A Year in Antarctica. Features of This Text. Focus for Instruction

Transcription

1 TM Celebration Press Reading DRA2 Level 38 Guided Reading Level P Genre: Nonfiction Narrative Reading Skill: A Year in Antarctica By Anita Ganeri What happens when a team of scientists sets out to spend a year in Antarctica? Students will learn about the geography and history of Earth s coldest continent as well as how researchers must learn to adapt to and survive in the harsh living conditions there. Features of This Text Supportive Features Quotations from individual scientists add human interest Color photographs illlustrate text Maps and sidebars summarize important concepts Challenging Features Specialized terms and names included (hemisphere, Rothera, sledges) Advanced concept: continental drift Focus for Instruction Reading Skill: : Sequence of Events Word Study Mini-lesson: Compound Words blizzard (p. 11) horizon (p. 21) climate (p. 4) hypothermia (p. 10) continents (p. 3) ice cores (p. 6) crevasses (p. 12) specimens (p. 18) field (p. 13) unique (p. 5) fossils (p. 15) Additional Activities Nonfiction Text Feature: Captions Writing: Write a Nonfiction Narrative Use this book to inform instruction in the following area: Teach student how to use graphic organizers to keep track of key ideas and facts Use the following Words Their Way: Word Study in Action sort with this book: Level C, Sort 26 Shared Reading Connections: Unit 5, Week 2 (pp ) Unit 5, Week 3 (pp ) DRA2 Level 38 Teaching Plan 21

2 Guiding the Reading Day 1 (pp. 3 7) In This Section Readers learn important background information about Antarctica, including details about its climate and seasons. Then a team of British scientists is introduced. The team begins a research mission to study the continent s fossils, ice cores, and wildlife. Before Reading Focus Attention Display the book and read aloud the title and the author s name. Ask students to carefully examine the photographs and comment on what they see. Have students share what they know about Antarctica. Explain that Antarctica is in the Southern Hemisphere. Point to this hemisphere on a classroom globe. Tell students that it has hardly any plant life, and the animals found there live mainly in or near the ocean. Then ask students to recall the coldest day they can remember. Prompt them to imagine what it would be like to live in the coldest place on Earth, where each day is like the coldest day they can remember or worse. What would they expect to do? How would they feel? Tell students that Antarctica has no permanent human inhabitants. At any one time, however, there may be a few thousand men and women living on the continent. Most are involved in some kind of scientific research. Tell students that they will read the book to discover what these scientists are learning about this unique continent. Explain to students that climate (p. 4) refers to the pattern of weather in a specific place over a period of time. Temperatures, rainfall, and wind all play a role in determining a place s climate. Ask students to describe the climate where they live. Other Words to Know continents (p. 3): large bodies of land; the largest landmasses on Earth ice cores (p. 6): long, thin sticks of ice unique (p. 5): one of a kind Explain to students that authors of nonfiction organize their writing in ways to help readers remember the information. One way an author might organize his or her writing is by recording the information in the time order in which events happen. This is known as sequence of events. When reading a book that uses a sequence of events text structure, readers must pay attention to dates, the time of year, and key words such as first, then, next, finally, begin, end, and once. These words signal the passage of time. To help students think about sequence of events text structure, model your thought process: Let s look at the contents on page 2 to see if it gives us any clues as to how the author organized the information in this book. Since this book is nonfiction, I know it won t be organized like a story. Instead, the author will find a way to organize the material to better help me remember the important ideas. Listen as I read aloud the section headings on the contents page. [Teacher reads aloud.] I see words and phrases such as begins, packing up, a long winter, and one year ends. These words and phrases indicate the passage of time. That makes me think the author has organized this book in time order, or sequence of events. Knowing this will help me record and remember the information. One way I can do this is to make a timeline and record key dates and events. Introduce the reproducible on the back cover and discuss the chart. Explain to students that as they read, they will record key activities the scientists undertake and when they complete each task. Have students begin reading the book. Prompt them to use sticky notes to mark dates, months, and sequence signal words. During Reading Prompt for understanding, as appropriate. Possible prompts include the following: How do the section headings help you organize your thinking as you read? In Antarctica, what season of the year does the month of December fall into? Explain. How do the photographs and illustrations help you understand the information in the text?

3 After Reading Discuss with students what they know about the scientists, when they arrived on Antarctica, and what their mission was. In addition, talk about the seasons in Antarctica and how they are different from the seasons in the United States. Using this information, have partners begin filling out the reproducible. Discuss the Text Use Photographs Point out the photograph on page 4. Make sure students understand that what they are seeing is the top of a mountain. Does this give them an idea of how deep the snow and ice are in Antarctica? Have students find other photographs in this first section and write two or three sentences about what information the photographs provide. Assessment Checkpoint Can the student recognize sequence of events words and use them to retell events in order? Does the student use the illustrations to get information and relate it to the text? Day 2 (pp. 8 17) In This Section The scientists arrive at their research station, set up their equipment, and start their safety training. They then begin their long list of experiments to learn more about life in Antarctica. Before Reading Focus Attention Have students use the section headings in the first section to retell what they have learned so far about Antarctica and the research team. Tell students that this next section describes how researchers spend a lot of time cooped up inside the main research station or in small tents. As they read, ask students to think about what this would be like. Do they think they could adjust? Explain to students that when a person s body temperature drops dangerously low due to being in the cold weather too long, he or she is said to suffer from hypothermia (p. 10). Ask students why this might be a serious problem in Antarctica. How can the scientists avoid this problem? Other Words to Know blizzard (p. 11): a heavy snowstorm with high winds crevasses (p. 12): deep cracks in the ice field (p. 13): any place outside a laboratory where scientists go to do experiments fossils (p. 15): evidence of plants and animals that lived long ago During Reading Prompt for understanding, as appropriate. Possible prompts include the following: How do the section headings help you organize your thinking? What smaller words make up this compound word? What do fossils tell scientists about the history of Antarctica? After Reading Discuss with students that the scientists do their training in the Antarctic spring. Then in the summer, their work begins. Ask students why summer would be the best time to begin their work. Then, have partners continue filling out the reproducible. Encourage students to review and share places in which they marked sequence of events words as they read. Discuss the Text Use Photographs Ask students to study the labeled photograph on page 10. Ask: Why did the scientists need to wear goggles? Why did they wear two layers of gloves? Students who live in warmer climates may need to have these items explained in more detail.

