Reaching for the Stars: Imagining Space

Reaching for the Stars: Imagining Space — page 1 — ROURKE’S CONNECTIONS SCHOOL to HOME BEFORE AND DURING READING ACTIVITIES Before Reading Building Background Knowledge and Vocabulary Building background knowledge can help children process new information and build upon what they already know Before reading a book it is important to tap into what children already know about the topic This will help them develop their vocabulary and increase their reading comprehension Questions and Activities to Build Background Knowledge 1 Look at the front cover of the book and read the title What do you think this book will be about 2 What do you already know about this topic 3 Take a book walk and skim the pages Look at the table of contents photographs captions and bold words Did these text features give you any information or predictions about what you will read in this book Vocabulary Vocabulary Is Key to Reading Comprehension Use the following directions to prompt a conversation about each word Read the vocabulary words What comes to mind when you see each word What do you think each word means Vocabulary Words astrology astronomy Milky Way satellites technology UFO During Reading Reading for Meaning and Understanding To achieve deep comprehension of a book children are encouraged to use close reading strategies During reading it is important to have children stop and make connections These connections result in deeper analysis and understanding of a book Close Reading a Text During reading have children stop and talk about the following Any confusing parts Any unknown words Text-to-text text-to-self text-to-world connections The main idea in each chapter or heading Encourage children to use context clues to determine the meaning of any unknown words These strategies will help children learn to analyze the text more thoroughly as they read When you are finished reading this book turn to the next-to-last page for After-Reading Questions and an Activity

Reaching for the Stars: Imagining Space — page 2 — TABLE OF CONTENTS Fires in the Sky 4 Numbers Formulas and Telescopes 8 Rocket Ships and Aliens 14 That’s Impossible 24 NASA posters 30 Index 31 After Reading Questions 31 Activity 31 About the Author 32

Reaching for the Stars: Imagining Space — page 3 — FIRES IN THE SKY Ever since people first looked skyward they’ve wondered about the cosmos What were all the lights in the night sky How did they get there Before advanced technology existed people could only guess The Algonquins of North America believed the stars were campfires The Maori of New Zealand saw some stars as souls of their heroes The Egyptians thought the Milky Way was a heavenly river technology tech-NAH-luh-jee practical application of knowledge in a particular area 4

Reaching for the Stars: Imagining Space — page 4 — Way galaxy Milky our of the stars we see are part All Milky Way MIL-kee way This is the galaxy we live in It has about 100 billion stars In some places it looks like a river of lights 5

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