Essential Questions

• 1

– What are ways readers construct meaning from text?

• 2

– How do readers determine the most important information given to them by the author?

How do authors grab your attention?• Use the organizational features and text structures and features

to construct meaning from fiction and non-fiction text

• Understand that not all ideas or features have equal importance.

• Use schema, questioning, inferring, determining importance to be able to state the explicit main idea and to determine what the author felt was important– NOT what’s interesting to the reader

• Use evidence from the text will display their thinking

Strategy Lesson Plans

• Inferencing– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWSqxItd9SU

Excuse Cheer

by Timothy Tocher

Our center’s nose was runny. Our forwards had the flu.The guards were feeling funny. That’s why we lost to you.Your team is overrated. We really didn’t try.Our coach was constipated. I’m telling you no lie.Now go and take a shower and hop back on your bus.You know we’ll beat you next time, so you’d best watch out for us!

Text says… This means… My evidence is… Important to the author because…

• Determining Importance– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KveNKQw9dd4

Bring Your Own Lunch

by Bruce Lansky

Don’t eat school lunches—not even a lick.

They might make you nauseous.They might make you sick.

Just take a small bite andyou’ll start to feel ill.

If the veggies don’t get you,the meatloaf sure will.

The principal is missing.He’s nowhere to be found.The teachers tried to page him,and they’ve hunted all around.

He isn’t in the staff room.He isn’t in the gym,and all the kids are wonderingjust what’s become of him.We’ve looked in every classroom.We’ve peeked in every hall.We even checked the bathroomsand inspected every stall.

He isn’t in his closet.He’s not behind his door.He isn’t underneath his deskor hiding in a drawer.If you should see our principal,please send him back to school,and tell him we apologize.We know that we were cruel.Please tell him that we miss him.We’re sorry we were mean.But tell him next Saint Patrick’s Dayhe needs to wear some green.

The Principal Is Missing

by Kenn Nesbitt

• Activating Schema

• PowerPoint Presentation

Snow Day

“Snow day!”Fred said.“All play.Let’s sled!

“No school!Just snow.Way cool.Let’s go!”

Fred ranin shed.Had plan.Got sled.

“Go slow,”Mom said.“I know,”said Fred.

Kenn NesbittUp hillwent Fred.Down hillFred sped.Sled streakedon past.Mom shrieked,“Too fast!”Snow blew.“Can’t see!”Fred flew.Hit tree.Sled bent.Fred’s headgot dent.Poor Fred.He cried.Now playsinsidesnow days.

• Asking QuestionsDescribe the picture or write the words from the text.

Question I am asking myself…

Answered in the text

Answered by researching

My question was not answered

Author’s Craft

• Students’ Job is to read like a writer

– Understand text features

– Determine what’s important

Narrative Texts

• Just as a woodworker uses many tools and techniques to craft a piece of furniture, a skilled author uses tools and techniques of language and storytelling to craft a piece of writing.

– Setting• Time and Place

– Examples– Boston, Massachusetts, in 1809 – lonely farmhouse on a dark night– Midwestern town during the Depression, the courthouse – time of day

• Why is it important?– Setting provides a backdrop for the action. Think about setting not just

as factual information but as an essential part of a story's mood and emotional impact. Careful portrayal of setting can convey meaning through interaction with characters and plot.

• How do I create it?– To create setting, provide information about time and place and use

descriptive language to evoke vivid sights, sounds, smells, and other sensations. Pay close attention to the mood a setting conveys.

• Characterization– Characterization is the way in which authors convey information

about their characters. Descriptions of a character's appearance, behavior, interests, way of speaking, and other mannerisms are all part of characterization.

• Why is it important?– Characterization is a crucial part of making a story compelling. In

order to interest and move readers, characters need to seem real. Authors achieve this by providing details that make characters individual and particular. Good characterization gives readers a strong sense of characters' personalities and complexities; it makes characters vivid, alive and believable.

• How do I create it?– Create characterization by choosing details that make real or

fictional characters seem life-like and individual.

Literary Devices/Figurative Language

• Literary devices are the tools and techniques of language that authors use to convey meaning. Skilled use of literary devices brings richness and clarity to a text.

• Figurative language or speech contains images. The writer or speaker describes something through the use of unusual comparisons, for effect, interest, and to make things clearer. The result of using this technique is the creation of interesting images.

