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Lesson
8-1
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Lesson: Adding a Piece to Harry's Brain
==> Yesterday as we were reading I noticed that you were full of questions. There were things in the story you weren't
quite sure about and your brain started popping with questions.
==> Today we'll be adding a new puzzle piece to Harry's brain. The new strategy is called questioning. It's a fun
one! One of the things strong readers do is to wonder and question.
==> I'm going to show you what it looks like when a reader questions. As I read I'm going to pause to share my thinking
with you. Your job today is to watch closely. Be a reading detective and then we'll talk about what you noticed.
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Lesson
8-2
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Lesson: Readers Ask Questions/Stretch lesson over several days
==> Questions bubble over in our heads
==> Use baking soda and vinegar to show how questions bubble over in our minds. Put baking soda in the bottom of a
clear container. Explain that you are putting in the words. Next we are going to see what happens when we mix the "words"
with our thinking (the vinegar is your thinking). Mix the two together and it will bubble over.
==> When we mix the words and our thinking it's like a volcano of questions come bubbling out.
==> It's like a bubble bath of questions in our heads.
==> We are going to read a very powerful story today. As we read we are going to pause to let the questions bubble
out.
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Lesson
8-3
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Lesson: Reader's question before, during and after reading
==> Bring a food that the children have most likely never seen or tasted. A Mexican market or Chinese market is a
good place to start. (You can find jicama, which most kids have not eaten before, at most regular grocery stores as well)
==> Show the children the food and ask them what they are thinking. Record their thinking/questions on chart paper.
==> Wow, look at this, we haven't even tasted this food yet and you are already full of questions... just like when
a reader picks up a book for the first time.
==> Have you noticed that often when you pick up a book you mind starts to wonder before you even open the book?
==> Look at the cover of this book. What are you thinking as you look at it?
==> Why do you suppose a reader would question before reading?
==> Would you like to try a bit of this new food? Allow kids to sample. Do you have any new questions now as you
are tasting this food?
==> Readers have questions come up during reading too.
==> Let's read this book now and see if we have more questions as we read.
==> After reading talk about what's been going on in our head before, during and after reading. Sometimes questions
linger in our heads even after we have closed a book. We think about them, ponder them, talk about them and search for answers.
==> Readers question before, during and after reading because it helps us understand and connect to the story.
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Lesson
8-4
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Lesson: Readers Ask Questions: thick and thin questions
==> Read The Whale's Song
==> Take out the water bottle- Tell the children to watch as you pour some water on the white board. Ask them what
happened. (it ran down really fast)
==> Take out the glue bottle- squeeze a little on the board and watch what happens- it slides down very slowly.
==> Discuss the difference between the two liquids- drawing attention to the fact that one was thin and one was thick.
Label the two columns on the board thick and thin above where the liquids ran.
==> Explain to kids that this reminds you of questions. Some questions that people ask are really thin. They pop
in your head and then race right on out. They don't require you to think much. For example, if I ask what did the grandma
give the whale the answer is right there in the text. Who knows the answer? Yes, she gave the whale a shell. Now the question
is answered. There is nothing really left to say.
==> Some questions are really thick though and they stick around in your head a long time allowing you to think a lot.
For example, if I asked why the grandma chose a shell the answer is not right there in the text. We have to think about
it, wonder, and come up with an answer in our head. Have several kids give a reason why they think grandma chose a shell.
==> Notice how much longer it took to answer the second question. It was a thick question. Strong readers ask thick
questions.
==> Now let's think about the Whale's Song; what questions do you have?
==> Write the questions on the board.
==> After several questions have children help you decide which ones were thick and which ones were thin. Put an asterisk
by the ones that were thick.
==> Send children off to read on their own. Remind them that strong readers ask thick questions. Have them record
some of their questions on post it notes as they read (to share during sharing circle).
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Lesson
8-5
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Lesson: Baking cookies/ Wet out appetite
==> Sometimes you go to the store and you buy a box of cookies. You can eat them right away.
