Reading to Learn: Nonfiction Book Clubs Within a Content Area

Minilesson 1-5

You know what, readers? I’d have zero fingers up too. There is no way I would get onto that plane with no idea what to do, even if I really really wanted to go skydiving. Fingers down readers, I am wondering something. I wonder how much you would need to know to feel like an expert about skydiving- ready to get on that plane all by yourself and jump. Give me a thumb up if you think seeing a picture of someone skydiving would be enough for you- you’d be an expert then. How about a picture and a book about someone who has been skydiving? What about a picture, the book about a skydiver, and a book about skydiving? What about a picture, the skydiver book, the books about skydiving and some directions called “How to go Skydiving”?

Wow- readers! You wouldn’t feel like experts about skydiving until you had read a LOT of different things about it. I’m imagining you might even remember stuff from book to book and keep the pictures you saw in your head to help you really feel like an expert. That’s how I feel too. When I want to feel like an expert in something, I want to know everything I can find on the topic. I read books, magazine articles, I look on the internet, I look in encyclopedias- I look everywhere!

When readers really want to become experts on a topic, we read and read and read everything they can find about it. If I wanted to be an expert on skydiving, I would read and read and read about skydiving. But I wouldn’t read each book all by itself and pretend it didn’t have anything to do with the other things I was reading about skydiving. I wouldn’t read like this (mime picking up a book, speed reading it, putting it down) oh, good book about skydiving (repeat motion) oh, interesting pictures of all the steps for skydiving… that would be pretty silly. It would make it so hard for me to become an expert if I did that kind of reading. When I am reading about a topic, I need to put everything I know about the topic together in my brain to make sense of things. Nonfiction readers can read to become experts on a topic. One way readers can do this is by reading a variety of texts on the same topic and looking for connections or disconnections between the texts.

Okay, since I’m learning to make lasagna and these are both lasagna recipes, I’m expecting that they will have lots of connections. OK… lasagna… yield: six servings. Okay… six people can eat when I make this. 10 lasagna noodles (oh- these must be the ingredients), 12 ounces ricotta, 1 egg slightly beaten, ½ cup parmesan- grated, six ounces mozzarella- grated, 3 cups meat sauce. Wow! That doesn’t sound too hard at all. Six ingredients! I wonder if lasagna always has only six ingredients…

Turkey lasagna… wait- turkey? I don’t remember the other recipe having turkey in it. Let me go back and see. Maybe it’s here- 3 cups of meat sauce. Maybe the turkey is the meat in the meat sauce. Oh, no wait- down here it says Meat Sauce and has ingredients… is turkey in there? Well, hmmm… turkey isn’t in the other lasagna recipe. That doesn’t connect exactly. I wonder if I can think about it another way because it’s not making sense yet… turkey is a kind of meat, and this recipe does have meat in it too so I wonder if maybe you can use any kind of meat? Maybe that’s how lasagna goes and so then it would make sense. Maybe lasagna always has some kind of meat in it. In this recipe- turkey: in the other one- beef and sausage. That makes sense.

Readers, did you see what I just did? I found a disconnection in my two texts and thought hard about it to try to understand what was really going on. Did you notice how I took what I learned from one text and brought it in my mind when I went to read the other one? This is just what readers do! Nonfiction readers can read to become experts on a topic. One way readers can do this is by reading a variety of texts on the same topic and looking for connections or disconnections between the texts.

I noticed (the following is merely a possibility of something that might happen during this minilesson- please tailor this to your own students’ discoveries) this team over here opened up their book to talk about buildings in their country and the school buildings in this article. They noticed that they article said some buildings were made out of mud and they had read about buildings made of mud in their country. They made a connection between school buildings in South Africa and the buildings in their country. I also noticed this team found a disconnection because in their book the little girl does not go to school so they have been thinking there were no schools and then when we started reading about these schools they thought- wait a minute! In this book, the kids don’t go to school, and in the article kids go to school in mud buildings and under trees. What’s going on? They found a disconnections there between South Africa and what they know about their country.

Readers, did you see what you did? You did what ALL nonfiction readers do, since nonfiction readers can read to become experts on a topic. You read more than one text on the same topic and looked for connections or disconnections between texts. You do this all the time when you are listening to the news, and reading magazines. You hear one thing on the news, and then maybe read something in a magazine or someone else tells you about the same thing. And every time you keep getting information on that one topic, you get closer to being an expert on that topic.

Link: Every time you are reading to learn and know a lot about a topic, maybe even trying to become an expert on a topic like we are all doing with our countries, I want you to do this smart thing that all nonfiction readers do. You already do so many brilliant things when you are reading nonfiction, like noticing new information and working hard to make sense of the text, and I want you to add this strategy to those other brilliant things. Nonfiction readers can always read to become experts on a topic. Remember that one way readers can do this is by reading a variety of texts on the same topic and looking for connections or disconnections between the texts. Off you go!

