Thinking and Reading Strategies

For the Environmental Educator

Mark Weakland

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www.MarkWeaklandLiteracy.com

Strategies and Activities

Anticipation guide

I See, I Think, I Wonder

Questioning and Answering

Vocabulary Word Sorts and Summary

Written Summary

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Anticipation Guide

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Anticipation Guides

• Activate prior knowledge

• Set a purpose for learning

• Stimulate a student’s curiosity in a topic

• Develop a student’s ability to respond to a text or

a conversation

• Allow the teacher to gather formative assessment

data on prior knowledge.

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Anticipation guides• First: read statements and mark guide

– Individual

– With a partner

– In small groups

• Next: learn, read, experience

• Last: read statements and revise guide

– During learning, reading, experiencing

– After…

– Individual, with a partner, in small grp, w/large group6

Anticipation Guides

Teacher made

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Anticipation Guides

Student made

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I See, I Think, I Wonder

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IS – IT – IW

• Activates prior knowledge

• Stimulates a student’s curiosity in a topic

• Develops observation skills

• Develops communication skills

• Allows the teacher to gather formative

assessment data on prior knowledge.

• Leads to questioning!

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I See, I Think, I Wonder

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Ask and Answer Questions

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Asking and Answering Questions

• Good readers do this. Life long learners do this.

• The heart of science

• Critically important for comprehension

• Question and Answer Relationship / Close

Reading

• Thin and Thick Questions – a great place to start!

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Vocabulary

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Building Vocabulary

• Readers must know the meanings for

most of the words in a text so they can

understand what they read

• When they know the meanings of most

words they hear, listeners can better

understand a conversation18

Build Vocabulary By…

• Talking

• Read, read, read!

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Good: single words Sphere

Better: connected words

• evaporate

• condense

• precipitate

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The Water Cycle Song

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Evaporation,Condensation,

Precipitation all the time!

This is called the water cycleAnd it happens all the time.

Vocabulary Riddle

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I live in far off AustraliaAlong river banks muddy and greenAlthough you may have seen the most amazing sightsI’m the strangest sight you’ve ever seen

My warm blood makes me a mammalSo does my brown silky furBut I swim like a fish and lay eggs like a birdConfusing you say? I concur!

A Platypus!

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I am a platypus, I am a platypusWith a bill instead of a noseLike a strange looking otter I swim in the waterWith webbing between each of my toes

I am a platypus, I am a platypusI have four stout little legsI am a mammal, just like a camel,But my children all hatch from an egg

• pinnate

• palmate

• heartwood

• sapwood

• cambium

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leaves

bark

roots

lobed

compound

Comprehension

• The ultimate goal

– Understand both fiction and informational [texts]

– Understand and remember [what is read]

– Relate knowledge and experiences[ to the text]

– Communicate with others [about what is read]

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Increase comprehension with a…

• Verbal summary

• Written summary

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• Questions?

• Answers!

• A final song

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Mark Weakland Literacy Practical literacy solutions for teachers and administrators Children’s books that inspire kids to be readers

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www.markweaklandliteracy.com

mark@markweaklandliteracy.com