples. Help students find the examples (good soil; forests filled with animals, nuts, and berries; rivers and oceans with plenty of fish) and work together to define natural resources. (materials supplied by nature)

• Say: The author describes wigwams on page 23. What clues does the author give us? Ask students to use the clues to define wigwams. (made of small trees bent and tied together and covered with birch-bark strips sewn together)

Apply Monitor-Reading Strategy: Stop, Think, and Write • Remind students they have been stopping to

think and write about the information in the book. Say: You can think and write about important details and questions as well as how you feel about what you read.

• Read page 20 aloud as students follow along, stopping periodically so they can think about the text. Remind them to jot down notes about their thoughts.

• Say: Stopping to think and write helps you better understand and remember what you read. Encourage students to stop, think, and write as they finish reading the book.

Set Purpose for Reading • Ask students to read Chapter 4 and the

Conclusion, stopping to think and write about information in the book.

• Tell students they will read to answer the question How did life change for the Native Americans in the Eastern Woodlands after European explorers came?

During ReadingObserve and Prompt Reading Strategies• As students read, watch them stop to think

and write about information in the text.

• Ask yourself Who is still struggling with this strategy? How can I help them? and provide support as needed.

After ReadingDiscuss the Reading• Ask students to read their notes aloud.• Ask: How did stopping to think and write help

you understand what life was like in the Eastern Woodlands? Discuss students’ responses.

• Have students answer the question How did life change for the Native Americans in the Eastern Woodlands after European explorers came?

• To focus on text and graphic features for Chapter 4, use the illustration prompt from the chart on page 3 of this guide.

• Read and discuss the checkpoint on page 27.• Use the Bridges: Native Americans at the Time

of the Explorers Comprehension Question Card for text-dependent questions that refer to this section.

Review Vocabulary • Ask students to restate the examples given for

natural resources and the description given for wigwams, and invite them to add the words to a column on their vocabulary charts.

Summarize Information • Have students turn to Chapter 4. Ask: What

are the key ideas from Chapter 4? (In 1609, the French helped the Algonquian fight their enemies, the Iroquois. Years later, the Iroquois helped the English fight the French. Eastern Woodlands tribes hunted, fished, and farmed on the rich land. In 1570, five groups of Iroquois tribes joined to form a government. The Algonquian were some of the first to meet European explorers, who brought horses and metal tools. The Narragansett people of Rhode Island met the European explorer Verrazzano and his men in 1524.)

• Tell students they will write a summary of the book later on in the lesson.

Chapter 4 and Conclusion

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Build ComprehensionMake Inferences• Model. Say: Authors can’t tell readers

everything about a topic. Readers have to go one step further. Good readers make inferences based on one or two clues. For example, I notice on page 11 the author says Europeans brought horses to the Great Basin, and the Shoshone hunted buffalo after they got horses. From these details I can infer that it is difficult to hunt buffalo without horses.

• Draw a chart on the board with three columns labeled Page, Clues, and Inferences and ask students to create similar charts on paper. Record information for the inference from page 11 while students do the same.

• Guide. Help students locate clues and evidence on page 13 that support an inference about the skills of the Anasazi people. Record their responses on your chart as students do the same.

• Have students reread page 18. Say: The author says the Comanche hunted buffalo and used buffalo for clothes, food, and shelter. Let’s write this information in the Clues column. What inference could we make from these clues? Write students’ responses in the Inferences column while they do the same.

• Apply. Reread the chart and then explain that student partners will make inferences based on clues found on pages 22 and 23.

• Ask students if they have any questions before

they begin. Monitor their work and intervene if they have difficulty. If students make inferences different from those on the sample, be sure each one is supported by clues in the text.

• Review the completed graphic organizer.

Shared WritingSummarize the Book• Say: We have selected key ideas from each

chapter. Now we will work together to write a summary of the entire book.

• Review the key ideas recorded on chart paper, and then ask: How can we summarize the book in our own words? Ask one or two students to serve as scribes as the class forms summary sentences.

Sample Summary for Native Americans at the Time of the ExplorersNative American tribes lived all over North America before the 1500s. Their ways of life depended on their regional resources. For example, tribes of the Northwest fished; Southwestern tribes farmed, hunted, and gathered; and Eastern tribes farmed. Life changed for the Native Americans once explorers arrived. Europeans brought helpful things, such as horses, but they also brought deadly diseases. In many areas, they made the native peoples work for them and took away their lands.

After Reading

Make InferencesPage Clues Inferences

11 Europeans brought horses; Shoshone hunted buffalo. It is difficult to hunt buffalo without horses.

13 Anasazi found ways to get water; grew food for many people The Anasazi were good engineers and farmers.

18 Comanche hunted buffalo; used buffalo for clothes, food, and shelter

Buffalo were an important resource for the Comanche.

22 Iroquois formed Iroquois League; U.S. Constitution uses their ideas.

The Iroquois had valuable ideas about govern-ment.

23 European explorers brought horses and metal tools; Algonquian shared food with explorers.

The first relationships between Native Americans and European explorers were friendly.

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Phonics/Word StudyOpen Syllables• Ask students to locate the word Native

on page 2. Write Native on the board. Say: Sometimes we figure out new words syllable by syllable. The first syllable in Native is open—it ends with a vowel. Often the vowels in open syllables are long. Slowly draw your finger under the word as you say it in syllables (Na/tive). Then ask students to do the same in their books. Repeat the process with European (Eur/o/pe/an) on page 2, acorn (a/corn) on page 7, and Utah (U/tah) on page 11.

• Ask students to locate other words in the book with at least one open syllable, such as Pue/blo, Nav/a/jo, ho/gans, te/pees, a/do/be, na/tion, Sho/sho/ne, A/sia, and buf/fa/lo. Review each word, inviting students to echo-read.

• Say: Let’s divide the words into syllables. Model how to use scissors to cut a word into its syllables as shown above. Then invite students to cut a word into its syllables, read the syllables separately, and say the word.

• See SpiralUp Phonics Skill Bag #3 from BEC for more in-depth instruction.

Grammar and Usage Adjectives• Say: Adjectives are words that describe

nouns. Some adjectives make a noun more specific by describing “which.” In this book, many of these “which” adjectives have north, south, east, and west as their base words. Ask students to turn to page 8. Read the first sentence of the sidebar aloud. Say: The author describes the Northwest Indians. The adjective Northwest tells which Indians he is describing.

• Invite students to read the first sentence of the sidebar on page 22 with you. Ask: Which words are adjectives? (southwest, northeast) Why are southwest and northeast adjectives? (They describe which corners the author is writing about.) What is in the southwest corner of our classroom?

What is in the northeast corner? • Ask students to locate other adjectives based

on direction words on pages 8 (northern), 17 (Western), 18 (Southern), and 19 (Eastern). Invite partners to make up their own sentences using each word.

FluencyRead Commas• Say: As good readers, we do not run all our

words together. Instead, we watch for commas to see when we should pause.

• Ask students to turn to page 4. Read the third sentence without pausing. Then read it again, pausing at each comma. Say: I know I need to pause because I see a comma. Pausing makes the sentence sound right. Have students read the sentence aloud as modeled. Repeat the process with the last sentence on page 4.

• Invite students to locate sentences with commas on pages 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 18, and 20 and take turns reading them, pausing at each comma.

Intervention Support for Struggling Readers andELLs

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