Reading Street View 5 Grade Week 18 January 7 - 11 2013

Reading Street View 5 th Grade Week 18 January 7 - 11 2013Arc 1: Reading Poetry [Theme, Sensory Language] Unit 4: Learning From History: American JourneysRecommendations for Read Aloud (RA), Shared Reading (SR), Guided Reading (GR), and Independent Reading (IR)RA /SR:GR:IR:Teacher choice See the AISD Poetry Study Module or your campus library for poetry anthologiessuch as Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic or Where the Sidewalk Ends, and other children’s poetrybooks by Jack Prelutsky and Maya Angelou.“Yankee Doodle” (4 th grade Exploring Nonfiction) - poemSelect texts from your campus leveled library or have students reread familiar text with the purpose ofidentifying sensory language and visualizing the events that are taking place within a poem.Teacher Tip: For students having difficulty with decoding and fluency, small group instruction shouldinclude explicit word study and decoding work. Many students who do not read fluently struggle withdecoding. See the Florida Center for Reading Research for phonics activities. Scroll down the page tolocate information and activities for the five components of reading.Additional Resources for Read Aloud:Full Steam Ahead: The Race to Build a TranscontinentalRailroad by Rhoda Blumberg.The journal of Sean Sullivan : a Transcontinental RailroadWorker by William DurbinDragon's Gate by Laurence YepCoolies by YinChapter Books:The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George SpeareThe Misadventures of Maude March by Audrey CouloumbisSee the AISD website for more books related to American Journeys.Allow students to pick out “just right” books from your classroom library and add them to their book bags. Stop and check-in with your students. Take some informalassessments. Are students picking books that they are able to fluently read and understand?Discussing Genre:This semester, students will continue toapply a variety of comprehension skills toprocess and compare a variety of genresgrouped around a unifying theme (Learningfrom History: American Journeys). Whenteaching several comprehension skills,grouped together within a genre, encouragestudents to use a variety of skillssimultaneously, flexibly, and as needed togain a deep understanding of the text.This unit is made up of stories andarticles that tell portions of the history ofAmerica and the heroes and events thathelped to form our country. Show theUnited Streaming Video “Moving toAmerica: Then and Now” (The entire videois 19 min, but the sections on NativeAmericans, Explorers, Settlers, Slaves, andPioneers are between 1-3 min. each.)Show portions of each section of the videoto begin a discussion about the people andevents that formed the history of America.Learning about the history of our country isimportant because it helps us to understandwhy our country runs the way it does todayand why Americans value freedom…Word Study:Resources:Treasures TE 5-Day Spelling Routine and thePhonics/Spelling Practice Book (Treasures CD).The “Prepare” section of the TE providesadditional suggestions for teaching thePhonics/Word Study patterns.Word Study tip:The first week back after the Winter Break is aperfect week to re-organize systems (routines andmanagement) before diving into the finalsemester. Word study notebooks are an easy wayto help your students (and you!) to manage wordstudy.Sections in a word study notebook might include:“Word Study” --- containing assigned sorts. Thissection includes weekly records of sorts, wordhunts, lists generated in small groups, writtenreflections of sorts, and sorts assigned forhomework.“Looking into Language” --- contains lists ofwords related to themes and units, wordscategorized by parts of speech, and semanticwebs of content area studies.“Personal Dictionary” --- students record wordsthey frequently need to use in writing.(Taken from Words Their Way, pg. 218)Fluency:Resources:Use the Treasures ApproachingReproducibles, BeyondReproducibles, and Practice Book(Treasures CD) to select theappropriate fluency passage for yourstudents. Teach your students tohelp each other determine theirfluency rate and answer thecomprehension questions.Fluency Tip:Combine reading and writing skills byhaving students record an originalessay using the computer (if you arehigh-tech) or a video-camera (if you'renot) to present to the class. Studentsshould repeatedly record the essayuntil they have a "perfect"presentation. Software on AISDcomputers such as Photo Story 3allows students to add illustrationsand music to their presentation, orthey can simply record narration toaccompany a Power Pointpresentation.Vocabulary:Resources:Introduce the vocabulary for each selectionusing the Vocabulary/Comprehensionpassage preceding each main selection inthe Treasures TE. See the 5-DayVocabulary Routine in the pages followingeach main selection.Vocabulary Tip:One of the strongest findings aboutvocabulary instruction, whether directinstruction or learning words from context, isthat multiple encounters are required beforea word is really know (e.g. Stahl &Fairbanks, 1986), that is, if it is to affect astudent’s comprehension and become auseful and permanent part of the student’svocabulary repertoire…There are three features to consider whenplanning for your vocabulary instruction:1. Frequent encounters with thewords.2. Richness of instruction3. Extension of word use beyond theclassroom.(taken from Bringing Words to LifebyBeck, McKeown, and Kucan)

Reading Street View 5 th Grade Week 19 January 14-18 2013Arc 2: Reading DramaUnit 4: Learning from History: American Journeys[inference, connections, original/drama, sequence, foreshadowing]Recommendations for Read Aloud (RA), Shared Reading (SR), Guided Reading (GR), and Independent Reading (IR)RA /SR:GR:IR:Round the World with Nellie Bly (Treasures- Reading Genres T.E. pp. 89-111)Article about Nellie Bly Kid-friendly article about Nellie Bly Another article about Nellie Bly lBecause reading drama is still very new to most students, it is recommended that you use shortskits for guided reading. There are many available online for individual classroom use.Teacher Tip: Guided reading presents an excellent opportunity to reinforce skills that are beingtaught during your whole group lesson. This week, take the opportunity to allow students to discuss thecharacteristics of drama compared to other genres. Having students take notes in their readingjournals, on post-its, or turning and talking to a partner in the group are good ways to engage even themost struggling readers.Additional Resources for Read Aloud:Use the following two texts to analyze the similarities and differencesbetween an original text and its dramatic adaptation:Jane Addams and Hull House pgs. 199-206 in Treasures Read-AloudAnthology ; Pgs. 26-27 of Treasures Reading Genres Student Practice BookRumpelstiltskin Readers TheaterWhere the Wild Things Are Readers Theater ScriptWhere the Sidewalk Ends Reader's Theater ScriptThis week it will be important that students select a text for independent reading that has a strong sequence. Narrative texts as well as expository texts with social studiescontent readily lend themselves to sequence. Students should be able to clearly write the main events in the order that they occurred and, more importantly, identify theimportance of the events occurring in that specific order. When conferring, you may want to ask your students, “What would have happened if the events did not occur in theorder that they happened in the story/text? How do the different events help to advance the story?”Discussing Genre:At this point in the school year,students should be skilled atcomparing two different genres. Themore texts you give students to readthat are written about the samecontent, the better able yourstudents will be at making clear,meaningful connections. Thisweek’s primary text selection, Roundthe World with Nellie Bly, is a storybased on true events and an actualperson. Find as many different textsas you can that are written aboutNellie Bly. Have your students readall the texts, and then compare theways in which they are written.Do they all present the sameinformation? In what ways are theywritten differently? What new thingsdid the students learn from readingone text or another?Word Study:Resources:Treasures TE 5-Day Spelling Routine and thePhonics/Spelling Practice Book (Treasures CD).Word Study tip:Word sorting is a way to help students compare andcontrast words according to specific features. Wordsorting will enable students to form hypotheses, concepts,and generalizations about the properties of written wordsas well as to associate new words to the familiar onesthey can already spell. Word sort steps:1. Identify words that fit into the categories of featuresyou want students to notice. Decide whether the sortwill be open or closed.2. Write words on cards. You can keep them togetherwith rubber bands and/or placed in envelopes so thatstudents can take turns using them.3. Students usually work with a partner (taking turns ineach role) because it promotes discussion about theword.4. The partners check over the whole sort to be surewords are categorized as they want them to be. Theydiscuss the words.Fluency:Resources:Use the Treasures ApproachingReproducibles, Beyond Reproducibles,and Practice Book (Treasures CD) toselect the appropriate fluency passagefor your students.Fluency Tip:Most readers are more fluent (ordecipher the meaningful syntacticpatterns better) on the second reading.Research by Samuels (1979) supportsthat when students read a passagealoud more than once, their reading ismore free-flowing, largely accurate,and meaningfully phrased.(Guiding Readers and Writers: Grades3-6, pg. 355)This week provides a perfectopportunity for students to practice apiece of readable text over and overbefore performing it in front of theclass.Vocabulary:Resources:Introduce the vocabulary for each selectionusing the Vocabulary/Comprehension passagepreceding each main selection in the TreasuresTE.Vocabulary Tip:Bringing Words to Life suggests thefollowing activity to reveal facets of wordmeaning.Students are asked to respond to variouscharacteristics of the words to help themsee a word, not as a single block ofmeaning, but as having different facets toits meaning.For example:BanterA husband and wife argue about what tohave for dinner.OrA husband and wife kid each other aboutwho ate more at dinner.Students should differentiate between twodescriptions by labeling them as anexample or nonexample of the target word.

Building ComprehensionGood readers are skilled at asking questions about what they read. This week, have your studentsbecome “Question Questers” (from Time for Kids – Exploring Nonfiction Level 5). This is a skill thatmay take some modeling, but students should be encouraged to use questioning as a way to reinforcetheir understanding of every text they read. This example uses the poem “Buzz Off!”Tell your students ---As you read, ask questions about things that you do not understand at first. Poems often use wordsin unusual ways, so you may have many questions about a poem you read.For example, look at lines 7 and 8 of “Buzz Off!” The speaker has jumped out of bed, turned on thelight, and grabbed a magazine. He says he is “ready for a fight.” Here are some questions that mightoccur to you:Why does he want to fight?Why did he take these actions?How do they help him get ready for a fight?(Give students time to look at their poem, think about the questions, and turn and talk with a partnerabout their thinking.)You think over the situation. He is in a dark room with a mosquito buzzing around. He knows it willbite him, and the bite will itch. He wants to kill the mosquito. That is what he means by “ready for afight.” Why does he turn on the light? So he can see the mosquito. But why does he grab amagazine? You think it through. He is going to use it as a swatter!What questions can you ask about another part of the poem? How do they help you understand thispart?It’s important to note that even though “questioning” is not a specific skill that is highlighted for thisweek, readers who question the text and then actively search for the answer (or what they know aboutthe text that can help them find the answer) are better able to infer, make connections between texts,and understand why the sequence of events in a story is important. This lesson is an important one tospend time on as it is a skill that should be transferred from one genre to another. Poetry is not thehighlighted genre, but is extremely easy to use when teaching questioning and visualization which iswhy “Buzz Off!” is referenced here.This week you will want to spend time with your students looking for main events which often havecause and effect relationships among the texts that you read. Search for hints while reading that mightindicate a future event. Explain that this is called foreshadowing. Cite foreshadowing examples frommovies that students are familiar with. Look back at texts that you have already read with your class tospecifically look for clues that might have been overlooked during the first reading that gave informationabout a future event.Comprehension/ Discussion Questions:Inference• What do you think the author is really trying to tell us here?• What does the author want us to think about ______?• What clues has the author given us?• What evidence in the text makes us think ______?• What can you tell about ______?• The reader can tell that ______.• Based on the information in the story, the reader can conclude that _____.Connecting Across Texts:• What is a major idea found in both selections/stories?• The story and the article both present ideas about _____• Why was __ mentioned in both the (newspaper article) and the (story withthe journal)?• What is the theme in both selections?• What do the lessons in __ and __ have in common?• What is a common theme in both of the stories?• In comparing __ and __, what was the difference in the moral lessons in thetwo• selections?• A theme found in both stories is __.Foreshadowing What clues does the author give us to help us predict what is going to comenext? Were there clues that were first overlooked that we notice now? (afterreading) How do the words that the author uses help set the tone for future events?21 st Century Learning: Anchors of Support for Independent Student Work:Create charts like this with yourclass to help remind them of theskills that good readers use. Havestudents keep track of goodquestions and their answers onsticky-notes as they read. At theend of your reading block, haveseveral students share with the classand then place their stickies on thechart.?We are Question Questers. We askamazing questions and then searchfor/think about the answers as we read.Texts wehave ReadLearning from History: American JourneysThe importantevent in UShistory uponwhich the textwas based.What were theunderlyingissues of thoseevents?What lessondid this textteach me?How arethese textsconnected?Teacher Tips: The following are two ways that students can extend their thinking about the poem “Buzz Off” in their Reading Response notebooks: 1. Think of an encounter you had with an insect. Writea poem that describes what happened. Choose words carefully to create the mood or tone you want. 2. Write about the poet’s encounter with the mosquito as a humorous news story. Make it sound like anevening news report. (This will tie in perfectly to the future study of media literacy.)

Reading Street View 5 th Grade Week 20 January 22-25 2013Arc 3: Reading Fables, Myths, Legends, and Folktales[inference, connections, themes, myth phenomena, historical influence on text, characters]Recommendations for Read Aloud (RA), Shared Reading (SR), Guided Reading (GR), and Independent Reading (IR)Unit 4: Learning from History: American JourneysRA /SR:GR:IR:Grandma’s Tales, Treasures p. 592Davy Crockett Saves the World, Treasures pp. 594-613Approaching Level: Sluefoot SueOn Level: Johnny AppleseedBeyond Level: Old StormalongELL: The Story of Johnny AppleseedTeacher Tip: The most important facet of guided reading is that it provides a “safe” environment forstruggling readers to read and discuss the problems that they are having with a text. McKewan says itbest: “They [struggling students] need total privacy in which to read and talk about mix-ups with atrusted teacher. They desperately do not want to be perceived as incapable. Bravado keeps them fromfacing the unpleasant reality of their inability to comprehend what they read.” You will seecomprehension grow if you are providing space for your struggling readers to communicate and learnfrom you without feeling embarrassed.Additional Resources for Read Aloud:Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind pgs. 17-22 in Treasures Read-AloudAnthologyReader’s Theater: Jane Addams and Hull House pgs. 199-206 inTreasures Read Aloud AnthologyThe Hen & the Apple Tree, p. 98 Read Aloud AnthologyFull Steam Ahead: The Race to Build a TranscontinentalRailroad by Rhoda Blumberg.The journal of Sean Sullivan : a Transcontinental Railroad Workerby William DurbinDragon's Gate by Laurence YepCoolies by YinSome students may have the idea that history is boring. The current unit, Learning from History: American Journeys provides you with several weeks to change this thinking! The more texts thatyou provide for your students to read about U.S. History through every component of your reading block, the more students will be able to experience learning about history in ways other than from atextbook (and will appreciate it!). During independent and guided reading time, provide your students for opportunities to respond about what they are noticing about the various texts they arereading, and more importantly, what they are learning through the texts.Discussing Genre:Every origin myth is a story of creation: originmyths describe how some new reality cameinto existence. Davy Crockett Saves the Worldexplains why Davy Crockett always wears acoonskin cap, and why Halley’s Comet did nothit the earth. Be sure to provide access toother origin myths from different cultures,perhaps during independent reading.Teachers should discuss the characteristics offolktales with students (e.g. fairly unrealisticwith magic and talking animals; happened along time ago; usually a hero or savior plays asupporting role, usually has a happy ending,etc.) Teachers should contrast folktales withother forms of fiction, especially with fables,which can be similar to folktales, but whichhave a clearly stated moral lesson (or moral) atthe end. (See The Hen & the Apple Tree, p. 98Read Aloud Anthology for example of fable.)Word Study:Resources:Treasures TE 5-Day Spelling Routine and thePhonics/Spelling Practice Book (Treasures CD).Word Study tip:3 Examples of Word SortsOpen sorts – one partner may sort the words andthe other partner may guess the basis for thecategoryClosed sorts – there are directions about theprinciple to use (such as first letter, last letter,vowel sound, etc.) often there are key words. Stsplace the key words at the top of the column andlay words that fit into that category under eachcolumn.Auditory or Blind sorts – one partner reads thewords aloud without showing the print and thepartner has to indicate where to place the word (orwrites it).*Choose one that you feel would benefit themajority of your students and try it out this week.*(Taken from pg. 378 of Guiding Readers andWriters Grades 3-6)Fluency: Use the TreasuresApproaching Reproducibles, BeyondReproducibles, and Practice Book(Treasures CD) to select the appropriatefluency passage for your students.Fluency Tip:Prompts to support students in theirreading fluency:• How do you think your readingsounds?• Read the punctuation.• Make your voice go down when yousee the period.• Make your voice go up when yousee the question mark.• Make it sound like the characters aretalking.• Put your words together so it soundslike the way you talk.• Make your voice show what youthink the author meant.(Taken from pg. 352 of GuidingReaders and Writers Grades 3-6)Vocabulary:Resources:Introduce the vocabulary for each selectionusing the Vocabulary/Comprehension passagepreceding each main selection in the TreasuresTE.Vocabulary Tip:Every minute of the school day counts.Use transition times such as walking tolunch, specials, or recess to reinforcevocabulary. One way to strengthenchildren’s knowledge of words and buildconnections is to play “RelationshipBetween Words.”Take two words that seem unrelated andjuxtapose them. For example: “Could avirtuoso be a rival?” This will allow yourstudents the chance to build upon theirnetworks of collected ideas and see thatwords aren’t ‘closed,’ but rather“intersecting paths from which morecomplex ideas could be created.”(Taken from Bringing Words to Life, pg.75 -76)

Reading Street View 5 th Grade Week 21 January 28 - Feb. 1 2013Arc 4: Reading Historical FictionUnit 4: Learning from History: American Journeys[word meaning, sequence, characters, 3 rd person POV, inference, connections]Recommendations for Read Aloud (RA), Shared Reading (SR), Guided Reading (GR), and Independent Reading (IR)RA /SR:GR:IR:A Move West, Treasures pg. 526Valley of the Moon: The Diary of Maria Rosalia de Milagros, Treasures pgs. 528-543Approaching Level: The Oregon Train: Westward HoOn Level: The Oregon Train: Westward HoBeyond Level: The Oregon Train: Westward HoELL: The Oregon Train: Westward HoTeacher Tip: During your guided reading time, provide your readers with structured snippets of time topractice their monitoring techniques. One of the most important ways to teach students how to monitortheir ‘inner voice’ is by modeling. Model for your students what your inner voice is saying to you as youread. Model how your inner voice sometimes switches and begins to talk about something else (likewhat you are going to eat for lunch, play with at recess, or watch on t.v. after school), and the steps thatyou take to correct it. Provide students an opportunity to practice: allow them to read silently for fiveminutes, stop and discuss what they were thinking about as they read. Do this for several days in orderto maximize students’ awareness of their inner voice and when it breaks down.Additional Resources for Read Aloud:Full Steam Ahead: The Race to Build a TranscontinentalRailroad by Rhoda Blumberg.The journal of Sean Sullivan : a Transcontinental Railroadworker by William DurbinDragon's Gate by Laurence YepCoolies by YinChapter Book:The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George SpeareThe Misadventures of Maude March by Audrey CouloumbisSee the AISD website for more books related to American Journeys.Novels provide greater depth of both character development and plot.In addition to the practice of analyzing literature, novels provide moreexposure to high level vocabulary. As you read a novel aloud, be sureto pause frequently to “think aloud” about words you think areunfamiliar to some or all of the students.Fountas and Pinnell say that, “Even more important than accuracy is the student’s ongoing awareness of whether he understands a text-whether it makes sense. The momenta reader loses the meaning, we want him to search for more information and problem-solve.” Partner students up to practice listening to their inner voices – students shouldfollow the same format as above – read silently for five minutes, check in with one another, practice identifying where break-downs in comprehension occurred.Discussing Genre:Students who struggle tounderstand the importance ofhistorical events will oftenrespond positively to readinghistorical fiction. Historicalfiction is written in a way thatuses fictional characters in realsettings and true situations. Thisweek comes after students haveencountered texts connectedthrough the American Journeytheme through poetry, drama,and tall tales. This weekstudents should be able toprovide background informationon events that shaped AmericanHistory.Word Study:Treasures TE 5-Day Spelling Routine and thePhonics/Spelling Practice Book (TreasuresCD).Another Word Study tip:More Examples of Word SortsSpeed Sort - Students are asked towork quickly to build processing skills.Write to the Sort – Students write thewords in the columns.Multiple Sort – Students have a bank ofwords that they can sort in severaldifferent ways. They first sort them oneway and then sort them another way.*Choose one that you feel would benefitthe majority of your students and try itout this week.*(Taken from pg. 378 of Guiding Readers andWriters Grades 3-6)Fluency:Use the Treasures Approaching Reproducibles,Beyond Reproducibles, and Practice Book(Treasures CD) to select the appropriate fluencypassage for your students.Another Fluency Tip:Fountas and Pinnell state:The ability to quickly recognize printinformation is another factor affecting therate of reading. If a text has many wordsstudents do not know, their reading rate willslow down. Automatic, rapid wordrecognition allows students to think aboutthe meaning, which in turn fosters fluency.Ensuring that your students are readingbooks that are just right is the best way toincrease comprehension and fluency.Vocabulary:Resources:See the 5-Day Vocabulary Routine in the pagesfollowing each main selection. The routine includesstudent friendly definitions, questions to promptstudents’ oral practice with the new words, andactivities for student engagement and practice with thevocabulary words.Another Vocabulary Tip:Synonyms are words that have the same, or almostthe same, meaning. If students have not previouslybeen introduced to one, this is a good week to showstudents how to use a thesaurus. Use TE pg. 526 forinstructions on how to model the use of a thesaurus tofind the synonym for the word obvious.

Building Comprehension:Good readers are able to totally immerse themselves in a text and experiencethe story on multiple levels which increases their level of understanding.Struggling readers often have a difficult time picturing what is happening in thetext which then hinders their ability to comprehend what they are reading. Workwith struggling readers to help them truly experience what they are reading, bypicturing it in their head as well as reading through their senses. This is anespecially useful strategy to employ when reading stories where the content iscompletely unfamiliar. When students learn how to connect to their senses andvisualize as they read, they will be better able to comprehend the informationand remember it in the future.Pg. 530 in the Treasures TE suggests the following strategy for helping studentsmonitor their comprehension:Tell students they can visualize, or create images in their mind, to help themunderstand and remember what they read. They should look for sensory wordsthat tell how things look, sound, smell, taste, and feel. This will help themexperience what the author describes.When addressing the narrator’s point of view, this is also a perfect opportunity tolook at the same story, told from different characters’ points of view. What if thevillain had told the story instead of the narrator? What if a secondary characterhad told the story from his/her outside observations? Utilize your student’snatural love of thinking about various points-of-view to study characters’motivation, actions, and dialogue. By tying point-of-view to characters, you willbegin to see your students gain a better understanding of the way texts arewritten, and what to expect from characters within a text.21 st Century Learing:Another way to study unknown words, and build learning strategies is tocreate a chart, such as an Excel Spreadsheet. Use the blank spreadsheet atthe following link to gather information as a whole class. Think of it as“Shared Technology Work.” Word Meaning Spreadsheet is designed forgathering the same information as before, and organizing it into cells on thespreadsheet.As they work, encourage students to use the correct technology vocabulary(spreadsheet, cell, row, column, and header). Allow them to usewww.dictionary.com for some of the words (in order to become familiar withthe resource.) Adding a column for graphics (illustrations) is one way to helpsupport those who struggle with English vocabulary.http://www.atomiclearning.com/k12/homeComprehension/ Discussion Questions:Word Meaning Read the sentences. What could that word mean? Is that word like any other words you know? Are there other words in the sentence (or sentences) that can help you figure out themeaning of the word that you don’t know? What are these sentences (paragraphs) about? What word that you know would make themost sense here?Inference• What do you think the author is really trying to tell us here?• What does the author want us to think about ______?• What clues has the author given us?• What evidence in the text makes us think ______?• What can you tell about ______?• The reader can tell that ______.• Based on the information in the story, the reader can conclude that _____.Point-of-View Who is telling the story? How do you know? Where is the author? Does this story tell us the thoughts of all the subjects or characters or just the main character(subject)? What words show you that this selection is an autobiography/biography? Is the author of this story writing about a personal experience? Did _____ write this story from his/her experiences or someone else’s experiences? How doyou know? Is the narrator is this story speaking from personal experiences? How does knowing the author’s point-of-view help the reader understand the story?Anchors of Support for Independent Student Work:Perspective/Point of View Chart:First person point of view: The main character tells the story directly, using I and me.Third person: May be an anonymous outsider who reveals everything about the main and supportingcharacters through actions, dialogue, and thoughts; uses he, she, they when talking about the maincharacter.Third person omniscient: The narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all the characters in thestory. A writer must limit the amount of information revealed about each character or the story wouldbecome too complex.Third person limited: The narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of only one character, while theother characters are described externally. The reader understands one character very well but doesn’tknow much about the other characters.Texts wehave ReadLearning from History: American JourneysThe importantevent in US historyupon which thetext was based.What were theunderlying issuesof those events?What lesson didthis text teachme?How are thesetextsconnected?Teacher Tips: Many of our struggling readers are unable to use context (both the immediate context in the surrounding sentences as well as the whole context of the story) todetermine the meaning of unknown words because so many words in the context are unknown to them. For struggling students, teachers and intervention specialists should drop down toa level where 90% of the words are known to the student before attempting to teach the student strategies for using context to determine the meaning of unknown words.

