Schema: pets
Text-to-Text Connections: The Adventures of Sparrowboy by J. Brian Pinkney
Text-to-Self Connections: Pets chewing on things, lightning strikes during a storm
Words with Multiple meanings: striking
Compare and Contrast how Weezer was before and after the strike with a Venn Diagram http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/pdf/venn.pdf
Synthesis: What do you synthesize is Weezer’s hope for the world?
Schema: camping, ducks, fall
Text-to-Self Connections: fishing
Cause and Effect: Because one duck slips, the effect is that the other ducks “sprawl.”
Use the Observation graphic http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/pdf/observe.pdf
to chart the activities that go with the five senses.
Inference: What do you infer that the whooo whooo noise is from?
Drawing Conclusions: What do you conclude about why the ducks are not scared at the end of the story?
Schema: people who sell things with commercials on TV; a fox is the character telling the story so what is our usual stereotype of a fox in a story-usually a bad guy? What preconceived ideas do we have about salesmen or telephone marketers who call and try to get us to buy something?
Persuasion: This book is a fine example of a persuasive writing. Use a graphic organizer to graph the persuasion
http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/pdf/persuasion.pdf
Al has references; how do the references help him? They give him credibility.
Text-to-text Connections: Sleeping Beauty is mentioned in the story.
Cause and Effect: Because the fox compliments his audiences outfit and says he likes you, he hopes the effect will be that you____.
Text-to-Self Connections:
Commercials that are the infomercial where they throw in some bonus items if you call right now and order their product.
Building a fort, using duct tape
Seeing the sign in a store that says, “you break it, you buy it”
Reader’s Theater: This book would lend itself well to a reader’s theater performance;
Students could could write similar skits about some other product too.
Sequence the different types of tactics the fox uses to sell the book such as introducing it, complimenting the buyer, sharing the uses, offering bonus items.
Synthesis: The big idea the author is sharing is trying to persuade someone to buy something. Students could could write similar skits about some other product too.
Schema: sharks, The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf
Compare and Contrast: Use a graphic organizer such as the Venn diagram,
http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer, to compare and contrast with The Three Little Pigs.
Compare and contrast with The Three Little Rigs.
Reader’s Theater: This story would work well with the reader’s theater format. Students could ad lib after reading the story or write their own script.
Inference: Because the shark’s teeth fell out, we can infer that he is eating seaweed because he can’t eat anything hard anymore.
Text-to-Text Connection: The Three Little Rigs by David Gordon
Schema: diesel trucks, Hansel and Gretel
Compare and Contrast: Use a graphic organizer such as the Venn Diagram, http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer, to compare with the fairytale, Hansel and Gretel, by James Marshall.
Personification: The truck rigs are given personalities and speak as human characters.
Reader’s Theater: This story would lend itself well to a reader’s theater presentation. Students could ad lib or write their own script.
Cause and Effect: Because it snowed, the rigs could not see their bolts to find their way home.
Text-to-text connections: The Three Little Rigs by David Gordon; both stories feature trucks and both are based on fairytales
Schema: neighbors, being in kindergarten
Text to self connections: learning to read
Characterization: use a graphic organizer to write all of the things we read about Mr. George Baker such as his baggy pants, his suspenders, his sweater, his Hershey’s kisses in his pocket, his lunch, his desire to learn to read, his drum playing, a hundred years old
Synthesis: I am synthesizing that Mr. George Baker wanted to learn to read even though he was really old. When I learn to read, I want to read…….ask your students to fill in the blank.
List all of the things we couldn’t do if we couldn’t read. Read a map, drive, order from a menu, enjoy library books, read close captioning on TV
Schema: stories that teach a lesson, folktale, stranger danger
The story is written as a modern day folktale featuring the Boo Hag from the Gullah culture of South Carolina. The Boo Hag is a legendary spirit or shape-shifter that wants to live in another person’s body, or it is also described as riding a person by using their skin and body as a form for it to use.
Presidents’ Day: at the very end of the story, the Boo Hag shape-shifts itself into a penny. Precious is almost fooled, but just in time she realizes the penny has the image of George Washington on it instead of Abraham Lincoln. Precious’ brother had told her that the Boo Hag was not too smart.
Author’s Purpose: It might be to share a cultural story that teaches a lesson about not opening the door to anyone when a child is staying home alone.
Sequencing: Sequence the shapes that the Boo Hag took each time it appeared to Precious.
Drawing Conclusions: What evidence does Precious find that leads her to draw the conclusion that each of the characters that visits with her is in fact a Boo Hag?
Examples: Drinking the water, frog-like tongue, getting apron color wrong, being a penny with the wrong image
The author is an African American making this an authentic choice to read during African American history month.
Schema: Marines, miracles
Author’s purpose: The author is sharing his journey with Nubs because it is a miracle that he was able to get the dog from there back to his home in San Diego.
Because Nubs did not give up on finding Major Dennis, the effect is that Major Dennis did not give up on him.
Characterization: Make a graphic organizer and write all of the traits that would describe Major Dennis from the text evidence.
Drawing Conclusions: We can conclude that Nubs is a smart dog with the text evidence that he learned new tricks in five minutes. Nubs was the leader of his pack.
We can conclude that Major Dennis grew to love Nubs from the text evidence that he took care of his wound, waked up to check on him, prayed for him, and eventually adopted him.
We can conclude that Major Dennis is a compassionate man from the text evidence of how he worked to get Nubs to his home and kept checking on him until he knew he had made it.
We can conclude that Nubs was determined to stay with Major Dennis from the text evidence that Nubs walked 70 miles go to Major Dennis.
Point of View: This story is told from Major Dennis’s POV using his e-mails and narrative to tell us the story.
Schema: sticks, playing with sticks
Text-to-Text Connections: Over in the Meadow, an old rhyme about the animals in a meadow; the rhyme goes something like, “over in the meadow in the sand and the sun lived an old mother turtle and her little turtle one…” See the lyrics at: http://www.songsforteaching.com/folk/overinthemeadowlyrics.htm
Also a connection with the Gingerbread Man stories as the stick is running from animals and people.
Personification: the stick is personified
Predicting: Ask students to predict what the stick man will be used for next as you are reading the story.
Because a dog grabs him, the effect is that stick man gets farther and farther away from his home. Every situation where Stick Man is taken can be used as a cause and effect example.
Because Santa Claus rescued the Stick Man, the effect is that he is taken back to his tree.
Organizational Strategies: Create a flow chart showing the stick’s movement throughout the story.
Schema: people you know that are always helping others
Sequencing: the book goes through each season
Setting: Vermont
Characterization: Make a graphic organizer to show Darrell’s characteristics.
With Tommy he takes the time to let him play like he is driving his truck
With The Barretts he gives the firewood to them even though they can not pay him now.
He gives the Barrett children little birds that he has carved and offers to teach them how to whittle.
He offers to build a pond for the Murphys so Andy can play with the frogs.
Mental Images: Make a mental picture of “dirt roads…like chocolate pudding.
Cause and Effect: Because the roof was never repaired, the effect is that it completely blows off in a storm.
Because Darrell is so kind, the effect is that people want to help him when he is needing help with his barn.
