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The Art of Reading Beautifully

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Artwork by David Kracov
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Children first must understand that words are made up of different sounds, then associate sounds with written words, and finally they can decode words and read groups of words.





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Reading and Comprehension

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You are here for reading intervention.  It is my intention to give you instruction to help you become a stronger reader. 
In the beginning you may be nervous or frightened, but  after you   get some training you will become more comfortable and you'll read more fluently and confidently
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Your eyes will sparkle and your face will brighten because you will recognize that reading is amazingly wonderful and beautiful. You will learn that reading begins with decoding the structure of letters and the sounds they make. It won't take you long to see patterns in words and meaning in sentences, paragraphs and stories. Here you will learn how to de.con.struct and reconstruct big words, short words. and ri.di.cu.lous.ly long words. As you figure out the code there is no doubt that your comprehension will astound you as words surround you with their power and beauty.

Throughout this special reading adventure, words you thought you never knew will become as soft as cookie dough as you attack them and chew them into bits and pieces. Yes! your words will morph into little edible syllables (syl. la. bles). 

You just have to believe that you are tough enough to work harder, and aim higher. 
It is crucial that you know that you can achieve whatever you believe.
Words are not strangers they are now your favorite new friends. They help you stretch your imagination and will aid you in writing strong compositions. 
When your hard work here is done, you will be in a better position to attend an institution of higher education.



Teacher Tips: Click Here for Word Attack strategies


Never give up on learning to read.
 You can read and you can read well.
Yes you can!  P.A.
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Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire
~ William Butler Yeats

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Remember to approach your article or story as though you are unwrapping a gift. 

U N W R A P' D

Unwrap is one of our favorite reading and comprehension test taking strategies. .  Every time you read, you activate and add to your schema. 
You are learning something new.

U -  Underline title, pictures, captions -  make note of genre, make a prediction
N -  Number your paragraphs,  
W - Walk through the questions before reading
R -  Read story at least 2 times or until you understand 
A -  Annotate as you read - stop and make a jot note after each paragraph
P -  Prove your answers - Note the paragraph # where you found answer e.g.  P.2
D -   Do consult your Dictionary for unfamiliar words

Reading with comprehension means actively deconstructing and unpacking the story bit by bit to reveal the wonderful gift of knowledge.
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Comprehension StrategiesClick Here for reading Tips powerpoint


Monitor Comprehension
Activate and Connect
Ask Questions
Inferencing
Determine Importance
Summarize and Synthesize

Monitor Comprehension

Listen to your inner conversation as you read
Notice when you lose your way
Concentrate and slow down your reading
Make jot notes as you read

Activate and Connect

Pay attention to text features such as titles, subheadings, graphics, charts, illustrations
Make a connection with your background knowledge about the topic

Ask Questions

Read with your questions in mind.
Try to find answers to your questions as you read the text. Look forward to adding new knowledge to your existing schema

Inferencing

Use context clues to figure out unfamiliar words.
 Use clues from the text to figure out the meaning of poetry. When the author does not give explicit answers in a reading selection the reader must search for clues. Use  text + schema to figure out answers.

Determine Importance

Read the title and first paragraph carefully. Determine what the author's perspective and purpose is. Figure out what is important information in each paragraph. Make jot notes or highlight important info.

Summarize and Synthesize

Read, Write, Think and Reflect. Reread text and try to paraphrase (put in your own words) what the text is saying. Try to capture the GIST of what the author is saying and write a short summary. The summary should capture what the whole story is all about.

Multiple Choice Test Taking Tips


Step1

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Read each question carefully before you try to answer it

Step 2

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Be sure you know what the question is asking you to do.

Step 3

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Cross out obviously wrong answers.Then reread paragraph or section to help you choose best answer.

Step 4

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Read the question again and prove your answer with evidence from the text.


Root Words and Affixes

Root Word or Base Word - This is a basic word to which affixes (prefixes and suffixes) are added. It is called a root word because it forms the basis of a new word. The root word is also a word in its own right. For example, the word careless consists of the word  care and the suffix -less


Sometimes the root is the basis of a new word, but it does not necessarily form a stand-alone word on its own. The root of word may have a Latin or Greek Origin

Analyzing the different parts of a word is a good comprehension strategy. When affixes are added to the beginning of roots or root words, they are called prefixes. When affixes are added to the end of roots or root words, they are called suffixes.

