One day some time ago, a boy named

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1 Cause and Effect A cause is why something happens. An effect is what happens. Clue words such as because, so, and since sometimes signal a cause-effect relationship. Sometimes one effect can become the cause of another effect, which causes another, and so on. This is called a chain of events. Directions Read the following story. Then complete the diagram. One day some time ago, a boy named Jack was doing homework. His mother began to examine Jack s textbook. A puzzled look clouded her face. She noticed that the book was worn and missing a dozen pages. The next day, she told the school s principal that Jack deserved better materials. He agreed, but said that only schools in white districts got new texts. Schools in African American areas got old, damaged books. So Jack s mother met with a lawyer. They filed a legal case, claiming unequal and unfair treatment toward Jack. A judge decided that Jack s mother was right. The board of education agreed to revise the system for providing materials to schools in the district. Cause 1. Effect 2. Cause Effect 3. Cause Effect When do you think this fictional story takes place? Use the information from the text and your prior knowledge to answer the question. Home Activity Your child used a graphic organizer to determine causes and effects. Read a story together. Use a graphic organizer like the one above to map out the causes and effects in the story. Comprehension 385

2 Writing Cause-and-Effect Essay Key Features of Cause-and-Effect Essay describes events or outcomes includes details that explain why the events or outcomes happened uses words that signal cause-and effect relationships Sojourner Truth Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree. She was a slave in New York State around Later, after she gained her freedom, Isabella took the name of Sojourner Truth because it described her work as a preacher, traveling around the country making speeches about slavery. Throughout her life, due to Sojourner Truth s words, people s lives changed. A white man once told her that her speeches were no more important than a fleabite. Consequently, she replied, Maybe not, but the Lord willing, I ll keep you scratching. At the beginning of the Civil War, Truth talked with black men. As a result, she helped recruit the men to help with the North s war effort. In 1864, Truth used her words again to make a difference. She led a campaign, or group of activities, against the policy that did not allow blacks to sit with whites on trains. After the Civil War, Truth spoke and worked with people to get jobs for blacks. Because of Sojourner Truth s words and the words of others like her, slavery was abolished, unfair practices were made illegal, and many black people entered the work force. Little by little, our country began to change and people s lives changed, too. 1. Reread the selection. Why did people s lives change? What is one cause? 2. Because Sojourner Truth spoke, what happened? What was the effect over time? 386 Writing Cause-and-Effect Essay

3 Vocabulary Directions Draw a line to connect each word on the left with its definition on the right. 1. avoided very many 2. numerous platform in a church from which the minister preaches 3. pulpit protecting 4. minister member of the clergy 5. shielding kept away from Directions Choose the word from the box that best matches each clue. Write the word on the line. 6. You probably tried to do this when you were about to run into something or someone. 7. This person works in a church. 8. Your great-great-grandparents are an example of these. Check the Words You Know ancestors avoided generations minister numerous pulpit shielding 9. This describes a large number of something. 10. These are periods of about thirty years. Write a Poem Pretend you have just heard Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak at a civil rights meeting. Write a poem about the event. Use as many vocabulary words as you can. Home Activity Your child identified and used vocabulary words from. Have your child draw pictures that represent the meanings of the words from the selection. Vocabulary 387

4 Conjunctions Conjunctions are connecting words. The words and, but, and or are coordinating conjunctions. They can be used to join words, phrases, and sentences. Use and to add information or to join related ideas: Pam and Ann lived with them. Use but to join different ideas: He was gentle but strong-minded. Use or to suggest a choice: Sometimes you have to fight or give in. Conjunctions also make compound subjects, compound predicates, and compound sentences. There is a comma before the conjunction in a compound sentence. Compound Subject Martin and his brother were younger than Christine. Compound Predicate They lived and played on Auburn Avenue. Compound Sentence Martin had many difficulties, but he worked to make his dream come true. (Note the comma.) Directions Write the conjunction in each sentence. 1. White families and black families lived on Auburn Avenue. 2. The kids were friendly with each other, but the grown-ups were not. 3. Martin did not know whether he was more angry or sad. Directions Use the conjunction and, but, or or to join each pair of sentences. Write the new sentences. Remember to add a comma. 4. Martin could have lived a quiet life. He chose to take action. 5. He graduated from high school at 15. He got high grades in college. Home Activity Your child learned about conjunctions. Ask your child to give you oral examples of how the conjunctions and, but, and or are used differently in sentences. 388 Conventions Conjunctions

