Marven of the Great North Woods By: Kathryn Lasky Click to meet the author Genre: Biography Author’s Purpose: Informa

1. Marven of the Great North Woods By: Kathryn Lasky Click to meet the author Genre: Biography Author’s Purpose: Information and Entertainment Reading Skill: Drawing Conclusions Compiled by Terry Sams, Piedmont

2. Summary Marven was only ten years old when his great-aunt died of influenza. To protect him from the disease, his family sent him far away from the city, up to the Great North Woods. There he kept the books at a logging camp. Marven was scared of the big, grouchy lumberjacks, especially Jean Louis, a “jack” whose feet were as big as skillets. But he was even more scared when he skied into the woods-and thought he saw a grizzly bear.

3. Genre: Biography • A biography is a story of a real person’s life, written by another person. • It is written in the third-person. The author writes, “He was free! He found a job with a printer.” • A biography can cover a person’s whole life or part of it. • An autobiography is also a story of a real person’s life, but it is written by someone else. • Make a Biography

4. Comprehension Skill – Drawing Conclusions • Author’s don’t always tell you everything. Instead, they may give you a few details about what happens or about characters. • A conclusion is a decision you reach that makes sense after you think about the details or facts that you have read. • You can you details and what you know to draw conclusions, or to figure out things about characters and evens in what you read.

5. Practice Drawing Conclusions Reread the fourth and fifth paragraphs on page 270. Draw conclusions about how Marven feels at the moment.

6. Vocabulary Skill:Multiple-Meaning Words • Many words have more than one meaning. To decide which meaning of a word is being used, look for clues in the surrounding sentences or paragraph. • Use context clues, experience, and word order to decide on the correct meaning of a multiple-meaning word. Click on the title to practice this skill.

7. Comprehension Review –Context Clues • Context means words around an unfamiliar word that help readers figure out what the unfamiliar word means. • Context cluescan include definitions, synonyms, antonyms, explanations, or, in the case of foreign words, interpretations. • Sometimes readers have to figure out the meaning of a word by looking at how it is used in the sentences. Click on the words “Context Clues” to practice the skill.

8. Practice Context Clues TE 279b

9. Figurative Language – Simile and Metaphor • Figurative language is a language that goes beyond the ordinary meanings of words. Similes and metaphors help make the images in the story richer and clearer. • A simile uses words like or as to compare two things that are not alike. “. . . one eye. . . glittered like a blue star. . .” • A metaphor also compares two things that are not alike but it does not use any words of comparison. “The shadows were the lumberjacks.”

10. Practice Simile and Metaphor TE 279i

11. Research Skills – Locate/Collect Information TE 279j • When you need to locate information on a topic, where can you look? • To find information about a subject, you can use resources such as books, magazines, newspapers, dictionaries, encyclopedias, videotapes, audiotapes, CD-ROMs, Internet websites, photographs, drawings, and diagrams.

12. Writing Assignment Write a letter from Marven to his family. Describe the frightening day when you thought you saw a grizzly bear. Invite your family to visit you at the logging camp.

13. Weekly Fluency Check -Read with Expression • Another way to read with expression is by changing voices to different characters. In Marven, Jean Louis is a French Canadian man, while Marven is a 10-year old American boy. • Decide beforehand what type of voice you think each character might have, and then use your regular voice for the narration. • Go to pages 266-267, beginning with “At the third bell. . .”

14. French Words and Phrases en retard (än rә tär) les en retard (laz än rәtär) Leve-toi! (lev twä) Qui es tu? (kē a tu) Quel est ton nom? (kel a to nom) mon petit (mon pe tē) merci beaucoup (mer sē bo ku ) Hebrew Word and Names broche (bru kә) (Aunt) Ghisa (gē sә) (Uncle) Moishe (moi shә) Vocabulary Support

15. Review #1a Pages 261-271 • Do you think Marven liked the lumber camp? Explain • What two jobs did Marven have at the logging camp? • How did he feel about waking up the lumberjacks?

16. Review #1b Pages 261-271 • Why did Marven develop a system and organize the payroll? • Why did Marven mistake Jean Louis for a grizzly bear?

17. Review #2 Pages 272-277 • How did Jean Louis show Marven that he was a special friend? • How did this make Marven feel? • How did this experience away from home change Marven?

18. Great Stuff to Do • Spelling ABC order • Workshop – A New Way to Make Friends • Vocabulary Crossword Puzzle • Vocabulary Study • More About the Author • Making Flapjacks • More Context Clues Practice • More Context Practice • Reading Test • Spelling Test

19. Say It! • cord • depot • snowshoes • grizzly • flapjacks

20. More Words to Know bookkeeper chit logging lumberjacks

21. flapjacks • pancakes

22. cord • a unit of measurement for cut wood

23. lumberjacks • people who cut down trees

24. depot • a railroad or bus station

25. snowshoes • wooden-framed shoes for walking in deep snow

26. grizzly • a large fierce bear of North America

27. chit • an official receipt or voucher

28. logging • cutting down trees

29. bookkeeper • a person who keeps a record of business accounts

30. Marven was taught to be the bookkeeper because he was smart and organized.

31. Marven was taught to be the bookkeeper because he was smart and organized.

32. She arrived at the train depot at 3:00 p.m.

33. She arrived at the train depot at 3:00 p.m.

34. Each logger gave Marven a chit with the number of trees he cut each day.

35. Each logger gave Marven a chit with the number of trees he cut each day.

36. The lumberjacks are really large and strong men.

37. Thelumberjacksare really large and strong men.

38. The logging was a really hard workfor the men.

39. The logging was a really hard workfor the men.

40. Marven had to stack a cord of wood before supper.

41. Marven had to stack a cord of wood before supper.

42. Marven put on his snowshoes before going outside.

43. Marven put on his snowshoes before going outside.

44. The lumberjacks ate a lot of flapjacks

45. The lumberjacks ate a lot of flapjacks.

46. We saw a grizzly bear in the woods.

47. We saw a grizzly bear in the woods.

48. Spelling WordsAdding –s and -es monkeys holidays delays flowers friends tigers supplies enemies hobbies memories

49. Spelling Words Adding –s and -es mysteries eyelashes ashes beaches bunches circuses glasses classes taxes suffixes

50. This Week’s Word Wall Words Click and type your own words for this week: