Classroom Activities:

Introduce Vocabulary: departure, journal, canteen

1. On the board or on sentence strips, write the sentence(s) from the book containing the vocabulary words. Write only one sentence per strip, if you have more than one sentence. Additional sentences may be necessary to provide context clues.
2. Cover the vocabulary words with a sticky note. You may want to reveal the first letter of the word as a clue.
3. Read the sentence aloud and have students predict words that would fit within the context of the sentence.
4. List student-suggested words on the board or on smaller sentence strip pieces and place them below the sentence.
5. If the students do not choose the actual vocabulary word, remove the sticky note and discuss the author’s word. This activity will help students make connections between new vocabulary words and words that are more familiar. It will also develop the concept of synonyms.
6. Two of the vocabulary words—journal and canteen—name a couple of Simon’s items, pictured on the bed. In addition to having students point out the journal and the canteen, ask students to describe the purpose of these items. If other items are unfamiliar to students, discuss those as well.