1. science
2. biology
3. zoology
4. endangered species

Homework for “Fishing Bears” April 27-May 1, 2015
(Return this sheet, initialed, on Monday, May 4th.)
Name:___________________________________________________________
Your child will be reading “Fishing Bears.” This nonfiction story tells about the lives of Alaskan brown
bears. It is a nice comparison to “Little Bear’s Friend” and we will talk about the differences between
fictional animals and real ones. Ask your child to tell you how brown bears catch fish. Together, talk
about how people catch fish. Look in magazines, catalogs, and books for pictures of people fishing.
Then talk about where you would go and what you would do if you could go fishing together.
Monday
________
________
________
________
Tuesday
________
________
________
Practice spelling words. (Find fun ideas for practicing listed on our website.)
Practice high-frequency/sight words – both, during, ready.
(Ideas for practicing listed on our website and the Post-Test/Pre-Test page.)
Review sounds and past high-frequency/sight words on skill sheet.
Read or be read to. Minutes read:__________ (Books, fluency passages, etc.)
________
Practice spelling words.
Practice high-frequency/sight words if not yet memorized.
Read leveled reader passages (Emergent, Early or Fluent Reader) and look for highfrequency words and words that use this week’s spelling pattern.
Read or be read to. Minutes read:__________
Wednesday
________
________
________
________
Practice spelling words.
Practice high-frequency/sight words if not yet memorized.
Read the “Decodable Books” and look for words that use this week’s spelling pattern.
Read or be read to. Minutes read:__________
Thursday
________
________
________
________
Practice spelling words.
Practice high-frequency/sight words if not yet memorized.
Reread any fluency passages that your child still needs to practice.
Read or be read to. Minutes read:__________
+ Minutes of reading on: Friday:________Saturday:_________Sunday:_________
Total minutes read this week:______________ (Please total all minutes read during
the week. Aim for a total of at least120-140 minutes per week.)
Research has shown that the single most influential factor in creating successful
readers is the amount of time they spend reading. Reading is a skill that
improves only with repeated practice. The more children read, the more they
are able to read. Make it a goal to read for at least 20 minutes every day.
If your child is finding this homework too easy,
try the more challenging homework ideas described on our classroom website.
Spelling / Phonics Pattern for “Fishing Bears”
April 27 - May 1, 2015
On the spelling test each week your child will be asked to write the sound(s) we are studying, 6 words
that follow the spelling pattern and review last week’s pattern, the 2 “High-Frequency” words below,
and 2 dictation sentences that contain spelling pattern words and “High Frequency” words your child
should know how to spell.
Rather than memorizing a specific list of words, focus on learning the spelling patterns so that your
child can spell any words that fit the patterns. Use the week’s fluency passages to help you study, as
well as the ideas listed on our website. Help your child become a problem solver when it comes to
spelling by asking questions such as, “If you can spell find, how do you spell mind? That’s right! You
just change the first letters because they rhyme!”
This week’s spelling / phonics pattern: long ī sound in a “vcc” word.
Examples of the kinds of words your child should be able to spell and read:
find
kind
mind
rind
bind
mild
child
wild
wind
grind
Your child should also be able to spell these “High-Frequency Words.”
sure
son
I am sure that I had my coat.
Mr. Lopez’s son looks just like him.
Your child will be given the opportunity to write 4 more words and 3 more dictation sentences that
contain more challenging words that follow the spelling pattern and harder “High-Frequency” words.
This is optional for those students who are interested in a challenge. Do not worry about studying
these words unless the above words are easy and automatic for your child.
These words follow the same rule as above but are more complex.
Examples of the kinds of challenge words your child may see:
mildly
mindset
remind
childhood
wildflower
Spelling
Words
for “Little
Bear’s Friend”
April 2-6, 2012
Skill Review Sheet
The skill sheet reviews previously learned sounds, sight words, contractions, inflections, etc.
This week’s new sounds, words, etc. will be reviewed on next week’s skill sheet.
Please study any parts of this skill sheet that are not yet automatic and easy for your child. If the sight
words are still difficult for your child, focus on mastering those before moving down to the
contractions, color/number words, etc.
Blends, Digraphs, Word Parts, etc.: Practice reading these word parts.
igh tch ine ea ow (both sounds) er one ong ore
ace
ile
ate
sh
ir
_y
or
ay
ing
wh
ake
ar
ite
oa
ce
ou
ci
ink
qu
(both sounds - 2 syllable or 1 syllable word)
ice
ike
ang
ai
ow
ch
ame
ode
ung
ee
ur
Sight Words: Students should be able to read these words automatically, without sounding them out.
would these again hurried afraid over grew know
Earth
anything
water care
town
very
friends should even
front sometimes
your
world
son
touch
warm
why
write
gives picture another nothing any air
around
country many different learn
could
thought
opened together
talk gone change
moved want
join
once
writing
people
work
only
field pretty other
walk city family special
sure
from
turns
live
cold
most
were
great
listen
where almost
wonder who
busy
twelve
our does
also about
near
room young
there
grows
above says always
their
saw
door flew
buy
follow every caught
What is the present tense (happening now) of the following IRREGULAR VERBS?
grew
took
bought
made
caught
knew
found
told
threw
slept
ate
bit
ran
rode
got
brought
felt
saw
stuck
drew
drove
Fluency Passages for “Fishing Bears”
Rereading the same passage increases fluency. Reading fluently allows students to focus
their concentration on comprehension. Emphasize reading naturally and accurately rather
than “speed reading.” Students will also be reading the decodable books and one or more
of the leveled readers in class where they will be able to use the pictures clues to aid
decoding and comprehension.