==> Some of the best cookie though are the ones that are made from scratch. You have to buy the ingredients, measure
them, mix them up, spoon them out and bake them. It takes a while before you can eat them.
==> A good book is a lot like home made cookies. The author gives you bits and pieces of information, one by one,
like ingredients in a cookie recipe. You have to take those ingredients and put them together before you can answer your
questions.
==> The author might give you a bit of information and your mind starts to bubble with questions. And then she gives
you a little bit more... and a little bit more... and then your head bubbles some more with questions.
==> If the author gives us instant answers to all our questions (like just taking a cookie out of a box) it takes the
thinking out of the story. The best stories are the ones that keep you thinking throughout the story.
==> As we read the author wets our appetite. Think about the times that you have smelled homemade cookies baking?
What happens to your mouth? You start to salivate, your stomach starts telling you that it's hungry. Oh the smell makes
you want cookies so bad. That's what authors do with their words. They wet our appetite for more, filling out head with
questions, we can't wait to find out more.
==> And in the end you feel like you've just eaten the best chocolate chip cookie ever.
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Lesson
8-6
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Lesson: What in the world is THAT?
==> I brought something really special in today. Take a peek. (I use a 25 foot snake skin) Be sure to use something
that is going to spur many questions.
==> Let's write down some of your questions on this chart paper. Later on, if you have more questions you can add
them to the chart.
==> I'm not going to give you all the answers right now. I'm going to leave you wondering. I will tell you a little
bit more later today.
==> Sometimes authors string us along. They fill our minds with questions along the way, just like showing you this
snake skin filled your minds with questions. And then they leaving us wanting more so that we keep reading.
==> As you read today I want you to think about what the author is doing. Is she giving you little pieces of information,
leaving you wanting to search out answers?
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Lesson
8-7
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Lesson: Questioning helps us understand new things
==> Remember how we all have different schema because we've had different experiences?
==> Sometimes when we read we encounter things for which we don't have schema. Questioning helps us take the new information
we are being given and make sense of it.
==> The story we are going to read today is most likely a book for which you will gain new schema. As we read you will
probably have a lot of questions. It might stir your emotions/feelings. (This story is a powerful story about homeless
families.)
==> As we talk about your questions it will help you sort out your feelings and your new schema.
==> Questioning can be a very powerful learning tool to the reader.
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Lesson
8-8
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Lesson: Reader's Question to Clarify Confusion
How many of you know what fog is? A thick
fog can make it hard to see. In really bad fog drivers often have to get off the road.
Rub
some vaseline on a mirror. It will make it hard to see your reflection. Show the kids and explain that this happens
in our brains when we are reading sometimes.
Sometimes when we read suddenly we feel like
we are in a fog. We can't see where the story is going. We can't understand some things.
When
this happens we need to stop and ask questions. Questions can help clear things up... take the fog out of our brains.
We call this clarifying.
Sometimes we need to talk about our questions with other readers
and they can help us clear our thinking. Sometimes we will need to seek out answers to our questions either through
a dictionary or some other resource.
It's important to ask questions and get answers when
we find ourselves in a reading fog.
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Lesson
8-9
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Lesson: Sometimes when we read it leaves our mind wondering
Authors sometimes write about deep things. We've read some really deep stories recently.
Often
after reading deep stories like this we find ourselves wondering about things.. we call this pondering.
Pondering
happens when a book digs deep at our heart and fills it with questions. Sometimes those questions cause us to change
our thinking. Sometimes they cause us to want to go out and change the world. Sometimes they challenge us to even
deeper thinking.
These kinds of questions in our head aren't answered in the story. They
are answered in our heart as we ponder our own past thinking, our new thinking and put them together to find answers to the
deep questions that have surfaced as we read.
Take some time to talk about some of the deep
questions that have arisen as we've read.
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Back to reader's workshop mini-lessons
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