Personification

• What is it?– Personification is a figure of speech that gives human qualities to

objects, animals, or ideas.– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TKJItZ_qkw

• Why is it important?– Personification connects readers with the object that is personified.

Personification can make descriptions of non-human entities more vivid, or can help readers understand, sympathize with, or react emotionally to non-human characters.

• How do I do it?– Give human-like qualities or emotions to inanimate entities or non-

human beings.

• "I'M A LITTLE TEAPOT"

– I'm a little teapot, short and stout.Here is my handle, and here is my spout.

When I spy a teacup, then I shout,Tip me over and pour me out!

Poem Says… Personified Object Author used this device to…

Idioms

• Cat Got Your Tongue

– I was feeling shy when my uncle came."Has the cat got your tongue?" he said.

He must have meant, "Why aren't you talking?"Because my tongue was still in my head.

Poem Says… Real Meaning… Author used this device to…

Can of wormsCold feetCrash a partyCry your eyes outDon’t wash your dirty laundry in publicDown in the dumpsEagle eyesElephant in the roomFeeling BlueFifth wheelFish out of waterGo round in circles

All earsAnts in your pantsArm and a legAt the end of your ropeAxe to grindBack to the drawing boardBarking up the wrong treeBetween the linesBlood out of a stoneBlow your stackBone to pickBull in a China shopBy the skin of your teeth

Grab the bull by its hornsHead is in the cloudsHeart of goldHook, line, and sinkerHorse of a different colorIn the doghouseIt cost an arm and a legJump the gunLike a fish needs a bicycleMake wavesMoney talks

Opening a can of wormsOut on a limbPiece of cakePull someone's legPull your weightRock the boatSee the lightStick out like a sore thumbTall storyThin-skinnedThrilled to bitsWalk on eggshellsWritten all over your face

Onomatopoeia

Words that sound like theobjects or actions they refer to

“A pesky mosquito buzzedaround my head.”

Crack an Egg

Crack an egg.Stir the butter.Break the yolk.Make it flutter.Stoke the heat.Hear it sizzle.Shake the salt,just a drizzle.

Flip it over,just like that.Press it down.Squeeze it flat.Pop the toast.Spread jam thin.Say the word.Breakfast's in .

by Denise Rodgers

Text says… This means… The author used this device to…

Alliteration

• Alliteration

– Repetition of words with the same beginning sounds

• “Polly planted plenty of pretty pansies.”

Daddy's Gone A HuntingBye, baby bunting,

Daddy's gone a - hunting,Gone to get a rabbit skinTo wrap baby bunting in.

• Betty Botter by Mother Goose– Betty Botter bought some butter,

but, she said, the butter’s bitter;if I put it in my batter

it will make my batter bitter,but a bit of better butter

will make my batter better.So she bought a bit of butterbetter than her bitter butter,and she put it in her batter

and the batter was not bitter.So ’twas better Betty Botterbought a bit of better butter.

Text says… This means… The author used this device to…

Mood

• angry

• anxious

• calm

• carefree

• careful

• cautious

• cheerful

• excited

mischievousoptimisticpatrioticpeacefulpessimisticplayfulproudrelaxed

sadseriousscaredshockedsillysuspiciousterrifiedthoughtfulupbeatworried

friendlyfearfulfrustrationfunnygloomyhappyhopefulhumorousjoyfullonely

I pick up my lifeAnd take it with meAnd I put it down inChicago, Detroit,Buffalo, Scranton,Any place that isNorth and East—And not Dixie.I pick up my lifeAnd take it on the trainTo Los Angeles, Bakersfield,Seattle, Oakland, Salt Lake,Any place that isNorth and West—

But not South.I am fed upWith Jim Crow laws,People who are cruelAnd afraid.Who lynch and run,Who are scared of meAnd me of them.I pick up my lifeAnd take it awayOn a one-way ticket—Gone up North,Gone out West,Gone!

One-Way Ticket

by Langston Hughes, 1949

Text says… This means… The author used this device to…

Simile• What is it?

– A simile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things and uses the words "like," "as."

– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkMKaGLmkzk

• Why is it important?

– Similes make descriptions vivid by comparing their subjects with known events or things. Effective similes help readers visualize what is being described.

• How do I do it?

– Create a comparison by using "like,“ or "as."

