LESSON 5 TEACHER’S GUIDE

The Golden Age of Sail

by Lisa M. Cocca

Fountas-Pinnell Level P
Nonfiction
Selection Summary
In the mid-1800s, the United States was growing and changing.
The need for goods and services was increasing. Merchants had
to find a way to transport their goods to other parts of the world.
Sailboats became the answer to the merchants’ problems.
Number of Words: 1,415

Characteristics of the Text

Genre • Nonfiction
Text Structure • Third-person narrative divided into four sections
Content • Growth of goods and services
• Yankee Clippers
• Steam engines
Themes and Ideas • Early sailboats helped deliver goods to various parts of the world.
• The growth of American trade was due in large part to the use of sailboats.
Language and • Narration conveys strength and confidence of growing nation; the allures of sea adventure
Literary Features and speed; the sleekness and utility of the Yankee Clippers
Sentence Complexity • A mix of short and complex sentences
• Items in series
Vocabulary • Some sailing-related terms: clipper, masts, bow, sails
Words • Many multisyllable words, such as memorable, conditions, and betrayed
• Contractions, such as aren’t and weren’t
Illustrations • Photographs and illustrations
• Map; chart on successful sails during the golden age of sail
Book and Print Features • Eleven pages of text, photographs or illustrations on most pages
• Full-sentence captions
• Questions and italics
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.

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 The Golden Age of Sail by Lisa M. Cocca

Build Background
Help students use their knowledge of sailing and ships to visualize the selection. Build
interest by asking a question such as the following: In the time before steamships and
airplanes, how do you think products were moved across the ocean? Read the title and
author and talk about the cover photo. Explain that huge clipper ships were once the best
and fastest means of transporting goods. Ask students what they think the term golden
age might mean.

Introduce the Text

Guide students through the text, noting important ideas and nonfiction features. Help with
unfamiliar language so they can read the text successfully. Give special attention to target
vocabulary. Here are some suggestions:
Page 3: Turn to page 3. Read the sentence: America was rich in natural resources.
Ask: What is a natural resource?
Page 6: Point out that captions can give clues about information in the text. The
text on page 6 says there was no shortage of markets in the world. Ask: How do
you know when there is a shortage of something?
Page 9: Explain that Nat Palmer was a shipbuilder who had a yearning for the sea
from a young age. Ask: What was Nat Palmer’s yearning for the sea?
Page 11: The text says the day Nat Palmer met Edward Collins was memorable.
Edward Collins was also a shipbuilder. He provided the money to build the ship Nat
dreamed of building. Ask: Why was the day the men met memorable?
Page 13: The text talks about seafaring men. Ask: What would make a man
seafaring?
Now turn back to the beginning of the selection and read to find out what
happened during the golden age of sail.

Target Vocabulary
betrayed – done something to or fear, p. 10 shortage – not enough of
disappoint someone else, p. 8 memorable – worth something, p. 6
condition – general state of a remembering, p. 11 tidal – affected by the tides, p. 2
person or thing, p. 7 outcast – someone who is not yearning – strong desire, p. 9
foaming – makes a layer of accepted by a group, p. 14
foam, p. 2 seafaring – working or traveling
horrified – to feel shock, terror, at sea, p. 13

Grade 4 2 Lesson 5: The Golden Age of Sail

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 Read
Have students read silently while you listen to individual students read aloud. Support their
understanding of the text as needed.

Remind students to use the Infer/Predict Strategy and use text clues to
figure out what isn’t exactly stated by the author.

Discuss and Revisit the Text

Personal Response
Invite students to share their personal responses to the selection.
Suggested language: Why do you think sea captains found Yankee Clippers to be such an
improvement over earlier cargo ships?

Ways of Thinking
As you discuss the text, help students understand these points:
Thinking Within the Text Thinking Beyond the Text Thinking About the Text
• As America grew, the needs • Early sailboats helped deliver • The chart provides more
for certain goods and services goods to various parts of the information about the text.
increased. world.
• Captions help to explain the
• Early sailboats, called clippers, • The growth of American trade illustrations/photos.
helped make the transport of was due in large part to the use
• The photos/illustrations/
goods to other parts of the world of sailboats.
chart contain a lot of visual
more efficient.
information.
• The invention of steam engines
reduced, or virtually eliminated
the need for sailboats as cargo
transporters.
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.

Choices for Further Support

• Fluency Invite students to read pages 9 through 12 aloud to a partner, taking turns
reading one paragraph at a time. Remind them to use inflection to reflect punctuation.
• Comprehension Based on your observations of the students’ reading and discussion,
revisit parts of the text to clarify or extend comprehension. Remind students to go
back to the text to support their ideas.
• Phonics/Word Work Provide practice as needed with words and word parts, using
examples from the text. Remind students that contractions are two words that are
joined together to form a shortened version of the combined words. For example,
the contraction aren’t on page 2 is a combination of the words are and not. Remind
students that certain letter(s) in the words are replaced by an apostrophe. Be sure the
students are able to identify which two words were used to make the shortened form.

Grade 4 3 Lesson 5: The Golden Age of Sail

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 Writing about Reading
Vocabulary Practice
Have students complete the Vocabulary questions on BLM 5.1.

