Hand in Novel Approvals if not already handed in.
1. Students received an optical puzzle -- "Magic Eye" -- to see if they could find the pattern within the pattern.
2. We talked about Patterns in Text. These are also called Text Structures or Text Organization.
Just as the "Magic Eye" pictures became more understandable and memorable once you could see the 3-D pattern, when you can see and recognize text patterns you can then more easily understand and remember text.
We discussed three expository (nonfiction) text patterns:
1. Description: The author describes a topic by listing characteristics, features, and examples.
Cue words and phrases for the description pattern include "for example," "characteristics are," "features are." When you are describing a person, place, or object, you might use other cue words (transitional expressions) such as next to, near, close, far, up, down, between, above, below, on top, beneath, toward, away, left, right, center, front, back, middle for describing a place.
2. Sequence: The author arranges the details in a specific and necessary order. Examples of sequence are found in recipes and instructions for science experiments. You can't list the details in just any order. They must be placed in the proper order or sequence.
Cue words include first, second, third, next, then, after, finally, before, during, later, and others.
3. Chronology: Like sequence, the order is important. In this case, the author arranges the details in the order they happened. Another term for chronological is "time order." Chronos is the root word for "time. " The chronological pattern will be found when the author is telling in time order about something that has happened. It uses the same cue words as sequence. When you see dates mentioned in order, you usually have a chronological text.
4. We also looked again at the structure of a short story. We reviewed the short story "Amigo Brothers" that the class listened to/read along with last time.
We read a story about a teacher and a monster "Miss Take and the Monster" and filled out a Story Map for it.
(The story maps for "Amigo Brothers" and for "Miss Take and the Monster" should both be filled out and saved in your binder under "Reading.")
We did an exercise with gradient meanings. (When you write, you can choose an exact word out of many words that have similar meanings. )
For example, if something is cold, is it frosty, frigid, freezing, cold, brisk, crisp, or cool? Could you put those words in order from least cold to coldest?
What about hot? Is it warm, white-hot, feverish, red-hot, hot, lukewarm, or sweltering? Could you put those words into order from least hot to hottest?
Where would you put mild? What about tepid?
(If you were absent, create a list using the words above, putting them in order from coldest to hottest.)
Some of the classes looked at how to preview a textbook, and using text features.
Text features are things added to a text to help out the reader, such as titles, headings, pictures, graphs, bolded (bold-faced) words, etc.
Here is a Five-Finger guide for previewing a textbook: (If you were absent, trace around your own hand, and write the following on the thumb and fingers, labeling the page "Using a Textbook.")
Label the thumb: 1. Read the title = main idea
Label pointer finger: 2. Take a picture walk. What do these visuals have to do with the title?
Label middle finger: 3. Write down all bold (bold-faced) words.
Label ring finger: 4. Write down headings and subheadings in order.
Label little finger: 5. Read first and last paragraphs.
Can you identify and use --
captions?
pictures?
graphs?
maps?
titles?
headings?
subheadings?
bolded (bold-faced) words?
text boxes?
Have a glorious Spring Break!
The Healthy Hustle went well today. Lots of students (and teachers) participated.
The Healthy Hustle went well today. Lots of students (and teachers) participated.