Reading Street View 5 th Grade Week 22 MOY II (Math/Reading) February 4-8 2013Arc 5: Reading Historical Informational Texts[Make Connections between Texts,Unit 4: Learning from History: American JourneysInference, Synthesize Ideas in Text, Main Ideas & Details, Dictionary Use]Recommendations for Read Aloud (RA), Shared Reading (SR), Guided Reading (GR), and Independent Reading (IR)RA /SR:GR:IR:This week has been dedicated to MOY Testing on our calendar. It is unlikely, however, that every minute of instructional timewill be dedicated to testing this week. Activities described this week should be used to fill available time for the students whenthey are not actively testing.The Healing Power of Plants, Treasures p. 580A Historic Journey, Treasures pp. 582-585Approaching Level: Animal ObserversOn Level: Animal ObserversBeyond Level: Animal ObserversELL: Animal WatchersTeacher Tip: The “scaffold” provided by the text introduction will support effective processing of the text. When you introduce a text to agroup of students you might: Help them connect the text to their own lives, to their knowledge of the world, or to other books they have read; Demonstrate the kinds of questions readers ask about a text; Help them recall what they already know about a topic; Stimulate their interest in the text so they will want to read it; Bring to their attention conventions of print such as punctuation, titles and subtitles, or chapter headings;Highlight the genre and help them predict the characteristics of the text they are reading based on past experience.Additional Resources for ReadAloud:Full Steam Ahead: The Race to Build aTranscontinental Railroad by Rhoda Blumberg.The journal of Sean Sullivan : a TranscontinentalRailroad Worker by William DurbinDragon's Gate by Laurence YepCoolies by YinChapter Book:The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth GeorgeSpeareThe Misadventures of Maude March by AudreyCouloumbisSee the AISD website for more books related toAmerican Journeys.Have a variety of nonfiction texts on different topics and levels for students to read during independent reading. Model how to use two column notes to record important information in texts (mainideas in the left column and details in the right.)Discussing Genre:Your students are moving from reading Historical Fiction (Week21) into reading Historical Informational Texts. Begin an anchorchart with your students this week that compares both genres.This week’s focus is on comprehension of Non-Fiction text. Tocomprehend informational text, it is important for students to beable to locate important information and find the main ideas insections of texts.Non-fiction selections are written about a topic. The topic is whatthe selection is mainly about. The topic is the big, general ideabeing presented to the reader. The main idea is the mostimportant point about a topic. Details are the facts that supportthe main idea.Identifying important information in exciting, well writtenexpository text can be difficult for students because compellingdetails may grab their imagination and lead readers astray.Students need much modeling and practice to sift, sort, andseparate out important ideas from interesting details.Nonfiction texts are intended to provide factual informationthrough text and visual images; contain ideas, facts, andprinciples with the primary purpose being to communicateinformation.Word StudyResources:Treasures TE 5-Day SpellingRoutine and the Phonics/SpellingPractice Book (Treasures CD).Note also that the “Prepare” sectionof the TE provides additionalsuggestions for teaching thePhonics/Word Study patterns.No Additional Word Study Tip forthis week.Fluency:Resources:Use the Treasures Approaching Reproducibles,Beyond Reproducibles, and Practice Book (TreasuresCD) to select the appropriate fluency passage for yourstudents.An excerpt from each passage can be found on theTreasures CD, Fluency Transparencies, for teachingfluency techniques.Another Fluency Tip:5 th grade students are encountering a variety of textsevery day. Good readers understand that weapproach different texts in different ways dependingon our purpose. Struggling readers need to beexplicitly taught how to adjust their reading rate basedon the text that they are reading. They may need tobe shown how to slow down when they come tounfamiliar information or information that they need tocollect and relate it to what they already know, andthen shown how to pick back up again when readingand understanding content.Vocabulary:Resources:Introduce the vocabulary for eachselection using theVocabulary/Comprehensionpassage preceding each mainselection in the Treasures TE.See the 5-Day Vocabulary Routinein the pages following each mainselection. The routine includesstudent friendly definitions,questions to prompt students’ oralpractice with the new words, andactivities for student engagementand practice with the vocabularywords.No Additional Vocabulary Tip forthis week.

Building Comprehension:The main idea is the most important point an author makes, or what a selection is mostly about. The mainidea is sometimes explicit, or stated in the text. Usually, however, the main idea is implied, or not directlystated in the text. Whether or not the main idea is directly stated, students must still ask themselves what thesentences in the paragraph have in common, and classify these details to determine the main idea. Theycan then state the main ideas and supporting details in ways that maintain meaning. Point out that this willhelp students remember the most important information that they’ve read.Be sure to celebrate the culmination of the “Learning from History: American Journeys” unit this week. Takesome time with your class to complete the literature chart, and add anything that you may not have had timeto over the past few days.Some tasks that may aid in the culmination of the American Journeys unit are: Students read an historical fiction story and research the historical time and place within which the story isset. Students identify the parts of the story that reveal the historical setting within the details of the story.They explain the importance of the historical setting to fully understanding the characters of the story. Students choose an historical fiction story and search to find a poem, drama, or another historical fictionstory that is connected to the original story. They explain how the second work is connected to thehistorical fiction story (topic, major ideas, theme, perspective), citing specific details in each text to supporttheir thoughts. Students read an historical fiction story and describe the main characters of the story based on thehistorical context. They think about the author’s description, how they act, what they say and think, andwhat others say or think about them. Students also describe how the characters change and makeinferences about why they change in this way.Students must learn to use dictionaries to find words and their definitions. The best way to teach dictionaryskills is to authentically model for your students how YOU would use the dictionary. Know the meaning of aword? Pretend that you are stuck. Ask a student to get a dictionary for you. Use your document camera toshow students how you would find the word and its meaning. Use “thinking aloud” to point out howdictionaries provide us with pronunciation, parts of speech and syllabication.Often, definitions contain words that your students might not understand. Provide students with manyexamples of how to read around words and use context to find meaning. Process of elimination is alsohelpful when finding the correct definition for a multiple-meaning word.21 st Century Learing:CRITICAL THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING: Use Systems Thinking- Analyze how parts of a wholeinteract with each other to produce overall outcomes in complex systems: COMMUNICATION ANDCOLLABORATION:; Collaborate with Others- Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, writtenand nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts; Listen effectively to deciphermeaning, including knowledge, values, attitudes and intentions; LEADERSHIP AND RESPONSIBILITY: BeResponsible to Others- Act responsibly with the interests of the larger community in mind.Comprehension/ Discussion Questions:Informational:• What does the title tell you about the topic?• What information is provided through illustrations, photos, captions, and other textfeatures?• What do you already know about this topic?• What part of the topic has the author chosen to present in the selection?• What details support the idea that __? Where in the text can you findinformation/facts/details about __?• What questions come to mind about __?Main Idea and Details:• What is the big idea or main idea of the paragraph/section? How do you know?• What supporting details from the text helped you to know what the paragraph/section was mostly about?• What do you think the author’s big idea was? What did the author really want youto know about this topic?• How did the text structure and text features help you to determine the author’smessage of the article?• How did the author present the information in the text (text organization)?• Why do you think the author presented the information in this way?Want to encourage your students to use their creativity and use different words in place ofcommon ones (such as mad, happy, and sad)? Teach your students how to use a thesaurus tofind word replacements. Reward points to students who begin to use the “creative” words in theirdaily conversations.*We strongly caution against asking students to copy words and their definitions.* Again,the emphasis is on modeling how to authentically use a dictionary and/or thesaurus. Whenplanning for this week, keep in mind how you use dictionaries in your everyday life. How can youtransfer that knowledge to your students?Anchors of Support for Independent Student Work:Anchors of support should: Remind students that the main idea is the most important point an authormakes. Remind students that the main idea does not include details, but details canand do support it Show that the main idea is usually one idea or concept (Who/What is thisabout), followed by one brief statement (What is important about that?)Allow students to work in pairs or groups to come up with a presentation for the classcentered on what they learned about life in present day from reading about the past. Havestudents connect their presentations to the characters/people that they have been reading about.What lessons can we take away from the mistakes/successes that people have made in the past?Ideas can include working in pairs to create a PowerPoint to share with the class and/or school,and/or creating a class book titled, “We can learn from history.”Allow every group to make their own slide or write a page for the book about a lesson they learned.Texts wehave ReadLearning from History: American JourneysThe importantevent in US historyupon which thetext was based.What were theunderlying issuesof those events?What lesson didthis text teachme?How are thesetextsconnected?Teacher Tips: Continue to have students state the main idea of texts during and after reading throughout the year. Encourage students to justify their thinking by providing details that support the big ideasin text. Successfully stating the main idea during and after reading is a good indicator of the level of comprehension a student has of the text.