Lasagna Recipe courtesy Cathy Lowe 10 lasagna noodles 12 ounces ricotta 1 egg, lightly beaten 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley 1/2 cup Parmesan, grated 12 ounces Mozzarella, grated 3 cups meat sauce Prepare noodles as instructed on package. Drain. In a medium bowl, combine ricotta, egg, parsley, 1/2 cup Parmesan and salt and pepper. Spread 3/4 cup meat sauce in bottom of 9 by 13 inch baking dish. Lay 3 noodles down in pan and spread with ricotta mixture. Sprinkle with Mozzarella and top with meat sauce. Repeat procedure for one more layer ending with last three noodles and then sauce. Top with remaining Mozzarella and 1/2 cup Parmesan. Bake for 45 minutes or until bubbly at 375 degrees F. Remove from oven and let lasagna stand for 15 minutes Meat Sauce: 1 pound ground beef 1 pound spicy sausage 1 large onion, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 bay leaf 2 teaspoons dried basil 2 teaspoons dried oregano 2 tablespoons olive oil 3/4 cup red wine 3 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes 1 carrot, chopped Salt Pepper Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium high heat. Brown ground beef and sausage. Stir in onion and cook for 4 minutes. Stir in garlic, bay leaf, basil and oregano. Add wine, tomatoes and carrot. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium. Simmer uncovered until sauce has thickened about 45 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Yield: 12 cups		Recipe Summary Difficulty: Easy Prep Time: 20 minutes Inactive Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes Yield: 6 servings User Rating:

Copyright © 2006 Television Food Network, G.P., All Rights Reserved

Turkey Lasagna Copyright, 2002, Barefoot Contessa Family Style, All Rights Reserved 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion) 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian turkey sausage, casings removed 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes in tomato puree 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves 2 teaspoons kosher salt 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/2 pound lasagna noodles 15 ounces ricotta cheese 3 to 4 ounces creamy goat cheese, crumbled 1 cup grated Parmesan, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling 1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten 1 pound fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Heat the olive oil in a large (10 to 12-inch) skillet. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes over medium-low heat, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the sausage and cook over medium-low heat, breaking it up with a fork, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until no longer pink. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, the basil, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat, for 15 to 20 minutes, until thickened. Meanwhile, fill a large bowl with the hottest tap water. Add the noodles and allow them to sit in the water for 20 minutes. Drain. In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, goat cheese, 1 cup of Parmesan, the egg, the remaining 2 tablespoons of parsley, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Set aside. Ladle 1/3 of the sauce into a 9 by 12 by 2-inch rectangular baking dish, spreading the sauce over the bottom of the dish. Then add the layers as follows: half the pasta, half the mozzarella, half the ricotta, and one 1/3 of the sauce. Add the rest of the pasta, mozzarella, ricotta, and finally, sauce. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of Parmesan. Bake for 30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling.		Recipe Summary Difficulty: Easy Prep Time: 50 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes Yield: 8 servings User Rating:

Copyright © 2006 Television Food Network, G.P., All Rights Reserved

Mud and Prefab Schools to be Addressed

BuaNews (Tshwane)
NEWS
14 April 2008
Posted to the web 14 April 2008
By Luyanda Makapela
Libode

A sum of R2.7 billion has been set aside to eradicate schools made of mud-structures and pre-fabricated class rooms in the Eastern Cape. "With these efforts, we are trying by all means to eradicate prefab structures and to improve the conditions and level of education in our schools countrywide," said Minister Naledi Pandor while addressing villagers at Nyandeni Great Place in Libode in the north western region of the province on Friday. The visit to Libode formed part of government's Imbizo Week where the Departments of Home Affairs, Education and Social Development were able to interact and learn about the challenges facing communities in Libode and the nearby villages.

Ms Pandor acknowledged that some parts of the former Transkei still have a high number of mud structure schools and in some cases pupils were still being taught under trees. "With the funds available, we will try and address especially those schools that are not for human occupation."

During the Imbizo, Minister Pandor also visited Ndamase High School [in Libode] where she promised to build a computer laboratory and provide books. The school, despite only being officially opened in 2006, has been able to vastly improve its matric results over the past two years. "We feel that there's a need for us to provide computer laboratory for the school as this is one of most schools that under-resourced and yet produces good results," the minister said.

During the gathering, Minister Pandor said the department would further inject R1.7 billion to assist students studying towards their first year. The minister announced this while answering questions raised by community members regarding issues of service delivery.

Speaking to BuaNews, Nomalungelo Jozana, 72, of Nyandeni Village said this was good news for his grandson who was doing his Grade 12 this year. "This will afford our children the opportunity to fulfill their dreams, something that some of their parents, especially those in rural areas never had," said Mrs Jozana.

Minister Pandor also announced that her department was currently embarking on Historical Schools Project where it will revive over 100 old missionary schools around the country. "Although we understand that missionary schools were owned by churches, we feel there is a great need for us as government to revive these schools as they uplifted good morals and values for learners while producing good results," the minister said. The schools will include the famous Healdtown College in Fort Beaufort where most of liberation hero's like and most academics studied their high school.

Copyright © 2008 BuaNews. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).

Minilesson 2-2

Today I want to teach you that readers in book clubs talk together about subtopics as one way of knowing the bigger topic. One way readers can work efficiently as a club is by asking themselves, “Is there a subtopic that I really want us to look at as a group?” and planning ahead by bringing ideas to the club. Instead of everyone talking about all the subtopics they wrote on their list and what they know about them, let’s focus our talk around the subtopic you want to talk about with your group.

After I read about Chicago, there were some things I felt I really knew a lot about, like the museums I wanted to see while I was there and the special pizza they make that I wanted to try. I could have brought those topics to our conversation and talked about food to try and places to visit. I could have said something like, “I want to eat Chicago-style pizza and visit the Art Institute of Chicago.” And she could have said something like, “Okay. Me too.” Or maybe, “I was thinking of the modern art museum.” But then I realized we’d be talking about things we already knew a lot about and it probably wouldn’t be a good back and forth conversation. Then I thought back to all the things that were important to know about Chicago and I realized that I was feeling confused about how we would get around without a car, since we were taking a plane there. I read in my book that there were taxis, trains, buses and elevated trains (like subways, but higher up) but I didn’t know which ones would get us to where we needed to go. I thought- that’s something I really want us to look at together, and I planned ahead for our conversation by bringing what I knew about the ways to get around, along with the questions I had about getting around Chicago, to see if she might know more than I did.

Did you notice how I got myself ready to learn more about the bigger topic of Chicago by thinking about the subtopics like food, places to see and transportation? Did you see how I made a plan to bring one subtopic, transportation, to our conversation and I brought my ideas and questions just about that subtopic? I did that because readers in book clubs talk together about subtopics as one way of knowing the bigger topic. One way readers can work efficiently as a club is by asking themselves, “Is there a subtopic that I really want us to look at as a group?” and planning ahead by bringing ideas to the club.

Active Engagement: Now it is your turn to try it. You are going to have a few moments to try this thinking here on the rug with the lists you made yesterday. Remember that different members of a book club will probably bring different subtopics to talk about, and that’s okay. That just gives you lots of things to talk about- if you don’t get to everything today, you can come back to your ideas the next time your club meets. Just like I looked at what I already knew about Chicago and helped my conversation to work efficiently by asking myself, “Is there a subtopic that I really want us to look at as a group?” you are going to ask yourself that question right now and use your list to plan ahead for the book club conversation you are going to have in just a few minutes. When you think you have a subtopic in mind that you want to bring to your book club, turn and talk to your partner about what you are thinking and why you want to talk about that topic. Go ahead and give it a try.

I noticed readers choosing subtopics for a variety of reasons- subtopics they want to know more about and subtopics they found particularly interesting, but every person sounds like they have chosen a subtopic that will help them to know their bigger topic- the country they are studying.

Minilesson 2-3

Teaching Point: Nonfiction readers connect what they are learning about a topic with what they already know. One way readers do this is by adding on to the list of things they know about a topic, grouping similar information together.

Connection: (NOTE: To prepare for this minilesson, you should have readers bring any post-its they have written of information about their topic.) Sometimes I have a grocery list going on my refrigerator, and I add things to the list as I find out I need them. So in the morning when I run out of milk for my cereal, I write milk. And then when I am packing my lunch for school and run out of bread for sandwiches, I write bread. And then when I go to grab a yogurt for snack and take the last one, I write yogurt. Later at night, I notice I am almost out of toothpaste, so I walk over and write that on my list. The next morning I run out of orange juice, and add it to the list. And pretty soon my list is pretty long and I take it to the grocery store and it goes, “Milk, bread, yogurt, toothpaste, orange juice…” and on and on. And every time I do this, I get to the grocery store and get mad at myself because you know what? If I follow my grocery list the way I wrote it, I’m going to be zig-zagging all over the store, first to the milk case, then the bread aisle, then back near the milk to get the yogurt- it’s pretty disorganized and it’s hard to make much sense out of it. Even when I do stand in the aisle by the milk and try to look down my list for everything else I need from that part of the store, I almost always miss something and have to go back. It’s SO frustrating! Now I try to keep my list organized so that all the fruits and vegetables are in one place on the list and I can get everything while I’m in that part of the store.

