While vacationing in Thailand for the holidays, Tara and her mother are thrown into survival mode when a massive tsunami sweeps through Phuket.

Facts about ordinary waves precede information about the causes of the huge waves known as tsunamis and the destruction they bring.

180 Days of Writing is an easy-to-use resource that provides fifth-grade students with practice in writing argument/opinion, informative/explanatory, and narratives pieces while also strengthening their language and grammar skills. Centered on high-interest themes, each two-week unit is aligned to one writing standard. Students interact with mentor texts during the first week and then apply their learning the next week by practicing the steps of the writing process: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. Daily practice pages make activities easy to prepare and implement as part of a classroom morning routine, at the beginning of each writing lesson, or as homework. Genre-specific rubrics and data-analysis tools provide authentic assessments that help teachers differentiate instruction. Develop enthusiastic and efficient writers through these standards-based activities correlated to College and Career Readiness and other state standards.