4 Draw Conclusions Discuss some of the safety lessons the scientists learn when they get to Rothera station. Have students write a paragraph that describes what the scientists do to keep safe and why safety is so important in Antarctica. Assessment Checkpoint Does the student mark the passage of time in the book? Does the student recognize sequence words and phrases that mark the passage of time in this book? Can the student use the section headings and photographs to retell the main events? Day 3 (pp ) In This Section The scientists conclude their work and begin to pack up for the trip home. A few members of the team will stay on throughout the long, harsh winter months. Before Reading Focus Attention Have students use the section headings to retell the events in the book so far in sequence. Tell students that a few scientists will be staying on at the research station over the winter. During the winter, they will be cut off from the rest of the world. Ask students if they would like to spend the winter at the station. Encourage students to imagine what it would be like to stay at the research station. Tell students that specimens (p. 18) are samples that scientists collect so they can study them later on. These samples could be pieces of rock, plants, or even animals. Ask students what specimens they think the scientists in Antarctica will be most interested in. During Reading Prompt for understanding, as appropriate. Possible prompts include the following: What do the section headings tell you about the passage of time on Antartica? Why do some people stay at the research station during the winter? After Reading Ask students why they think the author waited until the last part of the book to tell us about spending the winter in Antarctica. Point to the first paragraph of the chapter titled A Long Winter, in which Felicity Aston says of the supply ship, Once it leaves, there is no going back. Ask: How does this create suspense? Then, have partners complete the reproducible. Discuss the Text Make Inferences Ask: Did the scientists have more free time in the summer or in the winter? Have students answer the question in writing. Have students use their growing knowledge of Antarctica to make an inference. Draw Conclusions Discuss with students whether or not they were surprised by the quotation from Peter Milner s journal. Ask: Why would anyone be sad to see such a harsh winter end? Have any of the students spent time in a place where the natural beauty made up for the difficult conditions? Assessment Checkpoint Can the student make inferences based on prior knowledge and clues in the text? Does the student use sequence of events words to understand the time-order structure of the book? Another Word to Know horizon (p. 21): the line where Earth meets the sky

5 Options for Further Instruction Digging Deeper Nonfiction Text Feature: Captions Explain to students that captions on photographs provide brief details about the content of the photograph and why the author included it. Page through the book and have volunteers read aloud the caption with each photograph. Discuss how the caption relates to the photograph and how the photograph illustrates or adds to the information in the main text. Then have students select two or three favorite photographs. Ask them to suggest new captions for these photographs that show what they learned from the book and what they feel would help a reader new to this book. Provide time for students to share their ideas. Writing Write a Nonfiction Narrative Have students use what they learned about nonfiction narratives to write a narrative called A Week in Our Class. Start by writing the names of the weekdays on the board. Ask students to suggest things that happened on each day. Students can select items from the list to write their own narratives. Encourage them to write an introduction that gives general information about the class and where it meets. Once students have a first draft, they can add more details to their narrative. Tell them to use sequence of events words to clearly show the passage of time. Students can interview classmates and quote them in their narratives. Individual students or groups might want to draw a map of the classroom, or add pictures or photographs. Have students present their narratives to the group. Compare the events and details that different students chose to describe. Word Study Mini-lesson Compound Words A Year in Antarctica uses many compound words. Tell students that some compound words are easy to understand because the two words that make up the compound word explain its meaning. For example, a seabird (p. 17) is a bird that spends its time on or near the sea. An underwater dive is one that takes the diver deep under the surface of the water. Point out that compound words can be nouns (seabird), verbs, adjectives (underwater), or adverbs. Point out that some compound words, however, require a little extra knowledge. For example, a starfish is not really a fish. It belongs to a special group of sea creatures that has spines and lives on the bottom of the sea. Also, the word waterproof (p. 10) uses the word proof in a special way that means nothing can pass through. Water cannot get through a waterproof glove. Some compound words create colorful mental pictures. For example, frostbite (p. 10) is a condition that occurs when a person s skin is exposed to very cold air. The cold doesn t really bite; it just feels that way. Have pairs of students search one or two chapters each for compound words. Ask them to list the words, tell what each means, and explain how they determined the meaning. Support Some students may not have experience with cold climates and may be unfamiliar with the terms used to describe it. You may want to devote extra time to discussing words such as blizzard, frozen, icy, and snowblower. Use photographs, actions, and realia, where available.

6 Name Date Write notes telling about what the scientists do during each season. Spring Summer Fall Winter Celebration Press Reading: Good Habits, Great Readers Copyright 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Celebration Press, an imprint of Pearson Learning Group, 299 Jefferson Road, Parsippany, NJ All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except for the Back Cover Reproducible, which may be reproduced for classroom use only. For information regarding permission(s), write to Rights and Permissions Department. Pearson is a registered trademark of Pearson PLC. Celebration Press is a registered trademark of Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers, Inc. Developmental Reading Assessment and the DRA logo are registered trademarks and DRA is a trademark of Pearson Education, Inc. Words Their Way is a trademark of Pearson Education, Inc. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: