Standards Correlations

R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, R.6, R.7, W.3, SL.1, L.4, L.6

Learning Objective

Students will use text evidence to draw and support a conclusion.

Key Skills

text evidence, text features, vocabulary, sequence of events, key details, author’s purpose, inference, critical thinking, narrative writing

Complexity Factors

Purpose: The article chronicles the largest boat evacuation in history, detailing the dramatic rescue efforts during the September 11 attacks.

 

Structure: The text is mainly narrative but includes some informational passages.

 

Language: The article contains some domain-specific vocabulary, which is defined in the vocabulary box.

 

Knowledge Demands: No prior knowledge is required.

Levels

Lexile: 600L-700L 

Guided Reading Level: S 

DRA Level: 40

SEL Connection

This story and lesson plan promote social awareness.

Lesson Plan: Rescue at the Water’s Edge

Essential Questions

  • Why is teamwork important during emergencies?
  • How do we make sense of a tragedy?

Literature Connection

  • Novel: I Survived the Attacks of September 11, 2001 by Lauren Tarshis
  • Novel: Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story by Nora Raleigh Baskin

1. Preparing to Read 

Preview Text Features (10 minutes)

Guide students to locate the article in their magazines or at Action Online. Preview the text features by asking the following questions:

  • Read the article’s title and subtitle, and look at the opening image. What do the image and the title tell you about the article? Sample answer: The title “Rescue at the Water’s Edge” sounds like it’s about saving people, possibly by boat. The opening image shows boats rushing toward New York City and the smoke-covered skyline of Manhattan. It looks like an emergency situation.
  • Study the map and read its caption. Name three facts about the World Trade Center that the map helps you understand. From the map, we can see that the World Trade Center included the North Tower and the South Tower. It was located in Lower Manhattan, and it was close to the Hudson River.

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

  • Point out the vocabulary box. Read the words (evacuate, terrorists, collapsing, rubble, overwhelmed, agonizing) aloud and discuss their definitions.
  • Play the Vocabulary Slideshow.

Make a Plan for Reading

Before students start to read, walk them through a reading plan:

  • Set a purpose for reading by telling students that the article “Rescue at the Water’s Edge” tells the dramatic story of a major boat rescue after the September 11 attacks on New York City.
  • Point out the Pause and Think boxes. Tell students they can check their understanding of what they’ve read by answering these questions.
  • Tell students that as they finish each section, they should think about how the text features on the page (e.g., photos, captions, and section headings) relate to what they’ve just read.
  • Point out the activity at the end of the article, and tell students they’ll complete it after reading. Encourage them to keep the Think About It! question at the bottom in mind as they read.

 2. Reading and Unpacking the Text

Read the article. (Higher- and lower-Lexile versions are available on the Story page at Action Online. Click Presentation View to access an audio read-aloud.) Then discuss the following close-reading and critical-thinking questions.

Close-Reading Questions (15 minutes)

  • Reread the article’s opening section. Where is Thomas Panevino in this section, and how does he feel? (key details) Thomas is on a small boat crossing the Hudson River. He is in shock because two planes just crashed into the Twin Towers, and those skyscrapers collapsed. 
  • Sometimes an article focuses on the experience of just one person. In “Rescue at the Water’s Edge,” the author describes the experiences of two people: Thomas Panevino and Carlos Perez. Why might she have made this choice? (author’s purpose) By focusing on two people instead of one, the author gives readers a broader view of what it was like to be in New York City that day. Maybe she wanted to show how people’s experiences were alike and different by describing the experiences of both a rescuer and a person who was rescued. 
  • Reread the section “Dozens of Boats.” What did Carlos Perez and his team do at first? What can you infer about the many boaters who came to help with the evacuation? (inference) Perez and his team picked up as many people as they could and went back and forth across the water, taking people to safety. You can infer that the many boaters who came to help were brave and selfless. They rushed to help others in a scary and uncertain situation. They didn’t have to help, but they did anyway. 

Critical-Thinking Questions (10 minutes)

  • Based on the article, summarize what caused the Twin Towers to collapse on September 11, 2001. On September 11, 2001, terrorists from a group called Al Qaeda took control of airplanes and crashed them into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. The crashes caused huge fires in the buildings. Eventually, the heat from the fires melted the steel frames of the buildings, and the Twin Towers collapsed. 
  • Explain in your own words what you think a hero is. Who do you think were heroes on September 11, 2001? Answers will vary. Students might say that a hero is someone who does something brave or selfless to help other people. They will likely say that Carlos Perez and the other boaters who helped in the evacuation were heroes on 9/11. They might also mention the police officers and firefighters who went into the burning buildings to rescue people. In addition, students might bring up stories of heroism on 9/11 that they know from other sources. 

3. Skill Building and Writing

  • Have students work in pairs to complete the Spotlight Skill Workout: Text Evidence activity. As a class, discuss students’ answers and the Think About It! question.
  • Have students work independently to complete our Sequence of Events Skill Builder, available in higher- and lower-level versions. (Click here to view all your Skill Builders for this article.)
  • Writing prompt: Imagine that you’re a boat captain who took part in the September 11 evacuation. It’s September 12, and you’re writing in your journal. Describe the experience of rescuing people. What did you see, hear, think, and feel? Include details from the article.

Learn-Anywhere Activity

An enrichment activity to extend the learning journey at home or in the classroom

Project the task below on your whiteboard or share it with students in your LMS.

Conduct an Interview

In the article “Rescue at the Water’s Edge,” author Allison Friedman describes what Thomas Panevino and Carlos Perez experienced on September 11, 2001. Think of someone you know who remembers that day. It can be a person who was in New York City at the time or a person who was somewhere else and learned about the events from the news. Interview that person about their experience.

First, think of at least five questions you can ask. For example:

  • Where were you and what were you doing when the September 11 attacks took place?
  • How did you first learn about the attacks?
  • What did you do when you learned about the attacks?
  • What effect did the attacks have on your life?
  • How do you think the attacks affected the world?

Language-Acquisition Springboard

Teach the suffixes -ist and -est to boost fluency.

After reading the article, point out the word terrorists in the vocabulary box. Explain that the prefix -ist is added to the end of a noun to change its meaning. When you add -ist to a noun, you get a new noun that refers to someone who does, works with, or believes in whatever the original noun means. A terrorist uses terror. An artist makes art. A guitarist plays the guitar.

Next, point out the word tallest in the article’s first paragraph. Explain that the suffix -est can sound very similar to -ist, but the meaning is different. Adding -est to an adjective means the thing you’re describing deserves that adjective the most; for instance, -est changes loud into loudest and clean into cleanest.

Now say each sentence below aloud, emphasizing the underlined word. Ask students to guess which suffix each underlined word contains and what the word means.

  • My sister is a really talented violinist. (someone who plays the violin)
  • Maya is the oldest of five sisters. (most old)
  • This is the longest book I’ve ever read. (most long)
  • Why are we at the beach on the coldest day of the year? (most cold)
  • Our music teacher is also a harpist in a band. (someone who plays the harp)
  • My dad is a successful novelist. (someone who writes novels)
  • This is the softest blanket I’ve ever felt. (most soft)
  • Matt is the kindest person I know. (most kind)
  • Val makes great money as a hairstylist. (someone who styles hair)
  • These are the sweetest berries I’ve ever tasted. (most sweet)
Looking for more ELL support? Download our full lesson plan and scroll to p. 5 to find questions that will help your ELLs respond to the text at the level that’s right for them.

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