Shining Star, Level A

Unit 1: GROWING UP Part 1

Objectives

Prepare to Read

Focus on Content: Social Studies

Ancient Kids

Review and Practice

Connect to Literature: Fables and Myths

The Hare and the Tortoise, Aesop

Why Rattlesnake Has Fangs, Cheryl Giff

Link the Readings

Connect to Writing

Grammar: Using Adjectives to Describe

Skills for Writing: Writing Correct Sentences

Writing Assignment: Descriptive Sentences

Check Your Knowledge



Part 2 Objectives

Prepare to Read

Focus on Literature: The Novel

From Later Gator, Laurence Yep

Review and Practice

Connect to Content: Science

Amazing Growth Facts

Link the Readings

Connect to Writing

Grammar: Using the Conjunction and

Skills for Writing: Writing Compound Sentences

Writing Assignment: Descriptive Sentences

Check Your Knowledge



Put It All Together Objectives

Listening and Speaking Workshop: Group Presentation

Writing Workshop: Descriptive Paragraph

Projects

Further Reading




Unit 2: CHALLENGES AND CHOICES



Part 1

Objectives

Prepare to Read

Focus on Content: Social Studies

Extraordinary People

Review and Practice

Connect to Literature: Personal Narrative

He Was the Same Age as My Sister, Mieke C. Malandra

Link the Readings

Connect to Writing

Grammar: Using the Simple Past

Skills for Writing: Writing a Narrative Paragraph

Writing Assignment: Narrative Paragraph

Check Your Knowledge



Part 2

Objectives

Prepare to Read

Focus on Literature: Historical Fiction

From A Boat to Nowhere, Maureen Crane Wartski

Review and Practice

Connect to Content: Social Studies

Sudan 's "Lost Boys" Start New Lives

Link the Readings

Connect to Writing

Grammar: Using the Conjunction but

Skills for Writing: Using a Variety of Sentence Types

Writing Assignment: Personal Narrative

Check Your Knowledge



Put It All Together Objectives

Listening and Speaking Workshop: Panel Discussion

Writing Workshop: Personal Narrative

Projects

Further Reading





Unit 3: MYSTERIOUS WAYS 90



Part 1

Objectives

Prepare to Read

Focus on Content: Science, Social Studies

Fact or Fiction?

Review and Practice

Connect to Literature: Short Stories

Truth or Lies? George Shannon

Link the Readings

Connect to Writing

Grammar: The Present Progressive

Skills for Writing: Using Prepositional Phrases

Writing Assignment: Descriptive Paragraph

Check Your Knowledge



Part 2

Objectives

Prepare to Read

Focus on Literature: Mystery Stories

Teenage Detectives, Carol Farley and Elizabeth Dearl

Review and Practice

Connect to Content: Science

How to Make a Friend Disappear

Water Trick

Link the Readings

Connect to Writing

Grammar: Imperatives

Skills for Writing: Writing Clues

Writing Assignment: Clues for a Treasure Hunt

Check Your Knowledge



Put It All Together Objectives

Listening and Speaking Workshop: Instructions to Solve a Problem

Writing Workshop: Instructions for a Science Experiment

Projects

Further Reading





Unit 4: CONFLICT



Part 1

Objectives

Prepare to Read

Focus on Content: Social Studies

World War I

Review and Practice

Connect to Literature: Letter and Poems

Letter Home, Lance-Corporal Frank Earley

Can We Forget? Cora Inez Keyes

Grass, Carl Sandburg

Link the Readings

Connect to Writing

Grammar: Using so as a Conjunction

Skills for Writing: Cause-and-Effect Organization in Writing

Writing Assignment: Cause-and-Effect Paragraph

Check Your Knowledge



Part 2

Objectives

Prepare to Read

Focus on Literature: Diary

From Zlata's Diary, Zlata Filipovic [accent]

Review and Practice

Connect to Content: Social Studies

The Physical World: The Balkans

Link the Readings

Connect to Writing

Grammar: Using Pronoun Referents

Skills for Writing: Writing Eyewitness Reports

Writing Assignment: Eyewitness Report

Check Your Knowledge



Put It All Together Objectives

Listening and Speaking Workshop: TV News Show

Writing Workshop: Report of a Historical Event

Projects

Further Reading





Unit 5: WE CAN BE HEROES



Part 1

Objectives

Prepare to Read

Focus on Content: Social Studies

Heroes: Yesterday and Today

Review and Practice

Connect to Literature: Music, Art, and Poetry

Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler

Ethiopia , Sebastiao Salgado

From Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman

Link the Readings

Connect to Writing

Grammar: The Passive Voice

Skills for Writing: Using Time Phrases to Write a Biography

Writing Assignment: Biography

Check Your Knowledge





Part 2

Objectives

Prepare to Read

Focus on Literature: Play

From The Diary of Anne Frank: The Play, Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, adapted by Wendy Kesselman

Review and Practice

Connect to Content: Art, Social Studies

Heroic Art

Link the Readings

Connect to Writing

Grammar: Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

Skills for Writing: Writing Reviews

Writing Assignment: Review

Check Your Knowledge



Put It All Together Objectives

Listening and Speaking Workshop: Speech

Writing Workshop: Letter to the Editor

Projects

Further Reading





Unit 6: THE FUTURE



Part 1

Objectives

Prepare to Read

Focus on Content: Science, Social Studies

Life in the Future

Review and Practice

Connect to Literature: Interview

Interview with an Astronaut: Dan Bursch

Link the Readings

Connect to Writing

Grammar: Using will for the Future

Skills for Writing: Writing Notes for a Research Report

Writing Assignment: Notes

Check Your Knowledge





Part 2

Objectives

Prepare to Read

Focus on Literature: Novel

From The Time Warp Trio: 2095, Jon Scieszka

Review and Practice

Connect to Content: Science

DNA, Genes, and Traits

Link the Readings

Connect to Writing

Grammar: Using be going to for the Future

Skills for Writing: Making Sentence Outlines

Writing Assignment: Sentence Outlines

Check Your Knowledge



Put It All Together Objectives

Listening and Speaking Workshop: Presentation

Writing Workshop: Research Report

Projects

Further Reading



Glossary

Index

Acknowledgments

Credits