Readers, this is just like the sort of grouping and connecting we need to do in our heads and in our writing about reading if we really want to learn as much as we can about our topics.

Today I want to teach you that nonfiction readers connect what they are learning about a topic with what they already know. One way readers do this is by adding on to the list of things they know about a topic, grouping similar information together.

Teaching: When I read nonfiction about a topic, especially when I am doing what you are doing and reading lots of different texts on the same topic, I keep my ideas organized by trying to match up ideas that go together. As I read, I add my new ideas to the ideas I already had that go together with my new thinking.

Watch me as I show you how I connect what I am learning about a topic with what I already know by adding on to the list of things I know about a topic, grouping similar information together. This is my list of what I know about Egypt so far. When I first started my list, I did like I sometimes do with my grocery list- I just started writing down every idea I had, without putting them in any sort of order. That made it hard, so you can see how I actually cut my ideas out of the paper I had been using and I stuck them on a new paper in groups by subtopic. That helps me so much because now when I read new information; it has a place to go. Right now I have people, places to visit, land and food as my subtopics. Watch how I use this to help me as I read. (The following excerpt comes from We’re From Egypt by Victoria Parker)

Karim at Home. I’m looking at the pictures before I go too far, and I see Karim here with his glasses on, and this must be his family down here. I see Karim again over here with maybe his sister or his cousin, and it looks like they are playing outside. Ok… Karim enjoys Egyptian meals like bean stews, kebabs, and salads. He eats his food by scooping it up in bits of flat bread. The bread is called khoubz. That is interesting. I’m thinking about the ideas I have so far about foods eaten in Egypt, and I had kebabs, but I did not have bean stews or salads. I’m not going to rush to write down my idea as quick as I can write it wherever I can fit it, I’m going to add that to my subtopic of “Food” because then I will have all the food I know of in one place. (Add bean stews and salads to the list). Perfect! Now I learned something else on that page that sort of goes with foods. It said that Karim eats his food by scooping it up in bits of flat bread called khoubz. Oh- first, I should add khoubz to the foods part. Yes. But I have a new idea too- It said he eats by scooping up his food inside bread. That’s something I didn’t know, and I don’t eat that way so I am thinking that might be special to Egypt. That’s not a food exactly, but it sort of goes along with food because it’s about eating. Hmmm… I could put it with food, or I could make a new subtopic for it. If I made a new subtopic, what would it be? Ummm… gosh, I’m not sure what to do with that idea yet. It doesn’t seem to fit in with food perfectly, but I don’t have anywhere else for it to go. You know what I could do? Let me put that down on a post-it so I can move it wherever I want it to go once I have more ideas. For now I’ll put it down here away from everything.

Readers, did you notice how I got my list organized and then added new information to it carefully? Nonfiction readers connect what they are learning about a topic with what they already know. One way readers do this is by adding on to the list of things they know about a topic, grouping similar information together. I connected my new learning about khoubz, salads and bean stews to what I already knew about foods. So I don’t forget, I added it to my list of what I already know.

Active Engagement: Now it’s your turn to try it. You and your partner are going to have a chance to organize your thinking, just like I did when I cut up my paper with all my ideas and put grouped them together, except you are lucky because you have your ideas on post-its, so you don’t have to do any cutting. Instead, you and your partner are going to have a few minutes here on the rug to group similar post-its together, maybe making new subtopics, maybe thinking about subtopics you and your group have already been talking about. This will help you prepare to connect your new learning from your reading today with what you already know. You and your partner can choose to keep your post-its separate and just talk about the grouping you are doing, or putting your post-its together and grouping together as a team. If you decide to do it together, you may want paper so you can both write down what you did and take it back to add on to during your independent reading. Quickly turn and talk with your partner about how you want to do this thinking, and you can get started right away. You may not have enough time to finish on the rug, but you can continue this thinking as you read and write about reading if you need to.

I noticed lots of partnerships were finding that their post-its weren’t in order when they started. I heard one partnership say that in their reading it was a little like my mixed-up grocery list. Something comes up about food and they write it down, then something about the government, then jobs people do, then more food. I saw many partnerships made groups of post-its and then started talking about a certain group of post-its- sometimes there were things in that group of notes that seemed to disagree with one another, sometimes the group was really tall and had lots of information, sometimes it was one post-it and groups noticed they’d like more information to go with that single post-it. This type of talk is exactly what can come out of organizing your thinking and learning both in your head and in your writing about reading.

