Mentor Texts Shadows and Reflections... 42 Lost Dog.... 43 The Lunar Cycle.... 44 School Uniforms.... 45 Letter to the Editor.... 46 A Special Boat Ride.... 47 Songs Coming to America (Use with Theme 1.).... 48 Empty Room (Use with Theme 4.).... 50
Mentor Text: Report Shadows and Reflections Light comes to us from the sun, a candle, or a light bulb. Light travels in straight lines and acts differently when it hits different kinds of surfaces. Light goes through a window. A window is transparent, which means you can see through it. If you shine a flashlight on a wall, you will see the beam of light on the wall. If someone walks in front of the light, it will make a shadow. The person blocks the light. The person is opaque, which means you can t see through it. Light bounces off some opaque surfaces. If you shine a light on a mirror, it will not make a shadow. Instead of blocking the light, the mirror reflects it. Light bounces off the smooth shiny surface of the mirror and goes out in different directions. There is a rule about this. The angle at which light comes onto a mirror is the same as the angle at which light bounces off a mirror. Now you know some interesting facts about light. 42
Lost Dog Mentor Text: Narrative As Mom turned into the driveway, Liam spotted a dog on their porch. Mom, Liam asked excitedly, did you surprise me? Did we finally get a dog? I m sorry, Liam, Mom responded, but no. With his mother, Liam cautiously approached the friendly dog. It had a collar, but no identification. He s perfect, Liam proclaimed. Can we keep him? This is someone s pet, Mom said. We need to find the owner. Liam really wanted to keep the dog, but he knew his mom was right. Liam led the dog to their backyard and gave it water. He made sure the dog had a place to play away from the vegetable garden. Then he made lost dog signs. Liam bicycled through the neighborhood, stopping frequently to hang signs. When he returned home, he checked up on the dog and played catch with him. The phone rang and Liam s heart sank. It was the dog s owner, and he was on his way to retrieve his dog. You took excellent care of the dog while he was here, Mom said. It s time we look for a dog of our own. 43
Mentor Text: Explanation The Lunar Cycle It takes 29 days for the moon to orbit Earth. During that time, the moon looks like it changes shape because we see different amounts of sunlight shining on the moon. The lunar cycle begins with the new moon. During a new moon, the sun and moon are on the same side of Earth. When we look up, we do not see the moon because sunlight is shining on the side of the moon closest to the sun. The moon continues on in its orbit, so each night we see a little more of it. In seven days, we see a half-moon. Seven days after that, we see a full moon. The sun is on one side of Earth and the moon is on the other. That means sunlight reflects on a full side of the moon. During the next fourteen days, the moon travels the rest of the way around Earth. Just as the moon looked like it grew during the first half of the cycle, it looks like it shrinks during the second. After 29 days, the lunar cycle begins again. 44
Mentor Text: Opinion About a Topic School Uniforms Our school may soon require students to wear uniforms. While most of my peers do not support the idea, I do. I think school uniforms are good for students. There is a lot of pressure to wear the right clothes. If a student does not wear what is popular, he or she is likely to be teased. Wearing uniforms would stop the teasing. The popular clothing choices are often expensive. Not everyone can afford them. Additionally, students do not want to wear the same outfit to school in one week. In fact, many students never wear the same outfit twice in a month. Because uniforms are the same, each student would only need a few changes of clothing. Therefore, wearing uniforms would be cheaper. Choosing what to wear to school can be stressful. School uniforms would reduce students stress because they would not have to think about what to wear each day. For these reasons, our school should adopt a uniform policy. 45
Mentor Text: Opinion September 15 Editor of the Glentown News 458 Main Street Glentown, NJ 07012 Letter to the Editor To the Editor of the Glentown News: Glentown has friendly people, nice schools, and good restaurants. However, in my opinion, Glentown needs more activities for us kids. Let me tell you why. Many kids here are overweight. This is because they do not get enough exercise. Some kids watch TV after school instead of playing active games such as soccer or basketball. I personally know kids who would play one of these sports, but there are no teams here. The parents of these kids drive them to Valley Ridge to play. This puts stress on the entire family because parents rush home from work to drive their kids to practice. Some of my friends have to do homework and eat in the car on practice or game days. If we had more activities for kids everyone would benefit. Kids would be healthier. Local restaurants would have more business when out-of-town teams come here to play because they might stop and eat here. I think everyone would benefit if Glentown had more activities for kids to do after school. Yours truly, Amanda Slattengrand 46
A Special Boat Ride Mentor Text: Adventure On a visit to Florida, Nina s Aunt Val took her on a swamp safari to show her some of the wildlife in southern Florida. Nina kind of wanted to see an alligator but was still nervous. At the park, Nina and her aunt climbed aboard an airboat. The boat held ten people, and it had a huge fan on the back of it. A guide spoke as the passengers put on life jackets. The airboat started up and soon they were flying over the grassy waterway. Suddenly, the engine went silent and the boat stopped. Nina followed the guide s pointing finger and saw three huge alligators sunning themselves on the mud banks. Nina thought they looked like old logs at first glance. She held tightly to Aunt Nina s hand as she studied the creatures and listened to the guide. Then the boat started up just as a great big blue bird flew overhead. Hold on, there s a lot more to see, the guide said. Nina responded, Let s go! This is fascinating! Her fear had disappeared. 47