5 Schwa Spelling Words stomach science gravel normal memory remember difficult notify Canada forget fortune privilege element suppose giant cement mystery iron architect yesterday Antonyms Write the list word that has the opposite or almost the opposite meaning. 1. tomorrow 2. easy 3. remember 4. miniature 5. strange 6. forget Synonyms Write a list word that has the same or almost the same meaning. 7. tummy 8. suspense 9. luck 10. designer 11. advantage 12. remembrance Missing Words Complete the sentence by writing a list word. 13. I she will arrive on time. 14. The new sidewalk has no cracks. 15. Walking barefoot on is painful. 16. Please me when my package arrives. 17. Montreal is a city in Quebec,. 18. She is determined that people say she has a will of. 19. His experiment took 30 minutes. 20. The of surprise is important to a good story Home Activity Your child wrote words that have the schwa sound. Say the list words and have your child spell them. Spelling Schwa 389

6 Cause and Effect Causes Effects Why did it happen? What happened? Why did it happen? What happened? Why did it happen? What happened? 390 Writing Plan

7 Vocabulary Root Words A root word is a word that other words are made from. Sometimes root words are also called base words. The root word for shielding is shield. The root word for numerous is number. The root word for generations is generate (to begin). A generation includes all people born in the same period of time. The root word for avoided is avoid (to stay away from). Directions Read the following letter. Then answer the questions below. Dear Dr. King, I saw you speak today in front of numerous people. I could tell that you truly care about shielding people from danger today and making sure future generations are safe, as well. I know it must be hard to talk about equal rights when some people in this country are against it. You could have avoided the jail time you spent by just living out your days as a minister. However, you believed that change would not come that way. I admire your courage. Sincerely, Mrs. Roberta Watson 1. What do the words avoid and avoided mean? What is the difference between them? 2. What word in the passage has the same root as number? How is that word s meaning related to the meaning of number? 3. Think about a shield a piece of armor used in battle. What does a shield do? What does shielding mean? 4. A generation includes all the people who are born at the same time. For example, all people born in the 1990s are from the same generation. What do you think future generations means? Home Activity Your child identified root words. Read a story together. Have your child show you how to identify root words in a sentence. Vocabulary 391

8 Take Notes/Paraphrase and Synthesize/ Record Findings Taking notes and recording findings about key information in a text can help you understand and remember the text better. It can also help you organize information to study for a test or to include in a research paper. When you take notes, paraphrase, or put what you read into your own words. Try to synthesize, or combine, information as you take notes. This will allow you to include all of the author s ideas as well as important details. Use key words, phrases, or short sentences. Directions Read the article below. Record notes on a separate sheet of paper. Then use them to answer the questions that follow. Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez knew that equal rights were worth fighting for. He spent most of his adult life trying to do what he believed was right. Chavez was born in 1927 in Arizona. When he was ten years old, his family lost its farm during the Great Depression. He and his family became migrant workers, moving from place to place in search of farm work. Later, Chavez joined the U.S. Navy, married, and settled down in California. Chavez began working to improve social conditions when he became a member of the Community Service Organization. This group worked to fight discrimination against people of Hispanic background. Chavez spoke out against this discrimination, and he urged Latino citizens to use their power as voters. He believed that Latinos votes could make the government take notice of needs in their community. 1. How is this article organized? Chavez knew that one particular group of Latinos especially needed his help the migrant workers. He started an organization to help farm workers receive the pay, benefits, and treatment they deserved. He realized that the first challenge was getting the attention of people across the nation. He believed strongly in the idea of peaceful protest. Chavez helped convey the issues of farm work by staging strikes. Also, he urged consumers to stop buying products from companies that mistreated migrant farm workers. Another method of protesting was fasts. During a fast, a person does not eat food. Chavez once protested by fasting for thirty-six days. Cesar Chavez never became a wealthy man. The purpose of his work was justice, not fame. He simply cared about helping others. 2. Paraphrase the first sentence in the article. 392 Research and Study Skills

