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: [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Schema: making tamales, looking forward to getting to do the things your older brothers and sisters are doing
Text-to-Self connections: helping mother, wishing to be older
Sequencing: The book begins when Ana is 6, and she goes through each part of the book with her age increasing.
Math: numbers are added by 2’s throughout the story
Mental Images: The [...]
Schema: making tamales, admiring jewelry
Text-to-Self Connections: taking something without permission, not wanting to get caught, getting together with relatives for the holidays, seeing something and then remembering something you forgot about
Predicting: Predict what Maria is going to do when her mother leaves to answer the phone.
Drawing Conclusions: What conclusion does Maria come to about the [...]
Schema: sneezing, allergies
Text-to-Self Connections: sneezing for one of the reasons listed in the book; understanding how the brain works to make connections
Although this nonfiction book discusses the causes and physical reactions associated with sneezing, the book is an excellent source for showing how the brain makes connections.
Inventors: At the end of the book, the author [...]
Schema: ice from the fridge, icebergs
Text-to-text Connections: Gingerbread Man stories, stories where characters are being chased
Compare and Contrast: the animals that want to eat or cool off with the ice cube to characters in other versions of the Gingerbread Man. Compare the whale with the fox in the original story.
Sequencing: Sequence from the last animal [...]
Schema: sheep, wool, sweaters, cloaks, the invisible cloak in the Harry Potter stories
Text-to-Text Connections: These two books make a big connection in that they both talk about how wool is used to create a garment. Charlie shares more technical information about the process. Red Berry shows how the words used to create fabric can [...]
Making Thinking Visible: The terms I am explaining below work together to create connections that will help young children to increase their reading comprehension. For years we have taught reading in abstract terms and many children do become great readers by being exposed to books and reading. Some of us need something more concrete to [...]
Schema: turtles, desert settings, Grandma’s house looks like a sand dome
Text-to-text connection: other retellings of Little Red Riding Hood
Predicting: What do you predict the animals will do in order to save the turtles from the coyote?
Cause and Effect: Because Tortuga’s friends made the noise at Tortuga’s grandmother’s house, the effect is that Coyote is frightened [...]