Click Here for Root Word game

See below for examples of Root Words and Affixes 
Click on Underlined Titles for an extended list

Latin Root

 ambi
 aqua
 cent

 Example word

ambidextrous
aquarium
century

Greek Root

nym
therm
morph

Example word

antonym
thermometer
morphology

Prefix

- pre
- mis
- multi

Example word

prekindergarten
misunderstand
multicultural

Suffix

-tion
-tious
-ible

   Example Word

instruction
infectious
sensible

The most common prefix is un-, which means not or opposite of. If you add un- to the word happy, the new word becomes unhappy, which means not happy

The most common suffixes are -s and -es, which mean more than one (or the plural) of the word. 
Adding -es to wish, changes the meaning o the word to more than one wish.


Genre Study

The term 'genre' is a french word meaning ' type or kind of literary category 
Examples of Literary Genres

Fiction
Non Fiction
Drama
Poetry


 Genre Power Point and Quiz 

Please Click below for Power point and Genre quiz 

Genre Powerpoint

Genre Quiz


PIE



Author's Purpose


Persuade
Inform
Entertain

Author's Purpose and Position

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Good readers try to Determine the author's purpose for writing a text. 
Stories, plays, movies have the purpose of entertaining the reader. 
Non fiction texts such as biographies, brochures, manuals are written to inform the reader.
A speech, advertisement or editorial are examples of Persuasive texts


Click below for powerpoint and Author's purpose quiz
Powerpoint
Author's Purpose Quiz



Rhetorical Fallacies and Media Literacy


Rhetoric -  art of using language persuasively

Fallacy - an argument based on bad logic

Non sequitir - a conclusion that does not really follow from a fact or idea

Caricature - exaggerates the traits of a person or idea Most caricatures have a bit of truth to make the argument sound more convincing

Emotional fallacies
- evoke negative feelings

Leading Question - A leading question tries to lead a person to give a specific answer. 

Persuasive Texts 

Persuasive texts are written to convince the reader of something.

The author's position is how an author views a subject (their opinion)



A skillful reader will try to find out what an author's perspective is. 

An author may use cause and effect to get the reader to agree.
Sometimes readers have to be careful about accepting the author's perspective. Author's may use supporting arguments that contain contradiction (making two statements that cant be true) or exaggeration 
 (making things seem bigger than they really are). 





Poetry


Poetry Vocabulary Words To Know

Rhyme Scheme - click here
Meter
Stanza
Couplet
Poetic Form
Poetic device

Enjambment

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Poetic Forms and Definitions 

There are many different forms of poetry.
Poetic forms are determined partly by their length, and partially by the patterns of rhyme and meter

Ballad - Ballad Poems tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain. A ballad is often about love and often sung. A ballad is a story in poetic form.

Elegy - Mourns a death, varying lengths, sad. For example: An African Elegy by Ben Okri 

Ode - Addresses the subject of the poem, uses lofty language. Example Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats

Lyric - expresses poets feelings, short stanzas, rhyming


Sonnet - 14 lines, often about love, ends in rhyming couplet 


Epic -  Long, serious poems that tells the story of a heroic figure. Some of the most famous epic poems are the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer and the epic poem of The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882 )

Use these definitions to identify the poetic forms 
used for the poems below. You should also try to identify the rhyming schemes and examples of poetic devices such as imagery, personification, similes, metaphors and alliteration embedded in each poem below.

Literary Elements 
and 
Poetic Devices

Imagery  and sensory details -
 create pictures in the mind 

Figurative Language - click here
makes comparisons
Simile
Metaphor
Personification

Sound Effects
rhyming words
repeated sounds
onomatopoeia

alliteration

Click below for Poetic devices power point 

Poetic Devices Powerpoint

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Great poetry resource book

She's Somewhere 
by Richard Gallienne

She’s somewhere in the sunlight strong, 
 Her tears are in the falling rain, 
She calls me in the wind’s soft song,
 And with the flowers she comes again. 
 

Yon bird is but her messenger, 
 The moon is but her silver car; 
Yea! Sun and moon are sent by her, 
 And every wistful, waiting star.






The Mermaid 
by Author Unknown

'Twas Friday morn when we set sail, 
And we had not got far from land, 
When the Captain, he spied a lovely mermaid, 
With a comb and a glass in her hand.
 
Oh the ocean waves may roll, 
And the stormy winds may blow, 
While we poor sailors go skipping aloft 
And the land lubbers lay down below, below, below 
And the land lubbers lay down below.
 