Link: Today and every day I want you to work to make your thinking organized like we did with our thinking on paper. Nonfiction readers connect what they are learning about a topic with what they already know. One way readers do this is by adding on to the list of things they know about a topic, grouping similar information together. As you read about your topic, I know that you will do the kind of organized thinking that all learners do as you add to your subtopics, make new subtopics and talk with your book clubs about the learning you are doing about your topic.

Minilesson 2-4

Teaching Point: Nonfiction readers think across their topic, noticing areas where they need to gather more information. One way readers can do this with their book club is by grouping information by subtopic (housing, climate, food, etc.) and paying particular attention to subtopics where they don’t feel like experts yet.

Connection: Yesterday when we finished up our minilesson and you left with your really organized writing about reading to go off to your independent reading, it felt a little bit like there were conversations left out on the table. I could tell because later on in our day I heard readers trying to get back together with their partners to continue where they left off. Isn’t that so great about nonfiction reading? There is ALWAYS something new to say. I know that some of you are bursting with all the things you want to talk about in your book clubs today, which is awesome, but I also want to touch base with you to say that our time for studying countries together is almost halfway over. Since we’re almost halfway through with our time becoming experts about our countries, I thought that this would be a good day for a book club check-in to see how you’re feeling about your learning. Do you feel like an expert yet? Are there places where you are feeling really expert, and places where you’re not?

Today I want to teach you that nonfiction readers think across their topic, noticing areas where they need to gather more information. One way readers can do this with their book club is by grouping information by subtopic (housing, climate, food, etc.) and paying particular attention to subtopics where they don’t feel like experts yet. This is means that you continue the kind of thinking you’ve been doing on your own except now you and your book club will have the opportunity to gather your individual thinking together and see, as a group, what sort of focus you might want to take in your reading to become experts on your topic.

Teaching: When I am learning about a topic, especially when I am learning about a topic with other people like a book club, I like to share my thinking and think ahead to the learning I will need to do next. You remember the work I have been doing on Egypt and how I organized my ideas yesterday so I would be able to connect new learning to things I already know. Well, today I am going to show you how it might look for a group to share this work together, grouping ideas by subtopic and paying attention to areas where the group doesn’t really feel like an expert yet.

Yesterday the group studying Egypt pulled together and started making a big group chart of what the whole group knows so far. Would you fishbowl around the group and their chart? I want you to watch me as I show you how I, someone else studying Egypt, am a nonfiction reader who thinks across their topic, noticing areas where they need to gather more information. Remember that one way readers can do this with their book club is by grouping information by subtopic (housing, climate, food, etc.) and paying particular attention to subtopics where they don’t feel like experts yet. This is what I am going to do with my book club today.

So far, we’ve got a bunch of subtopics started on our chart. If I had to start this chart on my own, I’d probably begin by putting a subtopic on the paper, but I see the group already has that started so I am going to begin by choosing a subtopic that is already there and adding the information I have about that subtopic. I think I will start with housing. I see that so far my group has apartments listed out. I have that too, but I thought that was only in Cairo. I’m going to add in my thinking and share that with my group. Hey Egypt book club, I see here that someone wrote that people live in apartments. I had that written down too, except I also wrote down that apartments were only in the city of Cairo. I remember that my book showed different houses in the villages, so I think apartments are probably only in Cairo. I also wrote down tents, because I read about a family that travels and doesn’t stay in one place very long, so they live in tents that go with them as they travel. Can I add that here by homes? Now I have a lot of foods listed on my chart of information, but we don’t have a subtopic for that yet- I think I will add one. I read a little bit more yesterday, and I still don’t have anything to go with eating by scooping with bread, so I wonder if that subtopic could be all about eating and cooking. I did see some information about cooking too. Would that be okay?

Did you notice how I looked at the chart and the subtopics that my book club already had thought of together and tried to add my information into the club ideas in an organized way? Did you also notice how I had to make a new subtopic for information I thought was important but my group didn’t have yet? I had to think across all my topics to see if I could find a spot to fit it, but when it didn’t match I made a new subtopic.

Active Engagement: Now it’s your turn to try the next step. Let’s fast forward a bit and say that the Egypt group has all the information they have gathered so far represented on this chart. They have done what good readers do by organizing their information. Nonfiction readers think across their topic, noticing areas where they need to gather more information. One way readers can do this with their book club is by grouping information by subtopic (housing, climate, food, etc.) and paying particular attention to subtopics where they don’t feel like experts yet. I want you to pretend now that you are a part of the Egypt book club, and you have just finished putting all your information together in a chart and you’re looking at what you have up there. Remember that nonfiction readers think across their topic and notice areas where they need to gather more information. Right now I want you to take a look at what the group has and notice any areas where the group needs to gather more information. When you have an idea or two, you can turn and talk with your partner. Make sure you share your idea and what makes you think that’s an area that needs more information.