Reading Street View 5 th Grade Week 23 February 11-15 2013Arc 1: Reading Historical Informational TextsUnit 1: The World of Science[summary, dictionary, summarize main idea, inference, connections]Recommendations for Read Aloud (RA), Shared Reading (SR), Guided Reading (GR), and Independent Reading (IR)RA /SR:GR:IR:The Healing Power of Plants, Treasures p. 580 (Cont. from Week 22)A Historic Journey, Treasures pp. 582-585 (Cont. from Week 22)Approaching Level: Animal ObserversOn Level: Animal ObserversBeyond Level: Animal ObserversELL: Animal Watchers(Continued from Week 22)Additional Resources for Read Aloud:The Time for Kids article collection that is provided with theTreasures adoption contains many science articles. You mayfind these at a multiple levels – 1 st – 5 th grade at every campus.Pearsonsuccessnet.com --- science leveled readers at all gradelevelsOne Well pgs. 307-322 in Reach (ESL Treasures textbook)books by Simon SeymourIntroduce activities for your students to complete during independent reading that are both new and exciting and will improve students’ comprehension. These activities shouldnot be busy work, but instead should teach and reinforce previously taught skills. Some ideas are to write an additional chapter to a book they’ve finished or to write analternate ending to a narrative story they’ve read. Students could choose two characters from the story and write a dialogue that might have occurred between them. Discussthese writings with students during reading conferences. You will improve students’ comprehension and promote a higher interest in reading.Discussing Genre:Nonfiction texts tell about actual events, livingthings, or people. Duke (1993, 2003) makes acase for including a large amount of informationalreading (at least 30%) in elementary agestudents’ reading. Nonfiction is the mostfrequently read kind of text outside schools – overninety-six percent of texts on the Internet areexpository. Informational texts help build students’knowledge of our world.Values of Informational Text: Proficient reading of informational texts isrequired for school success and mostprofessions. Many readers prefer nonfiction because itaddresses their interests and questions.Nonfiction texts are intended to provide factualinformation through text and visual images;contain ideas, facts, and principles with theprimary purpose being to communicateinformation.Word Study:Resources:Treasures TE 5-Day Spelling Routine and thePhonics/Spelling Practice Book (Treasures CD).Note also that the “Prepare” section of the TEprovides additional suggestions for teaching thePhonics/Word Study patterns.Another Word Study tip:5 th graders are not too old to make wordswith magnetic letters or letter cards. Forexample, students can make words that: Start or end the same. Feature silent letters. Are contractions. Are compound words. Contain prefixes or suffixes. Are homonyms (homophones,homographs). Have the same root (Greek orLatin)Contain the same number ofsyllables.(Guiding Readers and Writers, Grades 3-6 byFountas and Pinnell)Fluency:Resources:Use the Treasures Approaching Reproducibles,Beyond Reproducibles, and Practice Book(Treasures CD) to select the appropriate fluencypassage for your students. Teach your studentsto help each other determine their fluency rateand answer the comprehension questions.Anexcerpt from each passage can be found on theTreasures CD, Fluency Transparencies, forteaching fluency techniques.Another Fluency Tip:Echo ReadingTo echo read, the teacher orally reads thefirst line of the text in a poem or play, andthe student then reads the same line,modeling the teacher’s example. Thepurpose of echo reading in this context is tomodel intonation and phrasing for studentswho have difficulties with prosody [rythym,stress, and intonation of speech].(Taken from 40 Reading InterventionStrategies for K-6 Students, pg. 113)Vocabulary:Resources:Introduce the vocabulary for each selectionusing the Vocabulary/Comprehension passagepreceding each main selection in theTreasures TE.See the 5-Day Vocabulary Routine in thepages following each main selection. Theroutine includes student friendly definitions,questions to prompt students’ oral practice withthe new words, and activities for studentengagement and practice with the vocabularywords.Another Vocabulary Tip:Idea Completions – Instead of the traditional“write a sentence using a new word,” providestudents with sentence stems that requirethem to integrate a word’s meaning into acontext in order to explain a situation. Forexample: His behavior in the corridor wasinappropriate because… In order to determineour location, we should…

Building Comprehension:We can utilize our students’ natural curiosities to deepen their comprehension of texts by lookingcarefully at the role of questioning in the classroom—who is asking the questions and why? We needto explicitly teach our students to question the text themselves. Joy Scurlock in “The Ease ofQuestioning” says, “Questioning is a comprehension strategy that promotes engagement and keepsthe learner involved in the topic.”Children will easily understand and remember the concept of “thin and thick questions”:- Thin questions are questions that can be answered from specific information in the text andusually have a short, quick response. (Example: In the story The Three Little Pigs, what did thefirst little pig use to build his house?)- Thick questions are open-ended, requiring deeper thought and explanation. (Example: In the firsttwo pages of the selection “Wild Horses”, how can the reader tell that the author enjoys watchingthe wild horses?” The reader will gather information from several places in the text and addprevious knowledge to explain an answer.)The teacher begins by modeling the types of questions readers might ask themselves about a text.You can start with simple questions about things a reader may not understand in the text (What doesthis mean? What was this part about?) and eventually move toward asking the bigger, open-endedquestions. Model how readers sometimes find the answers to their questions as they continue reading.Other times, readers go back to reread and put together bits and pieces from different parts of the textto get an idea for an answer. If an answer is not found during the reading, these are perfect questionsto discuss with a partner or group after the reading. Therefore, we want to encourage the students toask those meatier, “thick questions”, questions that begin with Why did…? I wonder…? and Why didthe author…?The teacher encourages students to join in the questioning process and eventually take over thisprocess when reading with a partner or independently. Students can write their questions on post-itnotes to attach on the page where the question arose. The students can use the questions to initiatediscussions about the text. Students should continue to question texts individually, as well as in agroup setting (literature groups or guided reading group.) Each experience, whether small group orindividual, actively engages students in the reading process and hones strategies needed to continuecritical thinking while reading.It should be noted that this type of questioning helps readers to make inferences, to determineimportant and supporting ideas, to determine word meanings, etc. Active engagement with the textthrough questioning builds the type of comprehension that supports all other reading skills.21 st Century Learing:Provide supports to students through instructional grouping. Considerimplementing a partner reading structure or putting students into small cooperativegroups with clearly defined roles and expectations. Give students comprehensionquestions (see above) to use as checks for understanding with each other.Comprehension/ Discussion Questions:Inference• What do you think the author is really trying to tell us here?• What does the author want us to think about ______?• What clues has the author given us?• What evidence in the text makes us think ______?• What can you tell about ______?• The reader can tell that ______.• Based on the information in the story, the reader can conclude that _____.Connecting Across Texts:• ·What is a major idea found in both selections/stories?• ·The story and the article both present ideas about _____• ·Why was __ mentioned in both the (newspaper article) and the (story with the journal)?• ·What is the theme in both selections?• ·What do the lessons in __ and __ have in common?• ·What is a common theme in both of the stories?• ·In comparing __ and __, what was the difference in the moral lessons in the two• selections?• ·A theme found in both stories is __.Summary:• What has happened so far in this story?• Who can summarize what we’ve learned in this part (scene) of the play?• What is the basic plot of this story?• What are the most important things that happened?• How would you retell this story in 3-4 sentences?Fountas and Pinnell suggest the following ways to help students learn to summarize :‣ Write a summary yourself of a text that students know or have read and ask students toanalyze what makes it a summary.‣ Begin the process with short texts that do not have too many details and are easier tosummarize.‣ Work together to create a group summary, selecting and deleting details.‣ Record a retelling of a text on chart paper and turn it into a summary.‣ Ask students to summarize a text in their response journal and respond to this summary inthe letter you write back.‣ Encourage students to practice summarizing by making book talks to recommend books totheir friends. (Guiding Readers and Writers: Grades 3-6 pg. 362)Anchors of Support for Independent Student Work:As you and your students continue to focus on asking questions during reading,have students write examples of thin and thick questions from their reading andpost it on the chart along with the answer that was found in the text.Additional Lesson over Thin and Thick QuestionsTeacher Tips:Inferring is the bedrock of comprehension, not only in reading but in life, too. To help students understand the nature of inferential thinking, demonstrate with facial expressions and other life examples. Inferringis about reading faces, reading body language, watching people’s actions, reading expressions, and reading tone as well as reading texts. The use of pictures is a concrete way to reinforce inference. Take alook at a picture from a magazine. You must infer what is happening in the picture using clues from what you see. Readers do this everytime they read.

