PREFACE · Lesson 2: Caring for Your Dog 5 Writing Practice 8 2. Alive and Well (Reading for...

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P R E F A C E

Reading Strategies is a primary level series of six books which aims to introduce a range of comprehension strategies for young learners. It includes a writing component to reinforce the skills discussed and to provide opportunities for creative expression.

Each of the 12 units focuses on a different reading strategy: finding the main idea; reading for details; using contextual clues; sequencing; comparing and contrasting; summarizing; predicting; making inferences; identifying cause and effect; differentiating between fact and opinion; drawing conclusions; identifying author’s purpose and point of view. A total of six Review units have also been included to provide integrated practice of the strategies being revised.

Each unit is based on a broad topical theme for the purpose of contextualizing the presentation and practice. The text types range from information reports and narratives to descriptive articles and functional texts.

There is a Guide for Tutor/Parent accompanying the book in which brief notes detailing the various reading strategies and guidelines clarifying what students need to learn about each strategy are provided. In addition, there is an outline of the different components of each unit which explains clearly the approach adopted in the book.

It is hoped that Reading Strategies will continually engage the young learner in active learning and serve as an effective tool in the development of his or her reading skills.

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C O N T E N T S

Preface i

Guide for Tutor/Parent v

1. The World of Animals (Finding the Main Idea) Lesson 1: The Giraffe 1Lesson 2: Caring for Your Dog 5Writing Practice 8

2. Alive and Well (Reading for Details)Lesson 1: A Visit to the Doctor 10Lesson 2: Looking after Yourself 15Writing Practice 18

Review 1 Text: Autumn 20

3. People who Help (Using Contextual Clues)Lesson 1: An Act of Kindness 24Lesson 2: Protecting Your Home 29Writing Practice 32

4. Food and Drink (Finding the Sequence)Lesson 1: Making an Omelette 34Lesson 2: Orange Juice 38Writing Practice 41

Review 2 Text: Fun with Collage! 43

5. Play (Compare and Contrast)Lesson 1: Toys and Games 47Lesson 2: Two Friends 52Writing Practice 55

6. Plant Life (Summarizing)Lesson 1: Spreading Seeds 57Lesson 2: The Magic Seed 61Writing Practice 64


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Review 3 Text: Turtles and Tortoises 66

7. Stories (Predicting)Lesson 1: Billy’s Mistake 69Lesson 2: Happy Frog and Little Mouse 74Writing Practice 77

8. Trips and Outings (Making Inferences)Lesson 1: Preparing for a Holiday 79Lesson 2: A Holiday in Paris 84Writing Practice 87

Review 4 Text: Derrick has a Dream 89

9. Mother Nature (Cause and Effect)Lesson 1: Will There Always be Rainforests? 93Lesson 2: Neighbours in the Sky 97Writing Practice 100

10. Places (Fact and Opinion)Lesson 1: Parks 102Lesson 2: Adventure Land 106Writing Practice 109

Review 5 Text: Jenna’s Day 111

11. Sounds and Music (Drawing Conclusions)Lesson 1: The Music Machine 115Lesson 2: Music 120Writing Practice 123

12. Books (Author’s Purpose and Point of View) Lesson 1: Aesop’s Fables 125Lesson 2: Two Reviews 129Writing Practice 133

Review 6 Text: Octopuses 135

Answer Key 139


Guide For Tutor/Parent v

Guide ForTutor/Parent

A. OUTLINE OF EACH UNIT

Each unit of Reading Strategies includes the following sections:

Lesson 1

Introduction

Here, the target reading strategy is defined and briefly explained. It would be useful to provide a few examples to illustrate the strategy at this point. For instance, you could contrast fact with opinion or perhaps good summaries with poor summaries when you give examples.

Before the student reads the text, it would be helpful to introduce the topic in various engaging ways such as using pictures, video clips or newspaper articles.

As You Read

Whilst reading, the student is guided by questions on highlighted sentences or designated paragraphs that elicit his or her ideas about the passage. The student is encouraged to start thinking about the text and to actively build meaning by applying the target strategy.

Tutorial on the Target Reading Strategy

- Explanation

- Example

- Answer

In this section, the purpose of the strategy, the key elements and the steps of the strategy are described. There are tips and pointers on how to use the strategy to extract relevant ideas from the text.

Following that, the student has to attempt an example question. There are four choices given as possible answers. Direct the student to the key words in the phrasing and explain what information the question requires.


Primary 1 | Comprehension for Reading Strategiesvi

An explanation of the answer is then provided, with each alternative choice carefully considered. For some students, there is no further need for explanation at this point, especially if they have given the correct responses to the question. They can move on to the Practice exercise and attempt the questions on their own.