9 Directions Refer to your notes to help you answer the questions below. 3. Why is it important to take note of the fact that Chavez was a migrant worker? 4. Is the detail about Chavez joining the U.S. Navy important enough to include in your notes? Why or why not? 5. What did Chavez do with the Community Service Organization? 6. What methods of peaceful protest did Chavez use? 7. Why is it important to write down only the most important ideas when note-taking? 8. When taking notes for a report, it is important to write down the title and author of the book or article you are reading. Why do you need to do this? 9. Descibe a graphic organizer you might use to organize your notes. 10. Copy a section of your notes from the article in the lines below. Home Activity Your child learned how to take notes and synthesize and paraphrase information. Read an article or story aloud to him or her. After each sentence, help your child to paraphrase it. See how many sentences he or she can paraphrase. Research and Study Skills 393

10 Schwa Proofread a Report Circle six misspelled words in Alex s report. Write the words correctly. Find the sentence with capitalization errors and write it correctly. Northern Lights The shimmering show of the Northern Lights used to be a mystary, but thanks to sciunce we now know the cause. Like iron to a magnet, particles in the sky are attracted to the Earth. The amazing sky show is best seen in places like Canida or Alaska, but it is diffacult to predict when a show will happen. Nature does not Notify Us in Advance. There is always an element of surprise. However, it is norml to see Northern Lights in August. Seeing a Northern Light show creates a beutaful memory. If you have the good fortune to see the wonderful sight, you will never forget it. 1. _ 2. _ 3. _ 4. _ 5. _ 6. _ 7. Spelling Words stomach memory Canada element mystery science remember forget suppose iron gravel difficult fortune giant architect normal notify privilege cement yesterday Frequently Misspelled Words first beautiful Proofread Words Cross out the misspelled list word in each phrase. Write the word correctly. 8. archatect designs a plan strong ciment sidewalks designs for ginat homes beautiful gravle walkways plans completed yesturday 12. Home Activity Your child identified misspelled list words. Say each word in a sentence and have your child repeat the list word and write it. 394 Spelling Schwa

11 Conjunctions Directions Read the passage. Then read each question. Circle the letter of the correct answer. Martin Luther King (1) Martin Luther King Jr. fought for equality but justice. (2) He believed in action since not in violence. (3) Should people accept injustice to fight for their rights? (4) King dreamed of a better world, than he helped create one. (5) He was arrested nearly twenty times, but he kept on fighting. (6) People must take action but nothing will change. 1 What change, if any, should be made in sentence 1? A Change but to not. B Change but to or. C Change but to and. D Make no change. 4 What change, if any, should be made in sentence 4? A Change than to and. B Change than to that. C Change than to after. D Make no change. 2 What change, if any, should be made in sentence 2? A Change since to but. B Change since to or. C Change since to as. D Make no change. 5 What change, if any, should be made in sentence 6? A Change but to than. B Change but to and. C Change but to or. D Make no change. 3 What change, if any, should be made in sentence 3? A Change to to so. B Change to to if. C Change to to or. D Make no change. Home Activity Your child prepared for taking tests on conjunctions. Have your child make flash cards for the words and, but, and or. Take turns choosing a card and making up phrases that can be combined into sentences using these words. Conventions Conjunctions 395