Reading Street View 5 th Grade Week 24 February 19-22 2013Arc 2: Reading Procedural Texts with Media Literacy[text organization, interpret procedural details, interpret graphic features, media genres and techniques]Unit 5: The World of ScienceRecommendations for Read Aloud (RA), Shared Reading (SR), Guided Reading (GR), and Independent Reading (IR)RA /SR:GR:IR:The Science of Hot-Air Balloons, Treasures pgs. 194-195Up in the Air: The Story of Balloon Flight, Treasures pgs. 197-211Approaching Level: Sky WatchersOn Level: Sky WatchersBeyond Level: Sky WatchersELL: Sky WatchersTeacher Tip: "The ultimate goal of guided reading is to help children learn how to use independent readingstrategies successfully." (Fountas and Su Pinnell, 1996). During guided reading, although students are mostlyreading quietly to themselves, be sure to ask each child to softly read aloud a small portion of the text. “Guide” themthrough any sections of text that they are having difficulty with. Pause to ask questions and prompt readers to usemultiple reading strategies to decode words and comprehend the text. With the entire group, pose questions thatelicit meaningful conversation about the text. Be sure to plan guided reading lessons that focus on makingconnections to the text, predicting what will happen and asking questions as they read, visualizing events thathappen in the story, making inferences, and responding to stories in their reading response journals.Additional Resources for Read Aloud:TFK – Science 4 – procedural text over Heimlich ManeuverThe Time for Kids article collection that is provided with theTreasures adoption contains many science articles. You mayfind these at a multiple levels – 1 st – 5 th grade at every campus.Pearsonsuccessnet.com --- science leveled readers at all gradelevelsOne Well pgs. 307-322 in Reach (ESL Treasures textbook)books by Simon SeymourWhile students are reading independently, have them keep track of any persuasive language they encounter in the texts they are reading. Add examples,from their texts, to a class anchor chart that displays “What I read/ How it persuaded me to think/feel”Discussing Genre:Authors of informational textsoften use common textstructures to organize theinformation. The fifth gradeTEKS include theorganizational structures ofcause and effect relationships,sequential order, compare andcontrast, logical order, andclassification schemes.Students should also use textfeatures to locate additionalinformation in texts. Anexample of the classificationscheme might be found in anarticle about digital media,where the author explains thedifferences between differenttypes of digital media (i.e.digital music, YouTube videos,interactive websites andgames, etc.)Word Study:Another Word Study tip:The Synonym/Antonym ContinuumThink of opposites like hot/cold, brave/frightened,old/young, lazy/energetic, and so on. Use a thesaurusto find several synonyms for each word in the pair andwrite them on cards or in a list.Have students arrange the words along a continuum. Atthe ends of the continuum will be the antonyms (wordsthat are most opposite in meaning). Next to each ofthese words students will decide where to placesynonyms (words that are closest to the meaning of theopposite words) and so on until all words have beenused.For example, the words balmy, frigid, chilly, boiling,frozen, tepid, hot, cool, and warm could be arrangedthis way:frigid, frozen, chilly, cool, tepid, balmy, warm, hot First, students might work individually. Then theycompare their continua with one another. They shoulddiscuss differences and provide rationale for why theyarranged particular words the way they did. Thedictionary will be the final judge of any disagreements.(Taken from Words Their Way, pg. 251 - 252)Fluency:Resources:Use the Treasures Approaching Reproducibles,Beyond Reproducibles, and Practice Book (TreasuresCD) to select the appropriate fluency passage for yourstudents. .An excerpt from each passage can befound on the Treasures CD, Fluency Transparencies,for teaching fluency techniques.Another Fluency Tip:Radio ReadingHave small group of students work together. Preparesections of a chapter to be read either chorally orindividually.Ask students to read their portion as many times asneeded to develop expression and fluency.More proficient students might read parts of thechapter solo.Ask one student to be the announcer and read theopening and closing parts of the story or chapter.(Taken from 40 Reading Intervention Strategies forK-6 Students, pg. 113)Vocabulary:Resources:Introduce the vocabulary for each selectionusing the Vocabulary/Comprehensionpassage preceding each main selection inthe Treasures TE.See the 5-Day Vocabulary Routine in thepages following each main selection. Theroutine includes student friendly definitions,questions to prompt students’ oral practicewith the new words, and activities for studentengagement and practice with thevocabulary words.Another Vocabulary Tip:Place a word in the center of a weband ask students to answer thefollowing questions on each of thesurrounding “branches”: What do Ithink this word means? What parts ofthis word do I know? Where would Iprobably find this word? Why is thisword important?

Building Comprehension:When reading nonfiction texts, readers’ eyes catch the striking illustrations,realistic photographs, bold headings, and telling subtitles. These features ofnonfiction alert the reader to important information. These features include: fontsand special effects (titles, bold print, color print, italics, bullets, captions, andlabels.) They may also include graphic features, such as diagrams, cutaways,maps, word bubbles, tables, charts, and graphs. Students should review anddiscuss text features before, during and after reading.Text features and text organization are sometimes confused by teachers andstudents alike. Text features help the reader more easily navigate the text andoften provide additional information to help students comprehend the content. Thetext features often support and may give clues to the ways in which the body oftext is organized; also referred to as text structure or text organization.For more detailed information about text features, please see the Text Structure(Organization) ORS Module.21 st Century Learing:A creative way to introduce both procedural text as well as media literacy is toshow your students the first five minutes of this Youtube video: Flavor WaveYouTube with Mr. TComprehension/ Discussion Questions:• What do you think the author’s big idea was? What did the author really wantyou to know about this topic?• How did the text structure and text features help you to determine the author’smessage of the article?Organizational Structures:• How does the author organize the information in this text?• Why did the author choose to structure the text in this particular way?• What key words in the text give you clues that tell you how the author organizedthe information?• Does the text include more than one organizational structure?Anchors of Support for Independent Student Work:Anchor Chart on Text Structures:You can show your students a news story (written out) about whether or not theFlavorWave truly works, here: News Story - FlovorWave ReviewYou and your class can also read reviews of the product, written by realcustomers, here: Amazon Reviews: FlavorWavea print advertisement for the Flavorwave here: (scroll to the bottom):FlavorWave AdvertisementAfter allowing your students to watch the short clip, discussion should be centeredaround: What are the advantages or disadvantages of using video to advertise andsell your product rather than a print add? What are some differences that you might see in videos vs. print? What are the characteristics of the various forms of media? Which point of view are the media presentations written from?See ORS Module on Text Structure (Organization)This is a good time to begin discussing persuasive writing/techniques with yourstudents even though next week you will explicitly be covering persuasive texts.As students read articles with different organizational structures, have themillustrate the overall text structure using information from the article and theimages suggested in the ORS module on Text Structure. Add these illustrations toa class chart or individual/group booklets to remind students of the different typesof structures.Teacher Tips: “Visualizing strengthens our inferential thinking. When we visualize, we are in fact inferring, but with mental images rather than words and thoughts.Visualizing and inferring don’t occur in isolation. Strategies interweave.” ~Stephanie Harvey & Anne Goudvis, Strategies That Work

Building Comprehension:It is important for students to be aware of the language that authors use to influence the reader’s thoughts andactions.When reading text to students, be sure to model the way that you determine an author’s opinion? If a text hasbeen identified as being persuasive, it may be helpful to locate facts and opinions in the text.Have students work with you to identify which specific words give clues that the author is persuading them to thinkor do something.Finally, have students decide if they agree with what the author is saying or not, and state their reasons why: “Theauthor included the advertisement on page 469 to persuade the reader that alternative energy sources are a goodidea. I can tell the author is trying to persuade me to agree with him because of all the facts in the text that supportthis viewpoint. He also lists testimonials of hybrid drivers. What language do you see that tells us the author istrying to convince us to think or do something?”See Power Point Presentation on persuasive techniques.Describe the structure of a persuasive text (see the “21 st Century Learning” section below), and explain how theorganizational style affects the reader. Students will need to be able to: Discern when a text is intended to persuade, and identify the elements of persuasion. Explain how an author uses language to influence what the reader thinks or does. Identify persuasive techniques used by writers and speakers and the reasons why they are used. Differentiate between fact and opinion in a persuasive text, being aware that sometimes authors deliberatelyinclude information that appears to be fact, but is not fact at all. This is misinformation and is a commonpersuasive technique.Some other common persuasive techniques include: using personal pronouns such as “we”, “you”, and “your” tomake the argument personal to the listener/reader; using logic and common sense; citing facts and statistics toreinforce the logical argument; appealing to the audience’s emotions; citing expert opinions, examples, andanecdotes, or endorsements from popular stars; accentuating positive aspects; using band wagon (peer pressure);creating glittering generalizations that are falsely attractive; and using humor.Persuasive Vocabulary21 st Century Learing:It is important for students to be able to recognize when an author is attempting to use language in a persuasiveway. Many children assume that everything they read in non-fiction books is true. It is sometimes difficult forchildren to analyze an author’s intentions. Read aloud various small samplings of text. Have students decidewhether an author is trying to persuade them to think or do something. Post the factual statements and thepersuasive statements in two categories for students to reference. Highlight the language the author uses topersuade. Or you might create a web of words the author uses to persuade as shown in the Anchor of Supportbelow.You could also further this lesson by using this explicit instructional sequence to re-teach students who do notunderstand or have misconceptions.Persuasive text is a special type of informational text. It typically includes a number of facts, most of which aremore likely to help convince the reader to agree with their own opinion/ perspective.Writers of persuasive texts use specific techniques such as parallelism, comparison, and causality in theirarguments. Students should be familiar with these techniques.Parallelism is when one sentence, or part of a sentence, is next to and just like another sentence or part of asentence. This is a powerful technique for persuasive writing or speaking and is commonly found in politicalspeeches. Why? Because parallelism is repetition.Persuasive comparisons recommend one subject as being superior to another. Commercials often demonstratehow one product is better or cheaper than other brands. Politicians use comparison and contrast to demonstratethat their policies or positions are superior to those advocated by their opponents.Causality: You can convince others to take supportive action by illustrating "cause and effect," the notion that oneevent automatically produces another.Comprehension/ Discussion Questions: What does the author want you to think about ___________ ? What words is the author using to make you think that? How does the author use facts to support opinions? How does the author conclude this passage? Can this statement be checked and proven? What does that mean? What is the author trying to convince you to think/do? Why is the author trying to persuade you to think/do ______________? How does the author try to convince the reader to think about_______________? What words does the author use to influence the reader to think as he/she doesabout ________________?Organizational Structures:• How does the author organize the information in this text?• Why did the author choose to structure the text in this particular way?• What key words in the text give you clues that tell you how the author organizedthe information?• Does the text include more than one organizational structure?Author’s Purpose:• Why do you think the author wrote this piece? What was his/her purpose?• Do you think it was a good idea to write about _______ through the _______genre? Why or why not?• Is there a different genre that the author could have chosen that would haveworked better to achieve their purpose? Explain what you mean.• What did you learn or understand from reading this selection? Do you thinkthat’s what the author wanted you to understand?Anchors of Support for Independent Student Work: Highlight key terms “What we notice about Persuasive Writing” after reading a persuasivearticle.What We Notice About Persuasive Writing States an opinion or position Gives reasons for opinions Backs up opinions with data, evidence, expert quotes, examples, andso on. Offers possible solutions Restates position in conclusionWords the authoruses to convince thereader to think or dosomethingTeacher Tips: Have students look for examples of parallelism, comparison, causality and other persuasive techniques in advertisements. Advertisements can be found in newspapers, magazines, or theinternet. The 5 th grade basal also contains multiple persuasive texts. Some might be in the form of “informative” texts (such as texts on recycling or green energy), but ultimately the author is trying to persuadethe reader to act in a certain way.