Responding
Have students use their Reader’s Notebook to complete the vocabulary activities on page
15. Remind them to answer the Word Teaser on p. 16. (Answer: foaming)

Reading Nonfiction
Nonfiction Features: Captions and Chart Remind students that nonfiction has many
features to help readers find and understand important information. Captions and
charts are two of these features. Explain that captions can be short phrases or longer
sentences, as in this book. Captions tell what a photo or map or diagram is about.
Reading the captions in a nonfiction book is a good way to preview the book before
reading the main text. Have students choose a caption to rewrite in their own words.
Charts are another important source of information. They often restate information or
add information that is not in the text. Have students look at the chart on page 13. Ask
what information they can learn from the chart (men who have traveled around the world
and the length of their journeys). Then have students use the information provided in the
second column of the chart to locate the routes on a map.

Writing Prompt: Thinking Beyond the Text

Have students write a response to the prompt on page 6. Remind them that when they
think beyond the text, they use their personal knowledge to reach new understandings.

Assessment Prompts
• What is the main idea of the second paragraph on page 3?
• On page 14, what does the word outcast mean?
• What caused the end of the golden age of sail?

Grade 4 4 Lesson 5: The Golden Age of Sail

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 English Language Development
Reading Support Pair advanced and intermediate readers to read the selection softly,
or have students listen to the audio or online recordings. Remind students that clippers
helped make the transport of goods to other parts of the world easier.

Cognates The text includes a few cognates. Explain the English word and its Spanish
equivalent: conditions (condiciones), (p. 7) and memorable (memorable), (p. 11).

Oral Language Development

Check student comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches your students’
English proficiency level. Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the student.
Beginning/Early Intermediate Intermediate Early Advanced/ Advanced
Speaker 1: What is one natural Speaker 1: How did Americans move Speaker 1: Why do people not use
resource? goods to other countries? clipper ships to move goods to
other countries today?
Speaker 2: wood, soil, metals, minerals Speaker 2: People in America used ships
to move their goods to other countries. Speaker 2: By the end of the
Speaker 1: How was cotton made into
1850s, the invention of the
fabric? Speaker 1: Why did clipper ships move
steam-engine ship made the
goods faster than early cargo ships?
Speaker 2: a cotton loom clipper ships useless. The steam-
Speaker 2: The front of the clipper ship engine ships did not depend on
was narrower, which made them go the wind to move, so they could
faster. deliver goods faster and cheaper.

Lesson 5
BLACKLINE MASTER 5.1
Name Date

Target Vocabulary The Golden Age of Sail

Target Vocabulary

Write the correct Target Vocabulary word beside its

definition below.

Vocabulary
yearning memorable betrayed
condition seafaring shortage
tidal outcast foaming
horrified

1. too short an amount or supply shortage

2. worth remembering memorable
3. forming a mass of tiny bubbles foaming
4. the way a person or thing is condition
5. relating to, caused by, or having tides tidal
6. was unfaithful to betrayed
7. making a living at working at the sea seafaring
8. caused horror horrified
9. a person rejected by or driven out of a group
outcast

10. a tender or urgent longing yearning

Target Vocabulary 3 Grade 4, Unit 1: Reaching Out

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Grade 4 5 Lesson 5: The Golden Age of Sail

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 Name Date

The Golden Age of Sail

Thinking Beyond the Text
Think about the questions below. Then write your answer in one or two
paragraphs.

Remember that when you think beyond the text, you use your personal
knowledge to reach new understanding.

On page 3, the text says, “People needed to move faster to keep up with
the changes.” Why were the Yankee Clippers the perfect solution to moving
goods by sea in a changing world? Do you think Yankee Clippers helped to
expand American trade? Support your answer with details from the text.

Grade 4 6 Lesson 5: The Golden Age of Sail

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 Lesson 5
BLACKLINE MASTER 5.1
Name Date

Target Vocabulary The Golden Age of Sail

Target Vocabulary

Write the correct Target Vocabulary word beside its

definition below.

Vocabulary
yearning memorable betrayed
condition seafaring shortage
tidal outcast foaming
horrified

1. too short an amount or supply

2. worth remembering
3. forming a mass of tiny bubbles
4. the way a person or thing is
5. relating to, caused by, or having tides
6. was unfaithful to
7. making a living at working at sea
8. caused horror
9. a person rejected by or driven out of a group

10. a tender or urgent longing

Grade 4 7 Lesson 5: The Golden Age of Sail

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 Lesson 5
Student Date BLACKLINE MASTER 5.24

The Golden Age of Sail • LEVEL P The Golden Age of Sail

Running Record Form

page Selection Text Errors Self-Corrections

2 A group of boys stand on a dock looking out into a harbor.

They watch as men lift and load cargo onto the ships. They see

the tidal waves foaming as they crash against the ships. The

boys aren’t worrying about the hard work. They aren’t even

worrying about the dangerous sea. They are too busy

daydreaming. They dream about a ship that can sail faster than

any of the ships in the harbor.

3 Boys weren’t the only people dreaming of faster ships in

1840. The world was growing and changing. People needed to

move faster to keep up with the changes.

Comments: Accuracy Rate Total Self-

(# words read Corrections
correctly/102 ×
100)
%

Behavior Code Error Behavior Code Error

1414200

Substitution cut 1
Read word correctly ✓ 0 cat
cat
Self-corrects cut sc 0
cat
Repeated word, ® 0
sentence, or phrase cat Insertion the 1
cat
—
ˆ
Omission cat 1 Word told T 1
cat

Grade 4 8 Lesson 5: The Golden Age of Sail

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