For other students, providing a direct and explicit explanation is key to developing an understanding of how to apply the strategy. Explain by modelling the thought processes involved in using the strategy in as clear and explicit a way as is possible.

Practice

This section contains the rest of the questions asked about the text. Guiding clues may be provided that help the students to apply the target strategy in answering the questions.

Go through the questions that the student answered incorrectly by asking why he or she picked the incorrect answer.

Lesson 2

Practice

A further comprehension practice based on a different text is found in this section. It would be a good idea to review the practice exercise with the student on a regular basis. Encourage the student to explain his or her own thinking for each correct answer.

Writing Practice

In this section, students are given the opportunity to list their ideas for the writing before they are required to begin work on their piece. In the brainstorming session, encourage students to expand and elaborate on their ideas.

A checklist gives useful tips and provides the student with reminders to edit his or her writing. Go through the checklist with the student.

B. EXPLANATORY NOTES ON TARGET READING STRATEGIES

Good readers use many strategies to construct meaning from the text. Strategies are plans or sets of steps that skilled readers take to reach an approximate understanding of the writer’s message. A discussion on each reading strategy emphasized in this book follows, with guidelines specifying what students are expected to understand about the strategy.


Guide For Tutor/Parent vii

Unit 1: Finding the Main Idea

The main idea is the most important point in a paragraph or text. It is the focus of the paragraph, or text. The main idea is sometimes contained in the topic sentence of a paragraph. The topic sentence is often the first sentence in the paragraph but sometimes it appears in the middle or end of the paragraph. In many texts however, the main idea is determined by thinking about and using the various pieces of information provided in the text or paragraph.

Students need to understand that authors have a purpose for writing, which is to convey what they think is important. Students should also realise that not every point in the text is equally important.

Unit 2: Reading for Details

Students are identifying details when they recall or search the text for specific information. Finding details involves either memory or scanning of the text for examples, facts or reasons. Questions that ask for specific details involve the factual level of thinking. Often, when a student fails to respond at a higher level, it is likely that detailed information in the text is not understood.

While the main idea is the writer’s central point in a text or paragraph, details are sentences that back up the main idea. To help you understand the main idea, the writer adds supporting details in the form of examples, clarified facts, proof or further explanation.

Unit 3: Using Contextual Clues

The term ‘context’ refers to the words that come before and/or after an unfamiliar word. Students need to use what they already know about the other words in the sentence to guess what the new word means.

Sometimes the writer provides direct definitions of the unfamiliar word or adds descriptive details to help the reader visualize the action in the story. Through these contextual clues, the student can unravel the meaning of the new word. Sometimes, the writer suggests a contrasting clue or gives antonyms (words that have an opposite meaning) to help the reader grasp a new concept he has introduced. Similarly, the writer’s use of synonyms (words that have similar meanings) is another contextual clue. The writer may also give examples to illustrate new ideas, providing useful contextual clues for the reader.

Students need to be given explicit instruction in using their prior knowledge about the clues to decipher the meaning of the unknown word.


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Unit 4: Finding the Sequence

In this unit, students are required to identify the order in which ideas or events occur in a text or steps in a process. It is also essential for the student to understand the relationship of one event or step to another event or step. Sequencing tasks may also refer to identifying the stages of development or phases of a cycle.

Students can practise sequencing by creating timelines that show the order of events in a story. Writing also provides opportunities for sharpening sequencing skills. Students can plan their writing by creating an outline or a graphic organizer before beginning the composition. This allows students to think about the sequence of events in the story they want to tell or the most logical order in which to present the information in a report or expository composition.

Unit 5: Compare and Contrast

The strategy of comparing and contrasting builds understanding of similarities and differences between events, people and ideas. Students can look for signal words such as also, like, both, same, similarly, yet, although and instead and use these clues to determine what things have in common or how they differ.

When signal words are not present in the text, students should watch for descriptive details to infer similarities or differences. A compare and contrast chart is an effective study aid that serves the purpose of sorting out what is similar or different between two entities.

Unit 6: Summarizing

Summarizing teaches students how to determine the key ideas in a text, how to filter out less important or repetitious details and how to combine the central ideas in a meaningful way. Students should read the text to determine the main ideas, connect these ideas, then identify the crucial details that support the main ideas, ignoring the irrelevant or unnecessary information.

Underlining the key words or phrases may be helpful in establishing the main points in the text or paragraph. It is also useful to remind the students when they are summarizing, that some information in the text is more important than other information. In summarizing a story, the concepts of ‘beginning’, ‘middle’ and ‘end’ need to be highlighted to students.

