Students will begin working on an excerpt from BRIAN'S WINTER. This book is written by Gary Paulsen. Students will be reading the excerpt and underlining key vocabulary. The next step is to answer the multiple choice questions that follow the story.
Students need to know the difference between context clues, inference, cause and effect and summarizing. We have been reading articles in the newspaper and writing summaries about those articles. These summaries include the most important details from the articles. The context clues are words that surround a key vocabulary word and help students decipher the meaning. Causes and effects are tricky....one might that it snowed this morning (cause-the weather was below freezing/precipitation was falling to the ground in the form of snow) and the effect was the slippery roads this morning. An inference is what Mrs. Basham calls "reading between the lines"....when you read a passage..what clues and information does the author present but not come out directly and state....Reading can be like a secret code and you as a student must be a detective....
Finally, we will be dissecting the question, preparing to write the answer, identifying vocabulary and writing the best answer possible.....students often how much they have to write..my answer is that writing is like wearing a skirt..you must make sure it covers everything! Students usually get a kick of this! Ha!
Always after I write these, I realize I leave out words...case in point....In the last paragraph, students usually ASK how much they have to write....
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