Across the Wide Dark Sea by Jean Van Leeuwen

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Across the Wide Dark Sea by Jean Van Leeuwen

• Theme 5

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Awards

• New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading
  and Sharing
  
• Washington Irving Childrens Choice Book Award

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Genre Historical Fiction

• A historical fiction story is about realistically
  (could happen in real life, but they arent real)
  recreates a past time and is based on a true
  story.

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Summary

• A young boy tells of his voyage on the Mayflower
  and of the settlement of Plymouth once the ship
  arrives in the new land.

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Background Information

• Pilgrims are people who go on a long journey to
  find a new place to live.
  
• The people we usually call Pilgrims left their
  homes in England-and then Holland-to come to
  America for religious freedom.

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Key Concept

• the Pilgrims journey

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Key Vocabulary

• anchor
• cramped
• journey
• seeping
• settlement
• survive
• weary

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anchor
a heavy metal hook attached to a ship and dropped
overboard to hold the ship in place
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cramped
Crowded not enough room to move about
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journey
a trip from one place to another
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seeping
slowly leaking oozing
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settlement
a small community in a new place
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survive
to stay alive to hold up or withstand
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weary
tired needing rest
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Strategy Focus Question

• We question to help us understand what we see
  and/or read.
  
• As you read about the Pilgrims, think of
  questions about
  
• the journey
• the people
• and the challenges they encountered

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Strategy Focus Question
Lets try it!

• What problems did the Pilgrims have on the ship?

or
How did the new settlement defend itself?
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Comprehension Skill Focus Making Inferences

• When you make an inference, you are using story
  clues and your own background knowledge to make a
  reasonable guess about the story.
  
• Inferences are made after you read to help you
  understand parts of the story not specifically
  stated.
  

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Graphic Organizer
Fill in the organizer with details from the story.
Was being a Pilgrim hard work?
Story clues I know
__________________________________________________
_____________________________________________
__________________________________________________
_____________________________________________
My inference is that being a Pilgrim was TONS of
hard work!
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Meet the Author

• As a child, Jean Van Leeuwen always had a book
  in her hands when
  
• visiting, in the car, or even under her bed
  covers. She started to write
  
• her first book, a horse story, in the sixth
  grade. She didn't have a plan
  
• for the book, though, so she gave up on it
  after only a few chapters. It
  
• was a long time before she began to write
  children's stories again.
  
• Jean Van Leeuwen often makes a rough plot
  outline before she starts
  
• writing a book. Then she plans the action.
  She says, "Most people don't
  
• realize how long it takes to complete a
  manuscript some days I write only
  
• one page. I spent two days one week trying
  to figure out just one paragraph."
  
• Jean Van Leeuwen works in her home in
  Chappaqua, New York. Her office
  
• used to be her children's playroom. Her
  hobbies are traveling,
  
• gardening, and reading. When her children
  were young, she sometimes used them as
  "advisers." Her son once told her that a scene
  she had written about a school food fight wasn't
  disgusting enough. He suggested that she have the
  kids throw
• spaghetti with meat sauce and chocolate
  pudding. (from www.eduplace.com)

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Link to Houghton Mifflin

• If you enjoyed reading Across the Wide Dark
  Sea and would like to check out some more
  information and activities, click below to go to
  www.eduplace.com, Houghton Mifflins web site.

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