Unit 7: Predicting

Good readers predict what they think will be revealed next in the text and confirm or adjust their predictions as they read. Students need to locate topic clues or text details the writer provides and use their prior knowledge to anticipate the information or events in a text.


Guide For Tutor/Parent ix

It should be emphasized to students that predicting is not making a wild guess, but rather it is forming a thoughtful hypothesis based on information found in the text.

Unit 8: Making Inferences

To make an inference, readers must use the clues the writer supplies and their own background knowledge to deduce the meaning the writer implies but does not state explicitly. Student must understand what is meant by ‘reading between the lines’ and the fact that writers often leave information unstated, requiring the reader to discover the meanings and ideas the writer has implied.

Students can underline the key words and make inferences based on the key words, drawing on their own experience regarding these clues to form interpretations or make critical judgements. They should be able to describe the thinking they used to derive their inferences. Students need to keep in mind that they can change or modify their inferences as they read.

Unit 9: Cause and Effect

Cause and effect refers to the relationships between two things where one happens as a result of the other. Some words indicating causal relationships include because, so, consequently, since, thus, and therefore.

Students should bear in mind that the cause and effect relationship will not always be obvious to the reader. Also, one effect can be due to several causes and one cause may lead to several effects.

Graphic organizers such as cause-and-effect chains, flow charts and feedback loops can be employed to help students think about complex cause-and-effect relationships.

Unit 10: Fact and Opinion

Facts are statements that can be verified and proven to be true. Opinions are statements based on a person’s beliefs or views. While facts are backed up by other information, opinions cannot be verified or checked. Many texts consist of a mixture of fact and opinion.

Students must read with a questioning mind to distinguish facts from opinions in a piece. Since opinions represent the views of the author, they should be examined carefully by the reader who does not necessarily have to accept them.


Primary 1 | Comprehension for Reading Strategiesx

Unit 11: Drawing Conclusions

Drawing conclusions is a reading strategy that is normally applied after reading a text. When readers draw a conclusion, they think about details and facts in the text and figure out something that is not directly stated in the text.

Asking leading questions will help students determine what the author wants them to be thinking about in that particular section of the text. Students respond by formulating ideas which must be based on information from the reading material.

Instead of waiting passively to be told the meaning, students must be proactive and assertive in creating meaning from the text.

Unit 12: Author’s Purpose and Point of view

Author’s purpose refers to the reason why an author writes a piece. In a non-fiction type of writing, the purpose of the writer may be to inform, explain, give directions, illustrate or record information. Alternatively, the writer’s purpose may be to persuade by expressing an opinion to change the way readers think about a topic or issue. Stories are usually written with the purpose to amuse or entertain, or otherwise to illustrate a theme.

Writers may have more than one purpose for writing a piece. The writer may state his purpose for writing explicitly or readers may have to try to figure out the purpose. Students need to be able to draw on the details or ideas in the text to support their conclusions about the author’s purpose.

By author’s viewpoint is meant the opinions of the writer about the topic or ideas discussed in the reading. The words or phrases the writer uses to present the information shows his or her views or strong feelings as regards the subject discussed in the text.


Unit 1 | The World of Animals 1

The World of Animals(Strategy: Finding the Main Idea)

UNIT

1L E S S O N 1

The Giraffe

The main idea is what the whole text is mostly about. Often, the title will tell the main idea of the text.

Title of text: The Giraffe

Main idea: All about the giraffe

Main Idea in a text


Primary 1 | Comprehension for Reading Strategies2

Text type: Report

Read the passage. Think about the questions in As You Read.The giraffe is the tallest animal in the world. Giraffes can grow up to 6 metres tall.

A giraffe has a very long neck, four long legs and spotted patterns on its body. It has two to four, short blunt horns on its head. The horns protect the giraffe’s head in fights with other animals. The spotted coats of giraffes are never exactly alike.

Although a giraffe’s neck is nearly two metres long, there are only seven bones along it. Surprisingly, we have the same number of bones on our neck!

The tongue of a giraffe is very long – about 46 centimetres. It is dark blue in colour.

Giraffes are found in central, eastern and southern Africa. They live on the savannah grasslands, which are vast plains of grass with a few trees and rocks.

As they have long necks, giraffes can reach for the leaves on tall trees. They are plant eaters, or herbivores.

Do you know that a giraffe usually stands up when it sleeps? If they slept lying down, it would take them too long to get up when a predator or enemy comes near.

Paragraph 3

1. What is the surprising fact about the giraffe? (This is the main idea of the paragraph).

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Paragraph 6

2. Which sentence tells you the main idea of this paragraph?

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If you try to work out the main idea of the text, you will have a better understanding of it. Each paragraph in a text has a main idea. So, there are many main ideas in a text. But, there is one central idea running through the whole text. In the text above, we know that the central idea is facts about the giraffe. The text gives us information about giraffes.

