Grade 4 Realistic Fiction PDF

## Realistic Fiction 6 A spring as clear as well water bubbled up from nowhere in the sand. It was as though the banks cupped green leafy hands to hold it. There was a whirlpool where the water rose from the earth. Grains of sand boiled in it. Beyond the bank, the parent spring bubbled up at a hi...

## Realistic Fiction 6 A spring as clear as well water bubbled up from nowhere in the sand. It was as though the banks cupped green leafy hands to hold it. There was a whirlpool where the water rose from the earth. Grains of sand boiled in it. Beyond the bank, the parent spring bubbled up at a higher level, cut itself a channel through white limestone and began to run rapidly down-hill to make a creek. The creek joined Lake George, Lake George was a part of the St. John's River, the great river flowed northward and into the sea. It excited Jody to watch the beginning of the ocean. There were other beginnings, true, but this one was his own. He liked to think that no one came here but himself and the wild animals and the thirsty birds. **Notes** - Creek - How could the writer mentally create an image about the picture here? ## Observing Nature 7 He was warm from his jaunt. The dusky glen laid cool hands on him. He rolled up the hems of his blue denim breeches and stepped with bare dirty feet into the shallow spring. His toes sank into the sand. It oozed softly between them and over his bony ankles. The water was so cold that for a moment it burned his skin. Then it made a rippling sound, flowing past his pipe-stem legs, and was entirely delicious. He walked up and down, digging his big toe experimentally under smooth rocks he encountered. A school of minnows flashed ahead of him down the growing branch. He chased them through the shallows. They were suddenly out of sight as though they had never existed. He crouched under a bared and overhanging live-oak root where a pool was deep, thinking they might reappear, but only a spring frog wriggled from under the mud, stared at him, and dove under the tree root in a spasmodic terror. He laughed. **Notes** - agrop of ## Birch Bark Canoes by Amanda Polidore Birch trees have always grown in the forests of the Northeast. When Native Americans lived in the area long ago, they recognized and valued this gift from nature. They figured out that the outer bark of white birches could be used to make useful things, such as wigwam coverings and food containers. However, the most important item they created was the birch bark canoe. The birch bark canoe was lightweight but sturdy. It could carry heavy loads for long distances. The Native Americans made the canoe in different sizes depending on its use. A small hunting canoe was eight to ten feet long. It could carry two people. A large canoe used for transporting goods was twenty-four feet long. It could carry up to ten people. Building a birch bark canoe took several weeks. First, the birch bark was peeled from the tree and laid on the ground. Then it was covered with heavy stones to make it flat. Next, it was placed on a frame made of poles and stakes. This formed the shape of the canoe. The ends of the birch bark were then pulled together and tied with root fibers. To make the canoe waterproof, the seams were glued with pine gum and charcoal. When European explorers sailed to the northeastern coast of America in the 1500s, they were amazed by these graceful canoes that moved swiftly in water. In fact, these traditional canoes were so well designed that they became the models for today's canoes made of aluminum and fiberglass. **Word Study Read** Read this informational text to learn more about canoes. As you read, use the strategies you have learned to problem-solve unfamiliar words. **Notes** ## Build Vocabulary Use the strategies you have learned to find the meanings of these words from "The Secret Spring." Then use each word in a sentence. | Word | My Definition | My Sentence | | ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | dusky | Just before night | The dusk was so dark that I could barely see where I was going. | | jaunt | a short trip/walk taken for fun | I went on a jaunt to the park and enjoyed feeding the ducks. | | stationary | Staying in one place | The old rocking chair stayed stationary, unused, for years. | | vegetation | all the plants and trees in a particular area | The lush vegetation around the lake was beautiful, full of vibrant wildflowers and towering redwoods. | ## Build Grammar and Language **Focus on Prepositional Phrases** Find and read the sentence below in context on page 21. Notice the prepositional phrases that give more information about where Jody goes. He made a circle around the sheds and corn-crib and cut south through the black-jack. 1. Find a sentence with one or more prepositional phrases in your own reading. Write it here. 2. Write your own sentence using two prepositional phrases to describe direction or location. 27