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Minibeasts
and Reading Strategies
Designed
by:
Katie Howard, Caughman Road
Grade
Level:
Fourth
Subject: Reading
1)
Core Curriculum Objective:
Use context clues, sentence structure and
phonetic cues to identify words. (4-VW-6
)
2)
Overview:
Captivate your students interest during independent
reading centers with insects.
Students will pretend they are working in a law
firm seeking evidence to prove a case, the identification
and meaning of unknown words.
The students could win the case if they can prove
before the judge (teacher)
upon hearing and examining the evidence (reading
strategy used) that they know how to effectively use the
following three reading strategies; context clues,
sentence structure, and phonetic cues.
3)
Time Frame:
If your class is familiar with working in centers
during reading, this activity could be used for one week
during centers, assuming you have five or less reading
groups.
4)
Resources:
Teacher-judges
gavel
-graduation
robe or choir robe
-Wings,
Stings and Wriggly Things written by Martin
Jenkins
-dictionaries
-copies
of assessment/word list
Students-pencil,
paper
Minibeast
and Reading Strategies Assessment/ Word List
Name:________________________________
Date:______________
Directions:
With your reading group (law firm) select at least
one chapter of the book Wings, Stings and Wriggly Things
by Martin Jenkins to read and identify the words listed
below from that chapter.
Your team is responsible for identifying the words
on the chapter list and giving the meaning of the words.
Remember you must state on this assessment sheet an
example of how the word was used and which of the reading
strategies your law firm used to read the words as your
evidence to present before the judge, your teacher.
If
your group has time to do more than one chapter you will
receive extra credit.
|
WORD |
EXAMPLE
(How the word was used in the chapter) |
STRATEGY
(context clues, phonetic
cues, sentence structure) |
|
Chapter
1 Fancy Fliers |
| 1.
weird-
|
|
|
| 2.
nectar-
|
|
|
| 3.phoboscis-
|
|
|
| 4.
huge-
|
|
|
| 5.
Dutchman's pipe -
|
|
|
|
Chapter
2 Slimy Trails |
| 1.
Oahu-
|
|
|
| 2.
hermaphrodites-
|
|
|
| 3.
spiral-
|
|
|
| 4.
homesick-
|
|
|
| 5.
eyestalk-
|
|
|
|
Chapter
3 Busy Buzzers |
| 1.
drones-
|
|
|
| 2.
whizzing-
|
|
|
| 3.
hordes-
|
|
|
| 4.
hives-
|
|
|
| 5.
farther-
|
|
|
|
Chapter
4 Wriggly Diggers |
| 1.
wormcasts-
|
|
|
| 2.
bristles-
|
|
|
| 3.
saddle-
|
|
|
| 4.
munching-
|
|
|
| 5.
outstretched-
|
|
|
|
Chapter
5 Beastly Beauties |
| 1.
bulging-
|
|
|
| 2.
probably-
|
|
|
| 3.
snatching-
|
|
|
| 4.
unfortunate-
|
|
|
| 5.
nymph-
|
|
|
|
Chapter
6 Hairy and Scary |
| 1.
weave-
|
|
|
| 2.
trembling-
|
|
|
| 3.
struggles-
|
|
|
| 4.
prowl-
|
|
|
| 5.
injecting-
|
|
|
| Chapter
7 Chirping Jumpers |
| 1.
escaping-
|
|
|
| 2.
vanished-
|
|
|
| 3.
oozes-
|
|
|
| 4.
rasping-
|
|
|
| 5.
scurry-
|
|
|
|
Chapter
8 Willing Workers |
| 1.
nursery-
|
|
|
| 2.
scissorlike-
|
|
|
| 3.
journey-
|
|
|
| 4.
fungus-
|
|
|
| 5.
scooped-
|
|
|
|
Chapter
9 Hard Cases |
| 1.
experts-
|
|
|
| 2.
orchards-
|
|
|
| 3.
slit-
|
|
|
| 4.
delicate-
|
|
|
| 5.
antennae-
|
|
|
Grading
criteria
A-
5 words identified with acceptable reading strategy listed
B-
4 words
C-
3 words
D-
2 words
F-
1 word
Extra
Credit can be earned if the group identifies more than one
chapter and/ or answers the true false question in the
margin at the beginning of each chapter.
6)
Instructional Activities:
At
the beginning of a lesson, students will be curious as to
why their teacher is wearing a robe and
hitting a gavel on the desk to bring the class to
order, just like in a real court room. At that point you may inform the students that during reading
centers today one of the activities will be to read and
identify unfamiliar words in the book Wings, Stings and
Wriggly Things written by Martin Jenkins.
they will pretend to be a law firm made up of the
students in their regular reading groups.
The students must use one of three reading
strategies to identify words as their evidence that they
are competent in the use of the three reading strategies;
context clues, sentence structure and phonetic cues.
Pass
out the assessment/word list worksheets and explain to the
students that when they get in the centers they must
choose, as a team (law firm) which chapter from the book
they are most interested in to research.
At the end of the center time the teacher may hear
a groups case and decide if the group has proven their
effective use of the three reading strategies or the
teacher may wait until the end of the week to hold court
and hear all of the cases at one time.
The
class may need some examples of how to identify unknown
words as a large group before center time begins. The
teacher may write on the board or overhead the following
examples:
|
Word |
Evidence
(how word is used in a sentence) |
Strategy
(method used to identify word) |
| 1.
leather- |
Beth
put on her leather gloves. |
phonetic
cues- vowel digraph ea can stand
for the /e/ sound |
| 2.
phony- |
I
saw a phony look on his face. |
phonetic
cues- the letters ph can stand for the
/f/ sound |
| 3.
Governor's- |
The
Governor's Mansion is a popular attraction. |
sentence
structure- Governor's describes
to whom the mansion belongs |
| 4.
badge- |
Each
student wore an identification badge. |
phonetic-
when g is followed by e, i, or y. the
g is usually soft.
Soft g can stand for the /j/ sound |
The
teacher should use personal judgment as to haw many
examples to go over before the students begin work
depending on how well the students seem to understand the
process. If the students like the court format for this lesson the
teacher may want to make this activity a regular part of
reading centers, using different books each week.
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