I noticed most groups saw right away that the climate category only had a little bit of information in it. Many people thought that as the Egypt book club reads on, they should pay particular attention to anything about the climate. I heard one group say that with my new category being about eating and cooking, there should be more information about cooking in there. I also heard one group wondering how people get their food in Egypt, and if we would put that in that subtopic when we found it out too. This is such smart thinking, readers! Once the information was organized for the group, you did a fantastic job thinking across the topic and noticing where more information was needed.

Link: Today and every day I want you to keep thinking about your learning in an organized way. Remember that nonfiction readers read to learn about a topic, and when you want to learn about something it’s important to know what you DO know, but also what you still do NOT know. Nonfiction readers think across their topic, noticing areas where they need to gather more information. One way readers can do this with their book club is by grouping information by subtopic (housing, climate, food, etc.) and paying particular attention to subtopics where they don’t feel like experts yet. You might choose to do this work in your book club today as a way to check in on your learning together.

Minilesson 3-1

Teaching Point: Non-fiction readers read the pictures in their text to push themselves to learn new things about their topic. Non-fiction readers can do this by noticing who is in the picture and/or what is happening in the picture and then form an idea around what they noticed in the picture

Connection: So, the other day I was at the zoo and they had some pictures about some of the animals at the zoo. I noticed there were a few pictures on penguins and I started looking at the pictures. I realized I was staring and analyzing the pictures for quite awhile and just from looking at the pictures I learned some new things about penguins. I learned that there are different types of penguins that live amongst each other; they differ in size, and color. Some penguins have an orange coloring to their beaks and some have black beaks. I also learned that some penguins have black feathers around their faces. This made me think that there are different types of penguins that make up the penguin species, and these different types all coexist. I learned all of this just from looking at picture. Isn’t that amazing?

Well readers, we can do that same thing when we are reading non-fiction. We can read the pictures in the text to push ourselves to learn new things from the pictures. One way we can do this is by noticing who is in the picture and/or what is happening in the picture. We can then form an idea around what we noticed in the picture, just like I did when I was in the zoo. I noticed that the picture was about penguins and that there are different types of penguins.

Teaching: Readers, watch me as I read this picture from my book on Africa. Watch as I read the picture to push myself to learn new things. I do this by noticing who is in the picture, what is happening in the picture and then I form an idea around what I noticed in the picture.

(Picture from Africa, page 23)

Hold up picture:

Hmm…Who is in this picture? What is happening in this picture? The who is people who live in Africa. The what is these people live in abandoned trains and shacks made of wood. These people seem to be poor. So, from this picture I’m thinking that in some parts of Africa people are poor and do not live in proper houses.

Readers, did you see what I just did? I pushed myself to learn new things about my topic by reading the picture. I noticed who was in the picture, what was happening in the picture and then formed an idea around what I noticed. This is just what non-fiction readers do! They read the pictures in their text to push themselves to learn new things about their topic. One way readers do this is by noticing who is in the picture and/or what is happening in the picture and then form an idea around what they noticed in the picture.

Active Engagement: Readers, now it’s your turn to try this work out! I am going to show you a picture from the same book. You are going to read the picture and push yourself to learn new things. You are going to this by noticing who is the picture and what is happening in the picture. You are then going to form an idea around what you noticed. You are going to jot who is in the picture and what is happening down on your dry erase board and then turn and tell your partner what you are thinking about what you noticed.

Show students picture: Africa, page 24.

(The students are going to look at the picture, jot down who is in the picture and what is happening, form an idea and turn and tell their partner. For management reasons, you may want to give them a minute or two to jot then redirect them to turn and talk.)

I noticed (possible answers, you would highlight some of the smart work your students were doing) this partnership over here, read the picture and pushed themselves to learn new things, they noticed and jotted down who was in the picture and what was happening. Then they formed an idea around what they noticed. They said the who is: people on Africa and the what is these people are living in huts that are made of dirt and straw. They said this made them think that some people in Africa live in mud huts and do not live in apartments or houses made of bricks.

Did you see what they did? They did what non-fiction readers do! They read the picture in this text to push themselves to learn new things by noticing who is in the picture and/or what is happening in the picture and then form an idea around what they noticed in the picture.

Link: Every time we read non-fiction we can read the pictures in our text to push ourselves to learn new things about our topic. Non-fiction readers can do this by noticing who is in the picture and/or what is happening in the picture and then form an idea around what they noticed in the picture. We can jot this information down on a post-it. Off you go!

Minilesson 3-4

Teaching Point: Non-fiction readers read the photographs so carefully that they are able to look at a photo of a specific place and pull out several main ideas. One way readers can do this is by really zooming in on the details of a picture and questioning what those details them about the photo, the people, their life.

Connection: Readers, can I tell you a story? Well, the other day I was cleaning my apartment. As I was cleaning I came across a stack of old pictures. They weren’t in an album, so I had no idea what they were from, where they were taken. I started to carefully look at each picture and pick out parts of the picture that would help me figure out what these pictures were from. I paid close attention to who was in the picture, my parents and cousins, what the people were doing, we were on the front porch of my aunt’s house, what people were wearing, shorts and t-shirts. After zooming in on the details, I was finally able to figure out what these pictures were from. I looked young in the pictures, so I knew they were from awhile ago, we were in summer clothes and we were at my aunt’s summer house. Do you want to know what they were from? They were from a family vacation at the Jersey shore when I was 10!!

Boys and girls, when we read non-fiction we can do the same thing I did to figure out when my family photos were from!

Today I want to teach that Non-fiction readers read the photographs so carefully that they are able to look at a photo of a specific place and pull out several main ideas. One way readers can do this is by really zooming in on the details of a picture and questioning what those details them about the photo, the people, their life.

Teaching: So, readers I want you watch me as I read this photograph so carefully that I am able to pull out some main ideas by zooming in on the details and questioning what these details tell me about the photo, the people and their life.

Book: A is for Africa, picture on Gg page

Hmm… so in this picture I’m noticing that children are sitting in a circle around an older women. The children are listening to this woman. They are outside of a house.

So, what does this picture tell me?

From the details in this picture, one main idea that I have is that this woman is a respected person. Another idea I have is that she is telling them stories of the past or of ways of life in Africa. My last idea is that she is an important part of the community because she is teaching/telling the children and they are meeting out in the community (they are outside the house).

Did you see how I looked at a photo of a specific place and pull out several main ideas. I did this is by really zooming in on the details of a picture and questioning what those details them about the photo, the people, their life?

Active Engagement: Picture from A is for Africa, Jj page

Now it’s your turn! I want you to take a look at this picture I have on the board. You are going to read this photograph and pull out a few main ideas. You are going to do this by zooming in on the details of a picture and questioning what those details them about the photo, the people, and their life?

Jot down the details you are noticing and what they tell you about the photo, the people and their life. Turn and tell your partner what you are noticing.

(The combination active engagement allows the students to really own the strategy. It also allows the students to see that this information is worth writing about and talking about).

Highlight smart work:

Wow, I saw some smart reading work going on. The group back there really zoomed in on the details, they said they noticed people of all ages together, smiling, playing a game in the middle of the village.

One idea they had is that playing games and having fun is a part of living in the village. Another idea they had was that because they do not have much they use what they have to have fun.

Did you see what these readers did? That was such smart work. You really zoomed in on the details of the picture to pull out main ideas about the people and their life.

Link: So when we read non-fiction, we read the photographs so carefully that they are able to look at a photo of a specific place and pull out several main ideas. One way readers can do this is by really zooming in on the details of a picture and questioning what those details them about the photo, the people, their life. Off you go!

Minilesson 3-5

Teaching Point: Non-fiction readers read the pictures and the text together looking for a big connection. One way readers do this is by asking themselves “How do these pictures show what text is saying?”

Connection: Wow! Readers we have been doing so much smart reading work. We have been working on using the pictures and words in the text to create a picture of what we are reading.

You have learned a few strategies on how to do that.

Today, I am going to teach another way we can do this. One thing non-fiction readers can do to paint this picture is read the pictures and the text together looking for a big connection. One way readers do this is by asking themselves “How do these pictures show what they text is saying?”

Teaching: Whenever I read a book that has pictures, I always want to make a connection between the pictures and the written text. This helps me better understand what I am reading.

Readers, watch me as I read the pictures and the text together looking for a big connection. Notice that I do this by asking myself, “How do these pictures show what the text is saying?”

Read aloud: A is for Africa, “Ii is for Indigo, a blue powder from the Indigo plant that is used to dye clothes. A good way to dye cloth is to leave it soak in a mixture of powder and water in a very deep hole in the ground. Letting the cloth dry in the open air helps set the color.”

Hmm… How does this picture show what the text is saying? In this picture, I see the African men leaning over holes in the ground that contain the Indigo powder and water, like it said in the text and the men are working out in the open because the text stated that the air helps set the color.

Readers, did you see what I did? I read the pictures and the text together looking for a big connection. I did this by asking myself “How does this pictures show what they text is saying?” The pictures are the text to help us better understand the text. So when we read non-fiction, one thing we can do is read the pictures and the text together looking for a big connection. One way readers do this is by asking themselves “How do these pictures show what text is saying?”

