Archive for the 'Drawing Conclusions' Category

Duck Tents by Lynne Berry

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 [...]

Precious and the Boo Hag by Patricia McKissack

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 [...]

Nubs The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine & a Miracle

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: [...]

Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto

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 [...]

Can’t Catch Me by John Hassett

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 [...]

Tortuga in Trouble by Ann Whitford Paul

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 [...]

Chicken Little by Rebecca Emberley and Ed Emberley

Schema: folktales, purpose of folktales
Author’s purpose: the original author’s purpose may have been to illustrate what happens when we don’t think ahead or make a plan
Drawing Conclusions: What conclusion do you think Henny Penny came to, and what evidence from the story supports it?
Because the fox sneezed, the effect is that the animals were expelled [...]

Tree of Cranes by Alan Say

Schema: origami, making a wish
Author’s Purpose: to share the experience of  learning about Christmas in Japan.
Mental Images: The mother describes the lights and trees in California to her son.
Organizational Strategy: Flashback: the book begins with the narrator telling the reader that he had not been back to the pond since he was not old enough [...]

Badger’s Fancy Meal by Keiko Kasza

Schema: holiday meals, favorite birthday meal
Text-to-text Connections: Duck Soup by Jackie Urbanovic, Tumbleweed Stew by Susan Stevens Crummel
Mental Images: Badgers makes a mental image of a mole taco, a rat burger, and a rabbit banana split.  The expression in his eyes on the cover indicate that he is imagining something.  This is a great book [...]

Turk and Runt by Lisa Wheeler

Schema: runt, Wilbur in Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
Drawing Conclusions: When we draw a conclusion we should be able to go back and find evidence in the text to support it.  When Turk concludes that Runt has been right about being chosen to be a dinner is a great place to talk about drawing [...]