Reading Street View 5 th Grade Week 26 March 4-8 2013Arc 4: Reading Expository Texts with Media Literacy[Text Organization, Author’s Purpose, Main Ideas & Details, Verify Facts, Synthesize Ideas in Text,Summary, Media Genres and Techniques]Unit 5: The World of ScienceRecommendations for Read Aloud (RA), Shared Reading (SR), Guided Reading (GR), and Independent Reading (IR)RA /SR:GR:IR:Find a good model of science-themed expository text online. (Sources include eBooks text supplements and “NGConnect” on the AISD Cloud)From Trash to Treasures, Time for Kids Issue 2, p. 16 - 19Hidden Worlds: Looking Through a Scientist’s Microscope, Treasures pgs. 141 – 152The Termite, Treasures pg. 154Choose from a variety of science articles from online sources and adopted science materialsTip: This week you should focus on expository texts in all areas of your reading workshop. Guided reading affords you the perfectopportunity to help support all of your readers in understanding the structure of expository texts. Your introduction to the textsduring guided reading can guide students to be aware of important factors as they read, including:How the author has organized information and identified that organization by headings and subheadings.The ways in which information is presented, such as chronologically, in categories, or in contrasting sets.How the author uses “signal” words and phrases, such as first, second, next, finally, or on the one hand and on the otherhand to show passage of time or the relationship of ideas.How the causes or consequences of events are presented in the text.How the author compares one idea, place, species and so on with another.Taken from Guiding Readers and Writers: Grades 3-6 by Fountas and PinnellAdditional Resources for Read Aloud:*This week should be devoted to reading expositorytexts that have been read earlier in the year. Youwill be devoting time to teaching students how toread expository texts to gather information, so lookfor texts that are strong examples of how expositorytexts are organized and easy to useAdditional information on how to teach expositorytextThis week, you should continue to help your students strengthen their knowledge of reading expository texts. Encourage your students to read an expository text during their independent readingtime. Have them keep two-column notes as they are reading. One side should be titled, “What’s Interesting?” the other should be titled, “What’s Important?” This will allow students time to work ondistinguishing between interesting information and information that is truly important in the text.Discussing Genre:At this point in the year, you are probablymoving into the “Test-Taking Genre.”Generally, expository texts are more difficultfor even strong readers to process andcomprehend. Most of the time, fluency slowsdown because of the difficulty of the content.Aren’t our brains amazing? They understandthat in order to comprehend expository texts,they must go at a slower pace. Help yourstudents understand that this is a naturalprocess by reading an expository text outloud.Model how the content causes you toslow down in your reading and makefrequent stops to check understanding.You will notice that the texts from last weekare being referenced again for the lessonsthis week. Revisiting familiar texts to teachnew skills helps ease the pressure of havingto build comprehension as well as focus on anew skill for struggling readers.Word Study:BrainburstWrite different roots on cards such as graph, phon,scope, aud, port, tract, struct, and so on. Choose rootsthat have a wide variety of possible derivations. Eachteam or player needs a pencil and sheet of paper. Atimer is needed as well as a standard dictionary.1. Turn card over and set timer for 2-3 min. Each player orteam tries to think of as many words as possiblederived from that root.2. When the timer goes off, players draw a line under theirlast word and count the number they have.3. The player with the longest list reads the list aloud. Ifanother player has the same word, it is crossed off ofeveryone’s list. Any words that are not on another listare checked.4. Each player in turn reads aloud any words that no oneelse has called to determine if he or she has a uniqueword. Disputes should be settled with the help of adictionary. The player or team with the most uniquewords is the winner of the round.(Taken from Words Their Way, pg. 252)Fluency:Resources:Use the Treasures ApproachingReproducibles, Beyond Reproducibles, andPractice Book (Treasures CD) to select theappropriate fluency passage for your students.Teach your students to help each otherdetermine their fluency rate and answer thecomprehension questions.Another Fluency Tip:Still have robotic readers? Elaine K. McEwan-Adkins suggests: Make him aware of his inexpressivereading by having him listen to atape of his reading. Tape a short session of echoreading with the student.(Taken from 40 Reading InterventionStrategies for K-6 Students pg. 114)*Make a goal with the student to work on hisfluency everyday until he can listen to himselfand hear a difference.*Vocabulary:Resources:See the 5-Day Vocabulary Routine in the pagesfollowing each main selection. The routineincludes student friendly definitions, questions toprompt students’ oral practice with the newwords, and activities for student engagement andpractice with the vocabulary words.Another Vocabulary Tip:ChoicesFor this activity, use two or three of yourvocabulary words at a time. For example, in thecase of pounce, sensible, and raucous, we couldask children to choose between two words: If you get your clothes ready to wear toschool before you go to sleep, would that besensible or raucous?If you and your friends were watching afunny TV show together and began to laugha lot, would you sound pounce or raucous?(Taken from Bringing Words to Life, pg.58)

Building Comprehension:It’s important that our students approach passages as naturally as they possibly can. Asking our studentsto switch suddenly and read in unusual ways can be confusing. We suggest starting early in teaching yourstudents how to approach expository texts in order to help them make these skills into habits.21 st Century Leanring:Approaching Expository TextLook over the text features. Gather as much information as possible. The moreinformation that can be gathered before reading, the better. (This should not bemistaken with identifying the text features. It is more important for students to beable to tell you information that they learned from the text features rather than whatthe text features are called.)Use the information gathered to assess what the passage may be about/what is goingto be learned AND what the author wants us to know about the topic.Expository texts are usually organized in chunks – every paragraph or section iswritten about a particular idea or feature of the main topic.Students should be able to write in a few words (5 words max) what the paragraph isabout. This is important because it helps the reader know where to look back to findinformation.Subtitles are equally as important to attend to as the information that follows isusually connected. Students should be taught to use the subtitles, as well as the shortsentences that they write by each paragraph, as a guide of where to look forinformation.Comprehension/ Discussion Questions:Organizational Structures:• Why did the author choose to structure the text in this particular way?• What key words in the text give you clues that tell you how the author organized theinformation?• Which sentences in the text indicate a problem and solution structure? A comparecontraststructure? A cause-effect structure? A chronological sequence?• Does the text include more than one organizational structure?Author’s Purpose:• Why do you think the author wrote this piece? What was his/her purpose?• Do you think it was a good idea to write about _______ through the _______ genre?Why or why not?• Is there a different genre that the author could have chosen that would have workedbetter to achieve their purpose? Explain what you mean.• What did you learn or understand from reading this selection? Do you think that’s whatthe author wanted you to understand?Main Idea:• What is the topic of this selection? Why is this topic important (socially, scientifically, andpractically)?• What are some of the most important words related to the topic and what do they mean?(topic, words in context)• What is this paragraph mostly (mainly) about?• What details support this main idea?• What point is the author making in this section of the article?Anchors of Support for Independent Student Work:This week allows for perfect opportunities for creative teaching. However you choose to teachapproaching expository texts, be sure this week that you show your students how it would look to transferthe skills to expository passages.Some ideas for teaching how to gather information from expository texts:What’s InterestingTopicWhat’s ImportantUsing big books:Big books aren’t just for primary students. Visit your literacy library and look for expository big books. (Besure to find big books that are written at a higher reading level and match up with the format of expositorytexts.)Use the big book to introduce how to gather information from the text features (remember, the goal is NOTfor students to be able to identify the name of the text features, but to gather information from them).Then, read through the text paragraph by paragraph and have students work with you to create brief notesabout the content of each paragraph or section of text. You can scaffold this activity by beginning with thewhole group and ending with students working in partners or individually.Connecting to subtitles:Divide students into table groups.Give each group a subtitle and all of the paragraphs from a released expository passage. Students mustfind all of the paragraphs that fit under that particular subtitle. When the students have matched theparagraphs with the correct subtitle, the groups can trade subtitles and begin to work on the next one.Groups trade subtitles until each group has matched the subtitle with the corresponding paragraphs. Thisactivity is important as it allows students to experience how paragraphs in expository passages areorganized under subtitles.Originally taken from Nonfiction Matters pg. 82 - 84 by Stephanie HarveyAs your students read a variety of expository texts, have them re-read the text to thinkabout the following items:Title of Text Main Idea Author’sPurposeHow the text isorganizedIf students are filling out their charts independently or with a group, be sure to discussthe correct answers each day, to make sure they are mastering these critical skills.Group students who are struggling into small guided reading groups to give moreimmediate assistance and feedback.Teacher Tips: Ask students to determine the main idea of the graphics from expository stories that are used this week. What new information does the graphic add to the information provided in the body of theselection? Can they summarize this information in just one sentence? What techniques does the author use to draw your attention to these graphic features?