Active Engagement: Now it’s your turn readers! (Teacher can pass out photocopy of the page or read it aloud to the students and hold it so the students can clearly see the picture) “Cc is for a Canoe to paddle down the river. Canoes are used for fishing and carrying goods to the market. People may visit their friends or take their children to school by canoe.”

So, now you are going to take a look at the paper I gave you. You are going to read picture and the text and look for the big connection, you are going to do this by asking yourself “How does the picture show what the text is saying?”, turn and talk to your partner about the connection between the pictures and the text.

Highlight smart reading work

Readers, I heard some of you doing such smart thinking and I heard you ask yourselves, “How does the picture show what the text is saying?”, then answered your question. This partnership over here said, the picture shows what the text is saying by showing us what a canoe looks like and it shows us how it carries adults and children to where they need to go, just like the text stated.

Did you see what they did? You did what non-fiction readers do. Non-fiction readers read the pictures and the text together looking for a big connection. One way readers do this is by asking themselves “How do these pictures show what text is saying?”

Link: So, readers whenever you read non-fiction, you can read the pictures and the text together looking for the big connection. One way we can do this is by asking ourselves, “How do the pictures show what the text is saying?” So readers, when you get back to your seats you are going to take out your book club book and get right to work, off you go!

Minilesson 4-1

Teaching Point: Non-fiction readers have a “wow” reaction to the pictures and the text, especially when they learn something they did not know. Readers can learn more about their topic by noticing when the text surprises them and asking themselves “Why does that surprise me?”

Connection: So, readers remember the other day when I was telling you about my trip to the zoo? Well when I was at the zoo, I not only looked at the pictures of the penguins, but as I was leaving I grabbed a brochure and read some information on penguins. I read this one part about how penguins sacrifice one penguin when its time to eat, they push a penguin in to see if there are any sea lions in the water, if it comes up then it is safe to go hunt for fish and if it doesn’t come up then it is definitely not safe. I was SHOCKED!! As I was reading, I said out loud, wow, I can not believe they do that, that poor penguin.

Well, just like I had a “wow” reaction to what the brochure said about penguins, non-fiction readers can have a “wow” reaction to the pictures and the text, especially when they learn something they did not know. Readers can learn more about their topic by noticing when the text surprises them and asking themselves “Why does that surprise me?”

Teaching: Readers, I want you to watch me as I read this section and have a “wow” reaction to the pictures and the text, especially when they learn something they did not know. Readers can learn more about their topic by noticing when the text surprises them and asking themselves “Why does that surprise me?”

Read aloud: Africa, page 6 , Weather. “Because Africa is on the Equator, it gets very hot. There are rain forests in Africa. The climate there is hot and rainy all year round. In some parts of Africa, the highest mountains are covered with snow and ice.”

Huh? What? Snow covered mountains? Why does that surprise me? I’m surprised because I knew Africa was hot and rainy but I didn’t think it was possible for it to be hot and have snow covered mountains.

Did you see how I read the text and looked at the picture and had a reaction to what the text stated and the picture showed. I also asked myself “Why does that surprise me?” One thing, non-fiction readers do when they read is have a “wow” reaction to the pictures and the text, especially when they learn something they did not know. Readers can learn more about their topic by noticing when the text surprises them and asking themselves “Why does that surprise me?”

Active Engagement: Readers, it’s your turn to try this! I want you to read the section to yourself as I read it aloud and pay attention to the picture as well. Remember, Non-fiction readers have a “wow” reaction to the pictures and the text, especially when they learn something they did not know. Readers can learn more about their topic by noticing when the text surprises them and asking themselves “Why does that surprise me?”

Languages. “There are over 800 different languages in Africa. In the 19^th century, many people from Europe came to live in Africa. Now, some Africans speak English or French. In North Africa, most people speak Arabic. This is because hundreds of years ago, Arabs from the Middle East moved to Africa. In southern Africa, most people speak one of the many Bantu languages. “

Give the students a few minutes to think re-read the section to themselves and look at the picture.

Turn and tell your partner, what part of the text made you have a “wow” reaction and why that part of the text/picture surprises you?

Highlight smart work

I heard this partnership up here say,” I had a reaction to the part that stated there are 800 different languages in Africa. This surprised me because I had no idea there were so many languages spoken in one place. I thought they spoke one or two different languages. ‘

Wow, did you see what they group just did? They had a reaction to the text when they learned something new and then they asked themselves “Why did that surprise me?”

Link: Readers, whenever we read non-fiction we can have a “wow” reaction to the pictures and the text, especially when we learn something we did not know. Readers can learn more about their topic by noticing when the text surprises them and asking themselves “Why does that surprise me?” Off you go!

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