• FlintAn emerald is as green as grass,A ruby red as blood;A sapphire shines as blue as heaven;A flint lies in the mud.A diamond is a brilliant stone,To catch the world's desire;An opal holds a fiery spark;But a flint holds a fire.

• Christina Rossetti1830-1894

Your TeethYour teeth are like stars;they come out at night.They come back at dawnwhen they're ready to bite.by Denise Rodgers

Text says… This means… The author used this device to…

Additional Author’s Craft Strategies• Voice• Descriptive Language and Detail• Strong Verbs• Powerful Leads• Authentic Examples or True Stories• Use of Effective Transitions• Integrating diagrams, charts, and tables with text• Identify the author’s purpose – persuade, entertain,

inform

Patterns• Readers select, apply, and self-monitor their use

of strategies in order to comprehend all types of texts.

• What stays the same and what changes when I read different types of text?

• Genres have different organizational features that hook, hold, and inform the reader.

• How do readers determine the most important information given to them by the author?

Genres

Traits for all Fiction:1. Characters – people or things such as animals2. Setting – real or invented3. Problem/Solution4. Events5. Theme/Author’s message

FantasySetting Characters

ImaginaryTime is any time or no timeTime travel is possible

Animals act like people Characters can have special powers

Tall

Tale

Story Author’s Craft

Story is usually tied to a group of people or culture

HyperbolesSimilesMetaphors

The plot of the story is funny to show meaning and often exaggerated

FableFictional Story

Characters Other

Main character is usually an animal with human traits

Has a moral

R

e

a

l

i

s

t

i

c

F

i

c

t

i

o

n

Story

Made up or imagined

Stories involve people and situations setin a time or place that does or couldexist

Folklore is a collection of fictional tales about

people and/or animals.

Superstitions and unfounded beliefs are important

elements in the folklore tradition.

His

tori

cal F

icti

on

Elements

CharacterizationCharacters are ordinary real people who could have lived in the historical settingCharacters are usually shaped by the settingCharacters usually change as a result of the problem and must to be able to resolve it

SettingPlace is a particular historical geographical locationTime is a particular historical period

PlotMust be plausible and believableUsually problem or puzzling event as a result of the time or place in history for characters to resolveReader/listener usually feel that the story really happened or could have happened

ThemeLife themes as well as good versus bad/evil

Mys

tery

Elements

CharactersSuspects are characters who may have caused the problem the mystery istrying to solve. Detectives or investigators try to solve the mystery.

PlotThe plot is the story of the mystery. Usually there is:• A problem or puzzle to solve• Something that is missing• A secret• An event that is not explained

CluesClues are hints that help the detectives and reader solve the mystery.They can be things people say or do or objects that are found.Most mystery plots use suspense. This means that the reader does notknow the solution while he or she is reading the mystery.

DistractionsDistractions are things that lead an investigator off the path, includingclues that do not add up to a solution but make the search longer.

Scie

nce

Fic

tio

n

Elements

Advanced Technology like an alien or computerFuture time setting – may even be in the pastHas an alternate setting such as another planetCharacters are aliens – humans may be on an alien planetCharacters have strange powersScience is importantGood verses evilProblem and Solution

Poetry Organization Elements

Creates an emotional response

VerseStanza

Rhyme SchemeRhythm MoodSymbolismTheme Imagery

Nonfiction

Format Interesting, inviting to the readerIndexGlossaryTable of ContentsSize of book, magazine, newspaperPhotographsVocabularyTitleSubtitlesEnumerationTime orderCause and effectCompare/ContrastLabelsMapsChartsGraphsCaptions

Contents AccurateTimely Includes excellent details to support the main ideaOrganized presentation of information

Characters RealTrue-to-Life experiences

Author’s Purpose

InformPersuade

ThemeAuthor’s Message

Author’s Purpose: The author’s intent either to inform or teach someone about something, to entertain people, or to persuade or convince their audience to do or not do something.Autobiography: The story of a person’s life written by himself or herself. Usually written to share the author’s life lessons he/she learned.Biography: The story of a person’s life written by someone other than the subject of the work.

Vocabulary

• How is specific vocabulary placed in texts to capture the reader’s attention and keep them reading?

• What helps a reader understand words and phrases in a text?

Fluency

• Fluent reading

• Accuracy

• Stamina

• Prosody