Reading Street View 5 th Grade Week 27 March 18-22 2013Arc 5: Reading Literary Nonfiction/ Biography/Unit 5: The World of Science[Text Organization, Inference, Summary]Recommendations for Read Aloud (RA), Shared Reading (SR), Guided Reading (GR), and Independent Reading (IR)RA /SR:Choose a well-written biography (or excerpt) that is written in a narrative format. Booksuggestions include: Boy, by Roald Dahl; When I Was Your Age, edited by Amy Erlich; Knotsin my Yo-Yo String, by Jerry Spinelli.Additional Resources for Read Aloud:A Refugee Remembers – The Autobiography of John Bul Daupg. 45-59 ReachHarvesting Hope pg. 262 ReachGR:IR:David Adler has written numerous literary biographies, many of which are spread throughoutAISD Elem. libraries.Tip: This week, during guided reading, have students read a short biography. At the end,students should write a summary. A summary of a biography includes the important eventsfrom the person’s life that define the subject’s character and contributions.You may find it helpful to have each child quickly indicate what he or she will be working on during independent reading. Atwell (1998) calls this process taking “status of theclass.” For example, as the student announces the title of the book he is reading and states what page he is on, or reports that he will be writing in his response journal, youcan jot this information on a class list. You can update this list daily or weekly to keep track of student accomplishments. This frequent public monitoring of each child’sindependent reading progress helps students set goals for their work for the day and allows their peers to hear the title of books their friends are reading.Discussing Genre:In order to understand biographies, studentsmust be able to infer about the subject.Authors of biographies usually don’t provideall the details, but leave it up to the reader toinfer about the subject’s feelings andmotivations based on what they know aboutthe setting, moments in the person’s life,and earlier events in the person’s life.Students also must be able to look at abiography and understand how the text wasorganized to tell the true facts about aperson’s life.Literary nonfiction lends itself perfectly todiscussion of author’s purpose. Why did theauthor choose to write about this particularperson? What lesson can we learn byreading about this person’s life? Were theremistakes that we can learn from?Successes that we would like to emulate?Word Study:Resources:Treasures TE 5-Day Spelling Routine andthe Phonics/Spelling Practice Book(Treasures CD).Note also that the “Prepare” section of theTE provides additional suggestions forteaching the Phonics/Word Study patterns.Another Word Study tip:5 th grade students can use their Word Studynotebooks for these additional activities(and may complete them eitherindependently or for homework):1. Circle any prefixes or suffixes youfind in the words on your list.2. Add a prefix and/or suffix, whenpossible to words on your list.3. Make appropriate words on yourlists plural or add –ing or –ed4. Select five words to look up in thedictionary. Record the multiplemeanings you find for each word.Fluency:Resources:Use the Treasures Approaching Reproducibles,Beyond Reproducibles, and Practice Book(Treasures CD) to select the appropriate fluencypassage for your students. Teach your studentsto help each other determine their fluency rateand answer the comprehension questions.An excerpt from each passage can be found onthe Treasures CD, Fluency Transparencies, forteaching fluency techniques.Another Fluency Tip:Talking for TwoFollow these steps:1. Find or write your own talking fortwo scripts.2. Assign each student a part in theplay.3. Have students repeatedly practicetheir parts to improve theirprosody.4. Invite students to perform their playfor the rest of the class.Vocabulary:Resources:See the 5-Day Vocabulary Routine in the pagesfollowing each main selection. The routineincludes student friendly definitions, questions toprompt students’ oral practice with the newwords, and activities for student engagement andpractice with the vocabulary words.Another Vocabulary Tip:Children Create ExamplesThe explanation part of a vocabulary routing isthe most important part, because it requires thechild to explicitly think through how the word fitsthe choices in the questions in order to expressthe relationship between the example and theword. Another way to prompt children’s thinking isto have them create examples such as these:If there was an emergency at anamusement park, what might havehappened? If you had a friend who watched TV allthe time, how might you coax him intogetting some exercise?(Taken from Bringing Words to Life, pg.59)

Building Comprehension:Connect this week’s learning/focus to last week’s focus of reading expository texts byteaching your students to attend to the following when reading literarynonfiction/biographies:Literary nonfiction, or biographies, typically follow a narrative structure and achronological sequence of important events over the life of an important person.Information is often provided in both pictures and print, and interesting details maybe highlighted in text boxes that are scattered throughout the writing.Often a biography includes terminology that is specific to the subject’s life work orinterest.The organizational structure of a biography helps the reader to understand howthe earlier events in the person’s life influence his/her decisions later in life.Looking at characters in text is an important part of becoming a good reader. Studyingbiographies is an excellent way to focus on character as well as to practice all of the otherskills that good readers use. Remind your students that making personal connections tothe characters in books (whether narrative/expository or literary nonfiction) is a great way totruly understand the motivations behind characters’ actions.Pick a biography to read with your students this week. It may be in a shared setting or as aread aloud. Have students write on sticky notes or in their reading journal the person’scharacter traits and determine the defining moments in the person’s life when those traitswere formed. Have students share with a partner and then share out as a class. A list ofsample character traits can be found here: Character Traits. You may need to have a classdiscussion around ones that students are unfamiliar with.Have students pick a trait that they feel they exhibit. Ask them to respond to the followingquestions:Was there an experience that was a defining moment in your life that helpeddevelop that particular trait?What are some things that you do (actions) in your everyday life that helpto display this trait for others that may not know you?21 st Century Learing:Use Systems Thinking• Analyze how parts of a whole interact with each other to produce overall outcomes incomplex systemsThe combination of reading strategies outlined in this arc are part of a complex systemreaders use to understand the parts of a text, as well as the text as a whole. Reading withcomprehension is a complicated process of active thinking. We need to model and havestudents practice this process as often as possible.Comprehension/ Discussion Questions:Organizational Structures:• How does the author organize the information in this text?• Why did the author choose to structure the text in this particular way?• What key words in the text give you clues that tell you how the author organizedthe information?• Does the text include more than one organizational structure?Author’s Purpose:• Why do you think the author wrote this piece? What was his/her purpose?• Do you think it was a good idea to write about _______ through the _______genre? Why or why not?• Is there a different genre that the author could have chosen that would haveworked better to achieve their purpose? Explain what you mean.• What did you learn or understand from reading this selection? Do you think that’swhat the author wanted you to understand?Summary:• What has happened so far in this story?• Who can summarize what we’ve learned?• What is the basic plot of this story?• What are the most important things that happened?• How would you retell this story in 3-4 sentences?Inference• What do you think the author is really trying to tell us here?• What does the author want us to think about ______?• What clues has the author given us?• What evidence in the text makes us think ______?• What can you tell about ______?• Based on the information in the story, the reader can conclude that _____.Anchors of Support for Independent Student Work:ActionsCharacter Trait They RevealSee this lesson from readwritethink.org: Character Trait LessonTeacher Tips: One way to help students make meaning through questioning is to construct a question web. Similar in form to other semantic webs, a question web differs in that it hasa question at its center. The lines that emanate from the center are used to add information that relates in some way to the question, with the ultimate goal of building an answer from allof the various bits of information. ~ from Strategies That Work, by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis