Teacher's Resource - Nelson Education

Teacher Modelling
Transparency 6
Use Transparency 6: Hello from
P.E.I. and its related teacher notes in
Transparencies for Teacher Modelling to
model how readers use visualizing.
Before
VISUALIZING A FOREST
1. Direct students’ attention to the
forest habitat shown in Let’s Talk
(Student Book pages 42 and 43).
Tell them you will describe a
scene inside this forest.
2. Have students imagine they are
hiking through the forest. Say:
• In front of you is a path into
the forest. There are small
twigs and leaves on the path.
The twigs snap as you walk on
them. You see galls and
funguses growing on some
trees. Leaves rustle in the wind.
Birds chirp in the trees. You
hear a rustling sound. You see
a salamander darting over a
fallen tree. You look more
closely and see some
centipedes and sowbugs
crawling on a fallen tree.
3. Tell students that making
pictures in their minds while
they listen to words being read
aloud helps them to understand
what they are hearing. Ask:
• What pictures did you make in
your mind
• Were there any words you had
a hard time visualizing
Point out that if students have a
hard time visualizing, it might
be because they don’t
understand one or more of the
words used. Clarify any
unknown words with students.
Point out that they can also
make pictures in their minds
while they read to themselves to
help them understand what they
are reading.
Understanding
reading
strategies
Visualizing
Making pictures
in your mind, or
visualizing, while
you read can help
you understand
what you read.
Informational
writers often give
you details to
help you make
clear pictures in
your mind.
44
Add to the picture
in your mind when
you get more
information. Stop
to visualize what is
happening in this
busy sentence!
Look for words
that help you make
pictures in your
mind. Visualize the
beetles making
tunnels. Now
visualize water
seeping in.
Habitats and Communities
springtails
Many creatures live
among the fallen leaves.
You can see some of them
roundworms
under a magnifying glass.
Bacteria and most protists
are invisible except
under a microscope.
Vocabulary
mites
Written by Donald M. Silver
Illustrated by Allan and Deborah Drew-Brook-Cormack
There’s a dead tree in the forest. It has been lying on
the forest floor for years. And yet … it’s too alive for
any nature detective to ignore. Dead and alive It’s one
mystery that’s easy to solve!
As soon as the tree fell, beetles began to tunnel
under the bark. Water seeped in. Funguses and bacteria
invaded and started to soften and break down the
wood inside.
Look at the tree now. It is riddled with tunnels and
full of cracks. Ants and termites nest within. Mosses and
mushrooms grow from it. The tree is alive with snails
and sowbugs, salamanders, spiders, and centipedes—
making their living feeding, hunting, and hiding.
protists
bacteria
bristletails
bacteria one-celled micro-organisms
centipedes insects with long, flat bodies and many pairs of legs
fertile able to produce
funguses living things that live on other organic matter
galls growths found on the leaves, stems, or roots of plants
nutrients substances in a plant’s or animal’s food that it needs to
live and grow
protists one-celled micro-organisms that live in moist habitats
riddled having many holes
salamanders lizard-like amphibians
sowbugs small insects that can curl into a ball
Strategy Tip: Sound it out
Show students how to break a word they don’t know into syllables
in order to figure it out. Suggest that they sound out each syllable,
for example, “salamanders”: sal-a-man-ders.
NEL
18 Nelson Literacy 4 Teacher’s Resource: Habitats and Communities
NEL