Decodable Book (focus on the long ī sound in “vcc” words)
Hi, Green Beans! by Mary Hogan
It’s spring, and it’s sunny and mild. It’s garden time! I’ll plant green
beans. I’ll find a nice spot with lots of sunshine. I dig holes two inches deep
and plant my seeds. I don’t mind getting dirty. Rain falls. It makes the seeds
grow bigger and bigger. Stems rise. Small leaves grow on the stems.
Sunshine will make the plants grow tall. I see beetles munching on my plants.
Scat, beetles! Find some other kind of lunch. I wait and wait. At last I can
say, “Hi, green beans!”
Emergent Reader (includes the spelling pattern and high-frequency words)
Young Animals by Lynn Trepicchio
During the spring some animals are born. The young are cared for. Every
animal is different. Each animal has different needs. Even wild animals care
for their young. Some stay with their mothers for a long time. Other newborns
come out and find their way all by themselves.
Some animals are born live. They do not hatch from eggs. Other animals
hatch from eggs. Both of these young animals are ready to see the world.
Animals need care before they are born. Some fathers take care of their
eggs. Most of the time, animals wait. That’s what they do the most.
Animals know what their newborns need. They need to learn about the
world. They need to learn to take care of themselves. When they are ready,
they will live on their own.
Early Reader (includes the spelling pattern and high-frequency words)
Counting Bears by Sandra Widener
Tiny bears in the violets, big wild bears in trees. “Hi, there,” they all
say. “Can you please count me?” One wild and five tiny, make six and
then, I find four big, wild bears. Six and four are ten.
Five tiny bears go fishing in the silent stream. Each finds two tiny fish.
That’s ten fish for the team. The big, wild bears are hungry. The tiny bears
are, too. The big wild bears want tiny fish. Now what will they do?
“Do you mind?” asks a wild bear, grabbing a tiny fish. “Yes, I do
mind,” says a tiny bear. “That’s my tiny fish.”
“I like that tiny kind,” says wild. “That tiny fish is mine,” says tiny.
“Don’t you take it, wild bear, and don’t you get so whiny.”
“I have a good idea,” says a bear that’s bright. “And I know that this
idea will help us get this right.”
“Pass out those shiny, tiny fish. Just give one to each bear. Tiny or
wild, all are fed, each one has a tiny share.” After we end our tiny feast,
the wild, strong bears will find some giant, shiny fish that tiny bears left
behind.” All of the bears say yes. So bears both wild and tiny eat the
shiny, tiny fish, and pat their bellies, sighing.
Then wild bears hurry down, into the winding stream. They find 20 fish
to share, plenty it would seem. They match bears and fishes. Here is
what they find. Give each bear two fishes. Not one is left behind!
There’s a giant pile of bones. The bears are too tired to stand. They say
they’re ready to sleep in shelters close at hand. They make two lines of five.
All are ready to lie down. Tiny and wild, they settle in. New friends doze all
around. As twilight comes to the forest, the bears curl up under the stars.
During the night, with eyes shut tight, their dreams will take them far.
Fluent Reader (includes the spelling pattern and high-frequency words)
The Wild Giant Panda by Sandra Widener
Have you ever seen a wild giant panda? Only one animal has that kindly face
and those fluffy black hind legs. Wild giant pandas are not like black bears. Giant
pandas eat bamboo. Black bears do not. Pandas do not hibernate or walk on their
hind legs like black bears do.
Wild giant pandas live high in the forests of China. About 1,000 of them live in
the wild in China. Wild giant pandas in China spend ten or more hours everyday
finding food. Wild pandas eat one kind of food – bamboo.
Wild giant pandas must eat more than fifty pounds of bamboo in a day. No
wonder the giant panda spends so much time looking for food! Each wild giant
panda needs lots of land to find that much bamboo. Maybe that is why they don’t
like other pandas around. Once wild pandas find bamboo, they grind it with their
big teeth. Giant pandas eat almost every part of the bamboo. Very little is left
behind.
When giant pandas are born, they are tiny. A grown giant panda can
weigh 220 pounds, but a newborn panda weighs only a few ounces! A wild giant
panda mother is very kind. She keeps her tiny infant in a special pouch during the
first few months. When a young panda is about eight months old, both mother and
child know the little panda is ready to leave the pouch. The young panda looks for
its own bamboo to eat. Thousands of years ago, many Chinese people thought that
wild giant pandas were special. Even then, pandas were very rare. People in China
thought that pandas brought good luck. Today many people are trying to protect
giant pandas in the wild in China.
The people of China give giant pandas to other countries as a sign of
friendship. There are giant pandas in zoos all over the world. People who see giant
pandas in zoos love these animals from China. People like to see giant pandas as
much as lions and tigers.
People who see the giant panda in the zoo may want to help save pandas in
the wild. They can help make the giant panda safe in the wilds of China.
Name:____________________________________Score:___________
High-Frequency/ Sight Words
High-frequency words, or sight words, are words that students need to recognize automatically. They are
the most frequently used words in our language and/or do not fit standard spelling rules. The more words
children recognize automatically, the better they understand what they are reading because they can focus
on the meaning of the text rather than trying to sound out every word. Students need to be able to say each
word on this list, within 3 seconds, without trying to sound it out. The test is given on the last day of the week.
Test for “Frog and Toad All Year”
hurried
son
near
cold
caught
sure
I already know these words for next
week’s story, “Fishing Bears”
both
during
ready
In addition to playing memorization games, use the suggestions below to study the meaning
and usage of any of the new words your child doesn’t already know (not checked off):



Cut out the words above or, for more practice, have your child write them on index cards.
Have your child make up questions using the words. Make up an answer to each question,
and use the same new word your child used.
Together, make up a sentence using all three new words. Have your child write the sentence
and draw a picture to go with the sentence.
While you study next week’s new words, please continue to study any words from this week that are
not yet memorized and review words from past stories listed on the “Skill Sheet.”