Tutorial for Finding the Main Idea

1. Paragraph 2 is about _______________.

(a) the uses of the horns on the head(b) the different spotted coats of giraffes(c) the giraffe’s long neck(d) the physical appearance of the giraffe

The best answer is _______________.

The question is asking about the main idea of paragraph 2.

In the paragraph, there is information about the giraffe’s neck, legs and spotted body in the paragraph. The horns on its head are also mentioned. The writer talks about many parts of the giraffe. The whole paragraph gives a picture of what the giraffe looks like. So, the correct answer is (d).

Choices (a), (b) and (c) are details about parts of the giraffe.



Practice

Refer to the text ‘The Giraffe’. Choose the best answer and write its letter in the brackets.

1. Paragraph 1 tells us that _______________.

(a) giraffes are large animals(b) there are many tall animals in the world(c) giraffes can be 6 metres tall(d) giraffes are one of the tallest animals in the world [ ]

2. The main idea in Paragraph 5 is that _______________.

(a) giraffes feed on grass(b) giraffes live in Africa(c) the savannah grasslands are vast plains(d) you can find giraffes in central Africa [ ]

3. Paragraph 7 tell us that _______________.

(a) giraffes are too slow to run away from their enemies(b) giraffes sleep standing up(c) the predators are enemies of the giraffe(d) it takes a long time for a giraffe to stand up [ ]

4. Paragraph 4 is mainly about the _______________.

(a) the giraffe(b) the colour of the giraffe’s tongue(c) the giraffe’s tongue(d) the height of the giraffe [ ]



L E S S O N 2

Caring for Your Dog

Text Type: Explanation

Read the passage. Then answer the questions that follow.You have just brought your first dog or puppy home. As a proud owner, you want to take good care of your pet. So, how do you keep it clean, healthy and happy?

You need to buy certain supplies for your dog. Get some dog food, bowls for food and water, and a dog bed for your pet. Other things you need are a brush, a collar, an ID tag and a leash.

If you have a growing puppy, feed it three times a day. But most adult dogs eat only twice a day. Remember to give your pet lots of fresh water.

Use dog shampoo when you give your dog a bath. Keep its toenails trim and check your dog’s ears and teeth. A clean dog is a healthy and happy one.

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Dogs should visit a veterinarian once a year for a check-up. The vet will give your dog the shots that it needs to stay healthy.

You need to train your dog so it will behave and be safe. Take time to teach your dog well. Your dog has to learn to sit, lie down, walk on a leash, and come to you.

Take your dog out for fresh air and exercise. In this way, your dog will stay fit and trim.

And remember, give your pet lots of love!

Practice

Choose the best answer and write its letter in the brackets.

1. Paragraph 1 tells you _______________.

(a) to get a dog(b) about becoming a dog owner(c) it is important to look after your dog well(d) about having your first puppy

2. In Paragraph 2, the writer talks about _______________. [ ]

(a) the things a dog owner needs to buy(b) getting a dog bed(c) how to get an ID card for the dog(d) buying a leash [ ]

3. You learn about _______________ in Paragraph 3.

(a) how many meals adult dogs have in a day(b) feeding the dog(c) the need for a dog to drink water(d) how often growing puppies eat [ ]

4. The main idea of Paragraph 7 is that dogs _______________.

(a) also need to keep in shape(b) need fresh air(c) should go to the park(d) do exercises regularly [ ]

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5. Choose the statement that tells the main idea of Paragraph 6.

(a) Train the dog for its own good.(b) Teach the dog new tricks every day.(c) Teach the dog to walk on a leash.(d) Take your time in teaching the dog. [ ]

Write your answers on the lines provided.

6. Which paragraph tells about taking your dog to the doctor?

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7. Express in your own words the main idea of Paragraph 8.

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8. Which paragraph gives advice about cleaning the dog?

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Writing Practice

Getting Ready to Write

Think about your last visit to the zoo. Make notes on the following ideas in the table.

When did you go?

How did you go? With who? What

happened?

What did you think of the

visit?

Start Writing!

Look at the picture below and write a composition on ‘A Day at the Zoo’. You may use the helping words and phrases given in the box.

majestic lions camera filled with excitement

interesting animals enclosures captivated


Unit 1 | Writing Practice 9

A Day at the Zoo

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CH E C K L I S T

Use the past tense e.g. visited, saw Include words that describe the animals at the zoo

e.g. huge, fierce. Check your spelling of the animal names.


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