Then up spoke the Captain of our gallant ship, 
And a jolly old Captain was he; 
"I have a wife in Salem town, 
But tonight a widow she will be."

 Sonnet XVIII 
by William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
   So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

A Song in Spring
by Thomas S. Jones

O Little buds all burgeoning with Spring
You hold my winter in forgetfulness
Without my window lilac branches swing
Within my gate I hear a robin sing
O little laughing blooms that lift and bless!

So blow the breezes in a soft caress
Blowing my dreams upon a swallow's wing
O Little merrt buds in dappled dress,
You fill my heart with very wantonness -
O little buds all burgeoning with spring


Point of View in Literary Works



Point of View or perspective of the narrator -  the reader determines the relationship between the person telling the story (the narrator) and the agents referred to by the story teller (the characters).


Click here for definitions of point of view terminology

Point of View Vocabulary Terms

first-person
second-person 
third-person
 third-person objective 
third-person limited 
 third-person omniscient 


Click below for powerpoint and review


Point of View power point
Point of View Quiz

Story Structure

Narrative structure consists of the traditional parts of a story and the order in which the reader encounters them; these provide a framework for the unfolding of the story. Often represented visually as a triangle, these parts consist of exposition or beginning, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution or denouement. 

Click below for powerpoints
Story Structure Lesson
Story Sample
Graphic Organizer of Story Pyramid

Story Structure Vocabulary



Exposition
Inciting Incident
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Moment of Final Suspense
Resolution or Denouement



Click here for Powerpoint

More Story Structure
Terms to know


Plot
Theme
Setting
Protagonist
Antagonist
Conflict

Character






Dramatic Elements Vocabulary


Stage directions
Script
Playwright
Props
Soliloquy
Dramatic irony



The word Drama comes from Greek verb dran 
which means 'to act'  or 'to do 

Irony

Irony Vocabulary Terms to know


Verbal irony
Situational irony
Dramatic irony



Click below for powerpoint on the Types of Irony
Irony Powerpoint

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What is Irony?

A simple definition for irony:
  Irony usually signals a difference between the appearance of things and reality.

A man who is a traffic cop gets his license suspended for unpaid parking tickets

Romeo finds Juliet in a drugged state and he thinks she is dead. He kills himself. When Juliet wakes up she finds Romeo dead and kills herself.



The Titanic was promoted as being 100% unsinkable; but, in 1912 the ship sank on its maiden voyage.


Summarization

Summarization is often a difficult task for some students. However it may not be so daunting if you approach it as a fun activity. 
Challenge yourself to capture the most important points in as few as 3 or 4 sentences. 
Pretend you need the most crucial key points from the article to unlock a box of Golden Treasure 

For the main idea you can challenge yourself to capture the most important points in as few as 6 words.


Before you try writing another summary, try writing a 6 word memoir for your own life ( Just making a random list of words does not count!)
                            


                         Paragraph SUMMARIZATION FRAMES

If the main idea of the paragraph is description/definition, use the frame:
‘’A _____ is a kind of _____ that _____."

If the main idea of the paragraph is problem/solution, use the frame
" _____ wanted _____ but ______ so _____ ."

If the main idea of the paragraph is compare/contrast, use the frame
 "X and Y are similar in that they both _____, but X _____, while Y _____ .",

If the main idea of the paragraph is sequence use the frame
 "_____ begins with _____ , continues with _____ and ends with _____ ."

If the main idea of the paragraph is cause/effect, use the frame
 " _____ happens because _____ ."



Click here for Comprehension passages to help you practice your summarization skills


7th & 8th Grade Vocabulary Words

 Vocabulary Vine   
Nourish My Mind

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Click picture 
for 
8th Grade
Vocabulary Words

    5th Grade Vocabulary Words

Vocabulary Vine 

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Click
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for 
5th 
Grade 
Vocabulary 
Words

4th Grade Vocabulary Words

Vocabulary Vine 

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Click 
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for 
4th Grade Vocabulary Words

Vocabulary practice is essential to becoming an excellent reader and writer. Here are some additional resources for extending your vocabulary.


Grade 3 Sample STAAR Reading Questions

Grade 4 Sample STAAR Reading Questions

Grade 5 Sample Staar Reading Questions

Grade 6 Sample STAAR Reading Questions

Grade 8 Sample Staar Reading Questions


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